A couple of days ago while running errands, we stopped at my favorite Mexican restaurant for a late lunch. When the waiter, which we knew, sat the food down, he said, “careful — hot plate.” The fact is he always says that. Actually I don’t remember eating in any Mexican restaurant and not being told that the pate was hot.
Well, I got to thinking about that…. I don’t remember ever being told to be careful of the hot plate in any other kind of a restaurant. Apparently there is a science behind why some food is placed on a hot plate while other plates are room temperature or even cooled. The temperature of the plate can make a major difference in the food’s quality.
A number of Mexican dishes should be served on plates near the temperature of the meal that is being placed on the plate. If the plate is colder than the food, the food will begin to cool down quicker. We’ve taken food that we didn’t finish home from Mexican restaurants and it’s never as good as it was in the restaurant. A cold burrito or enchilada are not nearly as tasty as they are when they are warm. Cold rice or beans are also not very good.
(Good) Mexican restaurant cooks quickly transfer the food onto a warm plate for the server to take to the customer. At busy times, the plates with the food are placed under a heating lamp to keep it hot and fresh. Sometimes the plate and meal are placed in a broiler or oven — usually when cheese needs to be melted as part of the meal.
Some years ago, we frequented a good steakhouse that heated the plates to keep the steak nice and warm — but I was never warned that the plate might be “hot.”
Of course if I wanted to take the negative view, I’d say that the food was already prepared and quickly rewarmed. I doubt that this practice is seldom, if ever, the case in a quality restaurant — I just choose to believe that they make the effort to heat the plate as part of providing quality food.
But I do like Mexican food —Ive heard it said that you should live everyday like it’s Taco Tuesday. Seems like good advice….
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