Guerilla BYO tactics

[tommy]

there was some discussion on the spiegelau glass thread about bringing our own stemware to restaurants.

member russ parsons suggests that this idea is just a bit too much. living in NJ, which has many BYO-only restaurants, my contention is that some of the stemware at these otherwise fine restaurants is unsuitable for even water. i can tell you that drinking your favorite wine during a great meal out of a what amounts to a shot glass might quickly change ones mind regarding bringing your own glasses.

my wine bag can easily hold a bottle and two glasses. i have a larger one that would hold 2 bottles and 4 glasses, which i'll probably start using.

fat guy suggests wrapping a few glasses in towels and throwing them in a bag.

are they any solutions that are a bit more, um, elegant?

[Fat Guy]

Wine Enthusiast (dot com) has several products for schlepping bottles and stemware, including some in leather and some with insulation. But I don't recommend the leather ones unless you can pull off a very convincing James Bond act. Otherwise you'll just appear dweeby.

[Ron Johnson]

Tommy,

I suggest an old-fashioned Doctor's blackbag. Inside you could carry your wine, a couple glasses, and your pepper mill. It would also cut down on questions about carrying various pharmaceuticals.

[Echezeaux]

I can tell you that some famous San Francisco restaurants CHARGE A RENTAL FEE if you wish to drink your Three-Or-Four-Times-What-They-Paid-For-It bottle of wine from Riedel stemware!

I wonder if they'd charge you a "glassage fee" for bringing your own! Some of the stemware in well-known places here on The Left Coast, despite our being in "wine country," is hideous!

[Rosie]

Now we need a new topic on bring your own peppermill.

[ivan]

Now we need a new topic on bring your own peppermill.

Some restaurants might charge a grindage fee.

[mogsob]

BYO, wine, glasses, peppermills . . . where will the madness stop?? I am a regular at a place with a really great wine list priced at retail and the best stemware money can buy. It's called eating at home. For better or worse, I take restaurants on their terms, not mine. There are plenty of restaurants with overpriced wine lists, inadequate stemware etc. Some even have wretched food and incompetent service. The simple solution is not to patronize those restaurants, or complain and hope for a change. Living in two cities with combined dining option reaching into the thousands, I have not found any trouble in locating several in each with good wine lists and good stemware.

[tommy]

Living in two cities with combined dining option reaching into the thousands, I have not found any trouble in locating several in each with good wine lists and good stemware.

i guess i need to be more like you so i wouldn't have these problems.

The simple solution is not to patronize those restaurants, or complain and hope for a change

and a better solution than "hoping" is bringing your own stemware. as a visual aid: if you hope in one hand and crap in the other, which one do you think might fill up faster?

edit to include lest anyone thing i'm actually angry with mobsob.

[Robert Nesta Marley]

BYO, wine, glasses, peppermills . . . where will the madness stop??  I am a regular at a place with a really great wine list priced at retail and the best stemware money can buy.  It's called eating at home.  For better or worse, I take restaurants on their terms, not mine.  There are plenty of restaurants with overpriced wine lists, inadequate stemware etc.  Some even have wretched food and incompetent service.  The simple solution is not to patronize those restaurants, or complain and hope for a change.  Living in two cities with combined dining option reaching into the thousands, I have not found any trouble in locating several in each with good wine lists and good stemware.

what he said. or she said. whatever you are, thank you. well said.

[tommy]

what he said.  or she said.  whatever you are, thank you.  well said.

seems very limiting to me.

[Steve Plotnicki]

Although I don't subscribe to the BYO glass theory very much, I keep a dozen Riedel Vinum tasting glasses "on file" at Jarnac. But I have friends who schlep their own glasses everywhere. Some of them have special leather cases. But some just carry the Riedel boxes into a restaurant, use the glasses, put them back in the boxes dirty, and bring them back home to wash them. But I don't agree with Mogsob's and Nesita's reasoning of "don't eat there." Unfortunately, a restaurants menu, rules etc., are arbitrary and they are set up to manage meals the common denominator diner. I don't see why all of those details aren't negotiable? And I don't see why bringing your own wine, glasses or asking for off-menu dishes isn't acceptable? Why should diners who are atypical accept things on their face? In many instances the restaurant is more then willing to imporve various aspects of your meal with a surcharge. Where is the harm in asling and then doing if the answer is yes, for a price?

[tommy]

beyond the issues that steve brings up (anything i want, for a price, should be accessable), i would say that following mogsob's and nesita's theories, one would never have a decent wine experience at sriprahai (sp?) thai in queens if one didn't bring their own glasses. this restaurant is generally accepted as being one of the best thai's in the city, and simply does not offer reasonable stemware.

we're not talking strictly about drinking wine only out of the best crystal. we're talking largely about not drinking wine out of the shot glasses that many BYO restaurants offer. the distinction, to me, is very clear. and i'm not sure how anyone who appreciates wine can't appreciate the concept.

