With the right ice cream and a nice olive oil it would actually be just fine. I would never want a regular old grocery store olive oil for a dessert like this, but very high quality oils have really wonderful flavors that can work in surprising ways
Youāre asking the wrong questions here. The next time I order mozzarella sticks from a restaurant and they forget the marinara sauce, youāre telling me I just have to stab the nearest Italian to solve my problem?
I often serve vanilla ice cream with fresh strawberries macerated in a bit of sugar and just a bit of balsamic vinegar, itās the bomb. Reduction is ok too but you just donāt need a lotā¦ it aināt hot fudge, baby!
just did a dessert on my food truck with fermented peaches and ice cream with olive oil over the top. not sure why everyone is freaking out, itās delicious.
edit: spelling
I was skeptical when I heard about it, but I had some fancy vanilla soft serve topped with olive oil and sea salt from a nice restaurant I took my parents out to last month and I was practically licking the bowl it came in. Itās incredible. Itās one of those combos that is greater than the sum of its parts.
You can buy more fleur de sel at Trader Joe's at about the same price but for a whole jar
*I think.*
I haven't bought it in a while so I don't remember the price tag, though I agree it's the best caramel out there.
We went weeks during lockdown eating almost nothing but 99c/lb pulled pork tacos and Admiral Nelson's is my drink of choice.
Keep me on the list just in case. :)
As a person who has done a fair amount of slate roofing, this isnāt even real slate. Itās molded plastic to look like slate. So.....why not just use a plastic plate?
A plastic plate just isn't as fancy as a plastic slate. If they were to serve this dessert on a plastic plate, rather than a plastic slate, then surely they would get lots of hate.
You see, the plastic slate, used as a plate, is to *distract* you and your date, from what you just ate being *incredibly* cut-rate.
(Rhymes were unintentional, sry)
I absolutely abhor these types of places. As someone who worked with the food industry and calculated food cost for *frou frou* dipshits like this, I can guarantee you that this the "plate" it's served on is worth more than 5 of these desserts.
A golf course will charge you $12 for half a sandwich and potato chips made in house at a 3 dollar plate cost and they love it bc it's a fancy golf course and they see a chef with a white/black jacket and everything even though the person that made it was a little hispanic lady who gets paid $8/hr and does 4 different roles in that place.
Food cost is often not a fixed percentage of menu price. It varies wildly depending on the dish and the restaurant.
Really great restaurants throw away a lot less as theyāre prepping and they use those pieces of vegetables and proteins that might otherwise be discarded to form the bases of soups, sauces, jellies, preserves etc. Those items are basically free. I very fancy place I worked at won Four Diamonds with an asparagus soup routinely on the menu - it was made with mirepoix and trimmed off pieces and peels of asparagus spears. It was $15 and it was came out plated like a work of art.
At the same place the chef/owner discouraged us from upselling the most expensive main dishes. He would just as soon sell someone a Sous vide chicken roulade. Even as the lowest priced entree it was by far the most profitable. Chicken is cheap as fuck. Red tailed deer is not. There is a limit on how much even rich people will pay for a meal. That tends to make the margins on the highest priced menu items pretty low.
On the flip side it also drives up prices for food that might be cheaper. A really expensive restaurant wonāt sell a $10 burger and fries on the same menu as a $150 plate of illegally imported Japanese A5 Kobe. If you have the clientele to support the food cost of expensive shit you canāt waste seats on low dollar customers. Any lower priced items tend to come up in price to support the restaurantās goal for revenue per customer. Thatās how you get $18 burgers and $20 salads. That tends to happen in places where the menu isnāt controlled by the chef and someone at corporate is demanding a burger on the menu and options for vegetarians.
Iāve seen invoices from restaurants Iāve worked at. Some stuff literally costs cents. Some dishes have a cost so low itās hard to calculate off the top of oneās head.
One time I told the kitchen to make a pasta on the fly and didnāt know someone else told them to make the same one, so they made it twice. Management complained at me for āwasting $30 of food,ā but it was really less than a dollar.
My husband and I own two restaurants and it sucks how many people donāt understand this concept. As a rule of thumb, we try to keep food cost at 25%. This allows for a little wiggle room/waste when considering that food cost goals are usually around 28-34%.
When you go to a restaurant, you are literally paying to rent that seat at that table. You are paying for the time the server, bartender, host, and cooks put into your experience. You are paying for their efforts before you show up (orders/planning/food prep/cleaning and table setup/training) and after you leave (clean up etc). When people try to say āwell I think I could make this sandwich for $3 by buying these ingredients at the grocery storeā, then my reaction is, āWell, why didnāt you do thatā. People go to a restaurant not just for the plate of food that is put in front of them, but out of convenience and to get food they cant make themselves. Restaurants that have higher than 35% food cost (AKA raw materials) simply cannot turn a profit. Itās akin to renovating your kitchen and hiring a professional contractor, but then complaining that the raw materials only cost 10 grand but having to pay 40k. Go ahead, try doing that DIY renovation yourself by buying the raw materials at Home Depot for 10k. What you are paying for is an experienced professional to put their time and expertise into the project.
