Chef Stephanie Izard: How to deal with picky diners

Chicago chef talks Girl & The Goat, new stamps for foodies

Is it a chef's right to serve food how she or he wants, or should customers have a say?

As that debate heats up in the wake of a San Francisco restaurant closing up shop for a night due to picky customer demands, "Top Chef" winner Stephanie Izard contends that when it comes to pleasing guests, the future is in catering to customers' changing needs.

Izard even goes so far as to create a whole menu that people with special dietary needs can pick from.

"There's a lot of allergies these days and there's always going to be picky eaters," Izard told FoxNews.com. "You can go the route of saying no, or what we've decided to do is create special menus for gluten-free or vegan or whatever it is because we want our customers to be able to enjoy our food as much as they can."

Izard, executive chef at two Chicago restaurants: the award-winning Girl & The Goat and the Little Goat Diner, was selected to unveil new Forever Stamps bearing the image of five cooking icons for the U.S. Postal Service: James Beard, Julia Child, Joyce Chen, Edna Lewis, and Felipe Rojas-Lombardi --ardent champions of modern food trends. Izard, the current "Top Chef Duels" competitor on Bravo, says foodies should do what the cooking greats do and check out their local farmer's markets for fall ingredients this time of year.

"For me it's all about getting excited for Fall ingredients," Izard said. "Here in Chicago ... you can go to the local farmer's market and there's about 50 varieties of apples to taste and enjoy."

Watch the full interview with Chef Stephanie Izard in the video above.