47 minutes ago, liuzhou said:I'm puzzled as to what is American about this. It's pretty much universal in formal and semi-formal restaurants in Europe and beyond.
It may just be a weird American way of differentiating that style from what some of us crazy Americans refer to as "French Service" where the waiters bring platters of food to the table and use serving utensils to place the food on the diners plates. Usually each waiter has one platter and they move around the table until everyone has been served each dish. There's also "Butler Service" where the servers present the platters, with utensils, to each diner in turn and the diner uses the utensils to transfer their serving from the platter to their own plates.
My experience with these types of service has always been in banquet situations, although occasionally in restaurants with set menus.
Edited to add that I suspect there is a lack of consistency in the use of these terms, both across countries and even within countries.
