Right Before Your Eyes
Tracy and I went to Benihana yesterday. I’m not exactly sure why we decided to go, but it sounded like a fun diversion from our usual destinations. Tracy had never experienced Benihana before and it had been at least 10 years since I had been, so it was essentially new for both of us.
Our cook did a fine job and did the requisite shrimp tail flip into his hat and created the volcano out of onions, but it got me thinking: what would dining out be like if all restaurants cooked your food in front of you? I think this would be a great idea.
First of all, the amount of food sent back to kitchens would go down significantly. It’s easy to be rude to a server, but I bet people would be less likely to say their food sucked to the person that just spent 10 minutes at your table cooking your meal. There is no chance some ingredient you wanted left out could ever find its way into the dish, unless you weren’t paying attention (and in that case, you shouldn’t be out to dinner in the first place). You also wouldn’t have to worry about kitchen pranksters spitting on your food, unless your chef did it between eye blinks.
It would also to be a lot harder justifying not tipping for those frugal losers out there. Not only is the chef cooking your meal, he is also trying to be entertaining at the same time. This would also eliminate tedious dinner conversations about the weather and such, as it would seem rude to have a side conversation as the guy is working. On the downside, people like me who hate small talk would probably have to talk about whatever the chef wanted to discuss. I’d be willing to tip extra to avoid all small talk with my chef.
But what about a dish where it had to bake for 30 minutes or so? Would the chef stay at the table while it baked to ensure it was cooked properly, or would he just set a timer and you pulled it out when it was ready? I would assume higher-end places would be the former and places like Olive Garden would be the latter, but maybe you pay more so the chef isn’t bugging you the entire time.
Maybe the compromise is to have robots cook for us. That way, you can still see your meal from beginning to end, yet avoid all the banter that would drive me crazy. I want the people who make the Roomba to start working on this next.
Our cook did a fine job and did the requisite shrimp tail flip into his hat and created the volcano out of onions, but it got me thinking: what would dining out be like if all restaurants cooked your food in front of you? I think this would be a great idea.
First of all, the amount of food sent back to kitchens would go down significantly. It’s easy to be rude to a server, but I bet people would be less likely to say their food sucked to the person that just spent 10 minutes at your table cooking your meal. There is no chance some ingredient you wanted left out could ever find its way into the dish, unless you weren’t paying attention (and in that case, you shouldn’t be out to dinner in the first place). You also wouldn’t have to worry about kitchen pranksters spitting on your food, unless your chef did it between eye blinks.
It would also to be a lot harder justifying not tipping for those frugal losers out there. Not only is the chef cooking your meal, he is also trying to be entertaining at the same time. This would also eliminate tedious dinner conversations about the weather and such, as it would seem rude to have a side conversation as the guy is working. On the downside, people like me who hate small talk would probably have to talk about whatever the chef wanted to discuss. I’d be willing to tip extra to avoid all small talk with my chef.
But what about a dish where it had to bake for 30 minutes or so? Would the chef stay at the table while it baked to ensure it was cooked properly, or would he just set a timer and you pulled it out when it was ready? I would assume higher-end places would be the former and places like Olive Garden would be the latter, but maybe you pay more so the chef isn’t bugging you the entire time.
Maybe the compromise is to have robots cook for us. That way, you can still see your meal from beginning to end, yet avoid all the banter that would drive me crazy. I want the people who make the Roomba to start working on this next.
Labels: Restaurants, Whimsy
posted by Brian Schick @ 1:27 PM
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