If You Want To Know If You're At A Great Restaurant, Order The Chicken

People obviously go to steakhouses for the steak, but the rest of the menu often gets overlooked. That's a shame because if the restaurant is worth its salt, it likely serves other great dishes too. Food Republic spoke with Jonathan Bautista, Executive Chef at Ember & Rye in Carlsbad at Park Hyatt Aviara, and he emphatically agrees. According to him, you absolutely should explore what a chophouse has to offer aside from its filet mignon and prime rib.

Bautista advised that "[a] good steakhouse excels at everything, not just steak." One item that's often ignored is the chicken, but that's a mistake because you might be missing out on something fantastic. As Bautista explained, "I also judge a restaurant by their chicken dish — if they put effort into making it exceptional, it says a lot about the establishment."

This actually goes against the theory that professional chefs rarely order chicken at a restaurant. Reasons for their poultry avoidance can include its high markup, knowing they can make it themselves, and the assumption that it will be boring. Anthony Bourdain recommended pork over chicken at restaurants for similar reasons, along with dismissing it as something for people who are indecisive. However, when the ingredient is treated with respect and cooked with pride, a truly exceptional chicken dish is possible — yes, even at a steakhouse, or rather, at any steakhouse that's worth its salt.

Chicken is a delicious and flavorful meat when it's done right. Because it's relatively inexpensive, it's very common in home-cooked recipes, and also associated with fast food. From buffalo wings and Nashville hot chicken to chicken tenders and fingers, the bird is widely enjoyed but also sometimes thought of as either lowbrow or something reserved for children's menus or picky eaters. Along those same lines, those who regularly eat chicken at home may be looking to experience something new or different when they dine out.

All the same, everything on a restaurant's menu should be good or it doesn't belong there, so by ignoring the chicken, you might be depriving yourself of something special. Even if an eatery's specialty is steak, its chicken should also be made to the same standards. Dishes that deserve your attention are chicken cooked with the skin on and the bone in for full flavor and texture — seeing these on a menu may indicate a more nuanced chef. Free-range birds raised on natural, organic feed are often the tastiest; inquiring as to where a restaurant gets a chicken can clue you into its quality.  

At Ember & Rye, Chef Bautista's chicken dishes include tamarind barbecue grilled chicken wings, a Szechuan hot fried chicken sandwich, and a Jidori organic half chicken served with celery root, gooseberry, dandelion greens, chanterelles, and supreme chicken jus ... all of which we'd be more than happy to order at a steakhouse.