glenn

Are pierogies similar to pasties? We had a blast on our vacation 2 or 3 Julys ago. Food highlights included cherry picking in Traverse City, Poor Boy's Restaurant for pasties on the upper peninsula and Hermann's European Cafe in Cadillac. I won't talk about Christmas in July at Frankenmuth :). Glad to hear you enjoyed.

I'm beginning to think you choose to completely ignore my remarks. To the best of my knowledge, not one person said anything about being better off not knowing. The anti-plotzkie collective has merely stated it shouldn't matter. Please reread the posts.

no pasties??

Steve, how almost-charmingly naive of you. You think one should always be eating the chef's hands-on cooking, not merely the chef's food as executed by an underling? Do you truly believe that "the chef(s)" are there on the line, every minute of service? Or even expediting and checking plates all the time, if not actually cooking the meals? Of course not! You know better!! There are, after all, regulations that must be followed regarding time off, and even if they are ignored, "chefs," especially those like Chef Hans, have other legitimate commitments that might keep them out of their kitchens during some services. God gave chefs de cuisine to executive chefs, and sous chefs to chefs de cuisine, in order make sure that someone is always there to look over the work of us poor little ignorant line cooks ::super-big wink:: If drrevenue is to be believed, NO ONE was in charge of the kitchen that night. If that was indeed the case, then shame on Chef Hans. (I just have trouble believing it, though.) This is my 2nd (3rd?) comment on this and it seems to be the root of the argument. Suzanne is absolutely correct in stating what I thought was the obvious, but obviously not. A kitchen should work equally as well on the chef's night off or else the chef ain't worth his paycheck. There is no obligation to tell anyone, with the possible exception of the chef's mother, that the chef will not be in the kitchen. I wish Plotzkie would defend his assertion to the contrary. [and as an avid theater goer, I was never told or made aware that I was entitled to a refund if any of the regular cast members were absent.]

lol.... I can see instructing our reservationists to say, "you're taking your life in your own hands if you come on Thursdays as it's the chef's night off and we have our cleaner working the line".

I nominate this discussion as among the most idiotic on egullet. Top 5... idiot princess - guided by voices idiot bastard son - frank zappa idiot savant - queers featuring s. plotzkie on castanet idiots rule - jane's addiction idiots and irritants - franklin bruno idiot's delight [vin scelsa's show -- is it still around??]

You're right, no shows are very costly. Our place is probably a little higher than the norm because we fall into the dreaded "trendy" category. People actually brag that they make a bunch of reservations at different places. When we call up to confirm, they often don't even remember that they booked with us [yet many will confirm anyway.] We often have empty tables at prime time as a result. I wish we were popular enough to be able to demand credit card guarantees and offer guaranteed seating, but I don't see how that's workable for all but the very popular restaurants. Logistically, it wouldn't work. Ironically, all the no shows cause the overbooking that restaurants are forced to do.

Sorry I missed that discussion. I won't continue it since FG and Bux and others seem to have made the proper arguments defending credit card guarantees, while Tommy and Ruby failed [miserably] to make their case. [so sez glenn, judge and jury.] The only thing I'll add is the experience we've had where I work. We take credit card numbers for every reservation. We never charge anyone, it's just a scare tactic. We also confirm every single reservation no matter what day or time. Still, we often have 50% no shows. People in nyc have the most chutzpah and lack of respect. I disagree with our policy of taking credit card numbers as a scare tactic mostly because it's an idle threat. If it were up to me, I'd implement a policy where we legitimately take credit card guarantees during busy periods and penalize those who don't show or call -- if they call at least a few hours before the reservation, I wouldn't penalize them. As has been stated in the other thread, why should a restaurant be different than other service industries?

Yeah, but the "violent" response on DRREVENUE'S part was only after the mostly non response on Hans' part. However, I think it's kind of ridiculous for us to speculate or to judge how either party should have acted w/o actually knowing the complete background of the situation. I think we all agree that Hans should have apologized at the onset. Things get muddled in translation and no offense, but I don't think anyone can really contribute any useful content without knowing all the parties and w/o being there. This is not all that different than a big argument I had with the owner of Blue Sky in Montclair which started after I voiced my displeasure with my experience at their establishment on Rosie's old food board. I received a response privately from the owner via email, but instead of apologizing at the onset, the owner was defensive. Of course I thought I was 1000% right (and still do and still won't eat there), but I would never expect someone who wasn't there to completely understand the situation.