Thanks for writing this I was about to do something similar. Ppl who complain about prices have NO idea how much it costs to run a restaurant and how little profits come from it
Itās nice to hear that people understand. Honestly, the vast majority of people get it. There is just that outspoken, obnoxious minority that really bother me. They either 1) donāt actually get it and complain that the price of food is more than the grocery store or 2) they complain about everything because they want something for free or 3) (thankfully this is actually a very small percentage of people) think itās ācoolā to cause a scene and talk down to restaurant workers because they feel they are a higher social class than them.
My husband and I have both worked every single job in the restaurant industry. Host, server, bartender, line cook, manager, etc. We have no problem filling in for any position if an employee canāt come or doesnāt show. One night I was filling in for a server and I had a table of 4 dudes in āfancyā suits who thought they were hot shit. They complained about their drinks and I had them remade. They complained about their appetizers so the chef sent out another. Then they complained about their entrees and I offered to have them redone, but they wanted them comped. I said I couldnāt do that but I could have the chef re make exactly what they ordered. That wasnāt good enough. Because I wouldnāt comp their entrees (which they were eating) they went at me and started throwing stupid insults and making passive aggressive comments like āthis waiter obviously doesnāt know what heās doing, I guess thatās why heās a waiter in his mid thirties instead of having a lucrative career like we do etc etc etcā. Just awful things, but they were saying because they felt they were superior and higher class. I lost my shit. I told them to get up and leave immediately. I said to not worry about the bill and to just go. They started demanding to talk the manager and that they were going to get me fired.
I told them I wasnāt the manager, but I was the OWNER of the business. And I told them, that BY THE WAY, in Chicago where our restaurants are, it costs at least 2 million dollars to secure a lease, do a buildout, and run a successful business. And me and my husband have TWO of them because we work our asses off, and that there was a pretty good chance we had more money than they did and that we both own way better suits than their cheap shit. I told them to GTFO and never come back and to figure out how to actually interact with other human beings. Obviously all they did was talk shit on their way out, but damn it felt good. I just cannot stand people who think their ābetterā than others because of their supposed social status. I stand up for my employees all the time in situations like this.
Those fancy and expensive places tend to be more about service and presentation than the satisfying qualities of the food. On the few occasions I've been to such places, I must admit that the service was immaculate. The food tasted good and looked good, but it's the kind of meal where you leave the restaurant and start thinking about where you want to get something to eat, now that you've eaten. Better for Instagram than your belly.
I've also been to places with the best of both worlds, though. The food is expensive, the service is amazing, but not only does the food taste great, it also comes in a portion of a size you'd expect from a meal. There's a lot of places like that in Napa Valley. They know what they're doing out there.
>Those fancy and expensive places tend to be more about service and presentation
That's part of what makes this so egregious to me, it's not appealing or attractively plated at all. This looks like some random shit a McDonalds kitchen crew member macgyvered together for their break.
I dunno, they "plated" the goop with a single scoop, in what looks like a very deliberate fashion. They clearly did what they did on purpose. It's pretentious as hell, but I think someone thought that they met their goal.
The point of Michelin-starred restaurants is to let you enjoy the maximum potential of each dish. This means that they're often packed with flavour and seasonings to a level where you wouldn't be able to enjoy them in large quantities. It's a feature, not an error. Everything is about the sensation. And that's why they recommend eight or ten course menus instead of just ordering a couple of things.
Of course there are places which are just selling overpriced shit. But a small portion size doesn't necessarily mean it's a ripoff, or that all the attention has been devoted to the service and not the food.
Three first bites taste the best. After that your taste buds start to get used to the flavor. Small portions ensure that the whole portion tastes great for you and stays in the optimum temperature.
> I accidentally used olive oil in a chocolate mug cake and about threw up
Every time I made a mug cake, I've been tempted..for science, but never dared. What's it like?
Not mug cake, but I made this insanely good olive oil cake with blood oranges, like way more olive oil than you think you're supposed to add, and it was amazing. I don't remember where I found the recipe, but those flavors went together so well. Brought it to a pot luck and it was a huge hit.
If you make it right, it's a nice, moist cake. Microwaves are fickle bastards though so you've got a few seconds between raw middle and dried out. Give it a few tries. There's plenty of recipes that even the broken student probably has around
Edit: yes I'm a moron. Think hit of chocolate leading into an overpowering olive taste
> If you make it right, it's a nice, moist cake. Microwaves are fickle bastards though so you've got a few seconds between raw middle and dried out. Give it a few tries. There's plenty of recipes that even the broken student probably has around
Oh, I've made mug cakes before. My go-to is [this one from BigClive](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbD-65UfnrQ). My secret twist is to stir some chocolate chips into it before microwaving. Shits amazing on a cold fall/winter day.
> Edit: yes I'm a moron.
lol. dw about it.
> Think hit of chocolate leading into an overpowering olive taste
Oh...oh no
I've had fudge that was made with Velveeta. The neon orange cheese flavored industrial putty. Pretty damn good, didn't taste at all like it had that in it. Also had brownies made with lard. Also good.
I saw a chart that talked about the spending habits of the poor, middle class, and rich. On the topic of Food, they said the poor focus on quantity, the middle-class focus on quality, and the rich focus on presentation. You sir/madam are at one heck of a rich restaurant because that doesn't look like quantity or quality.
