The Great CWebb Steak Controversy...
- Thread starter D13
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I should have been more clear: Cwebb went into a restaurant, where people are going to notice him. 6'10" guys get noticed. They are also going to see him leave. They are going to want to know why. They will find out, then tell their friends.
I didn't say it's like putting up a commercial on Superbowl Sunday, but this does happen.
I didn't say it's like putting up a commercial on Superbowl Sunday, but this does happen.
I think you are mixing up being a snob with respecting the chef's preparation of the meal.
If you go to order a seafood dish and it is roasted mahi mahi over a shiitake mushroom, smoked bacon, and bok choy broth, topped with slivers of ginger, rocoto, and scallion basted with smoking sesame oil most would consider it completely out of line to sub the orange-endive salsa criolla and a cape gooseberry-ají Amarillo sauce from another dish. Why not defer to the kitchen on how your steak is prepared?
If you want to drink crappy beer, be my guest. More good stuff for me!
If you go to order a seafood dish and it is roasted mahi mahi over a shiitake mushroom, smoked bacon, and bok choy broth, topped with slivers of ginger, rocoto, and scallion basted with smoking sesame oil most would consider it completely out of line to sub the orange-endive salsa criolla and a cape gooseberry-ají Amarillo sauce from another dish. Why not defer to the kitchen on how your steak is prepared?
If you want to drink crappy beer, be my guest. More good stuff for me!
Because the kitchen doesn't know how I like to eat my steak until I tell them? After all, it is MY steak. Not theirs, MINE. I'M eating it, not them. He/she can cook it however he wants when he/she eats it, he/she can cook it the way I want it when I am paying for it and eating it. Or is this world so upside down crazy that I have to eat something I don't like just because the chef feels differently?
If I want to drown my steak with lime jello and hot sauce, it's MY choice to do so!
If I want to drown my steak with lime jello and hot sauce, it's MY choice to do so!
There is a big difference between scared and just not liking something, you know. I've eaten sushi a couple times. Don't particularly care for it. Not bad, I would just rather spend my $$$ on a good teriyaki chicken instead. Doesn't mean I am scared of sushi, I just would rather eat something else.
Same with a bloody steak vs. a medium-well one. I've eaten both. Will probably eat a somewhat bloody steak again sometime because it is what is available. Prefer it more cooked than not, though, and when I am paying for it I will have it cooked to MY preference, not the chef's.
Same with a bloody steak vs. a medium-well one. I've eaten both. Will probably eat a somewhat bloody steak again sometime because it is what is available. Prefer it more cooked than not, though, and when I am paying for it I will have it cooked to MY preference, not the chef's.
You completely snipped the relevant part of my post, you don't go around dictating the minute details of the preparation of any other menu item. What makes steak the exception? There are plenty of other places that will let you get a steak any way you like it so just choose a different restaurant. I like mine au poivre personally, but I don't demand it that way if it isn't on the menu.
Why is warhawk taking so much offense to this? Look, it's simple. No one is saying don't eat your steak well done or however else you want it prepared. Just saying don't pay for an expensive cut and order it well done because it completely defeats the purpose. You want a steak well done, spend your money at an Outback($20 beats $60).
Well, I can't speak for ESP47, but I'm pretty sure I'm not. When somebody says, "Well done and with steak sauce? You're the worse kind of person," that's not out of deference to the chef; it's snobbery, plain and simple.
As far as respecting the chef's preparation is concerned, what I expect when I dine at a restaurant is to get what I ask for, not for the chef to take the liberty of deciding what's good for me. If I order a piece of shoe leather, with battery acid poured on top of it, and carpenter's nails sticking out of it, then there are only two acceptable answers: "Yes sir," or "Sir, we don't serve shoe leather with battery acid and carpenter's nails here." And possibly "Sir, I'm going to have to ask you to leave." Any liberties taken on the part of the staff to serve me anything but what I ordered, without my explicit permission, is going to be the start of an "Ugly American"-type confrontation. I don't mind if the restaurant is snobby; if I ask for a Chicago-style hot dog, only to be met with a bitter beer face, that's perfectly reasonable. Just don't put food in front of me that I didn't ask for.
And there is no such thing as non-crappy beer, in my estimation, so help yourself.
As far as respecting the chef's preparation is concerned, what I expect when I dine at a restaurant is to get what I ask for, not for the chef to take the liberty of deciding what's good for me. If I order a piece of shoe leather, with battery acid poured on top of it, and carpenter's nails sticking out of it, then there are only two acceptable answers: "Yes sir," or "Sir, we don't serve shoe leather with battery acid and carpenter's nails here." And possibly "Sir, I'm going to have to ask you to leave." Any liberties taken on the part of the staff to serve me anything but what I ordered, without my explicit permission, is going to be the start of an "Ugly American"-type confrontation. I don't mind if the restaurant is snobby; if I ask for a Chicago-style hot dog, only to be met with a bitter beer face, that's perfectly reasonable. Just don't put food in front of me that I didn't ask for.
And there is no such thing as non-crappy beer, in my estimation, so help yourself.
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I concur with Mr. Slim.
I know a lady who was born and raised in a cattle ranching family. She's seen every aspect of beef production. She even got an advanced degree in Animal Science, and has spent most of her professional life dissecting the reproductive tracts of food animals. She's not squeamish, and she loves her steak, she's had thousands of them over the course of her life. But only well-done. Because of some neurosis that is endemic in food preparers, most of the time she sends back a steak twice before its ready, "No... I really really meant well-done."
