Kate Connally > wrote in
:

> 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?

When the degree of doneness of a dish is explicitly done to the diner's
choice; e.g., steak, then of course I tell them, but it is invariably in
response to them asking how I want it done.

>
> 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.

"within reason" is clearly the key, but I think we're at an impasse on
the definition.

> 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.