You almost never see them, only getting a glimpse when the swinging doors open and close. You do not really think about them as you order, and the only time you want to talk to them is if the food is really good, or really bad. During all the other times, you eat, pay, and walk away, looking forward to the next time you get a break from cooking. But without the cooks, there would be no food in front of you. Now, in my opinion, there are two different kinds. The most simple distinction between the is the “good” and the “bad”.
The good chefs are the ones that get to know the regulars, that come to talk to you about your life. My mother knows one of these chefs. My mother loves a restaurant in Roslindale called Delfino’s. She had been going to the restaurant way before the first time I went, but I didn't know how close she was with everyone that worked there. When we walked in, the hostess stopped what he was doing (which was talking to another group), and immediately went to hug my mom. They then proceeded to talk about their lives, and everything that had happened since they had last seen each other. I was surprised at the interaction. I hadn't even known this place existed, and apparently she had been coming here for years. Michael (the hostess) ended up telling me all about the time he has known my mom, and how everyone in the restaurant loves her. And you could tell: the waiter was kind and spent time with us, and cook came out to say hi. Seeing the relationship that my mom had with this restaurant just showed me how much a chef, and restaurant, could care about a patron. Even though they work behind the scenes, they still care about how people see them. With my mother, she has gone to the restaurant right before closing, and sat in the kitchen, eating something that the cook had prepared for her, while everyone else is cleaning up the night. That is the kind care that some chefs, and restaurant owners, have for the people they serve.
But, obviously, not all chefs are the best. An example of this is when my mother and I went to a Japanese restaurant in Newport. My mother ordered an entree that she had had in Japan, so she knew what it should taste like. But when she got it she thought that there was no taste to it, and that parts of it were frozen. And when she confronted the chef about the food, the chef said that the way the food was prepared was the way that it was prepared in Japan. My mom just ended up sharing my food, and we left pretty quickly. But after being on the road for about fifteen minutes, my mom realized that she had left her phone at the restaurant. So we went back to restaurant, and my mom sent me in. But when I went in and asked about the phone, the waiter told me to wait while she got the chef. And when he came out, he got her phone from behind the counter, and tossed it at me, saying “If you’re going to leave your $100 phone, maybe you should tip more than $3.” I was in shock, so I just laughed and walked out. And when I told my mom, she just said “Well, I’m not going to tip for bad food.” And stated that we were never going there again. I thought about this incident for months.
It amazed me that a cook, or any professional person, could treat someone like that. And it is not like they have to be like the chef at Delfino’s, but there is no need to be rude. But then I thought that maybe the chef just felt underappreciated. I mean, to have the thing you do everyday criticized might be hard. So the next time you eat at a restaurant, think about where your food came from, and appreciate all of the good chefs that actually care about the people they serve.