Open kitchens can be large or small, ornate or simple, and new or old, but it’s not the equipment or design of an open kitchen that makes it so appealing, it’s the fact that you can witness an act of passion in progress – at least, in the best of restaurants, that what you should be witnessing. It is not the kitchen itself that makes an open kitchen magical: It’s the cooks in the kitchen who make the magic, regardless of the appearance of the kitchen. The most meager of open kitchens can be brought to life with the addition of a couple of cooks with a passion for food.
I recently started cooking in the first open kitchen I’ve ever worked in, and, as one of the people on display, I loved it. I often wondered if cooks in an open kitchen felt like zoo animals, but I rarely feel like that at all. On that note, let me give just a bit of advice to those of you who frequent restaurants with an open kitchen: The only time I feel like a zoo animal is when I see people pointing and talking amongst themselves, when I know what they really want to do is ask a question. Don’t hold back; ask the question. First, a good cook is a cook with a love of food and a passion for cooking: he or she is going to want to talk to you and share their passion with you. Second, talking to the cook is going to give you a good indication of how your meal turns out. If you don’t sense the passion, you might be in for an average meal. Of course, if you can tell that the cook is obviously busy and focused on many things, asking a question might interrupt, so use your best judgement. Perhaps you can start by grabbing their attention and asking, “May I ask you a question about what you’re doing?” Anyway, I digress…
Last night I had the distinct pleasure of eating at a restaurant in Scottsdale, AZ called FnB Restaurant. The open kitchen is small. The equipment is not ornate nor is it particularly pretty or new, but it’s got the equipment necessary to do the job. What it does have is a chef with a passion for food, and it shows not only in the way she walks through the kitchen to prepare the food at 11:30 PM, but in the fact that she had been working what I know was a long day only to be followed by an early morning and happily made food for us when we arrived after the kitchen had already closed because she heard that we were hungry. She made us fried green tomatoes, and they were outstanding. The warmth and hospitality within the walls of that restaurant were simply amazing.
The true joy of eating at a restaurant with an open kitchen is that you get to share in the love of food with the people who are preparing your meal. You get to share in the energy that I feel everyday when I set foot into a kitchen with other people who share my passion for food – it’s the energy that keeps me going after long hours on my feet in fairly harsh conditions. Personally, I also get energy from the customers sitting around the kitchen, clearly enjoying being able to watch food being prepared. I love being able to share in that with the customer. Every chef I’ve talked to about the feeling agrees.
A good open kitchen creates a symbiotic relationship between the kitchen staff and customers. The customers’ experiences are enhanced by the energy of the kitchen, and the kitchen staff is driven by the energy from the customers. The food tastes better not only because the customer is sharing in the energy of the kitchen (there are clearly psychosomatic effects), but also because a cook with a passion for food is driven to do a better job when there is a closer connection with the customer.
Ultimately, open kitchens put the passion of cooking on display for the world. I happen to love that because it demonstrates how inextricably linked passion and love are to food and cooking.
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[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Christina Barrueta. Christina Barrueta said: RT @ChefDRM: If you haven't seen an open kitchen in action, maybe it's time to seek one out http://bit.ly/9cYA14 [...]