Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Specials Are Specials

Specials are Special

Many restaurants have lost the idea of what is special. A “Special” isn’t a repackaging of ingredients that the kitchen manager ordered too much of and wants to sell before they go bad. It isn’t an inexpensive lure to attract customers in on a daily basis. Anyone want the 99cent egg, homefry and toast “special“? Get out now, you are in the wrong building.
To me , a “special” is just that, it is a dish that for whatever reason, I feel like making because in some way the ingredients have inspired me to want to make it and offer it to the world. Often times the inspiration starts by seeing a photo or TV show or reading an article which gets my taste buds rolling. Sometimes I am shopping at the store or a market and stumble upon an ingredient that looks too nice to pass up.
Often times it might just be an item that lots of people like that I just couldn’t fit on the menu. It sells and I don’t mind making it, I just can not commit to it in print. It could be something seasonal. It could be a flash in the pan that lots of people like at first but don’t order over and over, no matter what they tell me.
Truthfully, everything you see on the blackboard will not inspire you to write into Gourmet Magazine. After a time you will notice items there that are present every day. Spinach & Cheese Omelet again! That said, when you do not see it on the blackboard you should know you do not want to order it today. Spinach has a shelf life and I can only keep so much of it around. When one is forced to constantly keep an item on hand simply because it is printed on a menu, inevitably yucky, wet, black spinach is the result. I don’t think anyone wants that.
Check the blackboard. Whatever I write up there is not a throw away dish. There is something about it that gives it credibility and most times it might just be a one of a kind treat that I can’t make again, even if I try. Get it while it is hot people.

No comments:

Post a Comment