Restaurants’ dirty secrets

The restaurant business isn’t sexy or easy. To paraphase Rounders: You don’t gamble, you grind it out. And in the effort to make payroll, keep the utilities running and still have enough to pay their vendors, restaurants sometimes cut corners. 

Slashfood looks at the 10 Dirty Little Restaurant Secrets — or how what you’re getting might not be exactly what you expect. A few are questionable, some are recognizable to anyone who has been in the back of a kitchen, and at least half sound like Internet legends.

To some degree, the item at #10 seems most dubious. In a blind-item reference (likely to Mr. Chow), the idea that cabbage could be used in place of seaweed for a signature fried seaweed dish doesn’t sound that plausible. Even beneath a healthy coat of batter, cabbage and seaweed are not exactly twins on the plate.

That being said, the fry-o-lator seems to be one of the areas where customers lose out. Old or re-used oil is a general issue with regard to cleanliness. And too many different kinds of dishes being prepared in the same oil happens in places that have ambitious menus and not enough equipment to get the job done. So, keep any eye out for a lot of different fried options on a bar menu or just ask your server for some direction.    

[Image via Flickr: bradley j]