Dishes that chefs love aren’t always popular with their customers
Eli Wahl, newly elevated to the position of executive chef at Casbah in Shadyside, would like to add a pork belly dish to the appetizer menu, but he’s holding off.
He loves the “luscious” texture of this cut of meat, but he knows from experience that customers won’t order it.
This past winter, Jessica Gibson, executive chef of Bistro 19 in Mt. Lebanon, hoped to entice her customers with a new preparation of venison, which had never been a popular choice at the restaurant. The venison was marinated in red wine and topped with a rich hot chocolate foam with a little cayenne pepper. She loved the dish, but it just didn’t sell, so she took it off the menu.
Restaurant diners invariably have more conservative tastes than chefs, and because an unpopular dish can quickly harm the bottom line, chefs can’t always let their passions drive their menus.
Diners have good reason to be cautious. They’re spending money on dinner and they want to be sure they’ll enjoy it.
But for chefs, it can be frustrating when preferences don’t seem logical, or diners seem unwilling to take any chances. Mr. Wahl pointed out that Casbah sells tons of arugula salad garnished with pancetta, “just pork belly in another fashion.”
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