Wayne wrote:
>
> Kate Connally > wrote in
> :
>
> > Peter Aitken wrote:
> >>
> >> "Kate Connally" > wrote in message
> >> ...
> >> > Goomba38 wrote:
> >> > >
> >> > > Kate Connally wrote:
> >> > >
> >> > > > You know, I did just this very thing but not to avoid a
> >> > > > service charge. I have always wanted to eat at Brennan's
> >> > > > in New Orleans and when I got the chance to go there I was
> >> > > > really excited. I couldn't wait to have the Bananas Foster.
> >> > > > I made a reservation months in advance. I was meeting my
> >> > > > sister and her husband there for dinner while we were both
> >> > > > on vacation in N. O. at the same time. So, we get to the
> >> > > > restaurant and are seated and the waiter comes to take our
> >> > > > order and I ask for separate checks. No deal! Huh? What's
> >> > > > the big deal? (I don't even want to hear all the "so why
> >> > > > couldn't one or the other of you just pay the check and get
> >> > > > reimbursed by the other" comments - there are reasons - okay?)
> >> > > > So I'm furious. I ask to be seated at another table nearby.
> >> > > > They think I'm nuts. Too bad it didn't work. If it had been
> >> > > > a place where you didn't need a reservation months in advance
> >> > > > it woulda worked. We ended up eating at Kakoo and Ralph's.
> >> > > > It was great. Eh, their Bananas Foster is probably not all
> >> > > > it's cracked up to be anyway. :-)
> >> > > >
> >> > > > Kate
> >> > >
> >> > > That's really a depressing story. It is like you cut your
> >> > > own nose off to spite your face...very sad. I hope
> >> > > whatever is wrong between you and your family can be
> >> > > resolved so that you don't miss out on other nice things in
> >> > > years to come.
> >> >
> >> > Well, I don't feel that way about it. I just don't like
> >> > being pushed around by snooty restaurants or even non-snooty
> >> > ones! It was a matter of principle. And there is nothing
> >> > wrong between me and my family. If there were I would not
> >> > have been dining with them! The reasons for requesting
> >> > separate checks have nothing to do with a "family feud".
> >> > Don't feel sorry for me. I can always make my own Banana's
> >> > Foster from Brennan's own recipe so it's not a big deal.
> >> > And we had a great time at Kakoo and Ralph's and great
> >> > food. I had crab done 7 different ways, and except for
> >> > the soft-shell crab it was all delicious. I would have
> >> > actually felt worse about it if I had let Brennan's force
> >> > me into doing it their way.
> >> >
> >> > Kate
> >> >
> >> > --
> >>
> >> The very reason for going to a top quality restaurant is so they can
> >> "do it their way."
> >
> > I totally disagree. If I go there to have the house specialty,
> > like Bananas Foster, then, obviously, I'm going to "have
> > it their way", but if I just go there to eat and decide to
> > order salmon and they refuse to cook it properly for me
> > (as in *not* rare!), then I don't think they have the right
> > to tell me that's the only way they will cook it. And if I
> > want a dish without the mushrooms and it's not something that's
> > already made up with the mushrooms already in it then I damn
> > well will "have it *my* way". Of course if I had known
> > then, what I know now about both parties charging their own
> > portion on their own credit card, something I've done many
> > times in the last 10 or 12 years, it wouldn't have been a
> > problem, but they probably would have given me a hard time
> > about that, too, with my luck. I don't know when that became
> > a common practice. Anyway, this was almost 20 years ago.
> >
> > Anyway, as far as I am concerned the reason for going to
> > a "top quality" restaurant is so that I can have well-prepared
> > food and good service. Not to cater to the ego of some
> > wacked out chef who thinks his way is the only way!
> >
> > Kate
> >
>
> I wouldn't want to go to a restaurant where I felt the need to dictate
> the cooking method and ingredients to the chef.

What - you don't tell them how you want your steak cooked?
You just let them do it however they feel like it?

I'm sorry, but I just don't get that attitude. Just because
it's considered a "top quality restaurant" doesn't mean
that they know everything or that their way is the only
right way to do things. I sure don't want to go to a fancy
restaurant and pay a lot of money for a meal only to have
what and how I'm going to eat dictated to me. And what if
I'm only there because I'm with a group who wanted to go
there? Not my choice. Sure I could refuse to go but then
I would miss dining with my friends or family. So, I go
and they have this salmon dish that sounds good except for
the undercooking part and I look over the whole menu and
there's nothing else that speaks to me and besides I'm
really jonesing for salmon. Why shouldn't I be able to
ask that it be properly cooked, i. e. not rare for. It's
not a hard thing to do. And that sort of thing happens
with steak all the time - people ask for it rare, medium,
well, etc. It's not like I'm asking them to take a dish
that's alreay prepared - say chicken mushroom soup - and
pick out all the mushrooms for me. I would never do that.
But how hard is it to leave an ingredients out that hasn't
even been added yet? And as for doing it their way, well,
their way is only one way to do it. There are other legitimate
and equally delicious ways to do just about everything.

Now, if I go to have one of their "specialties" then I'm probably
not going to ask for any changes, but you never know. It would
depend on whether or not I knew ahead of time how it was made
and what was in it. If it weren't to my taste I probably wouldn't
order it or even go there in the first place. But if I went
and found out that the Bananas Foster, unbeknownst to me
beforehand, contained something I didn't like and which could
easily be omitted, then I guess I'd go ahead and ask them
to omit it. I see absolutely nothing wrong with that.

No, I might not just as well go to Denny's if I'm going
to do that. That's ridiculous. I would go to a
fancy restaurant because I want really high quality,
perfectly prepared food and am willing to pay for it.
I couldn't get that a Denny's. I don't go to the fancy
restaurant to be forced to have it their way, I go there
for the high quality ingredients and expert preparation.
And not for chef attitude or served attitude. That those
things may exist is unfortunate but I won't patronize a
restaurant like that no matter how "great" their food
and service is. It's a restaurant, okay? A service
business!!! Not the chef's home where I've been invited
to dinner and have to pretend to like everything the
way it's served. I'm there paying for a meal and I should
get it the way I like it, within reason.

Kate
perfectly prepared food.


> --
> Wayne in Phoenix
>
> unmunge as w-e-b
>
> *If there's a nit to pick, some nitwit will pick it.
> *A mind is a terrible thing to lose.


--
Kate Connally
“If I were as old as I feel, I’d be dead already.”
Goldfish: “The wholesome snack that smiles back,
Until you bite their heads off.”
What if the hokey pokey really *is* what it's all about?