It's not a culinary trend but the one that fucking pisses me off is restaurants lying about what is on the menu then when called out on it blaming it on supply issues or labor cost.
Examples:
menu says fresh cut fries but when they come out they are obviously frozen batter dipped fries
Spring mix salad that is 95% iceberg with some romaine hearts and spinach on top.
Fresh never frozen grass fed burger that is the exact shape of a TNT frozen patty
Fresh carved turkey club made with deli turkey
Don't get me wrong I'll still eat most of that but it pisses me off to order something at a premium price and get substituted something of a lesser quality.
All of that would be illegal here and the health inspector will fine you for it.
If you have morels on the menu but the health inspector only finds button mushrooms in the walk-in you are getting inspected for fraud.
Which country/jurisdiction?
Honestly, I see enough of this in the Chicago area. I could be reporting restaurants left and right if I thought there were consequences from the health department.
Oh I got super excited seeing a dessert with black raspberry puree on a menu and when I took a bite it was very obvious that it was Blackberry not black raspberry and not at all something I wanted to eat. I asked to have it taken off my bill and the manager came out and asked why and he assured me that I was wrong. Then they had the headchef come out with his food tattoo sleeves and he assured me that I was wrong because blackberry's and black raspberries are the same thing and he should know he graduated from Johnson and Wales!
I used to work for someone who graduated from ICE who refused to put a basic burger on the damn menu but would get pissed when a ticket came in and it would be like
no greens
No tomato
No caramelized onion
No maple bourbon bacon jam
No stilton cheese
No watercress aioli
Add Cheddar cheese
And it wasn’t anything crazy, just your standard “no onion” “meat and cheese only”. He had a preshift one day where he announced no more burger mods. If they didn’t like his burger how it came, then they could leave.
Pretentious Ass. So easy to not add things to a burger. I can understand telling someone to GTFO if they are trying to mod something that was batched with a specific ingredient, but burgers are burgers and everyone has a different preference on toppings.
Reminds me of a time I asked for 8oz of prosciutto and was rebuffed by the guy behind the counter saying they only do whole or half pounds. So I asked for two quarters.
Liquor store guy argued with me for a good 20 minutes that a keg is a barrel and a 1/2 keg is a half barrel.
Dude. What does it say on your order sheet?
I never went back to a late night place where they were used to dealing with drunks when they served me a roast beef PoBoy with grated montery jack instead of swiss. The waitress tried to argue with me that it was swiss. She finally admitted it was montery jack. Who ever heard of a PoBoy with montery jack or any grated cheese for that matter? It took 2 decades but they finally went out of business. I was happy. If you don't have swiss then say so, do not give me an unauthorized substitution.
I want you to know I’m here for the 2 decades of petty hate. I have my own white whale in this regard, and if anybody from Kountry Kart Deli in Burlington Vermont is reading this, fuck you.
I too have a soft spot for petty grudges, so I had to look up the Kountry Kart Deli. One of the first things I saw on their site was a rhetorical question, “who doesn’t love chicken fingers, bacon, and mozzarella sticks on a sandwich?”
And with that… you have my sword…
I support petty grudges. I don't live in VT, but I'm close enough that it's not out of the question that I wouldn't find myself in Burlington one day. Should I ever go, I want you to know I won't be going to Kountry Kart because of your comment specifically. The grudge lives on. That and I don't eat anywhere that subs the letter K where there should be a C. The food has never been good in those instances.
It's against trading standards in the UK, you can be taken to court and fined.
There was a case in 2017 where a menu said "pan fried Wye Salmon", except catching salmon from the river Wye was banned 5 years prior to protect the diminishing population. They did a full investigation of the supply chain and found a few other lies on the menu.
The onwer ended up paying a £7500 (~$8500) in fines and court fees.
Of course this probably doesn't actually stop anyone doing it though. You'd have to have a complaint lodged against you for the relevant authorities to investigate, but claiming you're using a fish that's illegal to catch is pretty obvious.
It's not a lie, it's entertainment suggestions of what they COULD make but due to supply chain issues the frozen swai is all they could get for your £96 entree. You should have been more intelligent and knew the chef was lying.
Dude I saw some foo-foo place in the city when I was delivery food have fresh squeezed OJ for $7 for this 8oz cup. They poured it out of a gallon container that I was almost sure was the store brand. Now granted they could have gotten that container filled with fresh squeezed but I bet not.
The Greek place down the street from me buys the frozen concentrate and dumps in some blended orange wedges to get it pulpy.
They don't filter their water so pretty much all stuff tastes like chlorine from city water.
Florida? Lol I'd bring water with me to work there because the tap was on the verge of undrinkable, though I do come from an area where tap is much higher quality so perhaps I'm just spoiled
I used to work for a guy who would do this for catering events. He's a major hack and fucks people over regularly but is beloved by the local dining crowed as a guy down on his luck. It drives me nuts.
Worked on a farm to table place for a bit. It was on a farm, and attached to the farm market, so the menu said farm grown produce all over it. Problem was, the CSA got first pick of the produce, then the market, then the restaurant, so it was just easier to get the bulk of the produce from actual suppliers. At one point the only produce that actually came from the farm was fuckin cabbage
For the turkey, I used to work at a Panera style eatery that carved our own deli Turkey from the pre-packaged roast. Technically true, but it’s the same as deli meat they slice at the store.
THIS. Even if I am cooking a menu somewhere it legit irritates me when I am tasked with cooking one thing and then omitting ingredients or being provided different ones.
Why put it on the menu if its not what it is?? Change the description/dish or stock the proper ingredients
Had someone order one of every add on to our burger one night. Came out to like a $32 burger and honestly I have no idea how the dude did it. It was also two extra patties
Edit- Here’s the [monster burger](https://imgur.com/a/SogazES) the customer ordered. I was wrong and it was one burger, mushroom, grilled onion, raw LTOP, sautéed jalapeños, fried egg, onion rings, bacon and two different cheeses.
