kurtisk
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Posts posted by kurtisk
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One thing worth pointing out is the amount of people who leave something integral out of their phone reservation message. I've had a fair amount who have not left a phone number, number in their party, time they'd like, etc. The more info we have upfront, the less phone-tag and guessing we have to do, which in turn helps you get your reservation. Particularly the phone number thing, hard to do any follow-up on those ones...
k.
PS- It amazes me how many people don't have voice mail.
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Awesome Neil,
Have fun, Sir,
k
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Well said, Andrew, well said.
No restaurant wants to have to take deposits and I know it seems absurd to some people, but at our place alone we have gone ahead and taken parties of 12 in the past (a third of our room), made sure the table was ready to go, given a good 30min. chance for people to show up (after turning away dozens), and by the time a no-show becomes obvious, the walk-in traffic dissipates for the evening, resulting in (on average) $700-1200 lost revenue.
This is unbelievably common, talk to any restauranter you know. Giant corporate places can (sometimes) swallow the loss, but smaller indie places like us really take a beating over those who don't show.
Is it safe to assume that those who don't want to leave a CC# aren't fully planning on attending? Otherwise, who cares about leaving it in the first place? I don't know of any place in town who would charge you if you cancelled in advance. But if people don't want to put anything at stake toward themselves showing up, then why do they expect that a restaurant would happily swallow the loss instead of them? Seems like a bit of a double standard.
I dunno. There seems to be no great answer. Like Andrew said, we've gone over this before and I'm wasting my time typing this as it'll most likely be wiped from the eG record, but it's relevant to the points brought up in this thread, so here we are.
I can guarantee that no one does it for sport or to be malicious. Maybe it's a factor of how it's handled. In talking with many industry colleagues over the last couple years or so, it seems we're all still trying to find the best solution for everyone.
k.
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We are doing "the future". We are serving Soilent Green dip, Clockwork Orange punch and multi-course "spirals".
You'll be posting pictures, yeah?
k.
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We decided that we would close this year.
SO envious! Really? Isn't it nonetheless one of your biggest sales nights of the year, private party or not?
Just wonderin',
k
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I drove into town today past 1st and Commercial and noticed that a Restaurant called "The Red Burrito" was opening up on the south east corner. Go Mexico! Does anyone have any details?
Yes, there's a bunch of information upthread. It starts around post #429.
k.
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I'm quite drawn to this thread as I love pasta, yet rarely order it when I'm out. However, whenever I'm at Cin Cin I never miss the above-mentioned Veal Cheek Garg as it's so damn good. In fact, I believe it's the only thing of Romy's left on the menu.
I love a Carbonera as well. Any leads?
k
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See you at New Year's Day Brunch at Aurora. I hope Kurtis waives the 'no coffee refills' clause in his contract.
Heh! Probably best to mention that all of us at Aurora will be snoozin' on January 1st. In fact we're shuttin' down January 1st to 4th. The little Bistro's taken a bit of a beating this year and we need to do a little polish & shine...
k.
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Your insight, writing and experiences are fascinating. Thanks so much!
See you soon!
xo,
k.
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Anyone who managed to hold onto their last bottle of Joie 2004 Pinot Noir Rose is in great shape for Christmas trimmin's. There will most certainly be Sumac Ridge 'Stellar's Jay' Brut being popped, some Golden Mile Cellars 2003 Pinot Noir being opened, a back vintage of Black Hills Nota Bene being decanted, and a certain Manager/Wine Guy from around town being tipsy!
Happy Holidays!
k.
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Aurora
Birthday dinner with friends
Unfortunately, I was kinda sick with a cold that day, so I wasn't really in the mood to eat. And I already hadn't eaten for 30 hours prior to that. Anyways, that didn't stop me from ordering an appetizer, main & dessert!
