Food Notebook

One of the ways to get noticed in a restaurant is to ask questions about where the restaurant gets it raw ingredients. You have to be careful about not making these questions sound like an interrogation, but just naturally chatting – with quasi-discreet small notations in the notebook.

Some of my favorite questions include:

“Out of curiosity, do you guys bake your own bread?”
99% the time the answer will be no, but for that 1% it is a spectacular way to get the staff chatting.

If the answer to the bread question is “no,” follow up with “Oh, ok, now that you mention it, this looks like Acme (or Grace), right?”
Here in the Silicon Valley, the two primary suppliers of bread to restaurants are Acme and Grace Baking. Acme was started by an alumnus of Alice Waters' Chez Panisse and Grace grew out of single East Bay bakery. Being able to distinguish between the two usually impresses the heck out of truly professional waiters and bartenders.

"Which days of the week do you get your seafood deliveries?"
One of the funniest – and scariest – parts of Anthony Bourdain’s “Kitchen Confidential” is Tony describing why you do not want to eat seafood on certain days of the week.

"Where do you get your produce? Does the chef every drop by the farmers’ market? If so, which one?"
Silicon Valley and San Francisco are blessed to have many farmers’ markets, some open during the week. Really passionate chefs check out the markets to grab the freshest and most seasonal ingredients.

"Does the restaurant try and get produce and meats that are organic and/or sustainably farmed?"
Restaurants that do go for organic or sustainable ingredients usually splash that fact all over their menus. However, for those restaurants that do but don’t advertise the fact on their website or menus, asking the question can be a great ice breaker.

What are other questions that you think would work well to get you noticed by the staff and, thus, get better attention from the wait staff? Leave a comment with suggestions.