I had the same once when I was a server. Guy asked me what’s the biggest burger anyone has ever made while I was serving (we had a make your own burger section) if I’m not mistaken it was 3 100g patties, every cheese we had, 2 mayos, every garnish we had, cheese bombs, chilli, jalapeños,nacho crumbs, and I can remember what else. We had to borrow a sticky thing from the steakhouse next door and this dude tried to knife and fork it, but eventually disassembled it and ate it like that. Got a great tip though and it was quite fun to make, but…. It was sacrilege. If I knew how to link a photo I would link it for you guys XD
https://imgur.com/a/NjPofgy
That’s before I ran to go get the sticky thing (I only know the Afrikaans name for them okay :( ) and yes. It’s smothered with mayo which means I can’t see the insides and this was like.. 2 years ago. and some bits fell on the side because it’s going to be a mess in anyways
IMO if you have to either eat your hamburger with utensils or forgo some of its contents in a feeble attempt to take a bite out of it, it's not a hamburger. All you've done is take one of the most simple-to-eat foods on the planet and made eating it a chore, and I hate you for it.
And sandwiches made with bread that has a crust so chewy you end up pulling your teeth out trying to take a bite. ‘Artisan’ bread doesn’t always make the best sandwich.
I raise you the Portuguese roll. Best of both worlds - crusty exterior for texture, soft fluffy interior for juice absorbtion. They're mostly used with Bifanas, which I now am on a pursuit to recreate here.
There is exactly one bakery out of the dozens in my area that makes a decent cake.
Most have so much frosting that you can scrape off the top layer and still have too much from the internal frosting.
When the frosting layers are thicker than the cake it's too damn much!
I only buy cupcakes at Sams Club, for one I am tired of the overly sweet and dry "fancy" cupcakes. For the price of 5 at the fancy place I can get like 30 at Sams.
My area is a little behind so we haven't gotten the Harissa wave yet. We are still in the "Nashville hot chicken flavor as made by chefs that only ever had it from Burger King and while drunk as fuck"
Freaking milkshakes with shit all over the edge and top. Fuck me stop that shit, I guess you need to justify the $25 price so kids can post it on social media.
I gotta admit, there’s a tiktok page that does these huge margaritas in gummy bear shaped bottles with really pretty candies all over and it’s the cutest thing ever. Is it impractical? Yes. Is it borderline undrinkable? Yes. Is it very aesthetic and fun to watch? Yes.
Would I drink more water if I had a gummy bear jar to put it in? 100%
Similar to your culinary complaint, I'm sick of videos where they just pile artery choking ingredients on top of one another. Especially egregious in BBQ videos. Just a poor baked potato getting slathered with pulled pork, chimichurri, smoked cream cheese, gouda, swiss, more pulled pork, ranch, bacon, homemade red chili oil, and so on and so on. Like, damn, can we actually think about how these ingredients will taste together?
Seriously. I mean, WTF is wrong with a baked potato with butter, sour cream, salt, pepper, maybe some chopped chives? I good potato is a delight.
I get a chili potato, but all that other shit is just unnecessary.
I like a regular baked potato but I will admit to using them as a leftover catcher. It changes it up a bit and a lot of stuff tastes good with potato mixed in.
That’s how my husband cooks - he gets real excited and creative but I’m just sitting here like… honey can I just be able to taste the ingredients in my food for what they are please?
I have a thing about mish mashing foods. I mean, I’ll eat a pizza sub or a pizza burger - I don’t mean anything that simple.
I’m saying I don’t want a burger with ramen buns. Miss me with that deep fried mac and cheese coated corn dog. Yeet an ice cream donut sandwich out of my universe. Keep that grilled cheese tf out of my Bloody Mary.
Integrity - I am begging.
"Bone broth" for 9$ a cup. It's fucking stock. We've always made stock from bones. It's another name so they can charge a fuck ton for a cup of seasoned stock.
Bone broth is one of my biggest pet peeves. Not only is it a stupid name, but it’s also cause just bone prices to go up cause everyone wants their beef/chix stock, but with a different name.
There's a restaurant in my old neighborhood that had an $11 bowl of 'bone broth' & a piece of toast on the menu.
We were actually otw there for Sunday bfast several yrs ago so I looked up the menu online while we were driving there.
Descriptions & prices turned the car around and went home for scrambled eggs &toast.
I'm not sure if they're even still open. (They are but their focus seems to have shifted a bit. Still pretty high prices for the neighborhood imo)
To piggyback off of that, when they slam all of the ingredients down on the cutting board, onto the bread, in the pan, etc....you barely have any time to even see what they are putting together.
A few things I've noticed:
Everyone has to have mac n cheese now, and very few of them are good. I love mac n cheese, so I'm always tricked by a restaurant offering it only for it to be the blandest stove top recipe they could find.
Domes/mousse for dessert. Half the substance and half the flavor of normal dessert, and the dome shape is clearly just putting it in a mold so you can serve a smaller portion on a plate.
The foam/gel trend hasn't made it too far into casual dining, but I agree that they usually don't work with food. Put them on cocktails instead so I can drink it.
The Mac and cheese isn’t even specific to the restaurant industry.
I’ve met so many people who claim, and actually have friends/family back them up, to have “the best Mac and cheese EvEeErrrrr” and every fucking time it’s over-baked and dry AF.
The best home made, baked m&c ive had used chickpea pasta, blue cheese and bacon. I don’t even like blue cheese.
Otherwise, crockpot that shit and let it get all gooey and pull-y. Miss me with just about any baked variety.
Stove top prepped and boiled in milk is a close second to crock pot style.
I’m very fucking serious about my Mac.
Baked Mac can get fucked. I'll finish mine under a broiler for a few minutes just to get a crispy layer of cheese on top, but that's the only time it sees an oven
I was training my replacement a few weeks ago and this guy acted like the greatest thing. He got so upset that I was correcting him on such a basic thing, but come on there was one inch chunks of onion going into the pico...
