Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

I hope it's a huge hit so people learn how to eat at a restaurant and behave like adults. Because most folks don't have a clue.

Chef's block isn't so much about going blank as it is about never changing your menu or just doing tried and true (read: boring) classics.

A few years back, when I was still pretty green in the kitchen, I cooked at a small restaurant/bar. I had been at this place for about a year and was completely burnt out on the menu. Late one night as I sat at the bar after my shift I got to chatting with a very animated (and quite tipsy) young couple. They told me they had met just three weeks beforehand and were getting married the next week! They seemed very much in love and I congradulated them on finding each other. When they asked me where a great restaurant would be in the area I invited them back the next night for a three course meal made especially for them by chef me. (i might have been a lil' tipsy myself) They got very excited and promised to return the next evening.

Working the next night, which was very slow, I waited in anticipation for the couple, excited to whip up something new and exciting for them instead of making the same fifteen plates over and over. However, the night dragged on and I eventually gave up on the couple. They must have been too drunk to remember, I thought. Oh well, I was tired anyway. I was just getting ready to clean up and close the kitchen and guess who walks in ready for their custom made meal at 11:30 pm? Keep in mind that despite the fact I was excited about cooking for them, I hadn't actually put any real thought into what I would actually make. And it was late. And I was tired.
This is what I came up with:

First course- Like a nacho/crostini thing. Indidvidual tortilla chips layed out on a platter topped with tapenade, jack cheese, chevre, each garnished with a single cilantro leaf. This wasn't too hard to think up. Kins of a deconstructed nancho.
The couple, for some reason, loved it.

Main- This was where things got interesting. I really had no idea what to do other than I was sure it would be some type of pasta. I refused to make anything from the menu so...Did you ever start improving a dish and take it way too far? Adding some of this, a little of that, until you can barely recognize what you've ended up with? The ingredient list for the pasta dish I served the couple:
Linguine, roasted garlic, rosemary, thyme, chicken breast, tomatoes, marinara sauce, portabellos marinated in A-1, tapenade, cashews, spinach, jack cheese, chevre, heavy cream, basil, parsley, some other stuff i've forgotten and god knows what else. The color of this sauce was an ungodly orangey-brown like dumpster juice and smelled reall really strange. I was afraid to taste it. So I just sent it to the table...

I didn't hear anything from the servers as I finally cleaned up and closed the kitchen. I told the bartender to make some whiskey-chocolate something for the dessert course and went outside to smoke. When I came back and sat at the bar for my shift drink there was the couple. I was hesitant to speak to them but was morbidly curious about the monster pasta. I strode up and asked them about their meal and...they loved it! They told me it was absolutely delicious and thanked me profusly. I almost did, believe them until the guy pulled out his take- out box and asked for a fork. He hungily shoved more pasta in his mouth, smiling the whole time as I watched. I was somewhat beside myself at this creation but hey, the couple was happy!

It's not so old but I loved Big Red soda as a kid. I could never figure out what the flavor was supposed to be ...

I'm with foodvox here. And I'll add that this style of cooking is so inaccessable to the home cook that, even as a chef, I find it very...alien. Maybe someday we'll see an issue of Cook's Ill. on gm...

I've never invented a dish.

I "invent" almost every time I cook. I often change, modify, or re-arrange recipes depending on what I have available - (waste not want not). Thank you for the opportunity to win!

I am not much of an inventor, but I do like to play with recipes, and add spices and hot sauce to almost everything. Thanks for the contest.

i always invent different things, like different types of salads or wraps, its so much fun to come up with different things!

I invent a lot of things - I really like to experiment in the kitchen. My favorite so far is a buffalo-style tilapia over grits.