The Finest Chefs Flip Out

In baseball they often say that the best revenge for getting knocked down by a pitch up and in is to hit a home run. There's kind of a culinary equivalent. According to Snopes.com, a picky customer was the impetus for one chef's act of culinary revenge, something that went on to become one of America's most treasured snack foods.

Potato chips were the innovation of George Crum, head chef at Moon's Lake House, a resort in Saratoga Springs, New York. On that fateful day, a customer had the temerity to complain that Crum's French fries were "too thick and soggy" and not salty enough." The angered cook set out to wreak some culinary vengeance. He sliced potatoes paper-thin, fried them to a singed crisped brown, salted the living daylights out of them, and dumped them in front of the hard-to-please diner.

But, not all chef flip-outs have such great byproducts. Here are some recent ones you may remember:

The Kitchen at Brooklyn Un-Fare
Chef goes crazy and 'pays the price'
Petite Crevette's Neil Ganic throws live lobster on patrons' table
Why I Got Kicked Out of a Restaurant on Saturday Night