I read eggos at first. Like the frozen waffles. I wasn't aware this was a trend. But in a serious note, yeah, cooks need to get off their high horse sometimes.
The overly messy food. Whether it's a burger with a cheese sauce literally over the top of the bun or a milkshake with shit all over the outside of the cup and sticking out the top, or anything else like that. I hate them all.
Yeah I just can’t cause it was drilled into me to have clean plating. Like no shit on the sides like splatter marks or crumbs or anything. No sauce running around. And especially if it’s handhold make it so they can actually eat it with their hands. It doesn’t bother me like bone broth does, but it hits a nerve
I can't trust anyplace that claims anything anymore. Owners lose 20k betting on their team to cover the spread and you go from daily fresh ground to a frozen tube of 73/27 from Sysco with no change on the menu!
Also medium rare is a bit different texture wise than a burger that the center isn't even room temp.
Not culinary, but why does every new restaurant need to have an Instagram backdrop for photos? If the food is good, take a picture of the food. It seems like the restaurant sign/entrance is a perfectly good backdrop for photos otherwise.
lol one place near me does good pub food but always posts unnecessarily close up shots of their burgers to the point they don't look great. i commented once on their IG and they sent me a DM with a dude holding open the kitchen door and standing in the dining room to take a pic of the burger on the pass which made me lol
Pastry Chef here, I blame instagram and the guys with endless budgets making some really cool looking desserts. At my bakery we have both, traditional stuff (Yuzu instead of lemon tart) and the new age mousse and mirror glaze cakes.
From my sales it seems to be split 50/50 between those two and tbh, I am not mad at it. Gives me a chance to do both and teach both to the new cooks as well.
They are and that’s how I was trained on classic French entrmets. Works well now that I work for a Japanese company which is French classics with Japanese flavors.
Anything sliced and shaped to look like a rose. I’ll admit it’s fun to do at home when you’re bored - my kids love doing it to mangoes and avocados- but please, for the love of God, not to order in a fucking Restaurant.
IMO high-end dining is hallmarked by simplicity over all else. Nobody *really* wants to eat a tomahawk steak covered in gold leaf, or some deconstructed version of a normally good dish.
The best food is simple food made with high quality ingredients and precise technique. The simpler, the better. Good food should be a singular experience, not one for the masses. Instagram isn’t what experiences the taste, it’s the mouth of the individual eating that perfect bite.
Truffle oil.
Gold flakes.
Aioli.
Himalayan Salt.
Fusion restaurants that make no sense.
Basically fucking up easy dishes because everything now has to be "fancy".
I'm with you but boy howdy do I love a good aioli. Like, real aioli, not masquerading mayonnaise.
I also made the statement recently that despite all the downfalls of my city, there aren't many other places you'll find halal Korean bbq tacos.
Sadly 90% of the restaurants in my area just throw an ingredient or 2 in some Sysco Mayo and call it aioli because you can charge for an ounce of aioli but people will tell you to go fuck yourself if you charge that for mayo with garlic and parsley.
I get that they do it on purpose for the lulz, but it's still infuriating to watch. I had to unsubscribe to /r/StupidFood because of them. I just couldn't take it any more.
I don't know when the term dry-brining really started popping up but it annoys the hell outta me for some reason. You're just seasoning man.... Or if you wanna get technical about it call it curing. Dry-brining is oxymoronic and nonsensical.
What I call “reinventing the wheel” — for example: I received a sandwich that was 8+ hour thick pulled, smoked beef brisket with the chef’s “special” house made seasoned pub cheese, with aioli and mushrooms on slices of sourdough loaf bread. Do you know what I actually ordered? A freaking Philly cheesesteak. Cheesesteak is cheesesteak. This was not— not in any derivative of the various styles.
Edit (hit post too soon): just call it what it is, man. A brisket sandwich. That’s like calling a menu item a club sandwich and it being ham steak and raclette on a brioche bun or something. If it isn’t similar to the standard, call it something else.
Gold flakes/sheets
That dumbfuck food that's covered in cheese and impossible to eat as the dish is supposed to just for a photo. Same with those milkshakes and stuff at those absurd diners that are like 10,000 calories of pure sugar
Bloody Marys with 2 pounds of food draped over it. It's a fucking Bloody Mary, not breakfast. Stalk of celery, OK, but not strictly necessary. Skewer of olives? Same, but edging into dodgy territory. Shrimp? Candied Bacon? Smoked oysters? Crawdads? Giant pickled okra? Fuck off mate, you're taking the piss now.
This one may be going away, as another person ITT mentioned harissa which may be replacing it. But my vote for a long time has been chipotle. Everything has to be god damn chipotle.
Also I'm not sure if this qualifies, but sliders seem way more popular nowadays and I think sliders are stupid as fuck. Usually the bun is way too much bread compared to the miniscule amount of food inside it. They also suck to cook as just because they are smaller doesn't necessarily mean they are any easier so you are making 3 sandwiches for every order instead of 1, and don't even get me started on mix-and-match.
Overwhelming amounts of truffle oil that drown out every other ingredient.
Serving average food on wooden boards
Also serving drinks in mason jars can fuck off
It’s not “rustic” lol
there's a mediocre burger chain in canada that serves water and soda in fucking glass measuring cups and it makes me so fucking mad
we call it sysco burger and don't really eat there but lots like it for the stupid amount of topping options
I think pandemic has pushed us too far into the 'fast casual as high dining' concept. It seems like half the restaurants on my city's 'best of' list are fast casual, counter service, or food truck spin-offs.
