Every now and again (probably more often than that), I have email conversations with diners, or potential diners, that leave me mystified. Earlier this week a couple reserved for dinner for this week, only to cancel. Now in and of itself, that’s not unusual, but their reason – they didn’t like two ingredients that were on last week’s menu (which I carefully explained to them was a different menu and not the one they’d be getting this week), and I wouldn’t change it. That’s right, they wanted me to change last week’s menu, which they weren’t going to be eating, because they didn’t like two of the ingredients I was using, and they were both offended and furious that I wouldn’t do it. Last week. Not their menu. Breathe… Focus… Center… This sort of stuff is why I gave up my potential career in clinical psychology – people are nuts, I believe is the technical term. Come on, last week?!
Eggplant tonnato – grilled eggplant, mildly spicy tuna sauce, capers, roasted cherry tomatoes, spiced croutons
Hummus soup – chickpea soup flavored with onion, garlic, paprika, cumin, lemon, smoked chili, parsley, tahini; garnished with charred cauliflower, salted yogurt, smoked paprika oil
Higaditos al ajo – chicken livers cooked in a garlic and spice sauce (the same way we make mollejitas al ajo, just without the parboiling); creamy polenta finished with blue cheese; pear mustard pickle; oregano
Patarashka – our version of this classic Amazonian dish – cod cooked “en papillote” with shiso leaf, tomato, red onion, capers, garlic, ginger, rocoto chilies; accompanied by potatoes and leeks confited in olive oil
Dulce de Leche Cheesecake – made with our own homemade cream cheese and dulce de leche, spiked with Chinese five-spice; served with strawberries roasted with vanilla paste and brown sugar, and toasted pinenuts. The new dish for the week.
Dan,
Yes the public can be frustrating to say the least. I too post that my menu changes weekly and invariably I get an email, like you received or I offer a solution on an up coming menu substitute and get no response.
Dan, I’m still fighting the fact I’m the only closed door restaurant/supper club on this island Cape Cod which is 100 miles away from Boston and they only have a few. I can go on but I wont. Have a great day.
Frank
It’s not really frustrating, it’s almost more amusing than anything else. People get so incensed by things that are figments of their imagination. When it comes down to it, we probably “dodged a bullet”, in that if something like that got them so upset, I have trouble imagining that they’d be good social partners at the communal table.