Mano

After the small claims court filing fee is paid, what name should be listed under "defendant"?.......... ← I'm no lawyer but have filed several small claims that my secretary usually fills out. IIRC the defendant is the person you are suing. The person filing the suit is the plaintiff.

If it's not too late already, definitely do something with the food rather than toss it. Also file in small claims court. It's cheap and easy and not too hard to win a judgment if you have reasonable proof and come prepared. If you win and they don't pay, for another fee the sheriff will take their car or other possessions, which will be sold in order to pay you. Things don't always go smoothly, but it may be worthwhile to spend a few hundred dollars to win $1,000. No guarantee, though, and whether or not you do it and if you end up losing money, consider the loss as "tuition".

Thanks to all for your suggestions. We'll go to Vetri but may wait until spring. I'll report back then.

Your tax dollars at work: http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos162.htm Whether or not you agree with the info, particularly as it may specifically relate to you, IMO this reference source is generally excellent. For years it has provided a straight-forward account of most any job an American may be interested in pursuing. I have to agree that if you know ahead of time what your profession pays for the work required it's up to you to stay with it. Katie, for those of you who don't know, is a master at mixing and creating drinks and is a professional in the truest sense of the word. No doubt her experience and abilities to not only make and serve drinks, but set up a bar/wine service for a restaurant and run it profitably warrant $50K - $70K a year. The problem is, most restaurant owners cannot afford that and most patrons don't understand or appreciate her worth. They're going to give bigger tips to the college cutie who knows a thimble-full of what Katie knows.

I've been presented with a rare opportunity to dine at any restaurant I choose on someone else' dime. A business acquaintance owes me, first, for a very profitable matter I referred to him and second, because he screwed me, big time, in another matter. He's very wealthy and has dined at the finest restaurants around the world. I'm not the kind of guy who is into paybacks, but in this situation I'm perfectly comfortable having dinner with him and running up the bill. My wife will join us. While, I want to go someplace we couldn't ordinarily afford, most important is food that's prepared by a great chef, as well as an excellent wine list. My immediate thought is Vetri, but I know nothing about the wine list. I'd love to have the option of ordering wines the likes of Gaja and finish dinner with a half-bottle of Chateau d'Yquem. I love well prepared dry aged prime beef , but have no interest in being a chazer by going to Barclay Prime for a kobe steak. We could go to NYC, but spending that much time traveling there and back with this fellow might spoil the evening.

← Fair enough question but quibbling it is, Christopher. If someone eats only 1 oz of their 2 oz food volume - let's say - it doesn't take much of a leap to extrapolate to that conclusion if you are having a short menu (last course is dessert BTW). I personally consumed all the protein and left some of the less pleasing accompaniments. Others more - others less. I am no stranger to the tasting menu nor do I consider myself needing lofty amounts of food. I would say the same of the folks we were with. We meet quarterly in NYC or philly specifically to eat somewhere "special". We all felt the same way. No one cancel their plans on my account. I would love to hear someone who had a grand old time. My suggestion remains to order a la carte .... for now. ← As no plans were made there's nothing to cancel; however I'm going to delay dining at Lacroix until I'm fairly certain we'll have, if not a spectacular time, something close. Given the state of the economy and knowing the money tree in the backyard hasn't a chance of blooming for quite some time, paying for any "special" dinners out may have to wait until 2010.

This review doesn't bode well for those of us who have a gift certificate for Lacroix. If it was a mistake ordering the tasting menu then 1/3 of the diners made the same mistake. wkl, I recently received an email from Lacroix announcing 50% off their wine list Sunday - Thursday, IIRC.

How fortuitous! Our kids gave us a very generous gift certificate to LaCroix and I didn't want to use it until the post-Levin dust settled before going there. I know nothing about Jason Cichonski, but I have to wonder about his cooking chops at age 24.

We also ordered the marrow and it was the low-light of the dinner and as rlibkind described. I ordered it because a marrow appetizer at Pif several years ago was excellent.

After several years of intending to go, we finally went to Ansill on Saturday. The food was very good and the couple we invited along loved it. We'd been to Pif many times and it's clear David Ansill is one of the better chefs in Philly. We all liked the grilled romaine with an anchovy and balsamic dressing, but it occurred to me that years ago romaine used to be a deeper green; now it has the same color and almost the consistency of iceberg. The only miss was the fact that we were seated a full hour after our reservation. The very kind but needlessly overwhelmed hostess told us it was going to be a 30 minute wait. It would've been closer to that had she paid attention to the fact that several tables sat waiting for their checks for over 10 minutes, that it took another 10 minutes to bus the tables and then another 10 for her to set them. At 50+ years old I'm not ready for the early bird special, but when our entree's arrived at 10:00 p.m. it was close to my usual weekday bedtime. David Ansill was aware and sent out an appetizer as a comp. They also comped after dinner drinks. Another interesting twist was when we were waiting at the bar and decided to order a bottle of wine. A single bottle sitting in the cooler looked interesting and wasn't on the wine list. It was a 2000 southern French, perhaps a Côtes du Vivarais, and they had no clue to its cost as it had been "hidden in the back" for some time. After a while the beverage manager offered it to us for $75. I countered with $50 and he said the lowest he'd go was $70. Wanting to stay in the $50 range I declined. My friend looked it up on his Blackberry and said it retailed for $27. The bar tender said with their markup it was an $82 wine. I still passed. We ended up getting two bottles of tasty Fools Bay Dusty's Desire Barossa Shiraz.