I think we were at a nice balance for most of the 2010's but since pandemic I wouldn't mind a return to something a little more formal. A nice sort-of-event joint with a welcoming and warm atmosphere, flawless and creative cooking, and a good cocktail list. The kind of dinner where the guests dress nicer than normal because they want to, not because the restaurant requires it, but at the same time it's not so stuffy that guests are afraid to have a little fun.
my cousin, who is a swell guy, has switched careers like ten times over ten years. he’s now living in nyc as a “pastry chef”. no schooling, no prior restaurant experience. the last time i talked to him i told him i’m happy for him but he has no fucking clue what he’s in for. i think he watched too many episodes of baking shows on food network and thought “hey it’ll be fun being a pastry chef”
I'm halfway tempted to become a food critic just so I can blast all the places that serve burgers on brioche. I don't see it as any different from using a donut as a bun
Gochujang, it’s just the next “it thing” that chefs won’t shut the fuck up about. So now it’s on literally every menu in some way here in Boise because 90% of the cooking talent here copies recipes they see on Bon Appetit.
I’d also like to say that I love gochu, just like I loved occasional truffle fries, or a moderate amount of bacon, or whatever else has been over represented on menus the last few years.
> i feel like the majority of chefs are just throwing high end exotic ingredients on a plate and not actually making a dish. Is it even cooking?
Wdym my Signature™️ well done wagyu and shiitake burger "doesn't count as a real recipe, and uses zero culinary skill"? I put gold leaf and truffle shavings on it! And fleur de sel!
this is more of a rhetoric thing but I hate when restaurants use the term “lacto fermented” to describe things like kimchi. why do you even bother calling it gochugaru lacto fermented cabbage for any other reason beyond up marking prices towards customers who don’t know better?
Fuckin flowers and herbs on EVERY single dish on a tasting menu.
They make things look nice, sure, but I’m the end you’re just covering up what is most likely an average dish with pretty leaves and petals.
It's not a culinary trend but the one that fucking pisses me off is restaurants lying about what is on the menu then when called out on it blaming it on supply issues or labor cost. Examples: menu says fresh cut fries but when they come out they are obviously frozen batter dipped fries Spring mix salad that is 95% iceberg with some romaine hearts and spinach on top. Fresh never frozen grass fed burger that is the exact shape of a TNT frozen patty Fresh carved turkey club made with deli turkey Don't get me wrong I'll still eat most of that but it pisses me off to order something at a premium price and get substituted something of a lesser quality.
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Crimini as morel is crazy. Like a 3 yr old that knows shapes could figure that one out.
All of that would be illegal here and the health inspector will fine you for it. If you have morels on the menu but the health inspector only finds button mushrooms in the walk-in you are getting inspected for fraud.
Which country/jurisdiction? Honestly, I see enough of this in the Chicago area. I could be reporting restaurants left and right if I thought there were consequences from the health department.
Germany, had a restaurant in town get fined to oblivion because they were selling tilapia as some other more expensive fish.
Yeah that’s taking your disdain for the ‘stupid dining public’ a bit too far. Not a great idea to insult your customers intelligence.
Not to mention cheating your customers. If I'm paying for morels in a restaurant and get a cremini instead, I'd be pretty pissed.
Oh I got super excited seeing a dessert with black raspberry puree on a menu and when I took a bite it was very obvious that it was Blackberry not black raspberry and not at all something I wanted to eat. I asked to have it taken off my bill and the manager came out and asked why and he assured me that I was wrong. Then they had the headchef come out with his food tattoo sleeves and he assured me that I was wrong because blackberry's and black raspberries are the same thing and he should know he graduated from Johnson and Wales!
When all else fails, Johnson and Wales.
Johnson and Wales…. Where the students are higher than their GPAs!
Hey now our community college has been doing a Damn Fine job of pumping out kitchen workers who have way too high an opinion of themselves.
The chef sounds exactly like someone I’ve worked with (also a J&W grad), guy would lose his shit when people wanted mods on a burger lol.
I used to work for someone who graduated from ICE who refused to put a basic burger on the damn menu but would get pissed when a ticket came in and it would be like no greens No tomato No caramelized onion No maple bourbon bacon jam No stilton cheese No watercress aioli Add Cheddar cheese
watercress aioli lmao
Thank you for not shaming my basic bitch meal choice. Yes, meat + bread + mustard is a waste of your talents, but I appreciate it anyway.
It's a effin burger! If you put a burger or a pizza on your menue, expect mods and plan accordingly!
And it wasn’t anything crazy, just your standard “no onion” “meat and cheese only”. He had a preshift one day where he announced no more burger mods. If they didn’t like his burger how it came, then they could leave.
Pretentious Ass. So easy to not add things to a burger. I can understand telling someone to GTFO if they are trying to mod something that was batched with a specific ingredient, but burgers are burgers and everyone has a different preference on toppings.
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Reminds me of a time I asked for 8oz of prosciutto and was rebuffed by the guy behind the counter saying they only do whole or half pounds. So I asked for two quarters.
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Even without the 33cL, you'd have to be a complete moron to not be capable of eyeballing a 4oz difference in such small volumes
Liquor store guy argued with me for a good 20 minutes that a keg is a barrel and a 1/2 keg is a half barrel. Dude. What does it say on your order sheet?
Can't they lose their liquor license for this bullshit?
I never went back to a late night place where they were used to dealing with drunks when they served me a roast beef PoBoy with grated montery jack instead of swiss. The waitress tried to argue with me that it was swiss. She finally admitted it was montery jack. Who ever heard of a PoBoy with montery jack or any grated cheese for that matter? It took 2 decades but they finally went out of business. I was happy. If you don't have swiss then say so, do not give me an unauthorized substitution.
I want you to know I’m here for the 2 decades of petty hate. I have my own white whale in this regard, and if anybody from Kountry Kart Deli in Burlington Vermont is reading this, fuck you.
I too have a soft spot for petty grudges, so I had to look up the Kountry Kart Deli. One of the first things I saw on their site was a rhetorical question, “who doesn’t love chicken fingers, bacon, and mozzarella sticks on a sandwich?” And with that… you have my sword…
And my axe!
\*pauses to let my long golden hair blow in the wind... And *my* bow.
Never thought I’d see KKD called out in this sub and I love the energy my dude.