If somebody wants to be entertained by a chef's discretion, great. Some people know what they like though. Thousands of steaks is enough to form a solid opinion.
Sorry, I don't think completely changing all the ingredients of a dish is remotely comparable to rare, medium or well done.
I don't get to go to pricey restaurants very often, by choice. I choose to spend my money on other things. However, I like my steak medium rare. When I used to order it that way, it almost always was delivered rare, if not almost raw. So now I order it medium and get about what I want most of the time.
Anyway, the chef is being a snob in this case or is ignorant of how many different ways people around the US and the globe eat steak. Its merely a matter of taste. Condiments served with steak vary as well. If someone likes steak sauce, what do I care, although, on the rare occassion I've had what I considered a perfect steak, I didn't feel the need for condiments. (To me, perfect is medium rare and cuts as easy as soft butter.)
Why is it not okay to have some steak sauce with your steak, but it's perfectly okay to eat horseradish or horseradish sauce, with a beautiful piece of prime rib? It's okay to ask for the end piece of a prime rib, if you like it more cooked, but not to ask for more cooked piece of steak?
Bottom line is, Webber handled it perfectly. If a restaurant does not have what you want, you leave. That's what I'd do. No point in buying something expensive that you know you won't like. A person isn't going to like something, just because someone tells them they like it the wrong way. Did you know that rare steak has to be warmed in the oven after it's cooked rare? A true piece of "rare" steak is seared, leaving the inside still cold. It is then warmed in an oven to get the iside to be warm. So it takes longer to prepare.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steak
Such a fun question....
I don't get to go to pricey restaurants very often, by choice. I choose to spend my money on other things. However, I like my steak medium rare. When I used to order it that way, it almost always was delivered rare, if not almost raw. So now I order it medium and get about what I want most of the time.
Anyway, the chef is being a snob in this case or is ignorant of how many different ways people around the US and the globe eat steak. Its merely a matter of taste. Condiments served with steak vary as well. If someone likes steak sauce, what do I care, although, on the rare occassion I've had what I considered a perfect steak, I didn't feel the need for condiments. (To me, perfect is medium rare and cuts as easy as soft butter.)
Why is it not okay to have some steak sauce with your steak, but it's perfectly okay to eat horseradish or horseradish sauce, with a beautiful piece of prime rib? It's okay to ask for the end piece of a prime rib, if you like it more cooked, but not to ask for more cooked piece of steak?
Bottom line is, Webber handled it perfectly. If a restaurant does not have what you want, you leave. That's what I'd do. No point in buying something expensive that you know you won't like. A person isn't going to like something, just because someone tells them they like it the wrong way. Did you know that rare steak has to be warmed in the oven after it's cooked rare? A true piece of "rare" steak is seared, leaving the inside still cold. It is then warmed in an oven to get the iside to be warm. So it takes longer to prepare.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steak
Such a fun question....
Lol, my family has 2 restaurants. It's pretty difficult I tell ya. I just had a customer call and lie about how much she got something for a couple months back that we haven't had it priced like that for 6-7 years. I also get the people who order well done on their meats only to have me put it back on because there's "juice" on their plate. It's cooked well done, but I can't help the fact that I use top quality meats and I consider myself a great griller that I can still keep your meat juicy even if you want it well done. Go to another damn restaurant.
My mom's restaurant, which is a well known, upscale Sacramento establishment, people would routinely eat the full meal and then complain about some small item in hopes of getting it free... or put a hair or glass on it at the end and raise a storm. What can you do without hidden cameras. God its a fun industry but I really do believe it is the major reason my parents split. My dad's restaurants were much more laid back but both put in such long days.
And then the staff. Man you love 'em like family but odds are half of them are robbing you blind, either by secretly comping their friends stuff or worse robbing the till. When I was a consultant I'd do training for new POS systems and all the bartenders would want to know how to void an item after ringing it. Like I'm that naive.
*Sigh*. Love hate. I know my mom enjoyed it too, there were plenty of perks. I know at one point in my life I wanted to run the place too.
And then the staff. Man you love 'em like family but odds are half of them are robbing you blind, either by secretly comping their friends stuff or worse robbing the till. When I was a consultant I'd do training for new POS systems and all the bartenders would want to know how to void an item after ringing it. Like I'm that naive.
*Sigh*. Love hate. I know my mom enjoyed it too, there were plenty of perks. I know at one point in my life I wanted to run the place too.
See, I don't think that's fair, at least not in this context. Lord knows the restaurant business is a tough one for everyone involved, but not when you're talking about how someone likes their steak. You cook the man's steak an extra 7 minutes, and you have a bottle of A-1 in the fridge, and that ruins the feel of your establishment? I can't see that being the case. If you want to be thought of as a top end steak joint, you're not going to have A-1 on every table like it's a Black Angus, but keeping a bottle in the fridge or better yet, having a chef whip up a few ounces of it at the table Benihana style, doesn't ruin your rep.
Now, if someone goes to a high end Italian restaurant and orders spaghetti and meatballs, and is told that it's not on the menu (some places don't want the spaghetti and meatballs crowd), that's different. If a place decides they don't want to serve young kids, that's different. But determining that your steak is so good that you don't need to carry sauce (and it probably is) is totally different.
Now, if someone goes to a high end Italian restaurant and orders spaghetti and meatballs, and is told that it's not on the menu (some places don't want the spaghetti and meatballs crowd), that's different. If a place decides they don't want to serve young kids, that's different. But determining that your steak is so good that you don't need to carry sauce (and it probably is) is totally different.