Reply #3: I've been to many of them .......

[Stinky The Clown]

..... and some have been my clients. I won't mention those because it wouldn't be ..... uh ..... nice.

The best story I can tell here is about Jean Louis Palladin's 'Jean Louis' at the Watergate Hotel in DC. Jean Louis, sadly, is no longer with us and I have no idea what became of his restaurant. The kitchen was the smallest I've ever seen apart from the original Palm in NYC (the kitchen there was, literally 7 feet by 9 feet!). And, relatively speaking, he had an army of cooks in there. Watching them work was a study in organized chaos. This was a very high end, low volume place. Everything was scratch prepared except desserts, which came from an equally high end French patisserie, also in the Watergate complex, or, by train, from another one in NYC.

Jean Louis was very old school and very talented. His food was second to none. But this was his only place and he was there, on the range, every day, all day.

That restaurant was worth it.

Some of the others .... not so much. The chains with the famous chef names (you know who they are) are .... chains. Good enough, but often eclipsed by some no-name places run by concerned, talented, but uncelebrated chef-owners in cities and towns across the country.

Celebrity chefs are also just people. And, as people, they vary. Many are, in plain words, egotistical, arrogant assholes (with American born chefs being the bigger assholes than many of their supposedly haughty European born bretheren). Among the assholiest is a certain redhaired glam-guy who does a lot of teevee. Not to be confused with another red-haired guy who is not an asshole, but is an Italian chef who also does a good bit of teevee.

The most regular guy type? Probably the most visible on teevee. Emeril. He's just plain folks. Really. I had the pleasure of dinner with him at an event my professional association held several years ago. He was a guest of honor, not the chef.

The better places, as in all things, are those where the chef is actually there. True enough, most train very talented chefs to work for them and the food is indistnguishable from that prepared/supervised by the rock star chef, but there's a difference - undefinable, kinda - when said rock star is off rock-starring.

But most of all, keep this in mind. These rock star chefs are not better chefs. They just play well on teevee. There are many, many, many equally or more talented working cooks out there who ply their craft nightly and have very satisfied customers who keep coming back for more.

So .... to your original question ...... are these places all they're cracked up to be? In my view ........ no, not usually.