Casual Fine Dining

[Mayhaw Man]

Why 70 minutes? It only takes three minutes to be seated and order, five minutes to prepare, ten minutes to eat, four minutes to pay and leave - 22 minutes. What could you possibly do for the next 48 minutes? I know - attempt to read the entire menu at Del Posto.

←

I don't think you can get out of Waffle House in 22 minutes. Robyn

←

Oh ho, you are wrong about that one Robyn.

I just timed it-less than an hour ago. 19 minutes for a short stack with two over easy, an order of smothered, covered, scattered, a couple of patties, and a couple of cups. The food, incidentally, was on the counter in something around 7 minutes, so I wasn't even particularly in a hurry. It was exactly as it always is-hot, well prepared given the quality of the base ingredients, and the coffee was fresh and pretty tasty (way better than most of the coffee that you will find in any kind of speedy service place).

In fairness, though, there were only about a dozen other customers and the ones that were actually eating (as opposed to sitting there endlessly kibbitzing with the workers) had already been served-so my survey was based on me knowing exactly what I wanted and pretty much an instantaneous cooking process.

Chez Waffle is, in fact, one of the amazing wonders of the semi fast food world. I haven't eaten in a Mc Donald's or any other true fast food joint in a long time, but I probably go to WH a couple of times a month.

[robyn]

Why 70 minutes? It only takes three minutes to be seated and order, five minutes to prepare, ten minutes to eat, four minutes to pay and leave - 22 minutes. What could you possibly do for the next 48 minutes? I know - attempt to read the entire menu at Del Posto.

←

I don't think you can get out of Waffle House in 22 minutes. Robyn

←

Oh ho, you are wrong about that one Robyn.

I just timed it-less than an hour ago. 19 minutes for a short stack with two over easy, an order of smothered, covered, scattered, a couple of patties, and a couple of cups. The food, incidentally, was on the counter in something around 7 minutes, so I wasn't even particularly in a hurry. It was exactly as it always is-hot, well prepared given the quality of the base ingredients, and the coffee was fresh and pretty tasty (way better than most of the coffee that you will find in any kind of speedy service place).

In fairness, though, there were only about a dozen other customers and the ones that were actually eating (as opposed to sitting there endlessly kibbitzing with the workers) had already been served-so my survey was based on me knowing exactly what I wanted and pretty much an instantaneous cooking process.

Chez Waffle is, in fact, one of the amazing wonders of the semi fast food world. I haven't eaten in a Mc Donald's or any other true fast food joint in a long time, but I probably go to WH a couple of times a month.

←

Maybe the Waffle House we go to is just busier a lot of the time . We had a funny experience there last fall. An out of town football team was in town to play - and all the players went there early - and ate up every potato in the joint by 9 am! Imagine a Waffle House with no potatoes .

As for the other fast eaters here - reckon they're in shape for nursing home dining (never saw anyone at my FIL's nursing home or my father's senior independent living facility who ate in more than 45 minutes) - and ready for the 40 minute Seder specifically designed for the limited attention span of seniors.

FWIW - ate at Stonewood Grill (higher class fish food chain) tonight. Ninety minutes - even with my 89 year old father - and no dessert. Think my father would have been happier with 60 minutes. Robyn

[Jisho]

I would like to add my support of the casual fine dining trend. As a former resident of hippie-heavy locations Berkeley, CA and Austin, TX, the thought of turning away anyone in any dress at an Austin institution is nearly unheard of. In a place where multi-million and sometimes billion dollar CEOs work and play in birkenstocks and khaki shorts, most establishments take the affront rather than risk offending the wrong person. All in all, it creates an unjudgemental atmosphere that allow me, on my jeans and t-shirt days, to have the luxury to comfortably stop at a fine dining establishment and enjoy a fantastic meal without having to go home and get gussied up.

[BigboyDan]

Jisho has it exactly. In addition, there is a trickle down effect where one can find high quality food now at casual restaurants. And that's where we're headed. There's still a market for Per Se, but there is a greater market for Zoot.

[Toliver]

Welcome to California...Land of Casual Dining.

Not to sound like an old fogey, but...

When I was a child you just didn't go out to eat that often. Eating out was a treat.

So when you did finally go out to eat you dressed up because it was an "occasion".

It didn't matter that it was only dinner at Sir George's Smorgesboard, or Roma's, the mom & pop pizza joint down the street.

As it's been pointed out, there's obviously a different attitude towards not just dining out at fine dining places, but dining out at most restaurants in general. It's not as special to eat out anymore for many people.

This is a rumored-to-be-true dining story...

There is a restaurant right on the bay in downtown San Diego called "The Star of the Sea Room". It's an Old School fine dining restaurant situated right next to their more casual Anthony's Seafood restaurant.

The owner of the San Diego Chargers (the city's NFL football team) wanted to go to the Star of the Sea Room for lunch but the restaurant had a dress code. Gentlemen were expected to wear a coat and tie when dining. The owner of the Chargers wasn't wearing a coat & tie but still wanted to eat there. Instead of turning him away, the dress code for the restaurant was dumped right then and there.

Can we blame the plethora of Fast Food restaurants, a dining out training ground where dining out = causal and now this casualness has spread to all levels of dining out?