To start with, I got the smoked salmon crème fraiche cheesecake. It was pretty yummy & came with some apple & fennel salad on top. I think I would've liked the cheesecake to have a bit more texture though, instead of the smoked salmon sort of all blended together. One friend got the bison carpaccio, which was really good (man I'm such a carnivore! It was so meltingly soft. Was it supposed to come with a truffle aioli? I couldn't taste it, probably because of my cold
). As promised in the best value steak thread , I got the grilled flat iron steak. I was torn between that and the rootbeer braised bison shortribs (game meat always catches my eye these days) but I wanted to go for the steak. I was disappointed that it came with a sunchoke confit instead of the crab pomme dauphin as promised on their site, but as I thought I hadn't tried sunchoke before, that was ok. As soon as I bit into my first piece of the sunchoke, I thought it tasted familiar. While my friends chatted with me & I pretended to listen, I tried to figure out where I had tasted sunchoke before, & then it hit me - my auntie grows it in her garden! She often puts it in Chinese soups that she makes my grandma (I live with my grandma). Lately I've been wondering what sunchoke tasted like as it seems to have gained popularity these days, & I've finally realized that the Chinese name is "fook sun". Unfortunately, I don't really like the taste of it, so I was even more disappointed it replaced the crab pomme dauphin. Oh well! I liked how the steak came in an earl grey demi-glace. I tried hard to taste the earl grey, & I think I did a little bit in the beginning, but because of my stuffy nose I couldn't really taste it in the end. The presentation of the shortribs was really interesting - my friends were a bit puzzled because it looked like a deep-fried cake, but once they dug into it they were pleasantly surprised. I didn't ask to taste it but they enjoyed it. 2 of my friends got the pine mushroom risotto - not bad, but I prefer the mushroom risotto at Bin 942 (cheesier). I scored a little bite of my friends - my other friend thought the cheese overpowered the flavour of the dish (wha? I thought it could've been cheesier) & couldn't even taste the mushrooms. I could, I thought it was pretty good & quite light. My friends finished theirs in like, 5 minutes
For dessert, we wanted to share the crème fraiche cheesecake & the dark chocolate and rum pâté, but they had run out of the pâté
So we got the vanilla bean pannacotta, & we weren't disappointed. There was some kind of green sauce drizzled on it (I couldn't figure out what it was). I really liked the walnut crust on the cheesecake - I don't remember there being frozen grapes though, & the sorrel sauce tasted like cranberries to me, although I've never had sorrel before.All in all, the food was good, but not spectacular. Again, I was sick that day, so that's not really fair to Chef Jeff. The other 3/4 of the downer was the service - there was a large party there (Christmas get-together?) so I guess much of the focus was on them. We felt a bit ignored - I think our server filled our waters once? We had to flag her down for everything...
I also found it a bit strange that she didn't ask me how I wanted my steak done - is that normal?Hello!
I just wanted to respond to a few of your notes, plus applaud you for recognizing that your cold may have affected your taste buds that night, up to and including the risotto "too cheesey/not cheesey enough" debate.
A few of your points mention discrepancies between the menu and the menu on our website. While we hope our website gives people a decent impression of Aurora, it is updated (generally) on a bi-weekly basis. Our organic farmers, fish suppliers, etc. are not on as much of a regemented schedule. If there's no crab, there's no crab. Our farm finished up their sorrel supply suddenly, and that's why our cheesecake was switched to a cranberry & ginger compote (which was also reflected on our freshly-printed menus that day). Maybe we need to look at a disclaimer on the website (and we will), but those are the reasons why it differed from the menu, which obviously takes precedence.
We don't ask for a meat temperature on the flat iron steak because we feel it shows best at medium rare. Like any other ingredient or component at the restaurant, we like to show it at its full capacity. We feel that if someone cannot eat a steak unless it's completely well done, then they will mention that off the bat. Otherwise, we feel that offering an option means we would feel confident serving that dish at medium well or well done, which we do not.
The night you were in, yes there was a large Christmas party. Here's the deal;
They booked for 18 and then 28 showed up. Keep in mind that we only sit 36 people. This makes a big difference to the flow of our evening. We would never take anything larger, mid-service, than an 18 as we understand how difficult it is to control every aspect of what we do while a larger behemoth of a party makes its prescence thoroughly known. I had to have another server that night (yours) take on some of the bulk, I simply had no options. It kills me to hear that you had to flag down your server for everything. I simply don't know how that happened. I mean, I'm here almost every night and have a decent scope on the room, even on crazy nights like when you were in. Sometimes, the timing simply won't jive. There were times that evening though, where I needed your server to hop to the big table here and there or else everything would've spun out of control (like when Chef Jeff had 28 plates up for each course). I'm terribly sorry about your service that night, I do everything in my power to prevent such things from happening. Some things are simply out of my control (ie-the bonus 10 people), and I do my best to fix any problems and prevent them from happening in the future.
