The Menu Starter You Won't Usually Catch Chefs Ordering At Restaurants

For many folks, dining out is more than just grabbing a bite to eat -– it's an event. It's an opportunity to sit back and sample cuisine you typically wouldn't attempt to make at home, and possibly walk out of the restaurant with a new appreciation for a dish you've never tried. Still, not everything on the menu is going to be worth your hard-earned dough.

There are certain menu items that many chefs refuse to order, like the special of the day. You also won't catch Gordon Ramsay ordering the soup du jour at a restaurant. Those aren't the only restaurant menu staples chefs avoid, either. Suhum Jang, chef at the recently-closed Hortus NYC, makes a strong case for bypassing the house salad at any establishment.

"I've seen restaurants repurpose leftover scraps from other dishes as salad ingredients, which is off-putting," he said. "Additionally, the base greens aren't always fresh, and heavy dressings are often used to mask this lack of quality." That's a disturbing image, and one that would put me off ordering a house salad in the future — if I actually ordered them in the first place.

Being a former chef myself who has worked in several culinary establishments, I can thankfully say that Jang's testimony about house salads not being made with the best ingredients was not my experience. Still, that's not to say it doesn't happen. Restaurants occasionally cut corners in an attempt to improve their bottom line, and incorporating cast-off or shoddy ingredients in dishes is one way to do that.

However, even at a restaurant that lauds its house salad, it isn't exactly a showstopping dish. I mean, come on — it's a bowl of uncooked vegetables. Any home cook can whip together a house salad with little effort or culinary experience. The only barrier for some might be needing to brush up on their knife skills, and even then, you'll still walk away with a decent serving of fresh veggies.

It's typically kitchen newbies constructing house salads, which means they may be less familiar with safe food handling procedures which can lead to obvious problems after your meal. Culinary rookies are also still learning to portion ingredients correctly, meaning you could be served a bowl predominantly filled with lettuce drowned in ranch dressing.

A house salad isn't necessarily worth your time or money when dining out. It only serves the purpose of filling you up right before the main attraction is presented. And as tasty as those bread rolls at Texas Roadhouse might be, they fall in the same vein. Whatever the dish, you went out to be impressed with a stellar entrée, not the fluff restaurants serve to tide you over until the main course arrives.