Ah. I was unaware of a schtick.
I don’t think this thread is quite evidence of a schtick, but it’s evidence of something.
I’ve done this once, at an Italian restaurant that I love but rarely get to visit. We were there for lunch, and my favorite dish wasn’t on the menu – apparently it’s only available at dinner. I asked about it and the waiter had the kitchen make it for me anyway. I was surprised but extremely pleased, and I made sure to convey that to both the waitstaff and the chef.
And now I want some Eggplant Rollatini. Darn.
I had some incredible, life-changing sushi last night. I was treated, for my birthday, by a couple of friends, one of whom is regular at one of Seattle’s top-rated sushi restaurants. While we were being seated, he went and greeted the sushi chef, made a little small talk, and then told him that we were in his hands: just give us whatever he wanted to give us, keep it coming till we say when. Nearly $75 per person–and lots of warm sake–later, I had quite probably the greatest sushi event of my life. And almost all of it was off menu. We became the chef’s show-off project for the night. He was thrilled. And even at that price, we got a bargain.
I truly love this.
Could you describe the dish a bit so I can visualize the scene more fully.
One time, when my wife was in the hospital, I went to Fazoli’s for take out. I ordered the ravioli, but asked for cream sauce. The entire modification simply meant that they cover the ravioli is cream sauce as opposed to the marinara sauce. The funny part, is that it wasn’t a menu item, so the cashier wasn’t sure they could do that. Of course the manager stopped him and said it was just fine. It was just funny the way the cashier thought there was a problem.
Tough shit. Try working in any other field where you have to please a client. Same fucking deal. Many of these “primadonnas” probably spend most of their working lives trying to please some client with impossible expectations, and unlike the chefs who are ASKED to do something to show off their skills and knowledge, these people have to cater to clients who know little or NOTHING about whatever it is they are demanding, and show NO respect for hard-earned skills. You should feel HONORED that someone wants you to show off your skills, whether it be in coming up with delicious meals or providing excellent service. And those precious, special, little people you despise so much make it possible for you to make a living. So spare us your lectures.
And yes, I’ve worked in food service before, as a busboy, dishwasher, prep cook, line cook, server, and host all during high school and college. I know how annoying some customers can be. But get some perspective.
Former chef checking in and I agree 100%. Sounds like devilsknew is working in a poisoned work atmosphere and should get a job with more positive coworkers.
I ain’t lecturing. I’m telling you how it is. You’re just pissed at the truth, sounds like you have some issues yourself Mr. Fire and Brimstone, religous quack. I gave my all and then some… like I said I was a server, no skin off my nose, but the kitchen sure were assholes about it. I can’t help the truth that cisco pointed out.
Which place, BTW?
[/hijack]
I worked in a Firehouse Subs for 5 years and we used to make all kinds of crazy stuff, a lot of it better than what was on the menu. The only time I’ve ordered off menu at another restaurant was at a place I got to at least once a week. I had them make me a stuffed crust pizza.
No, you’re making sweeping generalizations about an industry based on the place where you work. Generalizations, I might add, that have been refuted by several other current and former restaurant workers as being not universally true.
Try using some I statements sometime. If *you *feel that way, fine - but *own *it.
And microplanes are awesome.
I think you doth protesteth too much. Or something like that. “religous quack” [sic]? What is that even supposed to mean? I’m an atheist, for Crom’s sake!
Hmm. I’m “pissed at the truth.” Well, I never denied that there are people like yourself (and your kitchen staff) who have that attitude, did I? Certainly there are plenty of people in the food service industry that have bad attitudes; I have no illusions about this. I worked in restaurants for nine years, I’ve seen all kinds. If I’m “pissed” at anything, it’s that everyone thinks THEIR job is oh so hard and so special and everyone else’s job is EASY in comparison and they NEVER get respect for what they do OH NOES…again, spare me. To quote Ani DiFranco, “maybe you don’t like your job
maybe you didn’t get enough sleep
well, nobody likes their job
nobody got enough sleep”
It’s called WORKING. It’s WORK. It’s a job, you have to do things that you probably normally wouldn’t do just to pass the time or amuse yourself. You’re working for The Man, or the Client, or whatever. Deal with it. When you complain about customers being precious little snowflakes or whatever, YOU are the one who sounds conceited. YOU are the one who sounds like they think that the world owes them a living. Get over yourself.
Sounds like I have some issues myself? Maybe I do, but you certainly aren’t qualified in the least to make that assessment. To quote another great artist: “You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.”
