godito

Sometimes the wrong person answers the phone and they just scribble down the information in a piece of paper, which never gets transfered to the reservations book. This has happened to me before. As much as we train our staff, this mistakes happen, and as such, we have a plan to resolve them. I think the maite, based on what you said, handled this wrongly. First off, it's never the customer's fault... even if it is. He should've been appologetic, and offer some kind of solution. The idea here is to gain a loyal customer. So maybe the restaurant was busy beyond trying to squeeze somebody in, but what I try to do is to offer to try and get them a table in a similar nearby restaurant, and invite them to come again. Some never return, some leave angry, but most understand that mistakes happen and appreciate that we are trully doing our best to solve a problem. And that's exactly what that maitre never did.

It depends on the temperature. "frying" involves high heat, which leads to drying out the product (internal water of product evaporates, dehydfrating it). Therefore, frying is a dry method of cooking. If the temperature of the fat is below 100º Celsius (boiling point) then no water evaporates, and that's just poaching (this is how you make duck confit... or any other confit). So, as I'm not sure how clear my explanation was (I'm certainly not a teacher): High temperature = dry cooking method = frying Low temperature = moist cooking method = poaching or confit Hope this helped.

As an owner, I would be very grateful of every insight you might have on my operatios. Sometimes you have little time to control a lot of things (more so during the early stages) Sometimes a server (bartender in your case) looked great on paper, and had a good interview, but just has a terrible attitude. And sometimes you forget you're cooking for customers, and make food in a way tyhat you would like to eat it (even if nobody else would). I would welcome the opportunity given to improve a small business. They should be grateful. It's good of them to ask. Many don't, and they end up closing down and wondering what whent wrong.

Manjar Blanco is, pretty much, dulce de leche made the traditional way. Manjar is another name for dulce de leche, and blanco because it's whiter than regular dulce de leche. Most times, some sipices (like vanilla or clove) are added in the cooking process. Then again, this is how it's made in Bolivia and Ecuador. I'm assuming it's the same in Peru...

Is the East Coast Grill and Raw Bar still not accepting reservations? Then, there.

Ok, I'm taking a shot at 167 Is it The Way Home?

#153 - Are we talking about Deer Hunter?

#123 - Is it Made?

Cochabamba... I was born there! In Bolivia, they know cochabambinos as the ones who really enjoy eating. There's typical food to be had at virtualy every hour of the day!. And the pacha mama stuff, I still do it, spilling a bit of my beer on the floor. Sorry, this was a bit off topic... ← godito, and I have a Cochabambino grandson. Born there but of American parents. So now Bolivia is kind of an adopted country of interest to me. We need to get Doc to tour Bolivia now. He would do it great justice. ← Right! Bolivia is a beautiful place to visit. And the food is well worth a trip! I wish I was going to Bolivia sometime soon, that way I can post my own pictures and show you all the wonderful food to be had in places like Cochabamba. John, this whole thread has been wonderful and inspiring. I'm really enjoying it!

That's Olluco (or ulluco, in Ecuador, or Papa Lisa in Bolivia) My favorite!!!

Cochabamba... I was born there! In Bolivia, they know cochabambinos as the ones who really enjoy eating. There's typical food to be had at virtualy every hour of the day!. And the pacha mama stuff, I still do it, spilling a bit of my beer on the floor. Sorry, this was a bit off topic...

I pretty much think a customer has a right to cancel at any time he feels he should. And s/he shouldn't have to give any explanations. It's the nice thing to do... customers feel bad about not being able to go and they feel compelled to tell the whole story. How many times they don't even call? Those are the ones one could be rude to. It's unfair for the customer to be on the receiving end of the rudeness when they were considerate enough to call. Now, I understand that this is bad for a small restaurant. I own a small restuarant, and when we have a bad day (a lot of empty tables) it hurts us. I know that I do it too (and it's a mistake): I already count the money I don't have whenever a reservation is made. However, how could I get mad at somebody for calling? Right now, I have no desire to go to Joe Beef. Do you, Davecap? You've told us what happened, have you told any other of your friends? Have thy told anybody else? How about any of us egulleters? How many of those will choose not to go to Joe Beef? So, IMO, although it would seem that the chefs there don't care what we think, they complained over a $200 loss, but now they might have lost a lot of potential customers. Good thing the place is tiny,

I know in the roads of Ecuador, that is precisely the way to find them: crucified on a stick. Soooo good.

Chupe, maybe? That's quichua for soup. Or Cazuela?

