by Beth Goulart

Loving to cook doesn't mean never eating out. I love going to restaurants. But letting someone else do the cooking doesn't mean I don't want to know where the food comes from. So I ask.

My friend Lyssa asks, too. She's passionate about eating only free-range meat, so before ordering, she asks her server whether the meat on the menu meets that criterium. But she says it makes her dining companions uncomfortable. They think it's rude. She deserves to know, she insists.

My friend Hillary asks, also.

She's excited about the health benefits - and the flavor - of grass-fed beef, so she asks her servers if they offer any grass-fed before she orders. But she embarrassed her husband by asking this question at a dinner with his colleagues at Ruth's Chris Steak House. Her husband was mortified - he felt the question was totally inappropriate, particularly in a business setting. (The answer was "no.")

Is it alright to ask? I certainly think it is - and anyone who's offended by that surely stopped supping with me long ago.

Answers vary widely, of course, depending on the restaurant. But in my experience, it's worth asking. Increasingly, restaurateurs have interesting things to say about their sourcing. Emmet Fox, of Asti and Fino in Austin told me, essentially, that he's been into local since before local was "in". He sources what he can locally, but is frank about the challenges of working with individual small producers. At Trio in Austin (in the Four Seasons Hotel), chef Elmar Prambs is forthcoming about where his ingredients originate. For instance, typically at least one of the beef dishes on his menu, like the tenderloin pictured above, is made with Niman Ranch beef, though you may have to ask to find out which one it is. (And while Niman sourcing doesn't tell you exactly where the cow that gave up its tenderloin grazed, it does insure that it lived a humane existence in a natural environment.) And at Austin's Counter Café, the whole staff knows where the ingredients for their diner standards come from - and may even share stories about farmers showing up at the door with fresh, seasonal produce in tow.

Why wouldn't you ask? Apparently, some folks think it's rude. But in my mind, chefs - whether four-star or four-dollar - are artists. So it's natural to ask about their process, their materials. And if they are put off by the question, you might wonder, "Do I really want to eat here?" If they don't want to talk about the ingredients they use, do you really want to eat them?

Just asking.

Image from the author's collection.

Beth Goulart is an Austin-based freelance journalist.