Technivorm

I knew she wasn't capable of making up all those phrases by herself. Judging by your posts you have a NPP (Naturally Perky Personality). You're both in the food biz. Are you sure you weren't SAB (Separated At Birth)?

I'm not a RR hater, really I'm not, but when I hear "sammie", "Yummo!" and "EVOO" (after which she always explains, "extra virgin olive oil" -so what's the point of the acronym?) I feel like kicking a puppy.

I vaguely recall posting this story somewhere on these fora some years ago, but it's appropriate to this thread. To celebrate the birth of my daughter a few months before and me getting my Ph.D. a few days before, my wife and I went out to one of the better restaurants in town. My folks had flown cross country to see the baby and attend my graduation and were giving us a rare night to ourselves. At the restaurant the maitre' d welcomed us with "Mr. and Ms. Mano." I pointedly corrected him, "It's Dr. Mano" and he quickly apologized and corrected himself. There were a number of good tables available, but he very appropriately seated us at the worst table in the place. I don't recall how the crow tasted, but 20 years later I still remember the sweetbreads were outstanding.

Thank you all for your input. We ended up buying Frenched Aussie baby racks of lamb from Costco at a very reasonable $11 a pound. It was very good. Interestingly, when we learned two more people would be joining us we bought American lamb at a local supermarket for $17/lb. It wasn't nearly as tasty and we had to trim about 3 oz. of fat from each of the two 10 oz packages. We made Tom Colicchio's Rack of Lamb with Roasted Tomato Jus and served it with a Worthy Sophie's Cuvee 2004 and a Seghesio 2007 Sonoma Zin.

Thank you all for your input. We ended up buying Frenched Aussie baby racks of lamb from Costco at a very reasonable $11 a pound. It was very good. Interestingly, when we learned two more people would be joining us we bought American lamb at a local supermarket for $17/lb. It wasn't nearly as tasty and we had to trim about 3 oz. of fat from each of the two 10 oz packages. We made Tom Colicchio's Rack of Lamb with Roasted Tomato Jus and served it with a Worthy Sophie's Cuvee 2004 and a Seghesio 2007 Sonoma Zin.

Qwerty, gfweb has given you the best input yet considering you are at least 2 1/2 years away from opening your shop. What you and what the people on this forum think are great ideas may not fit the demographics of your area. Your local banker, other merchants and the people who live and visit have the most insight into what will or won't succeed in your area. The economy sucks and although it'll very likely change by the time you open up, now is the time to do your due diligence and know what your potential customers are able to spend and what they want to spend it on. I don't know about where you live, but in my neck of the woods (Philadelphia and NYC) the lower priced restaurants that don't serve the best ingredients and which lack innovation are doing quite well. Many truly excellent and reasonably priced places are struggling or going under. Even when the economy was good it never ceased to amaze me how some quality conscious restaurants would fail in areas that fully supported mediocre food.

The books Heat (Bill Buford) and Kitchen Confidential (Anthony Bourdain) give an idea about the differences between a foodie, cook, chef, great chef and genius. IMHO the genius chef is probably best identified by great chefs who "know one when they see one."

While flipping through the channels I stopped to watch a woman with wonderful bosoms who pretended to cook. I'd never heard of Sandra Lee before. After a few minutes the show ended, but it was okay. I'd had enough.

Many local charities are run by well meaning people who are not well compensated and they aren't necessarily businesses savvy. Many local small businesses are run the same way. You have something they want and in this economy getting donations are harder to come by. You would think they would be motivated to make your donation as easy as possible for you. Try talking to the charity and explaining the situation. Tell them you can no longer deliver the pastries and that they'll have to pick them up themselves between certain hours. It's surprising how often people agree to something they previously said they couldn't do. Also, speak with other businesses in your general area that contribute food to charities or may be inclined to. If the charity is making a pickup for several places at one time that's a great incentive for them. Worst case scenario may be that you and other local businesses that agree to donate can share or rotate deliveries to the charity. Good luck to you. We need more people like you!

Candidate for quote of the year!

Sounds wonderful! I take your post as an offer to sell me a full rack of lamb at $7.00 a pound, thank you very much! What's CSA? Back in the 70's and 80's I was a member of Weaver's Way. Is it something similar? Edited to add: I read the farm to city info about CSA's.

Exactly my point!

I'll be making rack of lamb on New Years Eve and don't know if the US grown lamb is worth 2-3 x the price of New Zealand or Australian lamb. I also have an untrained eye when it comes to grading lamb regardless of origin. My wife sometimes buys NZ racks of mini chops at Trader Joes and they taste perfectly fine. Costco has whole racks of NZ but won't give a price on the phone. I'm in the middle Bucks County area and called some local butcher shops, as well as, a few shops in the Italian Market and Reading Terminal Market. The prices are over the place. On line I can get Niman Ranch for about $40/lb delivered or through Costco at a shade over $30/lb. Both price points give me nose bleeds. Any recommendations would be appreciated.

I'll be making rack of lamb on New Years Eve and don't know if the US grown lamb is worth 2-3 x the price of New Zealand or Australian lamb. I also have an untrained eye when it comes to grading lamb regardless of origin. My wife sometimes buys NZ racks of mini chops at Trader Joes and they taste perfectly fine. Costco has whole racks of NZ but won't give a price on the phone. Locally, here in the Philadelphia area, lamb prices at butcher shops are all over the place. On line I can get Niman Ranch for about $40/lb delivered or through Costco at a shade over $30/lb. Both price points give me nose bleeds. Any recommendations would be appreciated.