Chefs like Michael Shlow (right) need their underlings. But do they have to
actually write the menus? Really?
Forbes has a nice feature today about celebrity chefs and the men who actually cook at their restaurants. This is old news, of course — everyone from Alan Richman to the guy at the laundry have pointed it out, frequently with much agitation. But anyone who knows a spoon from a spatula can tell you that chef is a managerial position anyway; the guy who actually cooked your steak is some randy dropout who stands there at his pan all day, planning for a long night of drug-fueled coition at some downtown bar. What we here at The Feedbag object to is the practice of chefs letting their flunkies actually design the menu. And that, for us, is way over the line.
The Chef has to at least create the menu. He can't just lend his name, set up the financing, and then go downtown. He has to put his knowledge and experience and sensibility before the customer — his, not somebody else's. He's getting a lot of money, and he's neither cooking nor even cracking the whip. So he has to create the menu. He just has to. People want to eat his food, not the food of some guy who "has cooked with me for ten years and knows how I think." Let the lieutenant write the menu when he has his own restaurant. The chef is the one being paid as a star. Let him perform like one — even if it's for only the hour it takes to write the bill of fare. Thank you.
No comments:
Post a Comment