Tell me more about this cold burger…said no one ever!
I have no formal culinary training as a chef, but I love cooking at home. There is something very satisfying when attempting to prepare a sophisticated meal, pulling it off with half of the cool kitchen tools needed, and then basking in the admiration of your friends or family.
Psssst….the key to any great meal is to always double the amount of butter you think you need or the recipe calls for!
For those of you like me, who currently have no one to cook for, or those who became hot shit at sourdough for a week and then reverted back to Wonder Bread once the starter began whispering sweet nothings to you in the fridge, then you will likely understand how hard it is to get motivated to cook right now.
Going into 2020, for the first time, North Americans were going to spend more money at restaurants than grocery stores. Covid put an early end to that projection as even the most metropolitan of eaters found themselves lining up at their grocery store to stock up on instant ramen. Although many did discover or rediscover the joy of home cooking, I for one am lacking inspiration and am in dire need of a creative ‘pick me up’ that can only be found at a great local scratch restaurant.
If you didn’t already know, delivery just doesn’t really cut it when it comes to inspiring culinary exploration. Our options are simply limited, because most restaurant food items just don’t transport well; a cold Big Mac is certainly more appealing than soggy seared scallops. It doesn’t matter who the chef is, most great food needs to remain warm, so it’s simply not their fault. And I don’t blame you if you are stuck ordering Chinese food for the third time this week and drinking the same $12 bottle of pinot grigio; I’ve been there on a few occasions.
“Delivery apps themselves are intentionally designed for quick and repeat orders, not discovery.”
In addition to limited selection, delivery apps themselves are intentionally designed for quick and repeat orders, not discovery. What I mean is that they don’t want you browsing menus, learning about the chef, and educating yourself on where the ingredients are sourced from. They want you to find something you like and re-order that thing as fast as possible, as often as possible. It’s a predictable revenue model for them, and a quick decision for you. Delivery apps serve a very pragmatic purpose, so your mileage will vary depending on what you are looking for.
For me, great restaurants transcend the time I am actually eating there. I see things on menus that I would have never thought would go together! I learn about ingredients I have never heard of and I connect with the personal stories of the chefs and servers, which further ignite my own passion for eating well. It is the best classroom or night course one could imagine.
“For me, great restaurants transcend the time I am actually eating there. I see things on menus that I would have never thought would go together!”
When restaurants fully reopen, I will be grateful to once again continue my life long love of exploring food. Drawing from the osmosis of dining out, to pushing my own boundaries of cooking at home, while basking in awe from the professional meals cooked for me. Ultimately, I look forward to once again taking advantage of the encyclopedia of knowledge that is found in a local scratch kitchen, from the servers to the chefs, where I will be picking your brains about your wine lists and stories behind your dishes.
An expert in dining room economics and the guest experience, Frazer Nagy is an entrepreneur and the co-founder of Tablz, a Transparent Kitchen company, committed to a vision of changing the way the story of your dish is communicated and helping restaurants finally become profitable businesses.
Up Next:
Sure, let’s…go for a walk?
