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I was recently twice miffed while eating out.  On the first occasion, my husband and I had gone out to dinner at a local pub.  I ordered a rib-eye steak sandwich and he had the jambalaya.  Two weeks after that occasion, I ordered a delmonico steak entree special at a local cafe.  Not only was the cut not a true delmonico, but it was spoiled AND cooked to well when I had ordered it medium rare.  Nasty.

My sandwich at the pub was adequate, but the jambalaya was a bizarre concoction.  Let’s just say it was not the hearty soup/stew you’d expect, it clearly lacked a roux, it was EXCRUCIATINGLY spicy, and there were mushrooms in it. Lots of them.

We’ve eaten at the pub before, and while the food’s never been terrible, it’s rarely been outstanding.  What galls me about this jambalaya is that clearly the cook did not have the ingredients and/or the skill to execute even a reasonable version of this dish.  Instead of asking our server to have my husband choose something else, he/she just took a half-baked stab.

And then there was the truly awful delmonico which was beyond excuse on many levels.  The cook must have reached blindly into the fridge, had a terrible blocked nose, and no conscience, all at once.  Why do kitchens do these things?  WHY? 

It’s beyond me, really.  I know on the occasions my workplace cannot accomodate an order, we tell the customer as soon as possible.  Yeah, sure there are the random and rare nutjobs that react angrily, but the operative word is “rare.”   Restaurants, good ones that care, tell customers the simple truth when they can’t fill an order properly.  It’s not rocket science.