Hey Nick et al, for the heck of it (and future reference), I rechecked on the credit card policies of visa, mc and amex. They are the same as when I last checked. Visa and mc still thinks restaurants are not deserving of charging a deposit or guarantee for a reservation and the customer will prevail in a dispute. Amex still requires a written agreement and that the restaurant have written policies in place regarding guarantees. Amex is a lot more reasonable (from a restauranteur's perspective). Our restaurant considered dropping Amex because of their discount, but decided against it mainly because of their policy with guaranteed reservations. I know some restaurants only take cash or amex when taking a guaranteed reservation. [i'm not sure what diner's club policy is.] [[Ok, back to talking about hotels and airplanes and such.]]

FG, I didn't notice any other discussion, but I agree that people's expectations are different when it comes to restaurants. However, in this instance, I think a 30 day clause, whether it's a restaurant or hotel or whatever, is unreasonable unless such a cancellation caused the business to lose revenue.

30 days seems unreasonable to me. And if the restaurant is that good, they shouldn't need the 30 day clause. More power to restaurants who can get away with guaranteeing reservations in such a manner. Your average place wouldn't stay in business long with such a policy. In any event, I suspect that the restaurant's policy might be outside credit card regulations. As far as I know, master card and visa will not honor the restaurant's charge. The last time I looked into guaranteeing reservations with Visa/MC (I think for New Year's), they said they would not honor the charge if the customer disputed it, whether or not there was a signed guarantee. On the other hand, American Express will honor guarantees as long as you signed something to the effect and that the restaurant meets some other criteria. In any event, it can't hurt to dispute the charge.

Made at the Hoboken factory, or so I hear.

Yeah yeah yeah, how times have changed since you were at the first automat in NYC in 1911. Those were the days and all that. This has to be a huge hoax. There's even a website HERE. And they even have tall and grande cpffees. just like someone else we know, though they make a big deal about being original. Top 5... Automatic - Go Go's Big Coin - Beautiful South Steve's Automat - Plotzkie Philharmonic A Nickel for a Fish Sandwich - Negativland Automatic Teller - New Bomb Turks

food fight. top 5... hack writer - henry rollins pompous hippie - jonathan richman paperback writer - s. plotzkie ragtime revue band weary ingenues & snotty brats - frumpies empty magazine - robert fripp [sorry, i'm very bored.]

Poor choice of words, and indeed employees are given more than one chance. However, this is not the minor leagues; we are running a business, not a school for waiters. FG - Yes, management's job is to "weed" out non-productive servers despite whatever tip system is used - however, since we enacted the pool, shortcomings in waiters that previously were not readily apparent to management have become more visible as a result of complaints by fellow servers. Perhaps there needs to be a way to "weed" out clueless management, but it's tough when some of 'em own the joint.

Would someone please render an executive summary of FG's post? Alright, putting my reading glasses on, I've been battling the following line of thinking ever since we've implemented pooling in our restaurant a month ago. FG sez... "In addition, the practice of tip pooling, which is the norm in almost every restaurant in America above the level of a greasy spoon, has completely gutted whatever effect the procedure of voting with your tip might have had on an individual waiter. In a perverse, Maoist outcome, you are actually punishing the good waiters in the restaurant by not tipping the bad one. " Survival of the fittest beats that commie theory. Those waiters who don't pull their weight are weeded out one way or the other, either by disgruntled coworkers or unhappy management. This is already happening where I work.

[yawn]snore[/yawn]

New flick "Mostly Martha" is Mostly Predictable dribble but it's worth seeing for the food scenes. The guy at table 7, a regular and a regular complainer, finally gets his just deserves by chef Martha when he complains about the steak not being rare enough. Imagine what he got. [fyi, Martha is one of the top chefs at an upscale restaurant somewhere in Germany.]

Cheeta Nina peaked. The answer is 6'. Jordyn, the 6' rule applies also to tables in the bar area unless there is no food served at such tables, then it is considered part of the bar.

I dropped out of this discussion to be consistent by not participating in discussions that say the same things over and over ad nauseum. So, does anyone know how many feet the nearest table has to be from the bar to allow smoking at the bar (in new york)? Winner gets a cigar. No peaking at the health code allowed.

top 5... It's America (Love it or Leave it) - Ernest Tubb Never Going Back to New Jersey - Less than Jake Smokin' in New Jersey - S. Plotzkie Revue Bakin' Soda in Minnesota - Mountain Goats Colorado Kool-Aid - Johnny Paycheck

Nina, same rationale with the supermarket. If enough people demand it, there would be non smoking supermarkets. Bux, that rationale could be extended to virtually any crime and I am not an anarchist, i swear. I'm saying there's a line that needs to be drawn where government has to step in to police our actions. And that's the best answer I can come up with in 10 seconds :). The friggin' staff wants their paychecks, the nerve.

I don't see a supermarket being any different than a restaurant in this context.

You do have a choice to eat out or not and what restaurant you patronize. My argument extends to all businesses. However, in the case of restaurants, non smoking restaurants would have become common without government interference. Basic supply and demand.