How does the syntax of 作って並べられている work here?

Question

The following is an excerpt from a conversation with my language partner. For some context, I told her about our familydinner at a restaurant during christmas eve. I wanted to tell her that you could have your meal freshly cooked right before your eyes there, but unfortunately I used some wrong vocabulary and she explained to me what I actually said :D

I'll post what I had written first: 彼女の家族は、クリスマスイブでレストランへ行く伝統があります。ですから、去年私の家族と彼女の家族とクリスマスイブで「グル‌​メ-テンプル」というレストランへ行きまし‌​た。このレストランはビュッフェと料理番組‌​で作られた料理を供して、料理のすごい種々‌​がありました

Then here is the full block which she wrote back concerning my misleading wordchoice: 「料理番組で作られた料理」というのは、テレビの料理番組で作っていた料理を再現したという意味でしょうか。 ビュッフェ形式のホテルやレストランで私が思いつくのは、「実演料理（じつえんりょうり）」です。作って並べられている料理とは別に、その場でシェフが作ってくれる料理です。日本の場合では、その場で寿司を握ってくれたり、天ぷらを揚げてくれたりします。お客さんは作っている様子を見ることができ、作りたてを食べることができます。

Ultimately, here is the sentence in question: 作って並べられている料理とは別に、その場でシェフが作ってくれる料理です。

My attempt at translation: "Concerning the prepared and lined up meals, they are meals which the chef makes (right there) on that spot."

I think that I got the 別に、その場でシェフが作ってくれる料理です part right (I still might be wrong though^^). My main issue lies with the 作って並べられている料理とは part.

First, I think that と puts the two elements on both sides into a "A = B" relationship. This function is always a bit hard for me to handle, so I wanted to ask wether I got it right or not.

Second, I'm a bit clueless about the verbal chain 作って並べられている. Its syntax confuses me because there definitely IS a て form for passive verbforms (e.g. 並べられて ^^), and I think that 作って has a passive meaning here. So, it might be possible to chain a verb to another verb without paying attention to its grammatical voice (=active/passive), but I don't know anything about these rules. I also don't know wether doing it in one way or the other modifies the sentence in one way or another.

Answer 1

You have ignored 別に completely. ～と(は)別に is a very common set phrase that means "aside from ～", "apart from ～", "in isolation from ～", etc. This と is a particle that marks a target of comparison or contrast (see this).

作って並べられている料理とは別に
apart from dishes which have been (already) prepared and spread (on the table)

As you have guessed, 作って並べられている is interchangeable with 作られて並べられている here, but the latter sounds roundabout to me. You can often omit the first れる/られる when the two verbs are treated as one set action, but this should depend on the context.

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By the way, your first attempt is indeed confusing, but what did you want to say? A literal interpretation of your first attempt would be "a (terrible) restaurant which reuses and serves the dishes of nearby cooking studios and buffet restaurants".