Chef John Benjamin of Park West Tavern in Ridgewood on his favorite kitchen tool and least favorite diner requests
AUGUST 27, 2014 LAST UPDATED: WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 27, 2014, 1:21 AM
THE RECORD
After graduating from the Culinary Institute of America, John Benjamin worked at some highly venerated restaurants, including Aureole in Manhattan and The French Laundry in California’s Napa Valley. And before he was named executive chef for the Park West Tavern this past December, the soft-spoken 45-year-old Greenwood Lake resident worked as executive chef for eight years at one of New Jersey’s most formal and acclaimed dining establishments, Restaurant Latour at the Crystal Springs Resort in Hardyston. Last month, Park West Tavern received three out of four stars from The Record.
Favorite kitchen tool: Japanese mandolin. It’s good for slicing garlic, potatoes, mushroom, onions very thin. And the Japanese one is plastic, thin and not too expensive – maybe $23. It fits in any kitchen cabinet.
Dish I’m most proud of: Right now we are offering a simple salad of watermelon, heirloom tomatoes and burrata cheese, with a spicy red-wine vinaigrette for $12. I like it ’cause it’s nice and refreshing; it’s light and cool.
What diners don’t know about chefs: The long hours they work —10 in the morning to midnight for me; the dedication we have for the craft we have; the stress.
What irks me most about diners: They want to create their own entrée. Someone will say, “I don’t want the pork in the pappardelle pasta.” But it has pork in it for a reason.
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“What irks me most about diners: They want to create their own entrée. Someone will say, “I don’t want the pork in the pappardelle pasta.” But it has pork in it for a reason.”
A suggestion – alter your menu when a guest asks and treat it as a lesson in what another person may want from your restaurant in the future. As someone with a lot of food tolerances, I try to order from menus without making changes but it isn’t always possible. I have actually read your menu several times and there is very little I could eat. That is why I have not been in to dine. I do wish you lots of success.
The point of patronizing a resturant is to experience the skill and vision of the chef – this is exactly what you are paying for…
a diner who alters the dish is missing the experience.
If you do not like the chef’s vision, then you should patronize other resturants.
If the chef’s vision is not popular, then he will adjust or go out of business…
…but adjusting is for him to create dishes according to his vision that matches his diners needs — for example, creating a dish around his vision of a “pork free pasta” dish and not a diner driven removal of pork from his “pork in pappardelle pasta” dish.
The Chef should always accommodate a request for a variation of the standard offering. Some diners have issues with food tolerances, some are counting calories and some may simply not like one or more of the ingredients in the standard offering. At the end of the day a diner is the “customer” and unless the restaurant endeavors to satisfy its customers it will not have any customers to satisfy. The restaurant business is tough and highly competitive. To succeed you must execute well and consistently and above all you must have happy customers who return to your establishment again and again.
If you want something made to your specifications you should stay home and make it yourself.