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davythefatboy

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  1. I can't believe how many restaurants have bathroom door locks with "twist the little knob to lock or unlock". If you go to any hardware store, you will see that bathroom door locks always have a pushbutton to lock, and unlock when you turn the knob. But of course the really best thing if you care about your customers is a plain knob with no lock, and a separate airplane bathroom door type lock (except usually they rotate rather than slide) that shows "VACANT" in green or "OCCUPIED" in red. I mean, why not respect your customers, and why make your staff endlessly try the door handle (picking up germs) in order to find out of the bathroom is free?
  2. If you leave 80% of your entree on the plate at a place where you are a regular, it's pretty unlikely that no one will say a word until you get your check, although it can happen.
  3. We like being regular at restaurants for the hospitality. We don't expect freebies (and sometimes are annoyed when they don't fit our picky tastes or use up room we were saving for a desert so good we are happy to pay for it). As a rule, if we complain about food in a restaurant where we are regulars, it's not really because we care if we get something else (we're generally overfed), it's because we care about the restaurant and want to give them useful feedback - we think that feedback from a regular will be trusted. But it frequently doesn't work that way - last night we had some super mediocre squash ravioli at a restaurant where I usually have spinach ricotta ravioli. The pasta was simply weird - mushy, doughy, downright unpleasant. If it was my first visit to the restaurant, I wouldn't return. Oh, the chef and the manager were both off that night. What I heard back from the waitress was that she didn't try it, but the kitchen said it was "fine". They gave me a different entree (and didn't charge for either one), and also didn't charge for a slice of their delicious cheesecake that I had ordered. And I went away unhappy - I wasn't looking to save a buck -I'm a regular because I like the food and the hospitality. I just want this restaurant to thrive. So it was very disappointing that my feedback on the ravioli was blown off and they will serve the same messed up ravioli to others. Are regulars usually over-priveleged jerks who don't have a clue and want a deal, or are they usually fans of your cooking who you trust to tell you when it's off the rails? Or is there no usual?
  4. Onion Chile Rava Masala Dosa (I usually get a at Saravannas in Manhattan).
  5. Taglione with Dandelion Greens at Tana del Grillo in Rubizzano (outside Bologna) was simple and excellent.
  6. Had Tortelloni with Ricotta and Spinach five times in Bologna (huge variation in both pasta and filling). Trattoria Annamaria’s was by far the best and more than enough reason to return. But the side dish of Friggione blew me away. Basically stewed onions with tomatoes. Who knew you could get that depth of flavor from onions?
  7. I can't help but notice you are referring to an article from 2009. I have to say that I find four year old restaurant reviews frequently differ from the actual restaurant today. Maybe Yelp is corrupt, maybe it was, I don't know. I just don't think that recycling such old news is really useful. Hey, those french fries you served me in 2009 were really....
  8. I'm wondering - what's with "the best"? Is there an absolute standard for gelato? In which case it's just a scientific or chemical analysis you want? Personally I keep wanting to fall for various local shops, and Laboratorio del Gelato is excellent but totally inconvenient, closed the last two times I was nearby, and nothing special when you buy it in the frozen case at Murray's or Gourmet Garage.The stuff from Philly (Capogiro) has been very very good when I've had it at various restaurants, most of whom now seem to prefer to serve their own homemade but inferior product. But in the Village I mostly find myself getting hungry for the Bacio at Grom. I feel guilty, because it's an international chain, but it's delicious. Is it the best? For my palate, in my three block radius, yes.
  9. Sorella is interesting indeed. Morini is unlike any food I've had in Italy, and not in a good way. Squeeze of balsamic glaze on your pasta anyone?
  10. Some communcl tables (Co in NY) are unfriendly and too wide and too loud, you are closer to strangers than to your friends. But we recently had a great meal at Graffiti in the east village, and the other couple at our table were as fascinating and enjoyable as the food. Can't wait to go back for the food, happy to eat with others who enjoy it.
  11. can you say a little more about these two places? What did you eat? What did you drink? What did it cost?
  12. Sorry to be dumb, I frequently eat dessert, but I am not familiar with "dessert programs". Is that like when I went to the Festival of Gas Pavilion at the 64 Worlds Fair and my father was doing legal work for George Lang and he gave us one of every dessert on the menu? That was a program I'd love to eat in repeats...
  13. So easy for a liberal (ovo lacto) vegetarian to eat in Italy. At virtually any restaurant. Frustrating to find Italian restaurant's like this in NY that only know how to cook meat. Maybe that's what they mean by the Italian-AMERICAN thing?
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