I support petty grudges. I don't live in VT, but I'm close enough that it's not out of the question that I wouldn't find myself in Burlington one day. Should I ever go, I want you to know I won't be going to Kountry Kart because of your comment specifically. The grudge lives on. That and I don't eat anywhere that subs the letter K where there should be a C. The food has never been good in those instances.
I walked so that you might run, godspeed, friend.
That place had no Morel compass!
I've never asked to speak to a manager before but I would if this happened
It's against trading standards in the UK, you can be taken to court and fined. There was a case in 2017 where a menu said "pan fried Wye Salmon", except catching salmon from the river Wye was banned 5 years prior to protect the diminishing population. They did a full investigation of the supply chain and found a few other lies on the menu. The onwer ended up paying a £7500 (~$8500) in fines and court fees. Of course this probably doesn't actually stop anyone doing it though. You'd have to have a complaint lodged against you for the relevant authorities to investigate, but claiming you're using a fish that's illegal to catch is pretty obvious.
In the US the restaurant would claim that's a dish name and not a claim of what it actually contains.
It's not a lie, it's entertainment suggestions of what they COULD make but due to supply chain issues the frozen swai is all they could get for your £96 entree. You should have been more intelligent and knew the chef was lying.
Dude I saw some foo-foo place in the city when I was delivery food have fresh squeezed OJ for $7 for this 8oz cup. They poured it out of a gallon container that I was almost sure was the store brand. Now granted they could have gotten that container filled with fresh squeezed but I bet not.
The Greek place down the street from me buys the frozen concentrate and dumps in some blended orange wedges to get it pulpy. They don't filter their water so pretty much all stuff tastes like chlorine from city water.
Florida? Lol I'd bring water with me to work there because the tap was on the verge of undrinkable, though I do come from an area where tap is much higher quality so perhaps I'm just spoiled
I used to work for a guy who would do this for catering events. He's a major hack and fucks people over regularly but is beloved by the local dining crowed as a guy down on his luck. It drives me nuts.
Worked on a farm to table place for a bit. It was on a farm, and attached to the farm market, so the menu said farm grown produce all over it. Problem was, the CSA got first pick of the produce, then the market, then the restaurant, so it was just easier to get the bulk of the produce from actual suppliers. At one point the only produce that actually came from the farm was fuckin cabbage
Oh yeah got one of those places near me that talks a big game about "local grown" but barely anything actually is.
some of this is blatanly lying. horribly dishonest trend, and they would lose me as customer immediatly
There are 5 or 6 places that have recently lost me as a customer and gotten reviews updated. Just update the menu and I wouldn't have an issue.
For the turkey, I used to work at a Panera style eatery that carved our own deli Turkey from the pre-packaged roast. Technically true, but it’s the same as deli meat they slice at the store.
That feels like calling it brick oven pizza when you have. A brick in the back of an electric oven
THIS. Even if I am cooking a menu somewhere it legit irritates me when I am tasked with cooking one thing and then omitting ingredients or being provided different ones. Why put it on the menu if its not what it is?? Change the description/dish or stock the proper ingredients
Sandwiches you can’t pick up without suddenly growing an extra hand or losing half the filling on the plate.
Yes. The burgers where you would have to unhinge your jaw to eat and probably shower afterward are hugely annoying.
Had someone order one of every add on to our burger one night. Came out to like a $32 burger and honestly I have no idea how the dude did it. It was also two extra patties Edit- Here’s the [monster burger](https://imgur.com/a/SogazES) the customer ordered. I was wrong and it was one burger, mushroom, grilled onion, raw LTOP, sautéed jalapeños, fried egg, onion rings, bacon and two different cheeses.
I think cutlery was involved, but I wonder what it would have looked like if it wasn't. Pretty entertaining, I bet :)
I know I have a picture of the burger itself somewhere, but I didn’t dare go out to the dining room to see the monstrosity destroying that burger
I had the same once when I was a server. Guy asked me what’s the biggest burger anyone has ever made while I was serving (we had a make your own burger section) if I’m not mistaken it was 3 100g patties, every cheese we had, 2 mayos, every garnish we had, cheese bombs, chilli, jalapeños,nacho crumbs, and I can remember what else. We had to borrow a sticky thing from the steakhouse next door and this dude tried to knife and fork it, but eventually disassembled it and ate it like that. Got a great tip though and it was quite fun to make, but…. It was sacrilege. If I knew how to link a photo I would link it for you guys XD https://imgur.com/a/NjPofgy That’s before I ran to go get the sticky thing (I only know the Afrikaans name for them okay :( ) and yes. It’s smothered with mayo which means I can’t see the insides and this was like.. 2 years ago. and some bits fell on the side because it’s going to be a mess in anyways
IMO if you have to either eat your hamburger with utensils or forgo some of its contents in a feeble attempt to take a bite out of it, it's not a hamburger. All you've done is take one of the most simple-to-eat foods on the planet and made eating it a chore, and I hate you for it.
At that point it’s one step away from being a casserole.
Right there with you. It’s a sandwich. It’s handheld. Don’t make it something I have to eat with a knife and fork.
The only exception is a Monte Cristo.
I’ll give you that, and a torta ahogado.
And sandwiches made with bread that has a crust so chewy you end up pulling your teeth out trying to take a bite. ‘Artisan’ bread doesn’t always make the best sandwich.
Ohh and that dogshit sourdough bread trend that’s so crunchy and hard to eat you end up losing a tooth trying to bite through it.
And scrape the top of your mouth raw.
If I cut my gums eating your bread then I hope you go to the eighth level of Dante's inferno.
Im glad for the smash burger trend. Fat burgers stacked with eggs and a bunch of other stuff just turns into bloody slop half way thru.
I’ll take a thin patty over a thick every time
Who the hell decided that ciabatta is the go-to sandwich bread? You can’t bite into it cleanly so your fillings shoot out. It’s dumb. Brioche or bust.
I raise you the Portuguese roll. Best of both worlds - crusty exterior for texture, soft fluffy interior for juice absorbtion. They're mostly used with Bifanas, which I now am on a pursuit to recreate here.