It’s called a MENU. The general understanding of that WORK and our CONTRACT with the customer is a MENU…M-E-N-U- .
I wouldn’t walk into your place of work and ask for a $10 handjob when all you give are $15 blowjobs.
Cute, with the blowjob/handjob thing. I initially misread that to be $10 vs $15 blowjobs. For five extra bucks, I’m definitely getting the blowjob.
Anyway, it still comes down to: I’m asking you if you are able to provide something that isn’t overtly advertised. Now here’s the kicker, see if you can stay with me on this, it’s probably going to be life-changing for you…
If someone asks you if you can do “X” and “X” isn’t on the menu and you feel it is beyond the call of duty to try to provide “X”, YOU CAN SAY NO. The danger here, of course, is that maybe that same client was in your restaurant a week before and the server they had then WASN’T feeling especially persecuted, and they got whatever off-menu item they asked for, and maybe a cook grumbled a bit or something, but at the end of the night, nobody really was all that put out and no one really cared, except maybe for the disgruntled restaurant worker that despises the very people that enable him to pay rent each month. Then you wonder why you didn’t get a good tip, and you bad-mouth those people because they’re so special.
There’s a local restaurant that actually just got voted #1 restaurant of the year, with #1 service and #2 chef and #1 off-menu item. The head chef came out to meet me after I had been there a few times and told me straightaway that he appreciated my business and that if there was any kind of special dish or preparation that I wanted, to ask away because he loves to create new dishes and cook great food. The servers all seem happy to be there, working with other people who care about providing great food and service. Even the dishwasher seems happy to work there. What a difference ATTITUDE makes.
I suspect that it’s difficult for you to understand if you don’t work in other fields where you have to cater to clients.
As a professional illustrator, there have been plenty of times when I have been asked to create an image that I think is idiotic, for the sake of some campaign that I am sure is doomed, created by people who think that it’s edgy to use slang from the '80s. If someone came to me and said, “I know what sort of work you normally are asked to create, but I’m looking for something special, something that shows what you’re really capable of when left to do what you do best” I would JUMP on that chance. Fortunately, I get that chance occasionally with my freelance work, but I know many people who just have to suck it up and do their job. But even those people don’t bitch about it as much as people who resent working in restaurants.
A job is really only shitty if your attitude is shitty.
I’ll second this, having been on the “customer” end of it. As long as both parties are honest about the interaction, there shouldn’t be any stress. The conversation went something like this:
Hunter Hawk: Hey, do you have time to make a <good but complicated drink>?
Bartender: Sorry, we’re pretty slammed right now. If you want to wait, I can get it for you later, but it may be a while.
Hunter Hawk: Nah, don’t worry about it. Maybe next time. Can I have a shot of <liqueur>?
Bartender: Sure. : Pours quickly and moves back to serving other customers :
Wow. Just, wow. I want to live in *your *world.
Good Chefs spend a lot of time on their menus, and the Sous Chefs have it down, usually they are adaptable, if not especially proud of their skills… but when you have a full house and reservations stacked at the door, the bullshit don’t stand. These are men pushed to their limit, standing on the edge of the firepits that are the heart of their art. They are on the edge of Hell juggling physical and mental iteration the Pieter Devries would need a slug of sappho to comprehend. I admired those Chefs and yet they hated the front of the house, some more than others. It was an adversarial, segregated, and competitive class system. that kept us in perpetual contention, except when we went out after work that night and pounded some snakebites or sometime on shift I would nip one of them some brandy and coffee. I had a pretty good relationship with most of the Sous Chefs but sometimes at work it didn’t matter who you were, you were going to stand in as the whipping boy. Waiters are the go- betweens and the avatars of every customer that the welling and spectral cookfires would otherwise singe. They made great dishes with a precision that can only be termed artful, and they seemed insulted that they would have to make vegan dish in a Steakhouse or otherwise change something that they knew would make the dish imperfect or awful.
If I could convince a chef to make a special request, I just made more money. But there was no such incentive for the chef. I bought a lot of drinks for many chefs, to hold up my end of the bargain…
Okay, could we maybe take this side discussion over here and let this thread get back to the topic of ordering off-menu?
Definitely. Or when there are nuclear missiles launched and about to hit, or the restaurant just got bombed by terrorists. Total agreement here.
I always order off the menu, because I can’t read the menus around here. All I can do is walk into restaurants and start naming dishes until I come up with enough stuff that they have.