So did you know that the Caesar salad isn't Italian at all?
A few weeks ago we had a customer ask for an”Italian style Caesar salad.” Well, in doing some research I learned that the beloved, sometimes bastardized version of the salad was actually first made in Mexico. Yes, Tijuana, Mexico but, the salad was created by an Italian -born Mexican, Caesar Cardini (which is probably why there is the Italian association). The salad was born out necessity when according to Wikipedia, "His daughter Rosa recounted that her father invented the dish when a Fourth of July 1924 rush depleted the kitchen's supplies. Cardini made do with what he had adding the dramatic flair of the table side tossing."
Interestingly, the original recipe does not include anchovies or parmesan cheese.....
Chilled romaine lettuce, croutons, lemon juice, lemon juice, olive oil, egg, Worcestershire sauce, black pepper.
Well the month wouldn’t be complete unless I told at least one customer encounter story.
Two women came in for a snack a few weeks ago. The first part of the conversation was about wine tasting. For some reason, even though we have 2 different size pours of wine, a tasting size and a full glass, occasionally we have customer try to get us to give them “a taste.” In their mind, “a taste” is not the same as a “tasting.” Yes, I’m serious I have this conversation with people fairly often. This dialogue goes on for a minute or so and of course, they typically give in and have a tasting. After we got through this, the woman tasted her friend’s tasting, and decided she didn’t care for it so she got a full glass of something else from a different server. I asked how her wine was and she said “she thought the glass she was about to have would be better than the tasting.”
By this point you know I’m thinking oh lord here we go……..
Next question was, “what kind of oysters do you have today?” I said we have two from Washington State. Now I think sometimes I’ve seen it all, but literally, she leaned back in her chair, rolled her eyes toward the back of her head, and said “Oh.” I was so taken back, that I said, “I’m sorry is there something wrong with Washington State?” She said “No, no, I just, well, I don’t eat oysters from there.” I said “Oh, well that’s unfortunate, they are quite lovely and people have been enjoying them all day.” So off I went leaving her and her companion with a cup of soup and bread.
Oh, yes she loved the bread and soup….. I mean luuuved the bread and soup.
Later, our owner came by to check on them and she told me the woman asked if she could buy half of a crab cake. I started laughing……. Then our owner was laughing and then I was thinking to myself who does that? “I said what did you say?” She said, “I said, no so they ordered a shrimp quesadilla.”
Anyway, another day another dollar as they say, but I guess this is one of those John Stossel moments, who I think came up with the phrase, “Give me a Break!”
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Go Green!
Looking for the familiar is a typical American past time.
In our world at the Ferry Building, for the most part, there is a balance between the exotic and the local. We have a variety of folks that both live and work in San Francisco mixed with tourists literally from all over the nation and the world. In general, I’ve found that most of the American tourists have a very unusual, but predictable approach to food when they visit our restaurant and the Ferry Building. For example, while the average American tourist will not blink an eye at an exotic pairing of chocolate with bacon, salt, and caramel, God forbid they should try fish that is anything other than blackened, broiled, grilled or fried. It’s sort of like, they can’t wrap their brain around a restaurant that doesn’t have Bud or Coors, and yet they will pay extra for some kind of exotic beef they haven’t tried before.
This is on my mind lately, because so many people order a simple ½ a sandwich and a cup of soup. I feel like they are missing out on so many amazing, healthy dishes we offer. Maybe it’s because when it comes to ordering a whole meal, the fear that something may arrive at the table that is too exotic and therefore unrecognizable and of course therefore uneatable, is too much for them to handle. On the other hand there are customers that thrill me when they say, “What do you recommend?” Followed by, “why don’t you just put a few things together for us to try?” If people knew how much joy they bring me when they say those magic words, they would be really surprised. I can honestly say that over the years at our restaurant, I didn’t have one customer not care for a single dish I asked them to try that’s outside their comfort zone.
The next time you go out with friends or your family and your Uncle says, “They don’t have Bud.” You should say, “yes, but let’s see what they have that’s similar it’ll be fun to try something you haven’t had before.” Your Aunt says, “What do you mean they don’t serve Fish and Chips?” You should say, “yes, but I've heard they are know for their quality of freshness. You know what, have you ever had sautéed fresh calamari, you rarely see it on the menu. Why don’t you try that?” It’s all a matter of perception really. “Going Green” is such a buzz phrase right now, it’s so over used, but I am going to challenge folks as they get about town this next year, get your family to “Go Green.” Think of eating out as an adventure not as a meal you don’t have to cook tonight. Find something new and give it a try. How can we understand that buying a hybrid car or changing our building materials is exactly the same thing as trying new food, cooked in a simple way, with local fresh ingredients? It’s actually even easier and less expensive.