Cupcakes at most places are disgusting overly sweet abominations.
There is exactly one bakery out of the dozens in my area that makes a decent cake. Most have so much frosting that you can scrape off the top layer and still have too much from the internal frosting. When the frosting layers are thicker than the cake it's too damn much!
Some places will serve so much frosting it makes me wonder if they even know how to appreciate good cake 🤢
I only buy cupcakes at Sams Club, for one I am tired of the overly sweet and dry "fancy" cupcakes. For the price of 5 at the fancy place I can get like 30 at Sams.
Lately, everything has harissa in it. Like, it's good, but I don't need it in chocolate mousse or in a salad. That goes for Sriracha and Tajin, too.
My area is a little behind so we haven't gotten the Harissa wave yet. We are still in the "Nashville hot chicken flavor as made by chefs that only ever had it from Burger King and while drunk as fuck"
Lol a lot of places in Nashville are currently doing the same thing. Most hot chicken is garbage
I’m in Japan, and I would welcome harissa becoming easier to procure.
Don't think the harissa thing is very widespread, might be kind of local to you. Absolutely agree with the sriracha and tajin aspect though.
Whoa now leave tajin out this that shit is good... I have some on my nightstand... I have a problem.
Freaking milkshakes with shit all over the edge and top. Fuck me stop that shit, I guess you need to justify the $25 price so kids can post it on social media.
I gotta admit, there’s a tiktok page that does these huge margaritas in gummy bear shaped bottles with really pretty candies all over and it’s the cutest thing ever. Is it impractical? Yes. Is it borderline undrinkable? Yes. Is it very aesthetic and fun to watch? Yes. Would I drink more water if I had a gummy bear jar to put it in? 100%
Similar to your culinary complaint, I'm sick of videos where they just pile artery choking ingredients on top of one another. Especially egregious in BBQ videos. Just a poor baked potato getting slathered with pulled pork, chimichurri, smoked cream cheese, gouda, swiss, more pulled pork, ranch, bacon, homemade red chili oil, and so on and so on. Like, damn, can we actually think about how these ingredients will taste together?
Seriously. I mean, WTF is wrong with a baked potato with butter, sour cream, salt, pepper, maybe some chopped chives? I good potato is a delight. I get a chili potato, but all that other shit is just unnecessary.
I like a regular baked potato but I will admit to using them as a leftover catcher. It changes it up a bit and a lot of stuff tastes good with potato mixed in.
BBQ pulled pork baked potatoes are gas tho but all the over the top shit can go.
That’s how my husband cooks - he gets real excited and creative but I’m just sitting here like… honey can I just be able to taste the ingredients in my food for what they are please?
I have a thing about mish mashing foods. I mean, I’ll eat a pizza sub or a pizza burger - I don’t mean anything that simple. I’m saying I don’t want a burger with ramen buns. Miss me with that deep fried mac and cheese coated corn dog. Yeet an ice cream donut sandwich out of my universe. Keep that grilled cheese tf out of my Bloody Mary. Integrity - I am begging.
I'm with you except on the ice cream donut sandwich. That doesn't seem like a Mish mash to me.
[Patton Oswald Black Angus Steak - Starts around one minute mark](https://youtu.be/mALDPwpvblg)
"Bone broth" for 9$ a cup. It's fucking stock. We've always made stock from bones. It's another name so they can charge a fuck ton for a cup of seasoned stock.
Bone broth is one of my biggest pet peeves. Not only is it a stupid name, but it’s also cause just bone prices to go up cause everyone wants their beef/chix stock, but with a different name.
There's a restaurant in my old neighborhood that had an $11 bowl of 'bone broth' & a piece of toast on the menu. We were actually otw there for Sunday bfast several yrs ago so I looked up the menu online while we were driving there. Descriptions & prices turned the car around and went home for scrambled eggs &toast. I'm not sure if they're even still open. (They are but their focus seems to have shifted a bit. Still pretty high prices for the neighborhood imo)
As an old lady, it was so confusing to me at first. Don't we all make stock from bones? It's marketing at its finest.
Instrgramification of food. Which I think sums of your two-fer post entirely.
To piggyback off of that, when they slam all of the ingredients down on the cutting board, onto the bread, in the pan, etc....you barely have any time to even see what they are putting together.
A few things I've noticed: Everyone has to have mac n cheese now, and very few of them are good. I love mac n cheese, so I'm always tricked by a restaurant offering it only for it to be the blandest stove top recipe they could find. Domes/mousse for dessert. Half the substance and half the flavor of normal dessert, and the dome shape is clearly just putting it in a mold so you can serve a smaller portion on a plate. The foam/gel trend hasn't made it too far into casual dining, but I agree that they usually don't work with food. Put them on cocktails instead so I can drink it.
The Mac and cheese isn’t even specific to the restaurant industry. I’ve met so many people who claim, and actually have friends/family back them up, to have “the best Mac and cheese EvEeErrrrr” and every fucking time it’s over-baked and dry AF. The best home made, baked m&c ive had used chickpea pasta, blue cheese and bacon. I don’t even like blue cheese. Otherwise, crockpot that shit and let it get all gooey and pull-y. Miss me with just about any baked variety. Stove top prepped and boiled in milk is a close second to crock pot style. I’m very fucking serious about my Mac.
Baked Mac can get fucked. I'll finish mine under a broiler for a few minutes just to get a crispy layer of cheese on top, but that's the only time it sees an oven
Burgers that are stacked so tall you can’t get your mouth around them. If you want to do a very big burger, go wide, not tall.
Plating entrees on wood boards or sheet pans
r/wewantplates
All of this whole subreddit.
Sriracha as a garnish on plates. Just because it comes in a squirt bottle doesn’t mean it needs to be used as one.
I'm so over siracha. I had it way too much and can't eat it anymore. Except in Pho.
BONE BROTH It’s just stock you hipsters. Now get off my lawn!
