The Customer is Always Right????

Sometimes we wait weeks for a dinner reservation, or even wait months for a world famous chef to dazzle us. Then again, we may just be walking by a cute place and want to stop in for a bite and a cocktail. Whatever the circumstance, and no matter what the style of dining, restaurants are the fabric of our social wear and chefs are the tailors.

So, when you have made the commitment to patronize an eatery…is it really supposed to be about you?

You have followed a chefs’ restaurant for weeks, you have browsed the ‘yelp’ reviews and educated yourself with the critics opinions and have viewed the restaurants’ website menu.  To further your commitment for the night, you have invited some of your circle of influence to dine with you to share the epicurean experience. After all of this preparatory review… you arrive at the hottest steak house in the city, although you have been a vegetarian for years...

So many of us judge an eatery on how they can accommodate OUR needs. Why is that?  A restaurant chef is NOT your personal chef for the evening. You have made an educated, conscience decision that out of the 3,500 establishments in the near vicinity…you desire to have this particular chef cook his menu for you.

The chef has labored tirelessly to create a menu. He or she has had to analyze what food will ‘sell’ in the neighborhood and what produce is seasonal and available. The chef has usually spent weeks fighting with themselves or the owners as to what are the most price effective menu items or which have a decent sense of value. The kitchen has spent weeks training on the menu both in technique, ingredients and execution and has had countless hours of training the wait staff how to understand and promote the entire menu.

So, when the self-proclaimed ‘foodie’ changes the sauce, substitutes the main protein, adds an ingredient and deletes another ingredient and then wants everything on the side, it begs the questions…“Why did you choose this restaurant? Why are you paying this particular restaurant and judging the food, if you are not actually tasting or experiencing the way that the food was designed?”  If it was for the social aspect and the atmosphere, just have a drink at the bar. Or, if you truly want a certain dish…prepared a certain way…without the chefs’ creativity and with no desire or care of the chefs’ creation or concept of the menu…then just stay home!

Diners are guests at a restaurant. They are there to partake of a chefs’ concept of cooking and vision of how to create flavors from raw ingredients. Quite simply, if it is not to a guests’ liking…then they should never return!

Dear Patrons: Let professionals do what we are trained for and skilled in.  If your taste buds and culinary needs are so specific, I highly recommend hiring a private chef. With a private chef, every meal and every flavor is ALL about you. It has nothing to do with the chef’s creation. Private chefs create foods exactly to your specifications, without exception and without attitude.  They also earn about 30% more salary than an average restaurant chef does.

Enjoy the dining experience. Enjoy tasting what the chef creates. Enjoy the entire moment of understanding a new flavor. Or, just patronize restaurants that already create foods to your desires. It’s not your last meal on earth…it’s just food.

If it IS your last meal on earth…disregard this entire rant and I’ll cook you whatever the hell you desire…exactly the way you want it!!!