Annoying Food Trends – IMO

[Addie]

Just ask the server to have half your food placed into a to-go box upon it being plated, or ask for a box to be delivered with your meal and do it yourself next time.

And you take it home, put it in the fridge and two months later you find it way at the back on the bottom shelf. I am at a sit down restaurant, not a take out.

If restaurants gave normal helpings, they could save costs not only on food, but wouldn't have to purchase so many take out containers. Having worked in the food industry, Pirate was once told the best tool in the kitchen was the rubber spatula. You could gain a whole extra meal each day just by scraping out the bowls. And it cut down of the cost of takeout containers if you just served a normal helping. Less waste in the kitchen and out in the dining room.

There is a Italian restaurant chain in these parts that has an open kitchen policy. I am fascinated watching the cook who handles the main dishes. He weighs out the pasta and uses only one ladle of pasta sauce. His actions never vary from dish to dish, regardless of what type of pasta. If you are a person who loves to have puddles of sauce on the bottom of your plate, you can ask for a side of extra sauce for a minimal price. You get one refill of your bread basket. After that, again there is a minimal charge. You see more clean plates going back to be washed and very few takeout doggie bags.

I am one of those folks who doesn't like a lot of sauce on my pasta. And since I don't eat bread, I let others have my share. And my plate is empty when I am done eating. I leave there feeling full and satisfied.

 

[Aunt Bea]

The only annoying food trend that I can name is the fried egg put atop anything and everything

You can have my watermelon topped with feta if I can have your Schnitzel a la Holstein!

Dining Chicago » Eat this! Schnitzel, crispy cutlets from Vienna

 

[GotGarlic]

And you take it home, put it in the fridge and two months later you find it way at the back on the bottom shelf. I am at a sit down restaurant, not a take out.

So get an appetizer or a side dish instead of a meal.

Can't wait to hear why that won't work for you, either

 

[jennyema]

You can have my watermelon topped with feta if I can have your Schnitzel a la Holstein!

\


That's little Schnitzel as my avatar!

I'm fine with fried eggs in dishes they make sense with ...

 

[Andy M.]

The only annoying food trend that I can name is the fried egg put atop anything and everything

+1 Add this to the list!

 

[PrincessFiona60]

Just thought of one...I hate having a slice of lemon served in my ice water. If I wanted lemonade I would ask for it.

 

[medtran49]

And you take it home, put it in the fridge and two months later you find it way at the back on the bottom shelf. I am at a sit down restaurant, not a take out.

Really, you'd waste food like that? and have days you don't feel like cooking as you've often written? Plus that would be another meal that you wouldn't have to use your public food $ for.

We routinely go out for breakfast at least 1 of the days we are both off each week (and yes I know it basically is the most expensive restaurant meal compared to what it costs to make at home and gives the restaurant the biggest profit, but it's our indulgence) and quite often I end up bringing half or close to half of my plate home, which I then eat the next day or the day after that.

Yes, you are right about the portion sizes versus cost for a lot of people, but then you have the flip side of people who want the large portions and would bad mouth the restaurant as being stingy if they didn't get them. Restaurants are in a D'd if they do and D'd if they don't situation.

And I'm with GG, order an appy or a small plate (AKA tapas type dish). They are starting to become more and more common on menus. For years, I would eat the large size appy of Carrabba's PEI mussels for my dinner meal. Used to be one of my favorites. We don't go there anymore after our last experience several years ago (obviously bad). For years, when I would take DD and the GDs out for a meal, DD and I would often share 2 or 3 appys for our meal, now it's usually 3 or 4 or even 5 since the oldest GD has an ever expanding palate and is willing to try new things, sometimes even 6 as that child can eat when she's going through a growth spurt. Almost 14, taller than me and her mother, and skinny as a beanpole, thank goodness she didn't inherit our short curvy statures, though the youngest probably will.

 

[Katie H]

Couldn't agree more. People tend to believe that if something is good, then taking it completely over the top guarantees it will be better.

A few of my "favorites":

• Cronuts
• Bacon as dessert
• Bloody Marys with everything under the sun shoved into the glass

I couldn't agree more, Steve. It reminds me of something Buck used to say when we got a piece of furniture in the shop to repair...that had been, um, repaired by the customer. He'd invariably say, "Yep. If one nail is good, ten are better."


This concept can be applied easily to food and the Bloody Mary you cited is a perfect example of the 10-nail approach.

 

[Katie H]

For me, the most annoying food trend is decorating/drizzling one's plate, especially when there's only what appears to be a sample-sized meal portion on said plate. This is the direct opposite of the "pile it on" view of food service.

I can fully appreciate the skill that goes into creating curlicues, etc. made of sauce around my medallion of veal or whatever and I can enjoy how lovely my dessert looks with the apostrophes of caramel and chocolate sauce framing it.

But...enough is enough. I would much prefer the chef use that effort to produce a very flavorful dish for me to enjoy. If I want art, I'll go to the Guggenheim.

 

[Andy M.]

To paraphrase a comment Julia Child once made: When I see a plate with the food piled high and decorations all over it, all I can think about is that someone's hands have been all over my food.

 

[roadfix]

I follow the KISS methodology when it comes to most things I do in life, including cooking.

 

[Steve Kroll]

For me, the most annoying food trend is decorating/drizzling one's plate, especially when there's only what appears to be a sample-sized meal portion on said plate.

