elyse

Because Steve, I worked in the kitchen of a restaurant and I saw the reaction of the chef to people doing this. Thats how I know how they react. That is why it is not pure conjecture. I also waited tables for years and had these requests made to me, so thats how I know how I reacted when I had to pass this along to the sous. I was there. That is why it is not pure conjecture. As fas as passing judgment, thats all we do on this forum. We pass judgment on food, wine, restaurants, chefs, publications, locations, cities, airlines, hotels, smells, tastes, colors, each other, and anything else that is related to food. Its what a forum is, a chance to share opinions and debate the merits of those opinions. It doesn't have to be personal, or should it be. Sometimes two people just dont think the same way about the same thing. I too have stated that I have worked in restaurants where I saw both sides of the fence. For the most part, when a request was refused, it was due to the pettiness of the server/chef/manager/owner. Outrageous, in my opinion. No one in the weeds, no lack of ingredients, no danger involved in the cooking of the dish. Just moodiness. Chef/owners can be tyrranical and may bite the hand that feeds them. Several lunatics I have worked for, several lunatics I have left. Other chef/owners are more than accomodating, but sometimes the customer has to get by that pesky server. And I've seen the chef happily go to great lengths to make this customer satisfied assuring a return visit. Emphasize HAPPILY. I personally wouldn't trust a server who told me "No" unless it came with a reason I could accept. And I don't think we're talking about asking the chef of a vegetarian restaurant to whip up a chicken kiev, are we? I'll restate, many chefs these days believe more is more rather than letting the food stand on it's own. If that's the carefully designed menu, it's designed poorly.

Why would you eat someplace you know you won't like? Sometimes you get stuck going places yu don't want to. Sometimes it's a crowd, sometimes it's to make the other person happy.

How come we're throwing around words like "entitled" and "demand" when what we're really saying is "request" and "ask?"

Elyse - Well it is to Suzanne. Read her comment about Americans with big wads of money. What she doesn't realize, is that it isn't motivated by money. It is motivated by people wanting to enjoy themselves at a certain level. That they might have to pay more for it is not relevant to the exercise. They would be happy paying less if it got them the quality meal they wanted. Sorry. I mistook that for your thought.

Suvir, There's a Costco in LIC, a mile or so from the 59th Street bridge, on the water. I have a card until November, if you ever want to go out there. I suck at Costco. I usually go to the cashier with two or three items. People think I'm a freak. (Note to self - Eat more Reeces)... I did not know avocados became mealy. By the way, my favorite is avocado slices on whole grain with mustard and mayonaise (on the bread), cheddar, under the broiler, with tomato and maybe thin slices of onion. Sprouts if I'm in Cali.

Steve, while I agree with you generally, I have to say, I don't think money's the issue.

Elyse - You are my hero. I was totally expecting to go onto the list of eGul-losers for this one.

Please do not confuse service with servant. I don't suppose you realize -- or care -- how insulting you are being to restaurants in general: you seem to be saying that one must push them to get a high(er) level of service -- they won't do it otherwise. And you're talking about the sort of place YOU frequent; think what that says about "lesser" venues. Staff dinner? Unlikely. But they surely were in the house for a reason, as part of a plan. Which you upset because you expected that nothing on the menu would be delicious enough for you. Proving your status as rich, spoiled Americans (not that nationality matters) is EXACTLY what you did. The truffles seem to have been offered, not demanded. And how is making a request treating someone as a servant? As for insulting the resataurant, no one's telling the staff they want to go into the kitchen to cook it themselves. No one is telling the staff that they have designed a rediculous assortment of ingredients. There are many restaurants that I avoid because the cheff feels the need to bombard my palate with too much mucky muck. I don't want rosemary in every single thing on the table. I find it insulting that chefs will fuck up good food to flex their muscles, expecting customers to fawn over complicated taste structures, when the food actually sucks. Am I being spoiled? No, I want to experience the food as I will enjoy it. I guess when it comes down to it, my version of being a rich spoiled American is to not frequent a restaurant which will not serve me food that I will enjoy. Plenty of restaurants out there. DAMN you people write fast!

Or three or four times less work.

The only time I like lettuce with a burget, is on the side, with drippings from the burger over it. Mmmmm. OR in LA at In N' Out or Fat Burger. No pickles. EVER. It's like eating ears.

I call all of my plastic containers including yogurt and soup containers (think band-aids). I put all of the lids in the top bread loaf pan as nothing else will fit in them. I use as little plastic as I can, so ziplocks are out in my house.