[Basildog]

Why stop at glassware?..Please feel free to bring your own tables, crockery, chairs,linen, ingrediants...hell, why not hire a chef and bring him along too?

Sometimes this place is soooooooooooooooo up its own arse

[Ron Johnson]

Why stop at glassware?..Please feel free to bring your own tables, crockery, chairs,linen, ingrediants...hell, why not hire a chef and bring him along too?

Only in very limited instances has the table or linens had a significant impact on the taste and aroma of my wine.

[mogsob]

There is high comedy, and then there is Tommy.

Point taken on ethnic restaurants in Queens that may never heard of Riedel or Spiegalau (sp?).

The problem I have is when a group of guys show up at GT, demand BYOB and then produce their own glasses. Totally for show. Now, I can understand if you have a '64 Latour laid down at home, or a wine you think would be absolutely perfect for one of Chef Tom's dishes and want to try it out, but most of the BYOBing I see around town is the product of cheapness and/or ego (members of this board excluded for obvious gastronomic motives which I accept fully). Moreover, when people BYOB, they reduce table profit and contribute to price creep on the food.

[Basildog]

So does wine out of a crystal glass taste better than glass?Serious question

[Ron Johnson]

So does wine out of a crystal glass taste better than glass?Serious question

I will try to find a link to it, but there was some type of proof or study that wine does taste and smell better out of a riedel glass than a "normal" wine glass. It had to do with the size and shape of the bowl and the lack of a lip at the edge of the glass. One gets the same result from spiegelau as well.

Click here

[tommy]

There is high comedy, and then there is Tommy.  

Point taken on ethnic restaurants in Queens that may never heard of Riedel or Spiegalau (sp?).

The problem I have is when a group of guys show up at GT, demand BYOB and then produce their own glasses.  Totally for show.  Now, I can understand if you have a '64 Latour laid down at home, or a wine you think would be absolutely perfect for one of Chef Tom's dishes and want to try it out, but most of the BYOBing I see around town is the product of cheapness and/or ego (members of this board excluded for obvious gastronomic motives which I accept fully).  Moreover, when people BYOB, they reduce table profit and contribute to price creep on the food.

mogsob: ok, so is it clear yet that we're not talking about that situation in particular? and not to add fuel, but why would you care what people are doing at the next table as far as their wine glass go?

basildog: bringing your own glasses doesn't add any work for the restaurant staff, especially at restaurants that don't serve wine to begin with (strictly BYO restaurants, which we have a lot of in NJ). that said, as a restaurant owner, why would it bother you? less glasses to bus and have washed. am i missing something?

ron: to be clear, i'm talking about drinking a wine out of a glass that would be totally unacceptable under any circumstances. i'm sure you understand that, but i just want to be sure the rest of the class is clear. i bring *plastic* wine glasses when i go to local BYOs, as they are better than the tiny glasses i'm generally offered.

methinks this thread should be split out into several:

1) people who want to impress those around them with their expensive stemware (which i really really don't think happens)

2) people who want to drink their 14 dollar zin out of a glass that they can at least swirl the wine in without making the table red.

[Ron Johnson]

ron:  to be clear, i'm talking about drinking a wine out of a glass that would be totally unacceptable under any circumstances.  i'm sure you understand that, but i just want to be sure the rest of the class is clear.  i bring *plastic* wine glasses when i go to local BYOs, as they are better than the tiny glasses i'm generally offered. 

I know dude.

I was just responding to basildog's query about whether wine really tastes better out of the better glasses.

[tommy]

I know dude. 

I was just responding to basildog's query about whether wine really tastes better out of the better glasses.

yeah, but i think those studies are lofty and pretentious.

[Ron Johnson]

I know dude.  

I was just responding to basildog's query about whether wine really tastes better out of the better glasses.

yeah, but i think those studies are lofty and pretentious.

Don't ask me, I'm just a tourist.

[Andy Lynes]

Why stop at glassware?..Please feel free to bring your own tables, crockery, chairs,linen, ingrediants...hell, why not hire a chef and bring him along too?

My personal waiter travels everywhere with me now. I get him to carry the Reidel in a leather case. I don't care if he looks like a dweeb.

[tommy]

Why stop at glassware?..Please feel free to bring your own tables, crockery, chairs,linen, ingrediants...hell, why not hire a chef and bring him along too?

My personal waiter travels everywhere with me now. I get him to carry the Reidel in a leather case. I don't care if he looks like a dweeb.

is that some sort of obscure music reference meant only to derail this perfectly reasonable discussion? how dare you. i'm through being cool.

[Wilfrid]

There was a band called The Dweebs?

[tommy]

There was a band called The Dweebs?

of course.