Avocado, goat's cheese, mushroom, olives, red onion...

[Miriel]

Listen.

If you are at a nice restaurant, unless you viscerally loathe an ingredient or if it's an actual allergy, don't go around trying to "fix" a plate to suit your needs exactly.

If you're at a nice restaurant with a talented chef, then just let them take care of you.

You will never learn to like new food if you never try it. Research has shown that children need to eat an item of food 7-15 times before they will willingly eat that item. Think of yourself as a child whose taste buds are still developing.

I thought I hated cauliflower until 2 weeks ago. Then I went to one of the best restaurants in San Francisco and one of the girls I was with tried to substitute cauliflower puree for mashed potatoes. The waitress INSISTED we leave the components of the plate alone. She said that the cauliflower really worked on the plate and that we might regret substituting it out.

And guess what? It was one of the best god damn thing I've eaten all year long. It was smurfing DELICIOUS. So now I like cauliflower. I loved it so much I made the recipe for Del Murder the other day and he liked it too! And this is not a man who loves vegetables!

It's funny that you mention goat cheese because at this exact same meal with the cauliflower, my friend wanted the ravioli but it came with a goat cheese stuffing. She tried to get them to swap it out for another cheese. ANY other cheese. My friend hates goat cheese. I can't say that I like it very much either. But again, the waitress insisted and again, the goat cheese ravioli was fabulous and my friend loved it.

So reserve your pickiness for the things that you seriously can't stand to eat. Like, the stuff that you've tried several times and each time, they make you want to barf. Those are the only things you should ever actively try to avoid. The other stuff, give them a chance. You might like them if they're just prepared in a new or different way.

Del Murder hated asparagus for a long time too. Try asparagus that's been butter poached. It's amazing. Seriously BUTTER POACHED. How can you not like that?