In college I worked at a tiki restaurant that served a couple of flambé entrees. The performance of setting food on fire right at the table, plus the unforgettable smell ensured that once one table ordered a flambé, there would be more orders that night. Dinner theater notwithstanding, the flambé is where eating out meets entertainment. The tableside flambé reached its apex in the mid-20th century, but is making a comeback in both upscale and midrange restaurants due to social media and the never ending search for content. If you see a flambé served these days, you will see a table full of diners with their phones focused on it.
You would think a server who brings and performs a tableside flambé, dressed in finery with his bespoke utensils ready, would be a trained chef, but nothing is further from the truth. Adam Reiner has served flambés of all kinds, and he tells us what is involved in a flambé and what it all means at Eater. -via Nag on the Lake
(Image credit: stu_spivack)