Please PM me and I'll ensure you're fully taken care of.
Kurtis
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You have no idea how many contexts in which Sean can use that word...
k.
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Not to digress, but Trotter pays his servers a yearly salary.
I believe he has to. It's not like there are individual shifts or a variation of hours there. If it's open, everyone works, so it's probably in his best interest to keep it consistent and fair amongst all.
k.
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Here Goes:
If we're talking in a general basis, it's honestly tough not to sound racist or classist about tippers. There are some awful prejudices out there about certain groups of people and I find many of them exist because they fall true for about 85% of their respective folks. In the interest of diplomacy, and not being an utter dick, I'm gonna shove all those aside and let anyone else who'd like to tackle those things feel free to do so.
Americans (who count for most tourists), though, seem to take advantage of their slightly-higher currency and value of dining prices here can be counted on to hit the 20% mark easily with a few extra bucks thrown in for good measure.
Those who come from countries where tipping is generally out of the ordinary seem to rarely hit th 15% mark, and it's quite plausible to get stiffed as well. If they seem to be savvy people/travellers, your luck increases. I find this isn't due to ignorance, but lack of comprehension of why tipping exists. (Small Point: Most don't realize that if tipping was abolished, service salary would be absorbed into other prices in a restaurant, and usually, it'd be the customer who gets the raw end of the deal.)
I've heard it all, "Don't tip on tax!", "Don't tip on wine!", "To figure out the tip, double the GST, carry the one, add two bucks and subtract a quarter for every item they're out of!". It's all quite funny, but these smaller rules don't seem to stick with any typical age, race, nationality or class-level.
Ladies who lunch/dine give varying gratuities, but 95% of the time, 4 ladies=4 credit cards, 6=6, 12=12, etc. Ta-da! Now I'll be labelled a misogynist!
I always leave at least 20% now matter how much things suck, since I have a relatively public persona in this industry, and it just simplifies things.
Who tips the best? Those who want to sleep with the staff. That never changes.
<3,
k
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At any given time there are twice as many people on the board as registered users. The term we use for them is lurker. We could also use interested individual. They are a fact.
Kurt, as you know, I am fully aware that your wife works at Tvan.
What you might not know is that I have had several emails ( through conventional non egullet email systems and not the PM system ) over the last couple of years from different people at Tvan in regards to comments made on this board by me, or having a Dine Out Menu up too early, or a clarification on their stance on promoting other events like Taste of Yaletown.
They have a interest in their programs and are interested enough to see what is being said about it outside of their own "post Dine Out restaurant Survey".
I appluad that.
That being said, my comment was about the integration of Open Table and Dine Out in as much as credit card secured reservations could be made from the Tvan site. Rather than calling Tvan up and asking if this was true, I was willing to wait and have them respond. I was in no rush to chase this down as it was not going to happen this year anyways.
It was a little "tongue in cheek" , but I was curious to see how long it would take before someone responded. It is fair for me personally to assume that someone from Tvan will read this given the history. That is all. It is not a shot at them nor is it a statement as to the "importance" of egullet. This is an information exchange / electronic comment card, not the be all and end all.
Anyways, I have to get back to work now.
Cheers
Neil
Yes to all of that, and yes I'm totally aware that they DO lurk here and there, however your post seemed (maybe just to me) to imply that they are constantly lurking and I thought it fair to caution against that assumption - as a lack of reponse from them (you were looking for a specific confirmation) might appear to be a purposeful non-response, when it's possible that it simply wasn't read. It was more of a general statement on my part, about 'calling people out' and their right to be an anonymous lurker or simply not come 'round here that much. It just happened to be about a business I'm fairly familiar with and, aware that they're not always lurking, thought I'd chime in. That's all, nothing more.
Anyways, I have to get back to internet porn now.
k.
PS- Sorry, Big-A, I got us off-track in the first place, back to business y'all...
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OOps, if anyone hasn't figured it out yet, KurtisK and I work together. That's why sometimes I accidentily post as him.
