Want to eat as well as a chef when dining out? CTVNews.ca spoke with a number of professional chefs to find out what they avoid when they get out of the kitchen and become the restaurant patron. Hereâs a list of things to avoid when dining out, according to the pros:
1. Bread basket
Toronto-based chef Massimo Bruno avoids one item that is considered a staple at many fine-dining restaurants: the bread basket.
Bruno, who emigrated to Canada from the southern Italian region of Puglia, said he was raised not to âfill upâ on bread before a meal. So when dining out, he doesnât bother with it.
âI donât want to fill myself with bread because thatâs what I eat at home,â he said. âItâs a filler, easily available.â
Armenian-Canadian chef Sebouh Yacoubian, who is opening an eastern Mediterranean restaurant in Toronto called Mayrig, says while it is in his culture to eat bread with dinner, he too, will think twice about ordering it in a restaurant. However, he is more concerned that uneaten bread baskets untouched at one table are ârecycledâ and sent to other tables.
2. âCookie-cutterâ desserts
Craig Wong, a French-trained chef who owns Asian-Caribbean restaurants in Toronto and Dubai, says heâll never order desserts that have been âbrought inâ to the restaurant, rather than made fresh on site.
âThey taste so mass-produced,â Wong said. âYouâre getting attacked on both sides because both companies are trying to make a markup on this dessert and the factories are using the cheapest ingredients.â
Wong advises diners with a sweet tooth to ask the server before ordering dessert: âYou guys make this in-house?â
Wong acknowledges that hiring a dessert or pastry chef can be expensive for a restaurateur, but he says even small-kitchen restaurants should strive for at least one single fresh dessert option rather than a full dessert selection provided by a third party.
âIf itâs just one of those frozen cheesecakes that you just cut and put onto the plate, thatâs when it just lacks soul,â he said.
3. Mussels
After a number of âbad experiencesâ with mussel dishes in restaurants, Toronto chef Scott Vivian said heâll stay away from a âbig potâ of the mollusks. He said restaurants would likely have a hard time tracking down the âbadâ mussel in a batch, so one can easily make it into the dish. âWhen youâre shucking oysters ⌠youâre doing it individually so you can check each one,â he said.
Itâs harder to check every single mussel in a batch, added Vivian, who owns and operates Beast, a Toronto favourite of celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain. Sometimes the restaurants have no control over it, Vivian added, so âyou donât know that itâs a bad mussel until you actually put it in your mouth.â
4. Complicated dishes
Both Wong and Bruno said that theyâre turned off by large menus and restaurants that feature complicated dishes laden with ingredients. âIt gives me the idea that someone is trying too hard,â Wong said. Bruno, who owns and operates his own supper club and Italian kitchen studio, said he finds big menus "overwhelming."
If the patron must even âturn a pageâ in a menu, itâs probably already too lengthy, Bruno said. Similarly, Bruno said he generally wonât order a dish that features a long list of ingredients.
âI wonder how theyâre going to have all those (dishes) freshâ if each one requires significant preparation time, he said.
Christie Peters, chef at contemporary restaurant The Hollows in Saskatoon, said patrons should be looking for the restaurantâs signature or âclassicâ dish, and stick with that. Thatâs why youâll never find her ordering a seafood dish at a steakhouse. âI just know that a steakhouse isnât going to do it well,â she said.
When in doubt, she said, order the chicken fingers. âYou canât really mess up chicken fingers, theyâre always delicious,â she said with a laugh.
5. Sweetened drink mixes
Jacob Wharton-Shukster, a barman at French bistro Chantecler in Toronto, says even your drinks should be made with fresh ingredients. Wharton-Shukster said heâll never order a drink from a bar if theyâre using bar lime, which is a syrup made of lime or lemon juice and sugar. âAny time you see that, some gross glucose-filled disgusting mess, you donât want to drink that,â he said. Anything coming from a soda gun is worth avoiding, he added. âIf the place looks like they canât make you a proper Negroni, donât order one,â Wharton-Shukster said.
A good bartender will use fresh ingredients, including fruit, he added. "Fresh is best."
Chefs will also check out the vibe of a restaurant and its cleanliness before committing to a table. Though most people donât like to wait for a table, Bruno said heâll avoid restaurants that appear to be empty. If the eatery is dreary, empty and ânot fun,â Bruno said, âyour food is most likely not going to be very fun, either.â Rather, he seeks out the restaurants that are typically full and bustling. Not only does it indicate to him that the restaurant has a good âvibe,â but it most likely it will have fresher food due to a quick turnaround: the meals arenât sitting in the kitchen uneaten and going stale, he said. âI have a simple palate, but it needs to be fresh,â Bruno said.
Yacoubian said whenever he eats at a restaurant, heâll come in and order an appetizer and then go scope out the washroom conditions. If it isnât clean or up to his standards, Yacoubian said heâll eat the appetizer and then leave. âThe bathroom reflects the restaurant,â Yacoubian said. If itâs dirty and unhygienic, he added, âimagine what the kitchen looks like.â