The dreaded truffle up-sell and other annoyances

[DanM]

While it was far from bad service (the exact opposite), my wife and I had a truffle experience at Bouchon for brunch. The waiter was telling us about the days specials, including a truffle risotto with 5 grams of Italian white truffles shaven on the dish tableside. The way he described it sounded like he was selling me 5 grams of heroin.

Dan

[basquecook]

I have been in Italy and France where I would travel with my own truffles to many restaurants and the waiter or owner was more than happy to accomodate me and build entire meals around the truffles I had. i wonder what a restaurant's policy would be on bringing in your own truffle. I am buying truffles that weigh about an ounce and a half for 60 bucks. I purchase everything wholesale through my restaurant. So a table of 6 could get a 4 course truffle dinner from the one truffle I bring, for 60 bucks.

Would they kick me out? Or not let me truffle-ize my own food. Is there a shaving fee?

[ermintrude]

All the good restaurants I know would be happy to have you shave away, and provide the dishes to do that even with notice/understanding the time make a perfect plain rissoto for you to let the truffle shine.

Also good restaurants, when they use (esp alba) truffles it's not a money maker, yes you pay loads, but they cost loads, and often the restaurant does not make as much of a profit as you'd think. That said there are places where up sells get my goat

[ScottyBoy]

If I was in the kitchen I would be giddy if someone brought in a rare product and asked me to cook with it. Very flattered as well. But I think it would be awkward if the patron just asked to shave them on any dish that came out.

[Porthos]

The giant pepper grinder. Actually the pepper grinder in general. If the food isn't seasoned well in the kitchen...

I enjoy a more substantial amount of pepper on my salad and on beef than most people. That doesn't make me a cretin, just makes me me. So I appreciate the chance to have pepper added to suit my taste. Just saying...

[LPShanet]

Also good restaurants, when they use (esp alba) truffles it's not a money maker, yes you pay loads, but they cost loads, and often the restaurant does not make as much of a profit as you'd think. That said there are places where up sells get my goat

It may not be a big moneymaker for the restaurant, but it is for the server who is pushing it on you. The truffle up-sell drastically increases the overall bill, and since most customers tip based on a percentage of the bill, the server stands to make a lot more money from that table.

And regardless of the profit motives, a good restaurant should have a chef who has an opinion on whether truffles belong in the dish or not, and designs the menu accordingly. As stated above, if the dish needs truffles, it should always include them, if it doesn't, then they shouldn't be added to it at a cost of 3-6 times the entire cost of the dish.

[basquecook]

Most places make a ton on the truffles actually. Again, if I am buying winter truffles for 40 dollars for about an ounce and a half and I can put a healthy portion of truffles on about 24 plates and I have seen truffle additions go up to 65 bucks, I would say, that is a huge upsell.

[ermintrude]

True but the mark up is lower than on wine or food costs. The price of white truffles in the past few years have hit £9,000 a kilo, several restaurant I know do not make a profit on it but have it on the menu because they want to offer that, at those high prices they can easilly make a loss if it does not sell. I also agree that haveing them as an option to add to a dish means the dish is probably not well balanced, also ariving with a truffle and asking for it to be shaved willy nilly is not a good idea. But if you walked into a good establishment told them you had a truffle and could they do something with it, most chefs , if they have the time (go early, late or on a slow day) would love to do that

I can see the point that some servers up selling because of a larger tip but I've not known this in the restaurants I frequent, probably because feel someone is upselling or pushing something then I don't frequent there.

[Kouign Aman]

They could perhaps put a small pepper grinder on each table, instead of walking around as if it were still worth its weight in gold.

[judiu]

They could perhaps put a small pepper grinder on each table, instead of walking around as if it were still worth its weight in gold.

I think that the problem with that, at least here in the States, would be a matter of the disappearance of the grinders, especially at the hands of the "Oh, they're so CUTE, they won't miss just one..." school.