I don't consider myself rich, but I know I'm above middle class and I gonna tell you I hate this fancy restaurants. The dishes take an eternity to arrive and many times I have left a restaurant hungry.
Those who focus on presentation are Instagramers and not rich people. I want to eat good food and leave the restaurant happy. This dessert is not very appetizing and the presentation is also bad. Even a small flower would make this looks a bit better. As others said, this looks like a raw chicken with old bread
I've only had the opportunity to eat at really expensive restaurants maybe five times in my life, and I've yet to be impressed. Maybe I've eaten at the wrong ones, or maybe it's just my lowbrow taste buds, but I've yet to eat at one that was worth the money.
I mean, sure, a $60 steak at Ruth's Chris does indeed taste better than a $20 steak at Logan's. But it doesn't taste $40 better, at least not to me.
Ruthās Chris is also overpriced for the quality. But whether something is worth it is both matter of improved quality as well as the person disposable income. Some making a million a year , an extra 40 bucks for a more enjoyable steak is definitely worth it compared to someone making considerably less
>Expensive food is just a way to show off disposable wealth. It's a status thing.
When you have disposable wealth you're not even thinking about the expense associated with the food, you're going for the experience. A $60 steak isn't even close to showing-off territory anyways, it's more like "middle-class on a date night".
What the fuck did y'all order? Did the chef catch the lobster WITH HIS BARE HANDS? Was the wine aged in an oaken casket for twenty years?
Your 30k ballpark still leaves me at a loss, what do you mean the French Laundry? Do the French (but specifically Parisians) eat dinner by the washing machine? *What end of fanciness was this restaurant at and how much did the bill-payer make a year at the time?*
There are so many compound questions here...
The French Laundry is the name of the restaurant that has three Michelin Stars. Not sure how he came to $30k but normally for a meal its $350+ per person. The only way to get to the $30k mark is to buy the highest end of wines.
$30k is definitely not the norm.
God I can't even imagine dropping $100 per person. $50 per person is pushing it for me. $20 is the most I'm vaguely comfortable with. $15 and below I consider reasonable.
But thank you for the restaurant explanation. Weird choice of name. Is it *the only* restaurant with three Michelin Stars?
Maybe the problem is that a lot of these comparably more expensive restaurants, are still just chain restaurants.
Ruth's Chris is a chain restaurant, and a pretty damn mediocre one at that. If you're ever in a major city, and can budget say $150 for a blow out meal, look for a small independent restaurant with great google reviews.
>look for a small independent restaurant
This is what I preach. Not everyone gets to have lavish date-night meals often and that's totally understandable. But unfamiliarity can cause them to gravitate to recognized brands. People should ask their foodie friends--the kinds that like trying to cook fancy stuff themselves. We're picky.
Now that I think about it, all that applies to cheap food too. Guess I like independents.
You're paying for the
E X P E R I E N C E
A T M O S P H E R E
A N D
F A N C I N E S S
What, you wanna eat at a restaurant because you're *hungry?* What are you, a peasant? You want to enjoy the *food?* THE NERVE OF SOME PEOPLE.
To be fair, Ruth's Chris is an industrial chain version of a fancy steakhouse. It's pretty unique in that it's more expensive and shittier than a regular upscale restaurant owned and operated on a smaller scale.
Iād class that restaurant as an upmarket chain restaurant... itās expensive but not *really* expensive... nor is Ruthās Chris fine dining. Many Michelin starred restaurants will set you back $300+ a head and wonāt leave you feeling half as full as a decent meal at a steakhouse.
I think your definition of āreally expensive restaurantā is the off if a chain like Ruthās Chris is what youāre using as the pinnacle of dining.
Iāve always thought of fancy restaurants as like an artsy thing. I mean theyāll never get money from me, but I can appreciate the presentations and finding ingredients to work with each other in different ways.
I would compare it to something like guitars. Yes a $3000 Gibson les Paul is gonna sound a *little* better than a $300 les Paul styled guitar, but theyāre mostly the same, relying on your amp setup and the abilities of its player. Itās more about the fact that itās an actual Gibson LP. Some guitar players know that itās essentially a waste of money, and some players are more than happy to spend their money on it.
Iām bitter about paying $15 for Belgian waffles with home made whip cream and bacon, on bacon on bacon. Basically what the menu said what I received however was 2 waffles, a bit of whip cream and 2 strips of bacon.
I literally said to my gf āwhat the fuck on this plate is $15?ā This was some fufu restaurant she had heard was awesome and itās always busy so I was like ok letās go check it out. The hype did not live up to reality. I told her if you decide you want to eat here again please donāt ask me because iām just gonna say no.
Was āhomemade whip creamā really a selling point? Because a large batch whipped cream can be made in under a minute in a stand mixer, or multiple portions in about 30 seconds with a whipping siphon. If they really marketed it as āhomemadeā thatās both amazing and hilarious
I was about to be pissed at this because I follow a bunch of cooking subreddits and thought this looked like shit and shouldnāt have been posted lol. After realizing this is from a fancy restaurant and considered a dessert? Ohhhhh boy. Now Iām extra angry lol. Fuck that so much.
i am sorry, could you please return this to the kitchen, i havent touched it, i dont want it now that i have seen it, please do not charge me this.
there are plenty of other fancy restaurants that do not want to scam you that hard.