Love Chef Jeff
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We are starting to get calls from people asking if Aurora is open Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day. We are closed all of these days, but we want to be able to send people somewhere we feel good about. Customers always ask us, in the industry, where else they should dine, and I feel it really reflects on us who we reccomend.
I think most of the large hotels are open and do some kind of christmas dinner, but are there any other options? Somewhere with a big communal table would be great if they did a family style dinner. Sun Sui Wah also came to mind for something less traditional.
Any other thoughts?
Jeff
Some might argue that Chinese on Christmas day is indeed traditional! (And not just Chinese people.)
Being yet another day to bring in dough, I would think that very few Chinese restos are not open on the 25th. However checking is always good, as some might only open for dim sum and not dinner service. Sun Sui Wah is a great idea for family-style dining, or Kirin at City Hall if you want to go even more upscale.
Links: Sun Sui Wah, Kirin.
BC, I do agree that anything could be a traditional christmas dinner. We all have our own traditions. I for one am bored silly of turkey, and prefer a nice roast, and have quite often gone for Dim Sum. I guess what I should have asked was if anyone knew of restaurants that were serving something special on Chrismas day. Now don't go telling me that it's all special! You know what I mean.
Cheers, Jeff
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I understand the logistics could not be worked out in thime this year. Perhaps one of the lurkers from TVan could confirm this.
Out of curiosity, do you know of any TVan lurkers? I don't know of any (my wife being a TVaner) and am pressed to think who would be.
I ask this because it seems that it seems to be assumed around here that pretty much everyone (industry and not) are lurking, but I think it's important to keep in mind that the local industry does not revolve around eGullet. Whether they should be keeping tabs or not (in my mind, most should), it's extremely relevant to remember that not everyone is watching around here. It appears that the assumption is that if there are issues brought up in eG, if they're not responded to by those in question, that they don't care to respond to issues. The thing to keep in mind, IMO, is that if you want to deal with any issue- to talk to the people involved directly and not assume it's all about us.
k.
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I'm assuming "record" means it's up from last year.
k
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Hey Pal,
Talk to Provence M-side. they've used it for a while and I hear that it works well for them.
k
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There were a couple of discordant notes . I thought the eau de vie overwhelmed the the mirabelle plum sorbet, and the Dirty Laundry Gewurztraminer seemed a bit petroly with the dessert.
You'll stick with your signature though, right?
Don't let the minutes spoil the hours.Super-envious of your evenin'!
k.
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how long should a fourtop be given?
i would hope the seasoned diner would be aware of the crunch.
Don't want to get too off topic, but in the interest of answering the questions at hand:
~ I give 2 1/2 hours for a fourtop when taking reservations. This is based on experience and instinct. This is not a rule, or something they are told/aware of, simply a good rule of thumb. When I have a table booked at 8:00, and someone phones in for a 6:00 reso, I DO say absolutely, but I do have it re-booked at 8:00, do you feel that gives you enough time? They always say "Yes, no problem". (Insider Tip: They always lie, even if they absolutely promise to be quick.) This also depends greatly on where you're dining.
~ As for
, I strongly feel that you should enjoy your experience for as long as you'd like (barring any earlier promises, as in the above point), and act accordingly. If you're sitting post-coffee/dessert, etc. and see line-ups forming and feel you'd be honourable by leaving the table, yes- it would be a big help, but in this instance, I do believe the customer should be comfortable and at home for as long as they'd like.i would hope the seasoned diner would be aware of the crunchk.
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There's a new donair place on Broadway by Cru where Velvet used to be. Anyone been?
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Okay this time I did a rudimentary search for byob. So I am curious after reading that you can bring your own wine to the french cultural center restaurant what is the law regarding this.
Beyond that what is the method involved, charges, etc...
If it is accepted what places are known for being hospitable to such practices.
Also for those that have never done it what are the faux pas when bringing your own?
You simply can't. Those who do, do so at their own risk. I believe there's a thread around here about corkage you may want to follow up. It flared up from naysayers, but trust us industry folk on this one, it's illegal.
For the record, when I HAVE seen it done, usually it's with a call ahead and a $20 charge. And never bring Yellowtail...
k
Openings and closings (2006–2008 part 1)
in Western Canada: Dining
Posted
Mum's Gelati at 4th & Vine seems to have closed down after many years.
That totally sucks.
k.