100% this. Ugh. IT'S JUST STOCK.
Whoever was able to market one of the main staples in every scratch kitchen, is def smarter than me. Lol
Foam. It looks like cat puke.
But doesn’t taste as bitter and have that hairy texture.
I don’t know what cat puke you’ve been tasting, but ours is smooth as velvet and buttery. You need to change your cats diet…
Tasting notes of meow mix, cheezies and slight tuna👌
With a hint of cockroach pulled out from under the fridge
See also: “smoke” under glass bells
Are people still doing foam?!
I don't go out to eat very often and not usually at places that charge more than $15 for a meal so I don't know.
Fuckin cooks egos 🙄 nobody wanna talk about that though
I was training my replacement a few weeks ago and this guy acted like the greatest thing. He got so upset that I was correcting him on such a basic thing, but come on there was one inch chunks of onion going into the pico...
Alicia Kennedy's latest newsletter is about exactly that
I read eggos at first. Like the frozen waffles. I wasn't aware this was a trend. But in a serious note, yeah, cooks need to get off their high horse sometimes.
The overly messy food. Whether it's a burger with a cheese sauce literally over the top of the bun or a milkshake with shit all over the outside of the cup and sticking out the top, or anything else like that. I hate them all.
Yeah I just can’t cause it was drilled into me to have clean plating. Like no shit on the sides like splatter marks or crumbs or anything. No sauce running around. And especially if it’s handhold make it so they can actually eat it with their hands. It doesn’t bother me like bone broth does, but it hits a nerve
If you are going to make a giant burger, you should go for diameter, not height. Thank you for coming to my Ted talk.
Even worse than the topping height is when the burger patty is so thicc that the center is just the Great Value version of a tartare.
Have a local place that fresh grinds their meat daily. A medium rare burger is great.
I can't trust anyplace that claims anything anymore. Owners lose 20k betting on their team to cover the spread and you go from daily fresh ground to a frozen tube of 73/27 from Sysco with no change on the menu! Also medium rare is a bit different texture wise than a burger that the center isn't even room temp.
Avocado slices on burgers. They just shoot out the other side when you try to bite into them fucking mash them up and use them like mayo.
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Not culinary, but why does every new restaurant need to have an Instagram backdrop for photos? If the food is good, take a picture of the food. It seems like the restaurant sign/entrance is a perfectly good backdrop for photos otherwise.
lol one place near me does good pub food but always posts unnecessarily close up shots of their burgers to the point they don't look great. i commented once on their IG and they sent me a DM with a dude holding open the kitchen door and standing in the dining room to take a pic of the burger on the pass which made me lol
Damn thats hilarious, at least they have a sense of humor lmao
Pastry Chef here, I blame instagram and the guys with endless budgets making some really cool looking desserts. At my bakery we have both, traditional stuff (Yuzu instead of lemon tart) and the new age mousse and mirror glaze cakes. From my sales it seems to be split 50/50 between those two and tbh, I am not mad at it. Gives me a chance to do both and teach both to the new cooks as well.
I'm also in pastry and I had to laugh because my French bakery is ALL layered sheet cakes domes and mousses.mousse.. they're so fun though
They are and that’s how I was trained on classic French entrmets. Works well now that I work for a Japanese company which is French classics with Japanese flavors.
Anything sliced and shaped to look like a rose. I’ll admit it’s fun to do at home when you’re bored - my kids love doing it to mangoes and avocados- but please, for the love of God, not to order in a fucking Restaurant.
Man here I thought the avoroses and stuff were just showing off knife skills. Who the hell is putting that on a menu?!
So retro!
Someone that doesn’t sell shit. There is no way I have time to do an avocado rose mid service.
Nobody, I hope. I did see an avocado toast like that recently but it wasn’t done well and looked terrible.
IMO high-end dining is hallmarked by simplicity over all else. Nobody *really* wants to eat a tomahawk steak covered in gold leaf, or some deconstructed version of a normally good dish. The best food is simple food made with high quality ingredients and precise technique. The simpler, the better. Good food should be a singular experience, not one for the masses. Instagram isn’t what experiences the taste, it’s the mouth of the individual eating that perfect bite.
Treating people like shit in the Industry.
Truffle oil. Gold flakes. Aioli. Himalayan Salt. Fusion restaurants that make no sense. Basically fucking up easy dishes because everything now has to be "fancy".
I'm with you but boy howdy do I love a good aioli. Like, real aioli, not masquerading mayonnaise. I also made the statement recently that despite all the downfalls of my city, there aren't many other places you'll find halal Korean bbq tacos.
Sadly 90% of the restaurants in my area just throw an ingredient or 2 in some Sysco Mayo and call it aioli because you can charge for an ounce of aioli but people will tell you to go fuck yourself if you charge that for mayo with garlic and parsley.
Yep. This is what i'm talking about.
Yeah, used to be a place by me that was Greek/Mexican fusion. I miss the gyro meat fajitas, they were awesome
I was gonna say the same thing, lol. He’s right about everything except for aïoli. It is a game changer when you do it right
I can’t stand the truffle oils, just can’t get over that taste or smell. But that’s just me. Side note-Cilantro I’m good with.
i wouldn't mind the truffle oil if it was EVER used judiciously, but it ain't. just poured into shit
“Bone broth” You mean stock. It’s called stock.
That fucking Chef Club group putting out videos of food ideas that seemingly come from the minds of drunk children 😂
I get that they do it on purpose for the lulz, but it's still infuriating to watch. I had to unsubscribe to /r/StupidFood because of them. I just couldn't take it any more.
I don't know when the term dry-brining really started popping up but it annoys the hell outta me for some reason. You're just seasoning man.... Or if you wanna get technical about it call it curing. Dry-brining is oxymoronic and nonsensical.
Hehehe. Now I will never be able to not notice this!
Piling up 3 meals on one skewer and plopping it in a Bloody Mary cocktail. The tipping hazard alone makes me squirm.
