Tipping of maître d'hôtel

[yvonne johnson]

Leslie, I've not read your book yet, but in a review of it (http://query.nytimes.com/search/full-page?res=9E07E7DA143CF930A15755C0A9649C8B63) I read that the m'd Bruno Jamais accepts generous tips from customers and will offer them tables at the prime times in return, and that the left-over tables will be given to "Very Unimportant Persons, whom he characterizes with a well-known Yiddish obscenity". Do you think this practice affects the reputation of the restaurant in any way?

[Leslie Brenner]

I do. And so did many people around Boulud. Bruno Jamais was terrific at certain aspects of his job, and because of this, and also, I think, out of a sense of loyalty, Boulud kept him on longer than many people thought he should have. Finally last year, Boulud decided he had enough of Bruno, and fired him.

[Bux]

This is an interesting subject that might be well discussed in the NY board. I understand Bruno went to work at Alain Ducasse's restaurant in NY. My guess is that Bruno had clients who were loyal to him. Politics may make strange bed fellows, but running a finacially successful restaurant in NYC is a complex business.

[Leslie Brenner]

Bruno did work at Alain Ducasse for some months; he is now in the process of opening his own private club on the upper East side of Manhattan.