Quote 377 of 497

Watchwords for fine dining?  Tuesday through Saturday.  Busy.
Turnover.  Rotation.  Tuesdays and Thursdays are the best nights to
order fish in New York.  The food that comes in Tuesday is fresh, the
station prep is new, and the chef is well rested after a Sunday or
Monday off.  It's the real start of the new week, when you've got the
goodwill of the kitchen on your side.  Fridays and Saturdays, the food
is fresh, but it's busy, so the chef and cooks can't pay as much
attention to your food as they--and you--might like.  And weekend
diners are universally viewed with suspicion, even contempt, by both
cooks and waiters alike; they're the slackjaws, the rubes, the
out-of-towners, the well-done-eating, undertipping, bridge-and-tunnel
pre-theatre hordes, in to see Cats or Les Miz and
never to return.  Weekday diners, on the other hand, are the home
team--potential regulars, whom all concerned want to make happy.
Rested and ready after a day off, the chef is going to put his best
foot forward on Tuesday; he's got his best-quality product coming in
and he's had a day or two to think of creative things to do with it.
He wants you to be happy on Tuesday night.
		-- Anthony Bourdain, Kitchen
		   Confidential, p. 72

Tags: goodwill saturdays fridays bestquality thursdays finedining contempt cooks regulars diners hordes qualityproduct waiters tuesdaythroughsaturday bestfoot rubes kitchenconfidential lesmiz bridgeandtunnel anthonybourdain