As we find ourselves dining out over the holidays, age old questions arise. Do customers go to a certain restaurant because they like the menu that the chef creates based on his experience, or do they go out for what they specifically want to eat? And how much freedom should the customer have on changing what the chef has put time and effort into creating and perfecting? After all, we are paying for it, what’s the issue if we swap out one sauce or side for another?  

But on the flip side, should the cooks in the line have to stop their normal production to attend to a special request while delaying the meals of other similar paying customers? Some customers are dangerously allergic to certain ingredients. They shouldn’t have to stay home or arrive in an hermetically sealed egg like Lady Gaga did at the Grammy’s just to hand over their money, trusting there won’t be a trace of that killer ingredient in their foods? Better to risk your life skydiving! And then there are some diners who fake their allergies just to because they are adverse to an ingredient, but know that chefs and servers take allergies seriously and they know which ingredients are unlikely allergens. Many restaurant owners recommend that honesty is the best policy in those situations. 

There is a very fine line with picky orderers these days. It seemed the habit became popular with the movie “When Harry Met Sally,” and certain women copy-catted Meg Ryan as a sign that they were in control of their lives and waistlines. Many chefs say “NO!”, like “The Grumpy Chef’ in Everett, Washington. He runs the restaurant solo: sets the tables, cooks the food, serves the food, collects the money, cash only. It is HIS show. The reviews are outstanding which is why he has a restaurant. Nobody messes with HIS menu and it is accepted. Start moving item A to plate B, away from how he wants his foods combined based on his skills, and the food just won’t taste the same. And besides, he won’t let you. Zuccos, a restaurant in Pittsfield, Massachusetts won’t give you ketchup with fries and the Maria’s Italian Kitchen Chain doesn’t even inventory it. Are they still in business? You better believe it! 

Today, there seems to be a strong tendency on the part of customers to want to rewrite menus. They want a sauce created for one dish applied to another. Does the menu say sauces are a la carte? Yes, the customer should be king/queen as he/she brings the money into the restaurant that keeps its doors open. Some top chefs say don’t let them play chef, but then you look at chefs like Gordon Ramsey who goes from one unsuccessful restaurant to another, helping them revamp, and it’s very clear that the customer is first and foremost in his mind over any ego of any chef. Is your french fry that  supremely good, even with the fancy schmancy truffle salt, that a little ketchup would reduce to rubbles the culinary mecca you’ve created?  I don’t think so. You serve french fries for crying out loud. Customers do need to trust the chef, but how many times have you gone to a restaurant that offers a dish that sounds lovely and has your mouth watering except for those pesky mushroom (or whatever ingredient you hate?) If the food is made fresh surely the tiny modification can be made and ingredients held.

I recently went to Terroni, a very “hot” and new Westside Los Angeles Italian restaurant - packed, no reservations, fabulous food. I had a wonderful home-made pasta with shrimp, clams and mussels. I wanted their wonderfully aged parmesan cheese grated atop my pasta dish. The cardinal rule taught in cooking: DO NOT EVER SERVE CHEESE WITH FISH! I asked. My request was declined, “The Chef does not EVER serve cheese with fish”. When the waiter wasn’t he looking, I grabbed it from the diner next to me . Would I go back after being treated like that? You bet your sweet aged parmesan I would. For the food!

Maybe die hard restaurant owners should politely post a sign as many customers truly do not understand the difficulty of changing a dish sometimes or what it will do to the dish culinarily. Something like, “Trust the Chef or Become One!” or “Trust the Chef, We Do!” But maybe you’ve gone too far when it’s a Los Angeles sushi restaurant with the “Sushi Nazi” chef who has a sign saying, “Don’t ask, just eat!” Are you really expected to swallow his whim and not yours? And when a friend once asked for just a plain bowl of rice there she was answered by the waiter, “We’re out of rice,” to which she replied, “Then how the hell are you making all of this sushi?!” 

What are your thoughts on this issue?  Should you trust the chef implicitly or should you be able to order whatever you would like to eat since you are the one paying?