Respectfully, I actually don't mind this approach. BUT I'll add that I go to these types of restaurants occasionally knowing full well that it's more about a "food as art" experience, rather than filling up on satisfying comfort food. For me, I like sampling the work of creative chefs. The best ones really are artists.

We have a restaurant here in the Twin Cities called "Piccolo" (the Italian word for "small") in a tiny location that only seats about 20 people. The chef offers very flavorful plates of food that truly are "innovative", rather than just piled high portions of glop, as Andy mentioned earlier. I've eaten there three times in the last 5 years, and every time the menu has been completely different and surprising. Even Anthony Bourdain once said that his meal at Piccolo was, "far and away the best, most inspired, and inspiring meal of my trip across America."

Everything about the place tells me that the chef/owner is not getting rich, and that it's more a labor of love. The plates are very creative without being exorbitant, and even the wine is reasonably priced. I enjoy going there just to see what kind of bite-sized masterpieces will come out of the kitchen next.

Several months ago I took my daughter and one of her friends to Piccolo for dinner. She had never been to a restaurant like this before, and thoroughly enjoyed it. To this day, she still talks about how she got to try so many new flavors in one night, and has asked if we can do something similar again.

I enjoy simple food for the most part (my "what's for dinner posts" can be downright boring), but every so often it's nice to try something completely out of one's element.

 

[Dawgluver]

This interests me greatly, Steve. I have family in the Twin Cities, will definitely put Piccolo on the list. I don't know if my brother has been there yet.

 

[medtran49]

To paraphrase a comment Julia Child once made: When I see a plate with the food piled high and decorations all over it, all I can think about is that someone's hands have been all over my food.

I think it was week before last that Gordon Ramsay made a dish for the MasterChef wannabes to replicate. It had edible flowers, sugar snap pea pods with the top half of the pod removed so that the peas were sitting in the bottom half of the pod, small quarterish-sized balls of sweet potatoes, same size more or less dollops of parsnip puree all ringing a mound of cauliflower "couscous" that had been partially steamed and then grated on a big-hole grate, with a piece of yukon gold potato scaled halibut on top, and then a vinaigrette drizzled all over the plate. It was a very pretty plate.

However, first thing that popped into my mine was how much touching of my food that would have been, even when Gordon did it, and I think he did use tweezers at some points. Let's not get into watching the contestants plate it. <<shudder>>

Other than the fairly large piece of fish and the mound of "couscous," portions would have been just about right for Addie. (Just poking fun, kidding Adddie, most men would have called it bird food).

 

[GotGarlic]

Respectfully, I actually don't mind this approach. BUT I'll add that I go to these types of restaurants occasionally knowing full well that it's more about a "food as art" experience, rather than filling up on satisfying comfort food. For me, I like sampling the work of creative chefs. The best ones really are artists.

I agree, Steve. There's a restaurant near us that serves beautiful and delicious Asian-inspired tapas. One night, we sat at the bar overlooking the open kitchen and watched the cooks. They have a sushi-style dish and each time they prepared it, the plating of the components and sauces was different. It was very artistic and great fun to watch

http://www.bardoeats.com

 

[CharlieD]

The other day I was at a fancy part, and one of the hors d'oeuvres being passed around was a cube of watermelon with a slice of feta cheese on top. ...

To each his own. This remind me of my Grandmother. She used to eat watermelon with a piece of herring on the top. Brrrrr........

 

[CharlieD]

This interests me greatly, Steve. I have family in the Twin Cities, will definitely put Piccolo on the list. I don't know if my brother has been there yet.

Are you coming for visit?

 

[Dawgluver]

Are you coming for visit?

Not for awhile, Charlie, but you, Steve, Whiska, and any other Twin Citiers and I will definitely have to get together for a mini DC get-together when we do head back up there!

 

[CharlieD]

Not for awhile, Charlie, but you, Steve, Whiska, and any other Twin Citiers and I will definitely have to get together for a mini DC get-together when we do head back up there!

Would be wonderful to get together.

 

[Addie]

Really, you'd waste food like that? and have days you don't feel like cooking as you've often written? Plus that would be another meal that you wouldn't have to use your public food $ for.

We routinely go out for breakfast at least 1 of the days we are both off each week (and yes I know it basically is the most expensive restaurant meal compared to what it costs to make at home and gives the restaurant the biggest profit, but it's our indulgence) and quite often I end up bringing half or close to half of my plate home, which I then eat the next day or the day after that.

Yes, you are right about the portion sizes versus cost for a lot of people, but then you have the flip side of people who want the large portions and would bad mouth the restaurant as being stingy if they didn't get them. Restaurants are in a D'd if they do and D'd if they don't situation.

And I'm with GG, order an appy or a small plate (AKA tapas type dish). They are starting to become more and more common on menus. For years, I would eat the large size appy of Carrabba's PEI mussels for my dinner meal. Used to be one of my favorites. We don't go there anymore after our last experience several years ago (obviously bad). For years, when I would take DD and the GDs out for a meal, DD and I would often share 2 or 3 appys for our meal, now it's usually 3 or 4 or even 5 since the oldest GD has an ever expanding palate and is willing to try new things, sometimes even 6 as that child can eat when she's going through a growth spurt. Almost 14, taller than me and her mother, and skinny as a beanpole, thank goodness she didn't inherit our short curvy statures, though the youngest probably will.

There are some days I don't eat at all. Like yesterday, and probably today also. Why? I am not hungry. My Vargus nerve has been severed from surgery. I only eat when I miss the act of chewing.