Chef secrets...spilled!

Are you doing more corner-cutting now because of the economy?
More than half of our chefs are switching to lower-cost items (“using cheaper proteins that need more doctoring”), limiting menu items (“no more white truffles”), and trimming employees and overtime (“cutting staff, but never corners”).

What’s the No. 1 reason a dish gets sent back to the kitchen?
“Because some asshole orders something medium-rare and they really want it medium; they are just too stupid to know the difference,” spat one grudge-bearing toque. A whopping 57% agreed. “Also, just to get it straight, there is no temperature between rare and medium-rare.”

Which publication’s reviews do you think are on the money?
Frank Bruni’s New York Times reviews were considered “generally fair,” although one chef reminded us that Bruni “has a strange relationship with Italian restaurants.” Time Out New York “does a nice job that encapsulates the whole experience,” and New York magazine got a shout-out too: “Adam Platt’s okay.”

Which publication’s reviews do you think are truly terrible?
“Restaurant Girl from the Daily News makes me want to stick a fork in my eye.” Equally egregious were the Post—slammed for “not giving a chance to the little guys”—and New York: “Adam Platt can’t write, and we’re so sick of his wife’s opinion shtick.” Time Out New York, we heard, “sucks too.”

Name one ingredient in your kitchen you wouldn’t want to admit to using:

• Canned pumpkin
• Marshmallow Fluff
• Chopped meat from SYSCO instead of Pat LaFrieda
• “Sometimes I use gelatins in sorbets.”
• Hellmann’s mayo
• “I like Major Grey mango chutney better than my own.”
• Canned chickpeas
• Red food coloring
• Ketchup

Have you ever nailed a hostess (or other FOH staffer)? On the bar?
50% said YES to the sex
(and 69% of those horn dogs did it on the bar)
A chef writes in: “I was psyched about filling out the questionnaire until I got to the ‘nailing the hostess’ part. First of all, this question presumes the person completing the survey is a man, and second, it insinuates that the hostess is some kind of bimbette that can be pounded. (I don’t see you asking if you’ve ever blown a busboy in the dish room.)”*
*Any chefs who have blown busboys in the dish room, please tell us about it

NEXT: Name one restaurant that should have closed by now.»

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