Ice Cubes in Le Bernardin Urinal?

[Varmint]

Peter King is a writer for Sports Illustrated, focusing on American football. In today's column, he wrote that he went to Le Bernardin and noticed that the urinal in the men's room had ice cubes in it. He wants to know why would they do that. Any ideas?

Click here for the article, then scroll down to the heading, "Factoid That May Interest Only Me."

[Fat Guy]

You hang around here long enough, you see everything:

http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showto...ndpost&p=724859

[Daniel]

There are a few restaurants that do this that I know of.. Turkish Kitchen in NYC comes to mind immediately.. My father has told me stories about going to places when he was a child that did this..

Besides being fun to melt the ice, I think this is done to show that someone is constantly cleaning and taking care of the bathroom.. To be able to maintain frozen ice in a urinal takes effort.. Also I think it shows that everything has been considered by the restaurant and its staff.

Edited February 27, 2006 by Daniel (log)

[jsolomon]

Actually, I think the ice is there as a target.

To wit, a couple of years ago, there was a home furnishings invention contest that was won by a guy who produced a toilet and a urinal with a small fly done in blue glaze in the bowl, just off of center to provide a target.

This is quite popular in European airports now. I'm not sure if it works in rigorous studies, but anecdotally, I would certainly pee on the fly instead of the wall. But I don't pee on the walls currently.

Targeted pisser

Besides, what restaurant would want a fly in its urinal? I think that would send the wrong message. So, ice is something that they have that is cheap and entertaining.

[gus_tatory]

i used to go to a bar that did this, and they said they emptied the ice machine (into the urinals) every now and then to start off with all fresh (not stale tasting) ice.

[Varmint]

Could someone just contact Eric Ripert and ask him?

[chezcherie]

is it somehow related to this?

toilet ice is better than you think...?!

ewww...my mind is filled with this image....i need coffee.

Edited February 27, 2006 by chezcherie (log)

[Luckylies]

Actually, i'm under the impression, thany hot pee spells alot more than cold pee (much like most things) so...iced pee, no smells. It's better than a urinal puck.

[rich]

During the 50's, 60's when I was growing up, more often than not, restaurant and bar urinals would have ice. Someone said it up-thread - it's used to decrease odor - especially if you just ate asparagus.

[Raquel]

I always thought the ice was there to reduce splashing.

[therese]

We used to float a Cheerio in the bowl when my son was learning how to pee standing up. It worked pretty well. I'm considering going back to that system, as his technique's gotten a little sloppy lately.

P.S. Really delighted that I managed to relate this post to food.

[jamiemaw]

During the 50's, 60's when I was growing up, more often than not, restaurant and bar urinals would have ice. Someone said it up-thread - it's used to decrease odor - especially if you just ate asparagus.

←

Exactly right - the practice used to be common for odour control (the SI writer is clearly a callow youth) in restaurants, golf club locker rooms and better drinking establishments, but not at the gas station, because it also, as Daniel pointed out, announced that someone was paying attention and signified that you were in a place you couldn't afford.

Of course that was in the days when many dining establishments still had bathroom attendents and before the environmental impact of dichlorobenzene urinal pucks had been considered. Urinal pucks are now verbotten in many school districts (perhaps for other reasons) and civic jurisdictions that have studied their impact.

Sometimes evil things happen to men of the cloth. [scroll down to "What's your biggest fear?"]

Want more evil? Here's the brochure copy for "Absolve", a product from (needless to say), Beaver Research:

Absolve

"Takes the dirty work out of cleaning up vomit, food spills, incontinency and other malodor sources. Instantly gels and binds liquid and semi-liquid accidents for quick and easy removal. Instantly deodorizes the accident with OCP formula. Instantly covers unsightly accidents. Gel safely flushes down toilets and drains. Biodegradable, environmentally safe and non-toxic."

Edited February 27, 2006 by jamiemaw (log)

[viaChgo]

I've seen that in bars when the flushing mechanism isn't working or something's wrong with the water. The melting ice acts as a "flush." Not 100% sure though.

[jamiemaw]

The practice is still extant in leading drinking establishments of the European Union and the Commonwealth.

Edited February 27, 2006 by jamiemaw (log)

[jsolomon]

Want more evil? Here's the brochure copy for "Absolve", a product from (needless to say) Beaver Research:

Absolve

"Takes the dirty work out of cleaning up vomit, food spills, incontinency and other malodor sources. Instantly gels and binds liquid and semi-liquid accidents for quick and easy removal. Instantly deodorizes the accident with OCP formula. Instantly covers unsightly accidents. Gel safely flushes down toilets and drains. Biodegradable, environmentally safe and non-toxic."

←

What's evil with absolve? It's just gum zanthane (xanthan gum) which is a type of polysaccharide, and thusly closely related to starch and easily fermentable in the sewer.

[jamiemaw]

Want more evil? Here's the brochure copy for "Absolve", a product from (needless to say) Beaver Research:

Absolve

"Takes the dirty work out of cleaning up vomit, food spills, incontinency and other malodor sources. Instantly gels and binds liquid and semi-liquid accidents for quick and easy removal. Instantly deodorizes the accident with OCP formula. Instantly covers unsightly accidents. Gel safely flushes down toilets and drains. Biodegradable, environmentally safe and non-toxic."

←

What's evil with absolve? It's just gum zanthane (xanthan gum) which is a type of polysaccharide, and thusly closely related to starch and easily fermentable in the sewer.

←

Nothing evil at all about Absolve, but rather the devil's work that brings it forth, especially in this unfortunate era of the fruit-driven 'martini'.

Yours in absolution,

J.

Edited February 27, 2006 by jamiemaw (log)

[uberleet]

Huh, I always thought it was there so people wouldn't poop in the urinal.

[Timh]

Its common in a few of the dive bars I've frequented. As explained to me, it keeps the urinal "fresh", keeping the odor down. Those usual urinal breath mints just make the situation worse.

[Bobby 2 Shakes]

As long as they don't put any salt on the rim... I'd have a hard time explaining crusty knees.

[nwyles]

Sometimes evil things happen to men of the cloth. [scroll down to "What's your biggest fear?"]

Jamie, where do you find this stuff ?

[jamiemaw]

Sometimes evil things happen to men of the cloth. [scroll down to "What's your biggest fear?"]

Jamie, where do you find this stuff ?

←

I read it first in Modern Janitor.

[FistFullaRoux]

It's far simpler than you are thinking. A urinal full of stale ice is cheaper than running water for a couple of hours. If you have a full ice maker, and you have/want to dump the contents daily, might as well put it where it can save you some money in the long run. Keeps from hogging a sink during melting timeas well.

There used to be a bar in the family, and that's why it was done there at least. The other "features" (aim and odor control) are bonuses.