FireIslanddish

You must have been floored to see that envelope in your mail. Any plans to go back? Yes I was a bit shocked that a letter was sent after so much time (you might say "floored"). As of yet, no plans to go back. Even with the letter, which arrived a bit on the late side and not responded to by the people I addresssed it to, I've decided to wait. As a side note, going back to Nobu (fifth or sixth time) for my upcoming birthday dinner in September. As much as they have been snotty at times the place always came through. Even in the uneven LA sister resturant the food was great.

I wonder... if this had anything to do with the letter I received. It took a good month for a response and was not sent by either person I addressed it to... Maybe egullet is more of an impression than a letter.

no just plain Nancy

Bought mine in NY at JB Prince Resturant supply (online) here is the linkJB Prince $149 plus shipping Cheers

For those interested and I say this tentatively, I received a siccinct apology letter from the service director on behalf of Mr. Batali regarding my dining experience that "left a bad taste" (see Babbo thread) to paraphrase Ms. Selzer, she offered sincere apologies for the disappointing experience. "We do appreciate any comments on our performance whether postive or negative." She assured me that the "comments were not only read by Mr. Batali, but they inspired a service meeting amoung our entire hospitalitly department. Mr Batali reviewed your letter point by point with our staff. You very eloquently detailed exactly what we do not want when interacting with our guests. " She expressed that they hoped I would try them again and to contact her. Cheers, FireIslanddish

Ditto!

Thank you. We do have La Super-Rica on our list. Cant' wait. Looking for some really good dinner spots as well.

Scouting to relocate to Santa Barbara from NYC in a few years. Looking for good restuarant and cultural ideas. Staying at Bacara. Cheers

Fast Food Nation (a must) Alice B Toklas Cookbook (found in used bookstore) Short stories by F.Scott Fitzgerald The Tibetian Book of the Dead (heavy reading)

Sorry I misled again about the 45 minutes. Points: 1. Encounter on phone - rude - twice and condesending! 2. Husband sick & called around 5pm for a 8pm reservation (I'm rude for canceling?) hum.... 3. Several days before friend calls to change reservation from 6:15pm to 6:30pm - difficult but they change 4. Host rude when we enter 5. Wine steward - rude and condesending 6. Want to start ordering and not allowed! 7. Ask for some bread and have to ask for some olive oil and or butter 8. Waiter never smiles 9. After asking to start ordering and not allowed 25 minutes go by and we are asked to order for the absent person (again menu is very diverse if you have never been) 10. We ask what time they need the table so we can plan our meal accordingly and to free the table - no response - rude staff 11. Tables on either side of us never get seated again and are empty when we leave 12. Food was good not exceptional What do I want from this rude and condesending place? Nothing but a recognition that they indeed care about my experience and live up to their "vision" as quoted on their website. We spent a lot of money and felt really unsatisfied. Is that fair or right? I wasn't purposely being rude to them why should I forgive them for their attitude? How about sorry? But it seems to be a trend not to take responsibility for one's mistakes.

I add in Semolina flour for a crispy, yummy pie. Also I make triple the amount and freeze it. Grilling is easy and produces a great pizza. I will grill the dough first and undercook one side and leave it till guests are ready to eat. I have all the toppings ready and then everyone can make their own combinations. Put the toppings on the done side and slide the pizza back onto the grill to cook. I also just free shape my pizza. I've never rolled it. I use a pizza stone when home in NYC (no grilling allowed). Note: if using fresh mozz and fresh tomatoes (which I highly recommend) cut them in slices and allow some of the moisture to run off or you will have a runny mess in the oven or grill. Here is my dough recipe: 1 Tbs. Active dry yeast 1 Tbs. Sugar ¾ cup plus 2 Tbs. Lukewarm water (7 fl. Oz./ 105 F) 1 ½ cups all purpose flour, plus ½ cup for kneading 1 ¼ cup semolina flour 1 tsp. Salt 1 Tbs. Olive oil 1. Dissolve yeast and sugar in water and let stand until slightly foamy on top (10 minutes) 2. In a large bowl stir together 1 ½ cups all purpose flour and 1 ¼ cup semolina flour or put in food processor with metal blade. Add all dry ingredients. With machine running slowly pour the yeast mixture through feed tube and continue processing just until the mixture forms a ball of dough that rides around the blade. [if you don't have a food processor, do this in a bowl and then knead dough for 5 minutes instead of 2 minutes] 3. Knead dough on floured surface for 2 minutes 4. Lightly coat a bowl with the oil. Gather the dough into a ball, place in bowl, turn and cover with plastic wrap. Leave at room temperature to rise until doubled in bulk (1-2 hours) 5. Before shaping punch down dough on a lightly floured work surface. Proceed with shaping. **You may freeze dough for another time up to 3 months. When ready to use defrost thoroughly. And shape. Cheers

I agree. And please, slkinsey STOP, STOP, STOP, ENOUGH ALREADY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You should be ashamed.

My best method is to put the chocolate in a ziplock and take it outside with a hammer. You gently pound the block or chunks and you get chopped chocolate. Works like a dream everytime for me.

As far as I'm concerned people are people, dining is dining, money is money, no exceptions - you treat the customer with respect not insolence upfront. If the customer is rude then you find a diplomatic way of handling it. The restuarant staff especially the host should not start off the experience with a "you're doing us a favor" attitude. To address the dress code and behavioral code (without stereotypes), do unto to others as you would like others to do unto you. You want respect dress and act with respect. If the establishment does not act in kind then in my humble opinion they are simply wrong and need to clean up their act. I'm almost sorry I started this thread. Smile, be happy. Everyone enjoy life, food and going out!!!!!

