Food Presentation

If you plan on eating at a restaurant anytime in the future, or working at one, I have tips on how your plate should look.

First off, stop putting stuff on the rim of the bowl or plate. The rim should be 100% clean. No fingerprints. No oils. No herbs. No sauces. I don't care what the dish is, the entire rim should be clean. It is no longer the 90's, stop sprinkling parsley all over the rim of my plate. Its tacky and messy looking.

Unless you ordered cold food, such as a cold soup or salad, all of your food should be piping hot. This means it was just made, not sitting around waiting for someone to order it.

Every single bite of food should be fresh. I know chain restaurants have to have their stuff shipped in frozen to maintain a "standard", but it doesn't mean it should taste like it was heated up in a microwave. The perfect example is Olive Garden. Have you had their bread sticks? They taste the EXACT same as the Great Value frozen garlic bread sticks at Walmart. Only saltier. Someone needs to take away their garlic salt. Seriously. No one likes that nasty crap. Garlic is cheap, people. Chop some up, put it and REAL butter in a pot and let them meld together on a low heat. Then brush the butter on the bread. The flavor is so much better!

Meat should be juicy. Marbling on a steak is fantastic! Hunks of fat are disgusting. All fat should be trimmed from chicken. Chicken fat is some of the nastiest shit you could get. No one wants that. Hell, no one wants fat surrounding their meat. No matter what meat I order, if I have to cut fat off the outside of it just to get to the actual meat, you can bet I won't eat it.

Vegetables should not be mushy. Green vegetables should not be that weird Army green. This means they were over cooked. This means they have little to no dietary benefit. This means they should be sent back.

I know a lot of people that won't send back food for fear of what the server or cook will do to it. When you walk into any dining establishment, there should be a Health Code grade displayed. If its hidden somewhere to the point that you can't immediately see it, walk out. If the score is below an 85, walk out. If you don't see a "ServSafe Certification" sign anywhere, walk out. I am ServeSafe certified. This means I know at what temperature foods should be held before, during and after being cooked. I know what diseases are contracted from what foods. I know to what temperature every food should be cooked to to properly kill bacteria (I completely ignore it when I order my rare steak!). I also know proper cleaning and sanitizing procedures, not only for me but also for foods, food preparation surfaces, floors, dishes, cookware,  ranges, grills, friers, ovens, hoods, ect. That means I know how to keep a standard to prevent food poisoning.

Is your waitress/waiter smacking gum, taking a long time to get to you, or have an attitude or keeps chatting with coworkers/patrons with complete disreguard for their customers? Then they may do something to your food because they don't care about their job.

Do you see other tables sending back food? Then you probably won't be happy with yours either. Its usually a sign of cooks that also don't care about the quality of the food they're putting out.

There is a huge difference between a cook and a chef. Don't let titles fool you. A chef is passionate about the products they produce and will do everything in their power to make you happy. A cook, even if they have culinary training, doesn't give a damn. And it won't take long to see the difference.

One last thing. Stop going to all of those chain places. Look for a hole in the wall spot. They are usually producing some of the best foods you've ever had. If you see a place you'd like to try, look them up online. If they have fewer than 3 restaurants, check out their reviews. Then try them for yourself. Sometimes they're amazing and you wonder why you never tried them before. Sometimes you wonder how the hell they're still open! I've had both experiences. And one of those places is one of my absolute favorites! The one where I had THE WORST SERVICE AND FOOD OF ALL TIME, they are now out of business. They were also left the tip "Your "chef" should learn to cook"