SeanDirty

AyE this is true, but really what i mean is that, you are paying their bills, their wages, without the customer there wouldent be stories about Per Se, El Bulli, a rockstar without fans is not a star at all. I am not demanding respect in a restaurant, nor should i ever have to, it should be "part of the bill". Ha!

Restaurants is my life, part of my job is to keep on-top of restaurant trends, what restaurants are opening, and whats going on within them. So it is safe to say I get to eat out quite a bit. Also being a graduate of the CiA, well as with most cooks, chefs, restauranters, we are all very critical about our food, and our service. Good service is recognized, and would never need to be pointed out, if done correctly. Danny Meyer's many restaurants (minus shake shack, and tabla) are great examples of hospitality, and how any stranger should be treated, if not all the time, but at least when you walk through the door of any restaurant.... with a name... Especially the times when you walk into a restaurant not expecting any type of hospitality, and you leave feeling like family. Anyways Long story short, I am sick of high end restaurants that look down on you. I dont ever feel like wearing formal attire when i stroll into a high end restaurant, but I do when I have to. It is the times when I don't wear my formal wear to a restaurant is when I get the most, looks. It is the hostess or the host, or the host managers that makes me sick. Have you ever walked into a restaurant just to see them checking you out, looking you from head to toe to see if they are going to talk to you like a human being or merely a stain on their shoe. Help me out guys Help me list the restaurants that do this, lets get them out in the open. Maybe this is just the wake-up call they need to change their ways. This is just the few that have given me attitude for wearing nice Jeans, and nice sneakers into their restaurants. 1. Le Bernardin 2. A Voce I know its short now, but i know this list will grow.

Ok here is the Lowdown for the Oyster bed closures on the West Coast, These Oysters are labled as "Contaminated" Hood Canal (Washington State) Sunset Beach (Washington State) Quilcene (Washington Bay) Anything that is currently comming out of the Taten Inlet. There are also very small "tidal" closures on the east coast, but that only affects, razor clams, and small other items. ~The Fish Guy~

Just FYI this is my first ever Post on Egullet! Anyways, i am a CiA Graduate and i am all about produce, restaurants, food, ect..... Anyways to answer this question correctly. There is such a thing as "Truth in Menu" Laws ((Mills, J. E. & Clay, J. M. (2001). The Truth-in-Menu Law and Restaurant Consumers. Foodservice Research International, 13, 69-82. )) Here is a Link to "highlight" the points of it. http://www.globalchefs.com/career/showcase/coj010tru.htm Kobe Beef, which the chef at Old Homestead, has started to serve not so long ago, has told me that there are certain quantities are alotted to each area, so in turn that would mean that only X amount of restaurants would receive X quantity. Alaskan King crab.... If you dont know what it looks like you should NOT be ordering it.... Opillio, King, and Spider Crabs Look Different, Claws are different, patterns on the crabs are slightly different... I know most everyday foodies have no way of telling, but I am a fish purveyor, so i have seen them all side by side. Anothor tell would be, Price. King crab prices are the most expensive, so if you see "king crab" and the price is outragously low, then you may be getting Opillio, or Spider Crabs... This is anothor good tip whenever you see speciality items such as "WILD alaskan king salmon" Now this item is usually an expensive item.... During the off season this item can get up to around $11 per pound (Fresh Fish) So once Yield is taken into account this fish can get to around $15 Per pound Net Weight. So translate that to plate and you have a 7.50 per 8oz portion, without labor, and other garnish's (eg.. Sauce). So if you have a plate of Alaskan king salmon (wild) for under... 25$ more then likly you have a Farmed king salmon, or Frozen product, so again Truth in Menu Laws, BUYER BEWARE. Also Organic fish, there are NO FDA standards for the labling of Organic fish. The fish may be fed Organic feed, but there are no such fish yet.... We cannot control the chemicals in the oceans! As for the Main Lobster, Lobsters come from many places, You cannot tell where, I cant tell where, Only the buyer knows. If i get a Maine lobster, i can say it comes from Canada and no one is wiser. Really none of this makes a difference. Lobster quality comes from its shell, and slightly area of production. But we will talk more about the shell. Soft--- Cheepest lobsters Medium Shell--- Medium price Hard Shell-- Supermarkets will have these (best for lobsters) All the other lobsters have a very short shelflife the Hardshells will live the longest, due to their harder shells, (sensitivity to tempreture) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ~~~~"Heirloom is a term for an original strain, or Non-hybrid plants. "~~~~ (Heirloom does not determine Quality or taste of such fruits or veg. An Heirloom fruit of veg. could look completly different from your Genetically modified foods, such as your normal red round tomato, to your red delicious apple. Heirloom simply specifies it is an original strain, of course the laws on produce are very very vauge and everyone finds loopholes to move thier good products and call them heirloom, and at the same time, their crap product, still calling it heirloom.) Now terms such as Heirloom and Fresh, and, made from scratch. As i said before for "Heirloom", there must be some truth to every lie, what i mean by this is, the entire "Heirloom tomato salad" could be comprised entirly of plum tomatoes, and have 1 heirloom slice in it.... but then again, the restaurant would more then likly crash and burn if they did such an act. Fresh, and scratch, and hand chopped, ect.... could be true could be out of a tub (pre-made in case of emergencies), you would never know, some restaurants use words like those just to spruce up a menu, while others actually use such items, hand chop their meat, use this technique as a selling point, and to spruce up their menu. You would never know. Now if they only labled some of their items as "previously droped on the floor" then i would have a problem. Gosh i hope this was alittle informational. Ill try to be more specific and to the point next time. Oh and P.S. My fish Buyer says BUY TRIPPLE TAIL, its a fish that most of the times comes from the Amazon, it has 3 tails.... red eyes. tastes like grouper, and holds together very well. Grand central will have some. Thanks!