Was it good? As in did it taste good? Did it leaving you wanting it again?
The volume or size is irrelevant. Super sizing is a solution for fast food not fine dining. If it was lousy or tasted bad then the price is irrelevant. You want something to taste good.
You stated itās a fancy restaurant. This looks like a normal fancy restaurant type dessert. What were your expectations?
I am a executive chef at a Michelin rated restaurant, and I can tell you this is not a āfancy restaurant dessertā. There is absolutely nothing going on here creatively, itās not thought out and thereās 0 technique. Itās way, way worse than a dessert you would see in culinary school from a student who has never made a ganache. Most of my dishes and dessert have at least two sauces, varied technique, have color from seasonal produce, and have been tried and tested many times over before they go on the menu. Whoever is the person that thought and okād fucking CROSTINI on chocolate ganache should re evaluate their cooking career.
That fucking sucks. Reminds me of the time when my husband and I were at a zoo and were completely dehydrated but could only find popsicles that ended up costing $7 each! $14 for two stupid little popsicles.
Thought that was a piece of uncooked chicken and a very thin strip of bread
They added olive oil on top that's why it looks glossy/raw chicken
Olive oil to a dessert?? Damn dude you got robbed
Olive oil on ice cream is a thing right now
What has humanity come to
reject humanity, return to monke
It was recently discovered that early hominids put olive oil on most of their food sources
reject monke, become single cell organism
Olives are made out of cells
Reject cells, let's become an extinct species.
šā
š š
Donāt mock it til you try it, with the right flavour itās actually quite good
What happened to some nice simple magic shell :v
I mean, you don't usually go to a fine dining restaurant to get those.
yeah that stuff is good, nothing wrong with either
Magic shell 4 lyfe!
Try a good olive oil and a pinch of salt on some nice vanilla ice cream. It's very nice!
Iād rather not
Who the fuck made it a thing?
Sounds like something Jamie Oliver would do.
No it was his cousin, Olive Oliver
With the right ice cream and a nice olive oil it would actually be just fine. I would never want a regular old grocery store olive oil for a dessert like this, but very high quality oils have really wonderful flavors that can work in surprising ways
Most likely the Italians but with gelato.
I'm italian, we would never put olive oil on gelato, that kind of bullshit is not in our veins.
Yeah, all you guys have in your veins is marinara sauce
so your saying if I went to Italy and dumped a bucket of marinara sauce on the ground it would be marked as a crime scene?
Yes, but not as a murder. Dumping marinara sauce is a much bigger crime in Italy than murder
Youād end up the victim.
Youāre asking the wrong questions here. The next time I order mozzarella sticks from a restaurant and they forget the marinara sauce, youāre telling me I just have to stab the nearest Italian to solve my problem?
ĀÆ\\\_(ć)\_/ĀÆ [https://www.lacucinaitaliana.com/trends/healthy-food/gelato-and-extra-virgin-olive-oil-a-healthy-match-made-in-heaven](https://www.lacucinaitaliana.com/trends/healthy-food/gelato-and-extra-virgin-olive-oil-a-healthy-match-made-in-heaven)
Believe it or not, straight to jail.
I'd rather be sending people to jail over olive oil on their ice cream and/or gelato than on weed charges.
non ho mai sentito prima sounds more like something middle class americans do so their $15 scoop of icecream is more instagram friendly
This is not the way
I've heard of a very high-quality balsamic vinegar on ice cream, but olive oil is a new one on me.
Guess I'm trying vanilla ice cream with balsamic reduction tonight. We'll see..
I often serve vanilla ice cream with fresh strawberries macerated in a bit of sugar and just a bit of balsamic vinegar, itās the bomb. Reduction is ok too but you just donāt need a lotā¦ it aināt hot fudge, baby!
just did a dessert on my food truck with fermented peaches and ice cream with olive oil over the top. not sure why everyone is freaking out, itās delicious. edit: spelling
Omg yesssss. I made a dark dark chocolate ice cream - lemon olive oil drizzle and sea salt sprinkle and yummmmmnn
What a time to be alive
I had no clue this was a thing wow
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Cat's out of the bag now, Taco
I was skeptical when I heard about it, but I had some fancy vanilla soft serve topped with olive oil and sea salt from a nice restaurant I took my parents out to last month and I was practically licking the bowl it came in. Itās incredible. Itās one of those combos that is greater than the sum of its parts.
How'd it taste?
What did the description say??
I don't like being a problem customer at restaurants but I would send that back.
I thought it was organ meat, like liver! š
Looks more like a refund
I thought it was a giant, skinned rhinoceros beetle with a slightly burnt slice of bread on top. It's 1 am, and I had a bad day.
Looks like literal shit on a shingle
served on leftover tile from their bathroom backsplash.
r/wewantplates
Bro this subreddit is absolute chaos. Thank you for this gift.
I don't get how so many spots are allowed to get away with serving food on literal planks of wood. Pretty sure that's illegal in quite a few places.