I've been fantasizing about adding a strip or two of bacon when grinding meat. I guess if I were to finally do it, I would grind in two stages. One would be the beef mixture, and one would have the added bacon. When forming the patties, I'd wrap the beef one with the added bacon mixture so I'd be left with cooked bacon on the outside. In case anyone's interested...

I was going to say that!

I sincerely doubt the question was posed as such. As a child, we rarely ate at home. My father often asked for things off the menu, and he was usually accomodated. To him, it was the mark of a good restaurant. To a degree, I agree with him. He was not being a spoiled brat, he was paying for food he would enjoy, and his requests were not outlandish. Wait staff were usually the ones standing in the way of the request being filled. Some of the restaurants, if the ingredients were not on hand, would send someone to get them. At a restaurant I worked at in Providence, I would sometimes go on the same errand, and I was happy to do it. It meant that one more diner was able to enjoy his/her meal. I see nothing wrong with it, as long as the request is made with respect.

How OFF is off the menu?

I can't speak fr anyone else, but I also use restaurants as an opportunity to eat a selection of dishes that I would not typically eat, like an appetizer and dessert. To avoid being a statistic (and because I just can't eat that much) I eat less of my entree in order to accomodate a greater variety of food.

But this is more along the lines of a chopped steak, not a burger. A burger I think implies that its a sandwich. Mind you, I love a good chopped steak, especially one at a good diner or a reputable steakhouse, with good fried onions and sauteed mushrooms. Sometimes with a mushroom gravy or steak sauce on the side. A chopped steak should be mostly if not entirely sirloin though. Not in my book. My burgers are neither chopped nor steak. Remember when people first started ordering burger type sandwiches? They asked for a hamburger sandwich. Come on food historians, shoot me down!

I'm on the purist's side with burgers too. Salt and pepper, no bun, no lettuce, no tomato. Ketchup sometimes if I'm home. But seriously, try the cheese run-off thing sometime. It's sooo good. Might be important, my stove flame doesn't get that hot, so it's highest might be lower than other people's. Don't need the oven or a cover. Spatter guard if I happen to have one.

Slightly off subject, a while after Gabriel's first opened, I had a wonderful gnocchi there. A year or so later, I went back for the same gnocchi, and it was one of the worst meals I've ever had. If they continued to decline, no wonder. I would certainly never go back.

She's my fave. I've a little girl crush too. I've always been impressed that she admits to her mistakes on air, like mistaking the salt for sugar in baking. How many other tv chefs would admit to that? Makes cooking more accessible to home cooks.

I use a cast iron skillet (flat) heat it on high for five or so minutes, use about a fist size ball of meat (bigger?), say, around an inch think, salt and pepper my burger (haven't perfected that true love thing), throw it in the pan (no oil), and let it rip. I don't touch it until it starts to ooze from the top or sides, or maybe it's a smell thing. I use cheese, so after I turn it over (thin stainless spatula scraping the bottom), I teeter thick pieces of cheese on top. By the time the burger is done the cheese is usually slopped all over the bottom of the pan and mixed with the delicious fat from the burger. I keep an eye on it, and if it's comming down too fast, I scoop it back up and either put it back on the burger or put it on my plate til it's almost finished. It's usually nice and crusty. If I'm too hungry and make a bigger burger than I'm used to and it's too rare inside, I have no qualms about putting it back on the heat. Hope that helps, and tell me if I left something out. Finally, I feel qualified to answer a cooking query here. Edit: Yeah, I do that central indentation thing time to time.

Keep in mind, Fat Guy, if you do that, they might actually come here. I've never seen the forums there, but if they're anything like the reviews, I'd think twice about chit-chatting with them. I do really like their "recipe box" but that may be because they were one of my first food sites and I had no idea how to cut and paste. I find them pretty easy to navigate. I think Martha's forums are incredibly lame, as are food tv's. Zzzzzzzzzz. Haven't been to the others in a long while, and I don't want to pay for CI.

Lol.

Its not like I want to toss them. They usually sit in the fridge for a while because I rarely like to eat the same thing for two meals in a row. So, if I have a dish for dinner, I just cant stomach the thought of having it again for lunch. As a result the to-go containers started piling up in the fridge until I just pitched them all. Now, I just clean my plate or let my leftovers go to the bus-tub buffet. If I can see that I won't eat it before it spoils, I heat it and take it somewhere that I know homeless people pass often. It's usually gone in a few minutes. Angel, or what?

If I say the same to you, will you give me duck salad too?