I stopped doing precision cuts after a 30 seat fail last month

Last month I ran a 30 seat tasting menu with a full crew and every plate came out identical, so clean it almost felt sterile. Everyone in the kitchen thinks micro greens and tweezers show skill, but I'm done chasing that look. 3 years ago I worked at a diner in Cleveland where we chopped by feel, and the plates had a character that made regulars smile. Now I just chop rough and let the sauce land where it lands, and feedback from guests is way warmer. Has anyone else dropped the fancy plating and gone back to honest food?

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clark.iris1mo ago

Is there anything left these days that hasn't been smoothed over or made to look perfect for a camera? I see it everywhere, not just in food but in how people stage their living rooms for a real estate photo or even how we edit our vacation pics so the beach looks empty. It's like we forgot that a little mess or a crooked edge actually shows something was made by a person who was there, not a machine. The diner plates with the sauce pool that ran a little wild, that's a memory someone keeps. The perfect square of micro greens just tells me someone had a set of rules. You're honestly onto something real here, and I bet those regulars can taste the difference in care even if they can't say why.

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