I ordered a chicken sandwich but the waitress must have misheard me because she said, “how do you want your eggs?”
I replied, “Incubated! Then raised, then plucked, then cut up, then grilled, then put onto a bun! Heck, that’s gonna take awhile - I don’t have time…SCRAMBLED!”
Last night we attended the 23rd consecutive monthly food-beer pairing at a local beerporium.
There are five courses; an appetizer, two main courses and two desserts, each paired with a beer. Twenty three x five comes to 115 courses, each a surprise, and I haven’t yet had one I didn’t like.
The only course I recall that had negative discussion was a delicious liver mousse.
I’ve done it at sushi restaurants before, and wouldn’t be averse to doing it at a fine dining place where the chefs are typically artisans and professionals.
I have a feeling that a good chef is going to look at it as more of a matter of professional pride and reputation and make as good of a meal as they reasonably can, and not try and pass off some long in the tooth ingredients just to get rid of them.
That said, I haven’t really ever had the option, except at sushi places. Most places just have a limited special where they point out when you’re ordering that it’s a special thing; the chef’s already figured out how they want to prepare it beforehand.
Once in a while, when a server asks me what I would like to order I just say “Bring me what you would order.”
“Actually, sir, I’d never eat at a dump like this.”
Wild turkey surprise!
I’ve done it many times in various places (usually not me asking for something special but that is just the method of things).
Generally I find it works best in groups and with the food served family style so that if something comes out that isn’t liked by one person it isn’t such an issue. And no complex requirements.
I don’t eat mammals. But when done in a group this isn’t really a problem. Enough stuff will come out that I can eat that it won’t be an issue. If it isn’t family style it is a very simple bit of guidance (though even them I’m reticent to pass it on and will generally fall back to a menu).
There’s a Chinese restaurant in San Francisco (Fang, on Howard) where I’ve been there a half dozen times and still haven’t seen the menu. We go there from work, just say some version of “8 people, about $20 each, include a couple vegetarian dishes” and sit down. Fantastic outcome every time.
There is a Thai restaurant in town that only serves a fixed price multi-course meal-- no menus and no ordering, you just get what you get (and it’s all delicious). It’s kind of an odd feeling to sit down and have the wait staff just start bringing you food.
One of the best meals I’ve had was at an incredible Japanese restaurant in Lima. It was a slow night, and we ended up asking the waiter to bring us whatever seemed good. The chef got in to it, and we ended up spending two hours eating plate after plate of amazing sushi.
I had a friend as a trusted sushi chef, and I’d go in and say “surprise me!”. (He knew I hated eel, so I was safe.)
And then there’s this:
Not a nice surprise.
Come to think of it, there was one time my mom and I went to an Ethiopian restaurant that she’d heard of and had been wondering about. Neither of us had a clue about Ethiopian food, so we just ordered “Make us something good”.
It was good, and there was way too much of it. I also sort of got the feeling that we were the first white customers the restaurant had ever had: Everyone seemed quite surprised to see an unfamiliar face.
I did this for a few years at one of our local sushi establishments (okay, I wasn’t tossing hundreds around). The owner/roller and i became good acquaintances, and I’d often just order by asking him to roll me sumthin’ up. It ended one day when I asked his wife to surprise me with something non-sushi, off the menu. She brought the pork Katsu. Damn (that is still the best I’ve ever had)! I ended-up going off the menu more than I did sushi, but not entirely.
Short answer… yes. I’d love to be able to do this at more restaurants, actually.
this is how I learned the whole "secret menu’ thing
I got to know the wait staff as pre then full teen at a few dennys around town (we only have 3 maybe 4 I’m 50 miles and they were al owned by the same people so they switched around a lot )and one day I was bored and asked :so what do you guys eat here and the waiter said well they eat the same stuff but they put different varaitaions on it
like they would make a "mess salad " which was a big bowl of all their salad stuff all together …
or they used to take leftover French toast and make grilled cheese and egg sandwiches
it was basically a way to use up left overs really
You have to admit though, to us Americans, “Ethiopian restaurant” sounds like a bit of an oxymoron. Because starving is the first thing that comes to most people’s minds when they hear Ethiopia.
We had an Ethiopian restaurant open up near my place. It went out of business before I had a chance to check it out though. Too bad, because I like trying new cuisines, and I was indeed curious.
I do this every time at Ethiopian restaurants, because at all three I go to, if I order a specific thing four times, I’ll get at least two different dishes. I think the menu is just a suggestion, anyhow. But they’re always delicious, so I prefer to cut out the middle man: “Surprise us for $X!” is how I usually put it. And we’ve gotten some amazing things I never would have thought/dared to order.
When my daughter was wee, she was gluten free (before it was cool) and there were a few cooks and chefs who delighted in making her something of their choice off menu. Often, it seemed like their own personal cooking show challenge. She got some hilariously elaborate offerings for a 5 year old on a Thursday afternoon. Luckily, she’s an adventurous eater. And there’s nothing like a cute, polite kid who thinks your food is “the yummiest!”
That sounds kinda good! (I like “garbage pizza” with some of everything on top. So a “garbage salad” with everything mixed up sounds mighty yummy!)
I’m really encouraged by the number of people here who like to experiment!
“Cobb Salad.” It’s a Thing.
I’ve had (and loved!) Cobb Salad, but I didn’t know it was “free form.” I thought it was kinda specific. If it can be “enhanced” by tossing in additional stuff…yay! That’s right down my alley!
I think it depends when you grew up. I grew up in the 80s so, yeah, that was the first thing I thought when Ethiopian restaurants started becoming a thing around the 90s, but I would expect the connection to be not as strong for Millennials and beyond. Obviously, it depends on where you live, but I feel like Ethiopian cuisine has become somewhat a known entity that people don’t necessarily make the startving connection. My nephew was visiting from Hershey, PA, and mentioned to me his fondness for Ethiopian food, so I don’t feel like it’s necessarily just “big city” food.
But, yeah, when exploring a new ethnic cuisine, I do try the “surprise me” approach when I can. Most places are happy to oblige, but some have given me puzzled looks like I was completely nuts in not ordering something specific.
Well, it’s “free form” in that you can take almost anything that’s delicious leftover in you fridge and put it in. If you order it in a restaurant you’ll get the specific salad, but in the quiet of your kitchen in the dark of night…