I'm not sure I agree. Look at the French Laundry, Patricia Wells, etc.

Check out (I know) Martha Stewart's website for the Cupcake Cafe buttercream that is very popular in NYC

Folks we DID NOT hold up the table for 45 minutes. Perhaps I misled with the excerpts. My friend had called several days before to negotiate the reservation from 6:15 to 6:30pm. My husband was exactly 26 minutes late. He not only left a board meeting early to get there as soon as possible, but also as I said encountered the Cesaria traffic. My God let's be human and know that people run late. If you've been to Babbo you would know there is NO WAY to order for someone else. Even some else who you know very well. The menu really is just too diverse. Also, as I originally said, the tables on either side of us never, NEVER got seated again. We kept asking when they would need our table so we could graciously leave before that was the case. They refused to answer the question. They refused to let us start ordering before my husband got there. Is that right? Hopefully, I will go again and be more then pleasantly surprised. However, I am not going through the reservation process (call a month to the day between 9am and 11am on redial). Will have to be a guest reserver.

My husband and I always “engage” the sommelier and wait staff for their recommendations (including at Babbo). The only thing we did wrong as a non-perfect customer was have ONE of our party show up late. Remember they make it difficult even to cancel a reservation never mind confirm one. Mind you this was also the night of the morning down 5th Ave for Cesaria Evora. The host even asked us if there was a lot of traffic because many reservations were running late that night. I also agree that everyone has the right to eat out without being judged. The same thinking of them or us (Manhattanites) is why we as non-celebs can get the shaft at the hot restaurants .

I just saw him on the foodnetwork this morning and he was reading the cue cards and I swear he stumbled over the word ‘food’!

Macrosan, Thank you for a relevent post I'm a real foodie and have been trying to go to Babbo for sometime. Because of different circumstances I was unable to get there till last month. After seeing "Molto Mario" many times I thought that the experience of Babbo would have been like going to a great yet warm and friendly favorite place in Italy (which I've been too several times north, south east and west) because he seems like he has great humour, wit and warmth. That is why I wrote the letter. If it was my reputation as a chef and owner I would want to know the postive and negative experiences. Many people have since told me he probably is too egocentric to care what I thought. And I have heard back from several friends that they have the same experience. It's a real shame! Molto, what is going on? Cheers, FireIslanddish

No reply. It's been about three weeks since I mailed the letters. Thank you for the NYC thread.

I want to share and get feedback on my dealings with the Babbo staff. I am posting some excerpts from a three page letter I wrote to both owners (Batali & Bastianich). I had to call and cancel because my husband got sick, which was equally as challenging as calling for the reservation, but feel it is a common courtesy to call. After pushing several buttons and waiting on the phone for a person, a man abruptly answers the phone (as if I had interrupted him during his morning constitution) and I kindly tell him I need to cancel. Then without any grace at all he continues to speak to me with a very annoyed tone and without even a "thank you for calling", hangs up on me. My husband and I decide to make another go of it and call in for the lottery reservation and we win. We call-in dutifully (I now feel like I’m an employee on call) to confirm our reservation and this time I feel I interrupted a woman doing something because I am clearly annoying her by confirming. But she delights in telling me that I indeed don’t have a reservation. I tell her that I do and spoke to a person with an “English accent”, she in turn reprimanded me and said, “The person is not English but Australian.” Well isn’t that interesting I thought and thanks for the dialect lesson. The other point was I was given another number WHEN I MADE THE RESERVATION to call and confirm. Nothing was moving this heart of stone. Friends invited us when they got a reservation a few weeks ago. We were reserved for a 6:15pm dinner for four. My friend called up and said we would not be able to make it till 6:30pm. She had to negotiate this and finally said, “Look we are talking about a meal here. We will definitely be there and what time do you need the table after us? (no answer to the question)” Three of us arrived (my husband was finishing up a board meeting and was on his way). We were reluctantly seated and ignored until we flagged down someone for a drink. I asked for champagne (my first mistake) and was given another lesson without warmth or a smile and meekly agreed to the “Sparkling wine”. We then asked to order some appetizers until my husband arrived (my second mistake). “We are unable to take any orders that are not complete.” “May we have some bread?” “Yes.” I had to flag down another waiter for the promise of some olive oil and or butter. After the unsmiling waiter left (thank God for the busboys who were the only ones that smiled!) I giggled and said to my companions, “Isn’t it silly. The three of us have been to all the great restaurants in the city and I feel like it’s the first time we’ve been out. They make you feel so uncomfortable here. But I’m going to relax because I want a good experience - so cheers.” They agreed. At 6:50pm my husband had not yet arrived, but I knew he was on his way. The maitre’ d asked us to order and order also for my husband and he could “catch-up”. How could one order for another with such a diverse menu?. We said we could not do that and that he would be arriving any moment. Again my friend asked, “When do you need the table by?” The maitre’ d did not respond and left the table. My husband arrived one minute later it was just before 7pm. When we finished our meal the tables on either side of us had remained empty. I can say between the four of us we have been to every top restaurant in Manhattan and many around the world and have never felt more unwelcome with a staff (excluding the busboys) that is more inhospitable and lacking warmth. The business side of the restaurant overrode the whole food experience. Yes, the food was good to very good but without question not worth all the trouble and angst that was put upon us. Any thoughts?