Who Moved My Dish?

When a restaurant and chef both lay claim to a signature dish, who reserves the right to continue serving it?

- Stephanie Wong

During his time at Thomas Keller’s famed three-Michelin-starred restaurant The French Laundry, a young Grant Achatz created a cantaloupe and caviar gelee dish for its tasting menu.

As Achatz recounts on an episode of Netflix’s Chef ’s Table docuseries, Keller asked him: “If this dish goes on the menu, it becomes a French Laundry dish. Are you okay with that?”

The bright-eyed apprentice said yes.

Today, Achatz is a celebrated chef behind his very own temple of gastronomy, Alinea. This time around, it is his turn to sound the same warning to one of his sous chefs. The man in question happily agrees to let the restaurant claim ownership of the dish, and the said creation – an edible helium balloon – is now one of the restaurant’s signatures. It no doubt helped the restaurant win its coveted trio of Michelin stars.

As far as accolades go, the most prestigious award in the culinary industry is awarded to restaurants, rather than chefs. The Michelin Guide assesses a restaurant in five areas: quality of the products, mastery of flavour and cooking techniques, personality of the chef in his cuisine, value for money, and consistency of the restaurant between visits.

When conferring stars on deserving restaurants, the Michelin Guide states that the “decoration, service and comfort levels have no bearing on the award.” With the cuisine, rather than the service or ambience, at the centre of the judging criteria, it begs the question of why chefs – the masterminds behind the products on the plate – are not awarded stars to their name.

Michael Ellis, international director of the Michelin Guides, offers this insight: “The cooking is the resul of a team effort – the chef is the boss in the kitchen, but usually he or she oversees a number of people. Hence, the stars are awarded to restaurants rather than chefs.”