Spicy Roasted Chickpeas
Picnic Recipes Galore
Corner-Store Party Food on the Fly
9 Chili Recipes, Bison to Vegan
How to Choose the Best Strawberries
Sausage Recipes of the Month
Apparently, Lieber was eating at restaurant Marc Forgione in TriBeCa and became super annoyed when Chef Forgione started screaming at one of the staff members in the kitchen. Lieber says that the "loud, sustained, top-of-lungs yelling" was plainly visible (and audible) to the dining room. After several minutes of it, Lieber says he walked into the kitchen and told the chef to knock it off. Forgione proceeded to kick Lieber out.
But maybe he deserved it? A same-day story on Grub Street ran a fiery response from Forgione. He was angry in the first place because some appetizers had come out before an amuse-bouche. But he seemed solid in the belief that Lieber was the one who ultimately looked like a hothead: “I was kind of excited to find out that he wrote for the New York Times,” Forgione says, “because I wanted people to know about the way this guy acted.” Lieber had crossed the line by entering "sacred space" (that is, the kitchen), says Forgione, and dissing him in front of his employees.
Francis Lam made an excellent point over on Salon.com that Lieber took things too far when he actually sat back down after chiding Forgione. "Lieber sent a message of both indignation and entitlement," writes Lam. "He was, essentially, telling the chef, 'I just humiliated you, and you still have to cook for me.'" And at that point, Lieber "became the bully, and, from that view, who can blame Forgione for asking him to leave?"
I'm with Lam on this one. The more I think about it, it just sounds weird, and I wonder if maybe Lieber had a good buzz on when he did it. The appropriate thing would have been to complain to your server or the manager, then leave. I mean, seriously: If the couple next to you in the hotel is having loud sex and keeping you from sleeping, do you try to storm into their room and let them know? Or do you call the front desk and request another room?
Image courtesy of the New York Times
+3 with Ruth's response. And if the kitchen is "sacred space" (the notion of a restaurant kitchen infused with some sort of divinity is quite a joke in itself), then the SOUND should remain in this "sacred space". In other words, do not let the patrons hear it. Lieber is correct and Forgione is wrong and Lam and Anderson are just enabling boorish behavior.
It happens all too often... Kitchen staff from the top down are frequently unaware of the echo chamber they work in; the sound of clanging pots, hollow pans or a happy to find a new-friend dishwasher resound through the seating areas of more restaurants than Chef's would ever know. The marked difference here is, a patron spoke up.
Leiber has the qualification and used acquired muscle to bring...+READ
It happens all too often... Kitchen staff from the top down are frequently unaware of the echo chamber they work in; the sound of clanging pots, hollow pans or a happy to find a new-friend dishwasher resound through the seating areas of more restaurants than Chef's would ever know. The marked difference here is, a patron spoke up.
Leiber has the qualification and used acquired muscle to bring an end the disruption. Was Lieber out of bounds? possibly. Was it a welcome intervention? probably. We all have standards. It is important to respect the privileges of others but more important to never loose sight of the whole and work towards maintaining the greater good.
In this case Lieber is qualified, earned the right to be heard and used muscle wisely. Not a popular decision perhaps but non the less a move to preserve the overall objective of a fine dining experience.
I am sure it was no one's first choice.-COLLAPSE
I agree with Ruth. Also, if you read the original story, the kitchen was open -- where is the dividing line where it's ok for a customer to walk?
I was in a Pizza Hut (of all things) once doing a pickup when the manager started berating the mostly teenage staff for some harmless horseplay that wasn't affecting the customers at all. She ended up beating on the bathroom door where one of the...+READ
I agree with Ruth. Also, if you read the original story, the kitchen was open -- where is the dividing line where it's ok for a customer to walk?
I was in a Pizza Hut (of all things) once doing a pickup when the manager started berating the mostly teenage staff for some harmless horseplay that wasn't affecting the customers at all. She ended up beating on the bathroom door where one of the employees was and screaming that as soon as he came out he was fired. I made a complaint to the corporate office, and sure enough she was dismissed soon after, although I do not know that my complaint was an influence.
I'm 100% on Lieber's side here. It's a sad thing when people will watch abuse and do nothing, even in a situation where they have the power to. If the chef didn't want bad publicity over this, he shouldn't have acted like a dick to his employees.-COLLAPSE
If his kitchen was so sacred, why is the chef profaning it by verbally abusing his employees?
The situation with the couple in the next room at the hotel is not analogous. The person causing the problem was not another customer, but was in fact the "front desk." He might have spoken to the host or the manager, but if the chef is hot tempered and verbally abusive, that would just be putting...+READ
If his kitchen was so sacred, why is the chef profaning it by verbally abusing his employees?
The situation with the couple in the next room at the hotel is not analogous. The person causing the problem was not another customer, but was in fact the "front desk." He might have spoken to the host or the manager, but if the chef is hot tempered and verbally abusive, that would just be putting them in the line of fire. The patron had a problem and he spoke to the person in responsible -- seems like the appropriate person to talk to, although he appears to have handled the confrontation badly.
I'd feel more sympathetic for the chef about the customer's attitude if he acknowledged in any way that his behavior that was the basis for the whole incident was wrong. Even if I grant him the right to manage his kitchen as he sees fit, if the customers in the dining room -- the ones paying for him to make their meals -- are being negatively affected by it, then it's not appropriate behavior. Basically, he's pulled the classic routine of deflecting attention from his own bad behavior by complaining about the reaction that it provoked. I find that to be both morally and intellectually dishonest.-COLLAPSE