I noticed that you spelled it "restauRATeurs," which I thought was an editorial comment.

I had an argument in Florence over what Balsamic vinegar was, and I felt that in Italy, regulations should be followed. However, that restaurant catered to college-age American tourists, who tend to be far from sophisticated, and I did not hear any of the other customers in that restaurant speaking Italian.

I think it is pointless for a chef (or even a waiter) to get into an argument with a customer. For myself, I always assume that people know a lot more than they really do.

If crab were unavailable or too expensive, it should have been taken off the menu, or the price should have reflected the market cost.

I've never ordered crab at a Chinese or Korean restaurant, but I frequently order it at Vietnamese restaurants, and I've not been disappointed there.

I've been following market prices for a while now. Don't change the recipe. Change the cost to reflect the base market price. Some chefs will take a lost-leader approach if one menu item is popular. I never order anything on a menu that says 'market price' without a dollar price listed. Maybe a lobster but even then a chef can request only 1 and 1/4 pound lobsters from a supplier for a whole lobster plating and culls/chickens for lobster rolls/ravioli, etc.

Focusing on your experience, i'm insulted a chef would attempt to explain his preperation for a recipe at your table. Ick. No excuse for sans crab or corn. Corn is a cheap filler i would think. Fresh corn roasted then pulsed lightly in a food processor to release the flavor?, then a few quality lumb crab bits?. Half an ounce? Not a canned tuna mush amount.

Lump crab is up to 60-70$ per pound. Lobster 30-40$. Wild gulf srimp, 12-18$ per pound. Salmon, cod, halibut, scallops, 12-15$ per pound. All wild caught, not farmed.

A good chef will offer another croquet with alternative seafoods.

Lars, it it’s counter-intuitive, but it is correctly spelled “restaurateurs”. I struggle with it because it does seem wrong, but that’s French for you 😁

Sleevendog, exactly! DH and I discussed this ourselves. If a business can’t afford to sell a product, they should take it off the list of offerings and sell something else. I would have been happy with just a corn croquette, and as I told the chef, there was no excuse for his not beefing up the filling mixture with more corn. To get one kernel is insulting.

Do you think some people think they taste crab because it says it on the menu? I've been served “crab rangoon” which was tasty, but it was cream cheese rangoon (the real deal is often made with cream cheese as a binder). It was priced like cream cheese, not crab, so it's kind of a hoot that it says crab, rather than a ripoff. The croquette with nothing in it is just wrong!

The one kernal reminds me of the last cookie or two from a double batch of Toll House, where there are a few tablespoons of batter left but only three chips. We bake them. There are a few who love the brown sugar cookie with only one chip (it's supposed to be better with one chip than none) and others who'd rather eat the stale, defective one than a different cookie when the rest of the chocolate chip cookies are gone, but if I were *selling* them, I'd either hold the one-chippers back or sell them separately as specials. But no one I know wants to eat fried panada, even if the one corn kernal improved it somehow. Without stuff in it, it would be something like gruel—peasant breakfast, and perhaps even comfort food, but mostly a better than nothing kind of food. I'll admit to actually liking a thick bite of baked bechamel, but it had better come from the top of a moussaka or similar, with the attached flavors!

Well, that's a tangent! but I wonder if ill-trained help scooped up the leftover ... is batter the word? Mix? ... but maybe made the dregs into a fillingless croquette. Doesn't speak well to training or quality control, and even worse the rude bluster covering it up rather than snatching it away with an apology that such a thing should never have left the kitchen. Maybe the chef was so belligerent because his food prices have been out of control long enough that even with good reviews, the place is failing.

DH ate one as well, which was similarly devoid of anything but panada. I think his first words on eating a bite were, ”Yuk! It’s just white sauce!”

The chef was friendly enough, but I think he must be used to cooking for the unsophisticated who would believe his explanation. But even if you’re smiling, please don’t piss on my leg and explain to me how ”it’s raining”. 🙄

I had a similar fate last Thursday. I met friends at one of the popular (read noisy/loud) restaurants. I ordered a seafood dish that was suppose to include crab and shrimp. There were 6 half shrimps and the bit of crab was so stirred in the sauce that It didn't count. There was no other seafood at all. I guess they thought they could hide the lack thereof with all the pepperadeli swirled on the plate. Then, to make matters worse, it was soooooooooo HOT! (spicy) that I could barely eat it. I didn't complain about it then, but I let them know what I thought when they made the mistake of sending me a survey. (maybe I should rate them on YELP too.)

I should have looked up the spelling of restaurateur - my French is not all that good!

I make a spicy deviled crab, similar to what I've had in Galveston and Texas, and I've noticed that I can make it with canned tuna instead of crab and it will have a similar taste, but then I do make it pretty spicy. It's the one crab dish I make in which I find canned crab acceptable.

My favorite crab is King Crab legs, but I haven't bought that in a while. I like that much better than lobster.

I also make a crab-stuffed sole, which is quite bland, and so the crab is a major flavor component, and I've made crab sauce for other fish dishes.

Interesting! Everyone here says it in American (rather than French), backformed with an "n", though it's spelled as Colleen and Lars said. I'm terrible at spelling. Thanks for teaching me.

I watched a Dateline tonight ("Suspicion" episode), and the host pronounced "restaurateur" as if it had an "N" in it, which I guess is the way I've been used to hearing it pronounced - until now!

Wow. Too much trouble? Has he ever heard of a chalkboard?

That makes no sense. Rough start to a dining experience. No one likes to ask for prices. The ingredients are in the house any given day so the cost is known.

We ordered a combo plate to share (take out) last night and got the best ever chili rellenos ever!, but the tamales were all masa and VERY little chicken! Maybe an ounce? At best? The enchilada was pretty good.

I'd let them know- if places want to stay in business they need to at least know where they're going wrong.