Random Tidbits from a 10 Year Chef

I've been doing fine dining for years, and my menus are designed so that each piece compliments the whole. I'm so totally okay if you hate shallots and don't want my smoked shallot butter on your ribeye. But when you decide to replace it with something completely horrible and complain that the braised kale tastes horrible with it, I really don't give a damn. Pro tip all you lovely people: If you go to a nice restaurant (not talking Red Lobster here, but a chef driven local place), give the chef a fucking chance and order it as is. I happen to not enjoy squash that much, but my God a good ratatouille is incredible, and the squash makes it.

The problem with chef shows and restaurant shows and all of it is that people now have skewed perspectives on what their food should be. This guy sees on a TV show that mid-rare is the best temp and decides rare must be even better. I only have one cut of steak on my menu and it's ribeye, which is a well marbled fatty fucking delicious steak. But this guy sent it back because it had a piece of fat in the middle and he thought that was gross. I don't care if you're completely ignorant of food, but for the love of God if you are, don't watch 20 minutes of Kitchen Nightmares and suddenly think you're a fucking chef. Ask the server! Ask ask ask ask ask. Be sure of what you order, and don't let pride get in the way of you having a great evening.

Sweetbreads: The thymus gland of a baby cow. (Can be other animals, but that's what I was using.) That's a tough sell for a server to explain to a table, but because of this horrendous bitch, I sold sweetbreads to a vegetarian table. Bad servers are my nightmare in this industry, and whenever I find one that loves food and explaining it to tables, you better believe they get extra free food every damn shift. (Pro tip, if you're a server, ask to taste evvverrryything when it's slow and dead. Learn what you're selling. The kitchen will love you for it.)

This was a positive version of the last image. My heart bursts with happiness when a table has no idea what they're ordering, but the server explains it well and they decide to try it anyway. I had braised beef cheeks on the menu, and they thought I was selling ass cheeks. Decided to eat it anyway, and now they come in every week for them. Push yourself outside of your comfort zone when you go out to eat, try new things, that's what food and restaurants are for. Don't order chicken.

Back to mini rant about servers. I spend 60 hours a week in my kitchen prepping and organizing and prepping some more to make the best food that I can. When servers don't bother spending the time to know what's on a dish (Hint: IT'S ON THE FUCKING MENU), it's really hard to keep my patience. I'm not an angry TV chef, and I spend more time teaching them, but it's really depressing to know that they're not able to tell the guests the full menu item.

This happened to me just two nights ago. I'm about to open up a second location where I work, and it's been a really rough long grind. I got off after dinner service was done, grabbed some bourbon, and went onto the patio for a cigarette. One of the guests saw me and recognized me (it's an open kitchen where you can see into it). He comes out, lights up a cigarette, and goes on telling me how everything was perfect and his date inside was in a state of bliss. Now, I don't look for compliments, and I don't do the job for recognition. But I gotta say, it was something I really needed to hear. I got into this profession because I loved eating, and I loved the connections you could have with people sharing some really good food. So it's really good to hear that from people every now and then.

TLDR: Love your food, if you're a server pay attention to the food. If you're a guest, eat new things and never forget that going out is an experience and shouldn't be a boring routine.

If ya'll have any questions about what it's like actually working in a restaurant, versus what you see on TV, feel free to comment or message me.

FP Edit: First time for me in four years! Thanks everyone! I'll be going through and answering everyone's questions as I drink my post service beer. And since this is my first, and I've been here four damn years, obligatory send nudes. Also, if any of ya'll live near Richmond, VA, come by my restaurant and say hi!