theminx

I had a wonderful meal at Emeril's Orlando a few years back. A friend and I decided to pig out and get one of every course (app, soup, salad, entree, dessert) and the only things I had a problem with were: the plethora of olive salad served with the calamari suffered from an overdose of oregano; the filling in the "famous" banana cream pie was a gritty, flour-y mess. Everything else, from the andouille and goat cheese salad to the "study of duck" was fab. And we had a shopping bag full of leftovers to eat during the rest of our stay in Orlando - two meals' worth. The rest of our trip was spent eating sub-standard food at the various buffets around town. Bleah.

Here's an interesting article about Rocco from a year or so ago. Makes him sound like a completely different person than the one portrayed in The Restaurant. http://www.newyorkmetro.com/nymetro/food/i.../features/5155/

Wasn't that said in both episode two and three? Or am I just remembering seeing the teaser after ep. 2? If it was said both times, is Olive Garden a sponsor too?

And I want to know what all that drama over Linda Stasi was about? She's a TV critic, for the Post, no less! Certainly nothing to fear from her several weeks before the TV version of Rocco's Eye-Talian paradise would even see its first airing. Any restaurant critic worth his or her salt would wait a few months before reviewing a new restaurant and then would eat several meals on several occasions before giving the world his/her views (not that this happens in my podunk town of Baltimore, Maryland, where Sunpapers "critics" still think foie gras is a new concept).

The proof is in the pudding -- folks have to go to Rocco's and experience the staff for themselves. At this point, the incompetents should have all been canned anyway. No excuse to have poor service once the filming stopped.

Ok - that makes sense. Something called "training" isn't necessarily a complete primer in all the information needed for the job. Now, I don't want to sound like I like the man or anything, but I seem to remember watching a FoodTV show on the opening of Emeril's new restaurant in Orlando, Tchoup Chop (I can't wrap my brain around E making Asian-fusion cuisine). A lot of the show was dedicated to showing the training of the staff, making sure they really knew the menu, etc. Could have been staged for the cameras, but the service seemed really well-orchestrated once the place opened. I've eaten at Emeril's in Orlando, and the service was top-notch. Training does make a world of difference.

But Gideon says you had training. From his blog: "First of all, that 1st episode covered about 3 weeks worth of shooting. It's amazing what editing can do. They bunched all of the training to appear as though it was the same day…but look closely…we are all wearing different outfits in each shot. We went out practically every night after training and the only partying you see is actually the first day all of us met." Sounds like there might have been several training sessions? Not that his word has more weight than that of anyone else, but...I smell hyperbole....

Being that there's a severe crab shortage, "nowhere" is a good answer to your question. Let's let the blue crab population replenish itself and boycott eating them! http://www.sunspot.net/news/local/bal-md.r...,2689383.column

Anyone have suggestions for dining in the Bennington area? I'm headed up there in October for a wedding. I hear Pangaea is pretty good -- anyone been?

What I want to know is why anyone would go to Rocco's to pay high prices for poor service from cry-baby actor-wannabe waitrons serving standard southern Italian chow that can be had in places all over NYC, except out of curiosity stemming from the hoopla of a "reality" series? Or did I just answer my own question? I'm in Baltimore, where we have a pretty decent "Little Italy." If I'm going to go to NY to have Italian food, I'm going to go someplace with more innovative food and thus more bang for my buck, like Babbo. Unless I am promised that lovely Mr. Dispirito himself would sit on my lap and hand-feed me, then, I might consider eating Mama's spaghetti and meatballs. I have a feeling that wouldn't happen though (don't think dh would let Rocco near me). So after all the brouhaha dies down, what's going to keep the people flocking to The Restaurant? (yeah yeah, I am another first-time poster)