Yerba mate isn't the same as coca leaf, and this is way off topic... but... Yerba mate, as I undestand it is a quichua and guarani herb that has been used in infusions for a long long time. Eventually, the regular way of drinking it (through a straw and inside a vase made out of... well... some kind of squash) was perfected in Paraguay and populariced in Argentina. However, I know they also drink it in Bolivia, Chile, Uruguay and Brasil (maybe other places, too)

"Mistakes" in wine by the glass ar not at all uncommon, and they are, most times, a management issue (unless they really are mistakes). As for the service itself, here in Chile it's becoming quite fashionable to have a Wine Dispenser, that is, wines on display with controled temperature and pressure, attached to a nozzle that "dispenses" wine directly to the glass. In my experience, if you chose carefully which wines to serve by the glass, you don't really have a high risk of them going bad. However, I love the opportunity to have them inside my controled environment where they will last for up to a month (although very few wines last that long, and when they do, it's time to realize that you just shouldn't be offering them by the glass) The problem with this is that you really shouldn't take the bottle out to show it to the customer when he orders it. This is why the bottles are on a glass display. However, not every sit on the house has a view of the bar (wine dispenser) In any case, if you can trust the restaurant won't be making "mistakes", there is a better alternative to them just bringing you the full glass form the bar. They could bring it in a small flask (or a personal size decanter) and pour it inside the glass if front of you.

Dry cereal IS one of my favorite snaks for anytime in the day. Mostly corn flakes. However, sometimes I will mix any kind of cereal (like muesli) with yogurt for a night snack. In fact, I'm getting ready to fix me some of that right now!

Awesome! I want to make me one of those

I like this one quite a bit. here you can follow a more direct link

I might be reading the articles wrong. In fact I probably am, as I'm reading everything fast, due to very little time, and therefore, maybe, should not even comment. However, this is what I gather: 1. When provided with information, customers tend not to choose the the high fot, high calory menu items. So the restaurant choses not to provide such information, favoring the sales of those items, as they are low cost - high profit. Here, I understand, sort of, the point of view of the business. But this proves that the demand is only there when we are kept in the dark. 2. If a menu includes a section with healthier choices, they tend to not sell as well, so this sections are reduced or eliminated. This also makes sence. In some places of the world, customers might feel insulted if the server recommended one of those "heatlhy choices" as the customers might believe that s/he is implying that they are fat or unhealthy (no joke, in some places diet coke is not called "diet", but "light"). So, restaurants are not selling their healthy dishes, but they don't sell their high fat ones either, as long as its nutritious information is readily available. What alternatives do the business have? Well, find a happy medium, maybe? I'm only guessing, but I believe that if their whole menu was made healthier (not to the point where they eliminate fat and sugar, but enough, yes, that the food is balanced and tasty), they would not loose customers. Well, some, sure, but they would probably not make less money. If it was required for them to post nutritional information, then they will have to change their recipes to make them healthier and not scare their regulars. I don't see a problem with this. I doubt they would close their doors or fire anybody.

People are living longer these days, but I can't see how that's got anything to do with this particular topic. People are living longer because we go to fewer wars (My grandfather fought in world war 1. Out of 7 brothers, only 3 survived. The rest: dead before 30), we don't work on the field doing dangerous activities (we have machines to do them now), fewer of our children die of malnutrition (That is in the "western world", which elevates the life expectancy averages to hights that in some places of Africa would be considered a miracle), sicknesses can now be retarded of fully treated (Fewer people die of TB... or even the flu) Now, we can all agree that it's dangerous to feed oneself with a burger like The Colossal. We don't need the nutritional information to know that if we order it, we're making a poor health choice. However, I do wonder if at one point we should demand some social responsability from chain restaurants. Super Size Me posted that question, and I think it's a good one. If it's so obvious that we make poor choices when eating, shouldn't restaurants do their best to offer different and healthier alternatives? "There is a market for it" is just not a good enough explanation

Why, indeed?! Don't ask me how my brother found this, but here it goes: link to whole article Didn't really search the internet for the documents, but I'm sure somebody else will post it. note: maybe this belogs to another topic, like food media? Nah, I'll just stick to my first instinct note 2: how do you edit the title? Just noticed a typo!

Are we talking about customer theft? My goodness, I've seen it all! Once the customers wlaked away with all the silverwear. Another favorite is napking rings. Oh, and also, once, the silver plaque with the number of the table that was bolted to the wall. Saltshakers? Yup, a couple of times we've found they were missing. Where was I working? All of them hign-endish restaurants.

Amen! ← I'm not sur about " Liking the idea of removing the saltshakers before dessert" To still have them on the table when dessert is served is practically a sackable offence where i come from - you should never have more than is strictly necessary on the trable at any given point, its just slack otherwise. ← Agreed. But we must also agree that most restaurants don't do it (not talking high end, necessarily). In fact, I think most restaurants have the shakers and the sugar containers out before you even sit down. Me? I have my waiters remove them right befor the sweets come out. And as a customer it bugs me when they don't..., but that depends on how much they charge for food.

Thanks, I will start shopping for mine!