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Ordering off the menu

post #1 of 25
8/25/07 at 6:37pm
Thread Starter 
Anyone here make a practice of this? Anyone with restaurant experience can you share your view on this? I'm wondering if it's just an easy excuse for the chef to spit in your food or if it's considered a nod to the chef's talents that your requesting him to cook something off the menu.

Sometimes at places I'm familiar with, I'll ask for steak tartare or my girlfriend will ask for a certain type of salad (she wants vegetables and pickles, not mounds of lettuce).

Anyone have any good or bad experiences with this?
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post #2 of 25
8/25/07 at 6:51pm
I think its obnoxious, I suppose you can do it if you know the cook staff personally. Otherwise, why wouldn't you just go somewhere else which serves the food you want?
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post #3 of 25
8/25/07 at 8:30pm
Apparently years back in 'better' restaurants that were known for their cooks, it was not out of the ordinary to ask for a dish not on the menu, assuming it was in the style of the restaurant. The cooks were the backbone of the restaurant, and you were paying for the cook's artistic palate, not just the restaurant's predesigned meals. I can't say that I've seen one restaurant recently, though, where this would be an acceptable practice.
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post #4 of 25
8/25/07 at 9:12pm
As I understand it every additional item on the menu makes a restaurant much more expensive to run, plus I think they have a fairly thought out system going in most kitchens that doesn't really allow for special orders like that, so I imagine it's quite frowned upon. I don't think I've ever done it except to attempt it for some items that were once on a place's menu but had been removed.
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post #5 of 25
8/25/07 at 9:33pm
In a regular style restaurant I have never ordered anything off the menu out of the blue. Once you become a regular and know the chef or owner, they will typically recommend or offer off the menu items.
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post #6 of 25
8/25/07 at 10:29pm
+1. Chinese restaurants in particular will tell you of something good they got in the market today, with a range of ways they could prepare it. It's often far more interesting than the bog-standard Cantonese menu.
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post #7 of 25
8/25/07 at 10:49pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by California Dreamer View Post
+1. Chinese restaurants in particular will tell you of something good they got in the market today, with a range of ways they could prepare it. It's often far more interesting than the bog-standard Cantonese menu.

+1. At the Chinese restaurant that my friends and I visit regularly in Boston, we almost always order off the menu. These are usually items that the waiters recommend to the regulars that they've seen week in, week out, or something that's in season that they just got in.
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post #8 of 25
8/26/07 at 7:02pm
There was an article about a gent who would go to Tony's (a rather po$h and ritzy place) and order chicken fried steak. Which, I might add, was not on the menu, despite the location (Houston TX). He kept coming back so it must have been okay. They kept taking his reservation, so he must have had money.
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post #9 of 25
8/27/07 at 7:22pm
Thread Starter 
So my idea to go to a restaurant in Paris and ask the chef to create a full course dinner around a 12$ bottle of Californian wine sounds even more fun in light of your opinions. Thank you all
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post #10 of 25
8/27/07 at 8:00pm
this reminds me of the scene in the movie Big Night , where the american lady asks for a side of spaghetti with her seafood risotto and the chef brother was enraged at the thought of it. haha
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post #11 of 25
8/27/07 at 8:05pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by DarkNWorn View Post
+1. At the Chinese restaurant that my friends and I visit regularly in Boston, we almost always order off the menu. These are usually items that the waiters recommend to the regulars that they've seen week in, week out, or something that's in season that they just got in.
Another thing about chinese restauraunts; I just don't know how they manage to often have over 50 different items (sometimes nearly 100!) on their menu's when conventional european/north american restauraunts only offer 15-20 different dishes.
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post #12 of 25
8/27/07 at 8:05pm
It differs depending on the region the food comes from. At Japanese restaurants I regularly order things off the menu, because they usually still make them but they aren't popular among Americans, or it's temporary and thus not on the menu. For example I'd say only... 1/5 of the Japanese restaurants will have Chirashi listed on the menu, but 100% of them if you ask for it they'll make it. Ahhh, +1 DarkNWorn. Chinese is the same way. Japanese restaurants do tend to have flyers or chalkboards that have specials.
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post #13 of 25
8/27/07 at 8:06pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by sonick View Post
Another thing about chinese restauraunts; I just don't know how they manage to often have over 50 different items (sometimes nearly 100!) on their menu's when conventional european/north american restauraunts only offer 15-20 different dishes.

Vietnamese is the same way. Saigon Restaurant in San Diego has 200 dishes on their menu.
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post #14 of 25
8/28/07 at 10:26am
If you're a regular, you can occasionally ask for a favor from the kitchen. Don't abyse their goodwill. Also, as others have said, regular customers are often offered special items.

The other case is special needs. For example, many high end restaurants have a a vegetarian plate that's not on the menu. It's usually a selection of vegetable sides and a few extras from the kitchen. In my experience, it's often one of the best dishes in the house.
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post #15 of 25
8/28/07 at 11:16am
The only times I order off the menu is when I had a great daily special in the past and I ask if it's possible to have it again (although it's not one of the day's special)
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