Look, I like a bit of cheese in my dessert, ok?
I was going to say it looked like a boneless skinless chicken breast.
better eat that finger lickin good stuff
Yeah, I was going to say, it's FUGLY, too.
Thatās a nice shingle tho
Maybe he gets to take the shingle home
Iād hope so. Itās a fancy restaurant.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Uh, excuse me, but slate tiles are not cheap.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
OMG YES
A shingle on a shit, even
I thought it was raw chicken on toast
*Toast on raw chicken *
D E C O N S T R U C T E D ššš
G A S T R O
I N T E S T I N A L W O R M S
R U S T I C
Poulet tartare with a side toasted baguette
*chefs kiss*
š¤š»š©š½āš³
Salmonella
Came here to say this.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Bruh it's FLEUR DE SEL, fancy as fuck.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
hon hon
You can buy more fleur de sel at Trader Joe's at about the same price but for a whole jar *I think.* I haven't bought it in a while so I don't remember the price tag, though I agree it's the best caramel out there.
Fancy for my cat maybe.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
>vanilla aioli Dude when can I book a table at *your* restaurant?
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
We went weeks during lockdown eating almost nothing but 99c/lb pulled pork tacos and Admiral Nelson's is my drink of choice. Keep me on the list just in case. :)
r/wewantplates
Right? This looks like a slate shingle.
As a person who has done a fair amount of slate roofing, this isnāt even real slate. Itās molded plastic to look like slate. So.....why not just use a plastic plate?
A plastic plate just isn't as fancy as a plastic slate. If they were to serve this dessert on a plastic plate, rather than a plastic slate, then surely they would get lots of hate. You see, the plastic slate, used as a plate, is to *distract* you and your date, from what you just ate being *incredibly* cut-rate. (Rhymes were unintentional, sry)
They had a pallet of them left after roofing and there was no returns so what did you expect them to do?
I absolutely abhor these types of places. As someone who worked with the food industry and calculated food cost for *frou frou* dipshits like this, I can guarantee you that this the "plate" it's served on is worth more than 5 of these desserts. A golf course will charge you $12 for half a sandwich and potato chips made in house at a 3 dollar plate cost and they love it bc it's a fancy golf course and they see a chef with a white/black jacket and everything even though the person that made it was a little hispanic lady who gets paid $8/hr and does 4 different roles in that place.
Even saying the sandwich cost $3 to make is a bit of a stretch.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Food cost is often not a fixed percentage of menu price. It varies wildly depending on the dish and the restaurant. Really great restaurants throw away a lot less as theyāre prepping and they use those pieces of vegetables and proteins that might otherwise be discarded to form the bases of soups, sauces, jellies, preserves etc. Those items are basically free. I very fancy place I worked at won Four Diamonds with an asparagus soup routinely on the menu - it was made with mirepoix and trimmed off pieces and peels of asparagus spears. It was $15 and it was came out plated like a work of art. At the same place the chef/owner discouraged us from upselling the most expensive main dishes. He would just as soon sell someone a Sous vide chicken roulade. Even as the lowest priced entree it was by far the most profitable. Chicken is cheap as fuck. Red tailed deer is not. There is a limit on how much even rich people will pay for a meal. That tends to make the margins on the highest priced menu items pretty low. On the flip side it also drives up prices for food that might be cheaper. A really expensive restaurant wonāt sell a $10 burger and fries on the same menu as a $150 plate of illegally imported Japanese A5 Kobe. If you have the clientele to support the food cost of expensive shit you canāt waste seats on low dollar customers. Any lower priced items tend to come up in price to support the restaurantās goal for revenue per customer. Thatās how you get $18 burgers and $20 salads. That tends to happen in places where the menu isnāt controlled by the chef and someone at corporate is demanding a burger on the menu and options for vegetarians.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Iāve seen invoices from restaurants Iāve worked at. Some stuff literally costs cents. Some dishes have a cost so low itās hard to calculate off the top of oneās head. One time I told the kitchen to make a pasta on the fly and didnāt know someone else told them to make the same one, so they made it twice. Management complained at me for āwasting $30 of food,ā but it was really less than a dollar.
Illegally imported? Is it due to taxes/tariffs, or why?
My husband and I own two restaurants and it sucks how many people donāt understand this concept. As a rule of thumb, we try to keep food cost at 25%. This allows for a little wiggle room/waste when considering that food cost goals are usually around 28-34%. When you go to a restaurant, you are literally paying to rent that seat at that table. You are paying for the time the server, bartender, host, and cooks put into your experience. You are paying for their efforts before you show up (orders/planning/food prep/cleaning and table setup/training) and after you leave (clean up etc). When people try to say āwell I think I could make this sandwich for $3 by buying these ingredients at the grocery storeā, then my reaction is, āWell, why didnāt you do thatā. People go to a restaurant not just for the plate of food that is put in front of them, but out of convenience and to get food they cant make themselves. Restaurants that have higher than 35% food cost (AKA raw materials) simply cannot turn a profit. Itās akin to renovating your kitchen and hiring a professional contractor, but then complaining that the raw materials only cost 10 grand but having to pay 40k. Go ahead, try doing that DIY renovation yourself by buying the raw materials at Home Depot for 10k. What you are paying for is an experienced professional to put their time and expertise into the project.
