You’re sitting at that trendy restaurant, eyes glazing over a menu that promises culinary magic. Everything sounds incredible. Yet across town, professional chefs who cook for a living are quietly steering clear of certain dishes you might be tempted to order. They know things you don’t. They’ve seen what happens behind those swinging kitchen doors, and some menu items just don’t make the cut when it’s their own money on the line. About 48 million Americans get sick from foodborne illnesses each year – roughly 1 in 6 people – according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), leading to an estimated 128,000 hospitalizations and 3,000 deaths. Let’s be real, that’s a staggering number. What follows might just change how you order next time.
The Daily Special That’s Anything But Special
Ever notice how your server enthusiastically pitches the special of the day? Turns out, that enthusiasm might have more to do with inventory management than culinary artistry. Executive chef and owner Alberto Morreale of Farmer’s Bottega in San Diego says he never orders the specials, noting that some restaurants put together specials based on what’s about to expire or what they’re trying to get rid of faster. Think about it. That gorgeous-sounding seafood dish could be Friday’s catch making its final appearance before it goes bad.
When you see a restaurant listing ten or more specials, alarm bells should ring. Chef Gordon Ramsay told Cosmopolitan that specials are there to disappear throughout the evening, and when restaurants list ten specials, that’s not special. I honestly think this is one of those things most diners never even consider. The word “special” tricks us into believing we’re getting something exclusive, when really we might be helping clear out the walk-in cooler.
Here’s the thing, though. Not every special deserves suspicion. If you’re at a higher-end spot with a short, focused menu, their daily special might genuinely showcase seasonal ingredients. The red flag appears at places with massive menus and unpredictable orders, where ingredients sit around longer than they should.
Monday Fish: The Weekend’s Leftover Story
Most fish markets don’t deliver on weekends, so the debate about eating fish on Monday continues among freshness-loving chefs. This means Monday’s catch of the day might actually be Saturday’s catch, sitting in a cooler for days. Fresh seafood deliveries rarely happen on Mondays, with most restaurants receiving seafood deliveries Tuesday through Friday, making Monday’s fish offering potentially several days old.
It gets worse when you venture away from coastal areas. Cordon Bleu-trained chef Mark Nichols won’t go near raw oysters if they were harvested more than 100 miles away from the restaurant serving them. The distance matters because handling and storage become more complex the farther seafood travels. A Seattle waterfront restaurant? Probably fine. A landlocked steakhouse in Ohio serving oysters? Maybe skip it.
Executive chef Eric Duchene notes that raw fish should not be ordered on Sunday nights because restaurants don’t receive deliveries on Sunday, so you won’t get the freshest products. What I find fascinating is how this insider knowledge completely contradicts what most diners assume. We think weekend dining equals peak freshness, when the opposite might be true for seafood.
Eggs Benedict and the Hollandaise Gamble
Sunday brunch sounds delightful until you learn what chefs know about hollandaise sauce. Chef Clifton Dickerson of the Auguste Escoffier School of Culinary Arts says hollandaise sauce is temperamental, especially during a busy brunch rush, and if it’s not made to order or held just right, you can end up with a broken sauce or something that’s been sitting too long. The sauce requires precise temperature control, and busy brunch kitchens don’t always have that luxury.
Anthony Bourdain famously warned against hollandaise in his book Kitchen Confidential. He noted that bacteria love hollandaise, and nobody he knew had ever made hollandaise to order. Restaurants typically prepare large batches early in the morning, then hold it at temperatures where bacteria can multiply rapidly. The FDA recommends no more than two hours at room temp, but busy brunch spots often stretch this guideline.
The risk isn’t just culinary disappointment. If hollandaise is left at the incorrect temperature, the raw egg yolks contained within can go bad, potentially resulting in a bad case of salmonella-related food poisoning. That elegant brunch suddenly doesn’t seem worth the gamble. Besides, brunch is only served once a week on weekends, cooks hate brunch, and it’s punishment for the B-Team cooks or where recent dishwashers learn their chops. Your meal might be prepared by the restaurant’s least experienced staff.
Restaurant Salads: Not as Fresh as You Think
Chef Suhum Jang of Hortus NYC says he’s seen restaurants repurpose leftover scraps from other dishes as salad ingredients, and that base greens aren’t always fresh, with heavy dressings often used to mask this lack of quality. That’s pretty shocking when you think about it. You order a salad believing it’s the healthiest option, meanwhile it could be constructed from yesterday’s garnishes.
Food safety experts warn that salads pose foodborne illness risks despite their healthy reputation, and leafy greens now cause more outbreaks than hamburgers. The statistics tell a sobering story. Food safety attorney Bill Marler no longer touches bagged salads, fruit cups, deli meats, or ready-to-eat meals, noting these items have been repeatedly tied to cross-contamination and major Listeria, E. coli and Salmonella outbreaks.
Think about the journey your restaurant salad takes. Multiple people handle those greens. They’re washed in communal sinks, stored in walk-in coolers, cut on shared boards, and tossed with dressings that might have been sitting out. Celebrity chef Ariane Resnick says about wedge salads: you’re literally paying over ten dollars for a chunk of iceberg lettuce, often with pre-fab commercial dressing. When you can make something better at home for a fraction of the price, why bother?
Chicken Breast: Boring and Overcooked
Chef Ryan Ososky of The Church Key in West Hollywood says he will order almost anything when dining out but never chicken because it tends to be overcooked at most restaurants. Many restaurants end up overcooking their chicken in an effort to make sure it is fully cooked, reasoning that it’s better to be overcooked than full of salmonella after all. So you’re paying premium prices for dry, sawdust chicken that nobody actually wants to eat.
Chef Luke Shaffer notes that the odds aren’t in your favor when ordering chicken at a restaurant, as it may come out sawdust dry, and most restaurants have something far more interesting to offer, so you can save the bland, boring, non-indulgent chicken breast for when you’re at home. Honestly, this makes complete sense. Why waste a night out on protein you could easily prepare better yourself?
When dining out, most chefs avoid pasta and chicken dishes because they’re the most overpriced and the least interesting options on the menu. There’s also the issue of originality. Restaurants charge restaurant prices for the most pedestrian preparation imaginable. Some chefs admitted they avoid chicken entirely for these combined reasons. It lacks excitement, it’s usually overcooked, and the markup doesn’t justify the mediocrity you’re getting.
Overly Complicated Fusion Disasters
Chef Peter He of Meili in Brooklyn personally avoids complicated dishes that try to fuse five cuisines onto one plate, saying they often sound exciting on the menu but rarely deliver balance or depth, and he’d rather have one cuisine done well than a confusing mix of flavors that feels like it’s trying too hard. That sushi burrito might look Instagram-worthy, but it probably tastes like confused ambition.
Chef Jorge Dionicio of Kansha in Manhattan skips anything that feels overly processed or gimmicky, things that rely more on presentation than substance, saying he values food that’s rooted in intention, not trend, and wants to taste the ingredient, not just the concept. This resonates deeply with what’s happening in food culture right now. One universal complaint from industry experts is that too much food exists solely to go viral, with Ian Tecklin, Founder and CEO of Ripi, saying he’s ready to move on from restaurant dishes and drinks engineered purely for social media.
Pablo Vidal Saioro, Executive Chef at Momofuku Noodle Bar East Village, calls it performative consumption, adding that we spent too much of 2025 filming our food rather than enjoying it. The dish exists for the photo, not for your palate. When a menu item has seventeen ingredients from eight different countries, you’re probably getting a confused mess rather than culinary innovation. Trust chefs who advocate for simplicity and mastery over gimmicky chaos.