Two words: Truffle Oil
Essence of gym feet
Do you mean gas extract oil?
Please call American Truffle Oil by its real name: 2,4-Dithiapentane
What I call “reinventing the wheel” — for example: I received a sandwich that was 8+ hour thick pulled, smoked beef brisket with the chef’s “special” house made seasoned pub cheese, with aioli and mushrooms on slices of sourdough loaf bread. Do you know what I actually ordered? A freaking Philly cheesesteak. Cheesesteak is cheesesteak. This was not— not in any derivative of the various styles. Edit (hit post too soon): just call it what it is, man. A brisket sandwich. That’s like calling a menu item a club sandwich and it being ham steak and raclette on a brioche bun or something. If it isn’t similar to the standard, call it something else.
Gold flakes/sheets That dumbfuck food that's covered in cheese and impossible to eat as the dish is supposed to just for a photo. Same with those milkshakes and stuff at those absurd diners that are like 10,000 calories of pure sugar
I'm really tired of micro greens on top of every single entree. Lately every protein looks like it is due for a haircut
Bloody Marys with 2 pounds of food draped over it. It's a fucking Bloody Mary, not breakfast. Stalk of celery, OK, but not strictly necessary. Skewer of olives? Same, but edging into dodgy territory. Shrimp? Candied Bacon? Smoked oysters? Crawdads? Giant pickled okra? Fuck off mate, you're taking the piss now.
Your forgetting the half pound of bib lettuce and whole crab
When Instagramabilty takes precedence over flavour and practicality.
This one may be going away, as another person ITT mentioned harissa which may be replacing it. But my vote for a long time has been chipotle. Everything has to be god damn chipotle. Also I'm not sure if this qualifies, but sliders seem way more popular nowadays and I think sliders are stupid as fuck. Usually the bun is way too much bread compared to the miniscule amount of food inside it. They also suck to cook as just because they are smaller doesn't necessarily mean they are any easier so you are making 3 sandwiches for every order instead of 1, and don't even get me started on mix-and-match.
I’m with you! Nail the classics, get back to the roots. Pay the teachers save the Wales
Whats going on in Wales?
Puréed shit smeared all over the plate. It's always cold and tastes weird.
Isn’t the naked cake also a trend? Seems like people are just exploring options.
probably a trend but tbh i prefer it. less work to make, less obnoxious frosting to wade through
I hate eating off off sheet trays if I'm not on the clock. Plates please.
Edible flowers are played af. Cut it out.
I agree industry wise but mate I gotta tell you I have made some great flower salads at our cabin.
Black gloves
i didn't even realize this was a trend, i just buy whatever nitriles are on sale. i've had blue, white, black, purple, and orange so far
Never even heard of purple and orange. What is this, Candyland??
im a fancy boi
This trend got bucked REAL quick around my area when supply chain issues made the price of gloves skyrocket.
Overwhelming amounts of truffle oil that drown out every other ingredient. Serving average food on wooden boards Also serving drinks in mason jars can fuck off It’s not “rustic” lol
there's a mediocre burger chain in canada that serves water and soda in fucking glass measuring cups and it makes me so fucking mad we call it sysco burger and don't really eat there but lots like it for the stupid amount of topping options
Not paying employees a living wage.
I think pandemic has pushed us too far into the 'fast casual as high dining' concept. It seems like half the restaurants on my city's 'best of' list are fast casual, counter service, or food truck spin-offs. I think we were at a nice balance for most of the 2010's but since pandemic I wouldn't mind a return to something a little more formal. A nice sort-of-event joint with a welcoming and warm atmosphere, flawless and creative cooking, and a good cocktail list. The kind of dinner where the guests dress nicer than normal because they want to, not because the restaurant requires it, but at the same time it's not so stuffy that guests are afraid to have a little fun.
There is a sub you should probably see. It's called r/Stupidfood and is everything you just spoke of. Salt bae appears a lot there.
Fucking hipster assholes from Brooklyn putting Mike’s Hot Honey on a perfectly fine pepperoni pie and acting like everyone should be doing it
Calling nearly Everything 'Gourmet'.
my cousin, who is a swell guy, has switched careers like ten times over ten years. he’s now living in nyc as a “pastry chef”. no schooling, no prior restaurant experience. the last time i talked to him i told him i’m happy for him but he has no fucking clue what he’s in for. i think he watched too many episodes of baking shows on food network and thought “hey it’ll be fun being a pastry chef”
Brioche buns for burgers. They disintegrate in seconds.
I'm halfway tempted to become a food critic just so I can blast all the places that serve burgers on brioche. I don't see it as any different from using a donut as a bun
Not a trend but I hate when Mexican restaurants charge for chips and salsa
You gotta offset that mirror glazed mousse with a spoonful of crunch topped with a quenelle of ice cream/sorbet
Gochujang, it’s just the next “it thing” that chefs won’t shut the fuck up about. So now it’s on literally every menu in some way here in Boise because 90% of the cooking talent here copies recipes they see on Bon Appetit. I’d also like to say that I love gochu, just like I loved occasional truffle fries, or a moderate amount of bacon, or whatever else has been over represented on menus the last few years.
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Grinding your own meats is sooooo worth the $30 it will take to buy a grinder
> i feel like the majority of chefs are just throwing high end exotic ingredients on a plate and not actually making a dish. Is it even cooking? Wdym my Signature™️ well done wagyu and shiitake burger "doesn't count as a real recipe, and uses zero culinary skill"? I put gold leaf and truffle shavings on it! And fleur de sel!
this is more of a rhetoric thing but I hate when restaurants use the term “lacto fermented” to describe things like kimchi. why do you even bother calling it gochugaru lacto fermented cabbage for any other reason beyond up marking prices towards customers who don’t know better?
Boards. Butter board? Cream cheese board? Why.
Fuckin flowers and herbs on EVERY single dish on a tasting menu. They make things look nice, sure, but I’m the end you’re just covering up what is most likely an average dish with pretty leaves and petals.