Chef Taffy Elrod on Adjusting Expectations and Service for the Holidays

I’ll never forget the holiday caller who insisted my husband and I open our restaurant on Christmas morning just to make her a tray of chicken wings. She refused to pick them up on Christmas Eve, when we were open, and was furious we wouldn’t give in to her request. This was all-out wing warfare, people! 

That diner had no idea what she was asking of us. Christmas Eve was one of our...