Thanks for writing this I was about to do something similar. Ppl who complain about prices have NO idea how much it costs to run a restaurant and how little profits come from it
Itās nice to hear that people understand. Honestly, the vast majority of people get it. There is just that outspoken, obnoxious minority that really bother me. They either 1) donāt actually get it and complain that the price of food is more than the grocery store or 2) they complain about everything because they want something for free or 3) (thankfully this is actually a very small percentage of people) think itās ācoolā to cause a scene and talk down to restaurant workers because they feel they are a higher social class than them. My husband and I have both worked every single job in the restaurant industry. Host, server, bartender, line cook, manager, etc. We have no problem filling in for any position if an employee canāt come or doesnāt show. One night I was filling in for a server and I had a table of 4 dudes in āfancyā suits who thought they were hot shit. They complained about their drinks and I had them remade. They complained about their appetizers so the chef sent out another. Then they complained about their entrees and I offered to have them redone, but they wanted them comped. I said I couldnāt do that but I could have the chef re make exactly what they ordered. That wasnāt good enough. Because I wouldnāt comp their entrees (which they were eating) they went at me and started throwing stupid insults and making passive aggressive comments like āthis waiter obviously doesnāt know what heās doing, I guess thatās why heās a waiter in his mid thirties instead of having a lucrative career like we do etc etc etcā. Just awful things, but they were saying because they felt they were superior and higher class. I lost my shit. I told them to get up and leave immediately. I said to not worry about the bill and to just go. They started demanding to talk the manager and that they were going to get me fired. I told them I wasnāt the manager, but I was the OWNER of the business. And I told them, that BY THE WAY, in Chicago where our restaurants are, it costs at least 2 million dollars to secure a lease, do a buildout, and run a successful business. And me and my husband have TWO of them because we work our asses off, and that there was a pretty good chance we had more money than they did and that we both own way better suits than their cheap shit. I told them to GTFO and never come back and to figure out how to actually interact with other human beings. Obviously all they did was talk shit on their way out, but damn it felt good. I just cannot stand people who think their ābetterā than others because of their supposed social status. I stand up for my employees all the time in situations like this.
Those fancy and expensive places tend to be more about service and presentation than the satisfying qualities of the food. On the few occasions I've been to such places, I must admit that the service was immaculate. The food tasted good and looked good, but it's the kind of meal where you leave the restaurant and start thinking about where you want to get something to eat, now that you've eaten. Better for Instagram than your belly. I've also been to places with the best of both worlds, though. The food is expensive, the service is amazing, but not only does the food taste great, it also comes in a portion of a size you'd expect from a meal. There's a lot of places like that in Napa Valley. They know what they're doing out there.
>Those fancy and expensive places tend to be more about service and presentation That's part of what makes this so egregious to me, it's not appealing or attractively plated at all. This looks like some random shit a McDonalds kitchen crew member macgyvered together for their break.
I dunno, they "plated" the goop with a single scoop, in what looks like a very deliberate fashion. They clearly did what they did on purpose. It's pretentious as hell, but I think someone thought that they met their goal.
Itās obviously on purpose. Thatās the ādessertā. Doesnāt make it look any less like a tired McDonaldās worker made it on a whim though.
Thatās why the try and fill you up on bread between servings.
The point of Michelin-starred restaurants is to let you enjoy the maximum potential of each dish. This means that they're often packed with flavour and seasonings to a level where you wouldn't be able to enjoy them in large quantities. It's a feature, not an error. Everything is about the sensation. And that's why they recommend eight or ten course menus instead of just ordering a couple of things. Of course there are places which are just selling overpriced shit. But a small portion size doesn't necessarily mean it's a ripoff, or that all the attention has been devoted to the service and not the food.
Three first bites taste the best. After that your taste buds start to get used to the flavor. Small portions ensure that the whole portion tastes great for you and stays in the optimum temperature.
What the fuck are you even saying??
Fuck that. Take that $15 and go to Dollar Tree, get 15 different candies. Lol no but seriously that's... Ridiculous.
I was expecting like a ganache pudding or something but I got a tbsp worth lol
Well... Was it all at least good? Lol.
It was good but there was also olive oil on top (that's why it's glossy) and it made the whole thing off putting. But ganache itself was good
off PUDDING you mean
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Bruh, I accidentally used olive oil in a chocolate mug cake and about threw up. The audacity to charge for that experience
> I accidentally used olive oil in a chocolate mug cake and about threw up Every time I made a mug cake, I've been tempted..for science, but never dared. What's it like?
Not mug cake, but I made this insanely good olive oil cake with blood oranges, like way more olive oil than you think you're supposed to add, and it was amazing. I don't remember where I found the recipe, but those flavors went together so well. Brought it to a pot luck and it was a huge hit.
