Some things I just don't get.

A local restaurant serves their steaks on sizzle platters, those shallow cast iron frying pans set on a serving base.  The platter is heated  before service so that the steak arrives at your table crackling and hissing, in billow of smoke and steam.

So, what's wrong with that?

Well, I like my steak cooked medium rare.  By the time I'm half way through a modest sized steak, it has cooked through completely, and is now well done.  A perfectly good steak is ruined by the serving method.

The last time I ate there, I asked to have my entrée served on a regular plate, only to have the waiter tell me that if they served it that way, it would be cold by the time I finished.  For centuries restaurants have solved that problem through the simple practice of warming the plate.  A plate warmed briefly in the oven or in a special warming cabinet is enough to keep the food until it is consumed.

Most of us have heard before the cliche of companies "selling the sizzle and not the steak."  I guess I just never thought they would take it so literally.