Anthony Bourdain Suggested Dining Out On This Day Of The Week For The Best Meal Possible

Anthony Bourdain was rarely one to mince words. Be it throwing a jab at Paula Deen or voicing his hatred of the James Beard Foundation, he often leveled criticism against hapless trends and perceived enemies more than offering a kind word about, well, much of anything. However, his fierce opinions regarding just about everything under the sun occasionally included some sage advice for the regular Joe. He once said that those spending their hard-earned cash on a night out at a restaurant would be best served on a Tuesday, although not for the reason you might think.

Once upon a time, Bourdain warned folks against eating fish at a restaurant on Mondays, but he later changed his mind on his initial Monday fish rule. Yet, he still advised that Mondays, as well as weekends, were not the best days of the week to get an exceptional meal. According to him, Tuesdays were the sweet spot during the week because many chefs take a day off on Monday. With time to rest after the busy weekend, the kitchen staff is back at their best when returning to work on Tuesday and has a rejuvenated passion for serving the most exquisite cuisine they can.

It wasn't just that chefs are rested and ready to rock on Tuesdays that made that the best day to dine out in Anthony Bourdain's mind. Being refreshed and invigorated after a day off, Tuesdays are the time when chefs indulge their creative ambitions. Maybe they had a stroke of inspiration when whipping up something for themselves at home that they want to try out at the restaurant, or perhaps there's an overstock of a certain ingredient leftover from the weekend that prompts an inventive recipe. The kitchen then gets the opportunity to whip up something new and exciting, allowing them to exercise their imagination and dazzle diners. "It's on Tuesday that you've got the goodwill of the kitchen on your side," Bourdain wrote for The New Yorker. 

Bourdain also observed that, in New York City at least, locals made up the majority of folks patronizing restaurants during the week. He once said, "Weekends are considered amateur nights — for tourists, rubes, and the well-done-ordering pretheatre hordes" (via The New Yorker). Your average local restaurant customer, who perhaps doesn't eat out much, is more apt to be excited about the cuisine, which is far more satisfying to a chef than food snobs and critics picking apart every aspect of the meal they are served. They are enjoying their work more on Tuesdays, and you, as a diner, benefit from that gratification.