06/12/2026
Kismet is an old word. It means luck, but not the ordinary kind. Kismet has a little more mystery and magic attached to it.
Every now and then life produces a combination of people and circumstances that feels improbably right. Better than chance. Better than luck.
A little like a good recipe. Maybe that’s what I mean when I think of kismet.
And let me tell you, it was a good week for that word to leap to mind.
It had been one of those days. We were already short-staffed when illness swept through the team, and I watched my hours stretching longer and longer while the list of things that needed doing stubbornly refused to get any shorter. I was tired, overwhelmed, and more than a little discouraged.
Then I walked into the kitchen and saw Ian Branson making sandwiches.
Now, that may not sound like much of a plot twist, but Ian hasn’t worked at Tomato Head since 2019, when he left to become a full-time ICU nurse at UT Hospital.
Yet there he was.
Making sandwiches.
As it turns out, Ashley Parks had sent him a text message lettinghim know we were having a rough day. Ashley has been part of the Tomato Head family for almost 20 years. She and Ian met here years ago, back when they were both working in the kitchen. One thing led to another, as it often does, and these days they share a life together.
So he came in to help.
Simple enough.
Most people think restaurants make food. And of course they do. But they also form friendships. Relationships take root. Lives become tangled together. Years pass. People move on to new jobs, new careers, and new chapters.
And then, every once in a while, one of those stories circles back around and walks through the kitchen door wearing an apron.
Maybe that’s kismet.
Or maybe it’s simply what happens when people spend years building something together.
Seeing Ian that day reinforced in me how special The Tomato Head is. And reminded me that the things we create here don’t end when someone clocks out for the last time.
And for a few minutes, in the middle of a very difficult day, it became clear that some of the best things we make here never appear on the menu.
Kismet.
