--- author: Eric Wagoner date: '2003-05-02T03:51:36' draft: false title: You'll eat it my way --- Gillian Clark is the chef and co-owner of Colorado Kitchen in Washington, D.C. In[an open letter to the Washington Post](http://discuss.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/zforum/03/r_food_sietsema043003.htm), she explains why she refuses most every request for special service at her restaurant. It's quite a good read, and the resulting [MetaFilter discussion](http://www.metafilter.com/mefi/25468 "Comments on 25468 | MetaFilter") is worth checking out as well. > _The servers often hate to say no to the customer that insists that I broil the crab cakes or deep fry their flounder. I explain to them that they are in my restaurant. And they must have the flounder the way I make it. Personally, I prefer the way Herbert von Karajan conducts Beethoven’s Third Symphony. But I would never ask Zubin Mehta to finish the Adagio with the hesitant 3/8 that Herb finishes with. Nor would I stop a production of Hamlet and ask them to insert a couple of lines from Macbeth because I think they go well in there._