Number of covers

[Simon Majumdar]

When I visited Blue Hill recently, I noticed that you had a lot of tables crammed into a very small amount of space. This meant that whenever anyone on the right hand side ( as you enter ) of the restaurant wanted to use the bathroom, the whole row had to reconfigure to allow them to move. Hence my term for this phenomenon, The Piss Waltz

This seems to be an increasing trend among restaurants these days and is obviously driven by the necessity to have as many covers as possible to offset the soaring rents and overheads

As a person who obvioulsy cares considerably ( certainly I gathered this from the time you were kind enough to spend talking to us after our meal ) about the enjoyment his customers get from coming to the place, how do you try and balance the financial needs and the determination to offer value and a pleasant dining experience?

S

[bluehill]

I am more bemused than surprised by your "term for this phenomenon", by your association between eating and relieving yourself.

Your example has me baffled. Apparently you had to go to the bathroom, and because you were sitting on a corner banquet, table #28--our most requested table-- "the whole row had to reconfigure to allow them to move". But the whole row is 30 yards, and though I didn't witness this I can't imagine your movements disrupted 9 other tables.

But your point, that restaurants in New York tend to be tight on space, is quite right. What I am surprised about, being that it appears you are a savvy diner who eats out often, is that you don’t calculate the (relatively) inexpensive food compared with the (relatively) high quality.

So your question, "How do you try and balance the financial needs and the determination to offer value and a pleasant dining experience" is difficult to answer because it appears, from your earlier review of Blue Hill after you ate here, that we are not doing a particularly good job at striking that balance.

It boils down to real estate. $32 for salmon? No probems getting to the restroom. $23? It will be more of a challenge.

May I make a suggestion? You dined at 8PM, crunch time as it's called in the business. If personal space is a high priority (nothing wrong with that), come dine at 6PM. You could drive a tractor trailer through the dining room at that hour.

And ask for table #44. It's next to the bathroom.