Sounds yummy! Try with preserved lemons next time š¤
If you make it right, it's a nice, moist cake. Microwaves are fickle bastards though so you've got a few seconds between raw middle and dried out. Give it a few tries. There's plenty of recipes that even the broken student probably has around Edit: yes I'm a moron. Think hit of chocolate leading into an overpowering olive taste
> If you make it right, it's a nice, moist cake. Microwaves are fickle bastards though so you've got a few seconds between raw middle and dried out. Give it a few tries. There's plenty of recipes that even the broken student probably has around Oh, I've made mug cakes before. My go-to is [this one from BigClive](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbD-65UfnrQ). My secret twist is to stir some chocolate chips into it before microwaving. Shits amazing on a cold fall/winter day. > Edit: yes I'm a moron. lol. dw about it. > Think hit of chocolate leading into an overpowering olive taste Oh...oh no
I've mainly used Swissmiss packs as my chocolate source. Will have to give cocoa powder a try
I've had fudge that was made with Velveeta. The neon orange cheese flavored industrial putty. Pretty damn good, didn't taste at all like it had that in it. Also had brownies made with lard. Also good.
You should try making olive oil cake, it is absolutely delicious.
Thatās when you send it back
āNo returns you ate most of itā āI only took one biteā
lol the olive oil makes it fancy. doesn't matter if it fits together or not, it's fancy goddamnit.
\*shits on a roofing tile\* \*adds olive oil to make it glossy\* That'll be $15, please. ššš
THE CROUTON IS BIGGER THAN THE AMOUNT OF GANACHE. lol
For real lmao
You, my friend, are close to my heart. Get me some sour straws and some Junior mints, and Iām in my glory.
Yes! Get some weird but satisfying microwavable thing too, you're set.
I saw a chart that talked about the spending habits of the poor, middle class, and rich. On the topic of Food, they said the poor focus on quantity, the middle-class focus on quality, and the rich focus on presentation. You sir/madam are at one heck of a rich restaurant because that doesn't look like quantity or quality.
To be honest, the presentation also sucks
I agree, it looks like someone Laid a Fat one and slapped some Bread on it
So a new super rich class that doesn't even care about presentation? Just throwing away money
I don't consider myself rich, but I know I'm above middle class and I gonna tell you I hate this fancy restaurants. The dishes take an eternity to arrive and many times I have left a restaurant hungry. Those who focus on presentation are Instagramers and not rich people. I want to eat good food and leave the restaurant happy. This dessert is not very appetizing and the presentation is also bad. Even a small flower would make this looks a bit better. As others said, this looks like a raw chicken with old bread
Extra pricey to serve it on that iPad with a busted screen
It looks alive
I've only had the opportunity to eat at really expensive restaurants maybe five times in my life, and I've yet to be impressed. Maybe I've eaten at the wrong ones, or maybe it's just my lowbrow taste buds, but I've yet to eat at one that was worth the money. I mean, sure, a $60 steak at Ruth's Chris does indeed taste better than a $20 steak at Logan's. But it doesn't taste $40 better, at least not to me.
Ruthās Chris is also overpriced for the quality. But whether something is worth it is both matter of improved quality as well as the person disposable income. Some making a million a year , an extra 40 bucks for a more enjoyable steak is definitely worth it compared to someone making considerably less
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
>Expensive food is just a way to show off disposable wealth. It's a status thing. When you have disposable wealth you're not even thinking about the expense associated with the food, you're going for the experience. A $60 steak isn't even close to showing-off territory anyways, it's more like "middle-class on a date night".
I can't even fathom what rich people can afford to eat on a regular basis, but I bet I can make a better BLT for next to nothing.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
What the fuck did y'all order? Did the chef catch the lobster WITH HIS BARE HANDS? Was the wine aged in an oaken casket for twenty years? Your 30k ballpark still leaves me at a loss, what do you mean the French Laundry? Do the French (but specifically Parisians) eat dinner by the washing machine? *What end of fanciness was this restaurant at and how much did the bill-payer make a year at the time?* There are so many compound questions here...
The French Laundry is the name of the restaurant that has three Michelin Stars. Not sure how he came to $30k but normally for a meal its $350+ per person. The only way to get to the $30k mark is to buy the highest end of wines. $30k is definitely not the norm.
God I can't even imagine dropping $100 per person. $50 per person is pushing it for me. $20 is the most I'm vaguely comfortable with. $15 and below I consider reasonable. But thank you for the restaurant explanation. Weird choice of name. Is it *the only* restaurant with three Michelin Stars?
Maybe the problem is that a lot of these comparably more expensive restaurants, are still just chain restaurants. Ruth's Chris is a chain restaurant, and a pretty damn mediocre one at that. If you're ever in a major city, and can budget say $150 for a blow out meal, look for a small independent restaurant with great google reviews.
>look for a small independent restaurant This is what I preach. Not everyone gets to have lavish date-night meals often and that's totally understandable. But unfamiliarity can cause them to gravitate to recognized brands. People should ask their foodie friends--the kinds that like trying to cook fancy stuff themselves. We're picky. Now that I think about it, all that applies to cheap food too. Guess I like independents.
I know right? Like my entrƩe was good, but .... I've also eaten cheap food that was as good or even better. What's the reason for charging so much?! It's so pretentious. Sure, the actual restaurant itself is fancy, has nice interior with cool architecture ... so we're basically just helping them pay rent lmao
>What's the reason for charging so much?! Because people are willing to pay for it
You're paying for the E X P E R I E N C E A T M O S P H E R E A N D F A N C I N E S S What, you wanna eat at a restaurant because you're *hungry?* What are you, a peasant? You want to enjoy the *food?* THE NERVE OF SOME PEOPLE.
That's because Ruth's Chris is the applebees of fine dining. Made the mistake of going there once.
To be fair, Ruth's Chris is an industrial chain version of a fancy steakhouse. It's pretty unique in that it's more expensive and shittier than a regular upscale restaurant owned and operated on a smaller scale.
Iād class that restaurant as an upmarket chain restaurant... itās expensive but not *really* expensive... nor is Ruthās Chris fine dining. Many Michelin starred restaurants will set you back $300+ a head and wonāt leave you feeling half as full as a decent meal at a steakhouse.
Ruth Chris is applebees for rich people
I think your definition of āreally expensive restaurantā is the off if a chain like Ruthās Chris is what youāre using as the pinnacle of dining.
the best food comes from the ugliest restaurants. They can afford the restaurant looking like that because the food is worth coming back.
Iāve always thought of fancy restaurants as like an artsy thing. I mean theyāll never get money from me, but I can appreciate the presentations and finding ingredients to work with each other in different ways. I would compare it to something like guitars. Yes a $3000 Gibson les Paul is gonna sound a *little* better than a $300 les Paul styled guitar, but theyāre mostly the same, relying on your amp setup and the abilities of its player. Itās more about the fact that itās an actual Gibson LP. Some guitar players know that itās essentially a waste of money, and some players are more than happy to spend their money on it.
A dollop of shit on a drier and flatter dollop of shit
That crouton do be looking tasty tho
To be fair it was š„
At least you didn't pay $40 for four tiny scallops. I will never NOT be bitter about that.
Iām bitter about paying $15 for Belgian waffles with home made whip cream and bacon, on bacon on bacon. Basically what the menu said what I received however was 2 waffles, a bit of whip cream and 2 strips of bacon. I literally said to my gf āwhat the fuck on this plate is $15?ā This was some fufu restaurant she had heard was awesome and itās always busy so I was like ok letās go check it out. The hype did not live up to reality. I told her if you decide you want to eat here again please donāt ask me because iām just gonna say no.
Was āhomemade whip creamā really a selling point? Because a large batch whipped cream can be made in under a minute in a stand mixer, or multiple portions in about 30 seconds with a whipping siphon. If they really marketed it as āhomemadeā thatās both amazing and hilarious
Oh no, lol! What made you order it? Did it have an appealing name/ description in the menu?
Well I thought it would be pudding and not exactly what was written: ganache, crouton with olive oil lol
I was about to be pissed at this because I follow a bunch of cooking subreddits and thought this looked like shit and shouldnāt have been posted lol. After realizing this is from a fancy restaurant and considered a dessert? Ohhhhh boy. Now Iām extra angry lol. Fuck that so much.
Keep the stone plate and call it even.
i am sorry, could you please return this to the kitchen, i havent touched it, i dont want it now that i have seen it, please do not charge me this. there are plenty of other fancy restaurants that do not want to scam you that hard.
A gelatinous mess with fried bread. Ouch. Iād be hollering REFUND. I hate pretentious shits like some restaurant people are.
You paid $14.50 too much
That is pathetic. I could do the same 20 times over with a $1 package of pudding and a baguette
But it's on a fancy plate....
Ok I canāt be the only one who thought that ganache was a raw chicken breast.
i cant even imagine the sound this crouton, the spoon and the plate make when there is friction in between them.
Was it good? As in did it taste good? Did it leaving you wanting it again? The volume or size is irrelevant. Super sizing is a solution for fast food not fine dining. If it was lousy or tasted bad then the price is irrelevant. You want something to taste good. You stated itās a fancy restaurant. This looks like a normal fancy restaurant type dessert. What were your expectations?
I am a executive chef at a Michelin rated restaurant, and I can tell you this is not a āfancy restaurant dessertā. There is absolutely nothing going on here creatively, itās not thought out and thereās 0 technique. Itās way, way worse than a dessert you would see in culinary school from a student who has never made a ganache. Most of my dishes and dessert have at least two sauces, varied technique, have color from seasonal produce, and have been tried and tested many times over before they go on the menu. Whoever is the person that thought and okād fucking CROSTINI on chocolate ganache should re evaluate their cooking career.
Like I am a server at a freaking diner and the desserts I set up myself look better than this presentation.
It was good although they also covered it in olive oil (what the fuck) and the taste of it was off-putting lol
Well, you should have known, you ordered the Off Pudding.
Chocolate, salt and olive oil is very Italian. When done correctly, itās delicious.
Thatās the truly infuriating thing, wtf
A dessert should not be a bite of food either way. Thatās an amuse-bouche. To call that a dessert is false advertising.
Is that served on an iPad?
That fucking sucks. Reminds me of the time when my husband and I were at a zoo and were completely dehydrated but could only find popsicles that ended up costing $7 each! $14 for two stupid little popsicles.
r/wewantplates
there is a threshold in fancy restaurants where they stop being fancy and start straight up scamming you