In our world at the Ferry Building, for the most part, there is a balance between the exotic and the local. We have a variety of folks that both live and work in San Francisco mixed with tourists literally from all over the nation and the world. In general, I’ve found that most of the American tourists have a very unusual, but predictable approach to food when they visit our restaurant and the Ferry Building. For example, while the average American tourist will not blink an eye at an exotic pairing of chocolate with bacon, salt, and caramel, God forbid they should try fish that is anything other than blackened, broiled, grilled or fried. It’s sort of like, they can’t wrap their brain around a restaurant that doesn’t have Bud or Coors, and yet they will pay extra for some kind of exotic beef they haven’t tried before.
This is on my mind lately, because so many people order a simple ½ a sandwich and a cup of soup. I feel like they are missing out on so many amazing, healthy dishes we offer. Maybe it’s because when it comes to ordering a whole meal, the fear that something may arrive at the table that is too exotic and therefore unrecognizable and of course therefore uneatable, is too much for them to handle. On the other hand there are customers that thrill me when they say, “What do you recommend?” Followed by, “why don’t you just put a few things together for us to try?” If people knew how much joy they bring me when they say those magic words, they would be really surprised. I can honestly say that over the years at our restaurant, I didn’t have one customer not care for a single dish I asked them to try that’s outside their comfort zone.
The next time you go out with friends or your family and your Uncle says, “They don’t have Bud.” You should say, “yes, but let’s see what they have that’s similar it’ll be fun to try something you haven’t had before.” Your Aunt says, “What do you mean they don’t serve Fish and Chips?” You should say, “yes, but I've heard they are know for their quality of freshness. You know what, have you ever had sautéed fresh calamari, you rarely see it on the menu. Why don’t you try that?” It’s all a matter of perception really. “Going Green” is such a buzz phrase right now, it’s so over used, but I am going to challenge folks as they get about town this next year, get your family to “Go Green.” Think of eating out as an adventure not as a meal you don’t have to cook tonight. Find something new and give it a try. How can we understand that buying a hybrid car or changing our building materials is exactly the same thing as trying new food, cooked in a simple way, with local fresh ingredients? It’s actually even easier and less expensive.
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Have It Your Way
Somewhere along the line the average person decided “have it your way” applied not only to McDonalds, but to any culinary experience. I don’t know about you, but it wouldn’t even occur to me to ask for some of the things that folks ask us for at Ferry Plaza Seafood. The other side of the coin is that I have always approached food as an experience. I don’t approach it with the idea that I will eat out as I do at home. For example, I am one of those folks that put everything but the kitchen sink in my salad at home. When I go out, I don’t ask to have the same salad or to change a salad on the menu to mimic what I have at home because I am looking for something other than what I usually eat.
The other day, a woman came in and asked to taste our salad dressings. Seriously? Could you imagine asking a restaurant to taste their salad dressings? Usually if someone has difficulty finding dressing they like or don’t like they just say dressing on the side please. After all I already wrote about a woman who took out a bottle of her own salad dressing from her purse. I have since learned that Patti Labelle actually carries around her favorite hot sauce in her purse. Perhaps that’s not as unusual as I once thought. In any case they certainly don’t ask to have a salad dressing taste testing. Of course, we said sorry, we don’t do salad dressing tastings. So what happened? She left because we wouldn’t let her taste the salad dressing.
Last Saturday, a table of 4 came into the restaurant. 1 person ordered our Mussels, but the other 3 people all ordered our Crab Caesar Salad. This is the funny part: 1 wanted the crab on the side of the salad, 1 wanted the dressing on the side, 1 asked for light on the dressing. When you work in a restaurant in San Francisco, I believe that most people work in the restaurants they work in because they stand behind the food they serve. In our case, we are in the Ferry Building which is all about “good, sustainable food.” Why don’t people trust us to get our flavors and proportions right? Having said that, many people do trust us and love our food, but some people, I guess, have been scared in the past by bad food so they have developed a laundry list of “special requests.” To finish this little story, the one with the light dressing asked us for more dressing. Of course.
Beyond the “have it your way” bargaining for food seems to also come to our restaurant. A woman came in and ordered a Shrimp Louie Salad, but she wanted extra egg, extra cucumber extra tomato etc, but she didn’t want the shrimp on it. The server said that it would be $10.50, the same as a regular with Shrimp, since there were so many extras. The woman said how about $8.50 so the server said “excuse me?” The woman repeated herself. The server said, I’m sorry Miss, but it’s $10.50. She ended up ordering a regular shrimp salad, but simply giving her shrimp to her friend. Couldn't she have just done this from the get go?
At this point, I feel compelled to explain the world of substitutions to all of you who are not familiar with the inner workings of a restaurant. Anytime you have to substitute something, the server needs to “modify” the order on the computer and hand type in anything other than the most basic request like “dry” which is just a tap on the screen vs. “light dressing” which one has to type in separately. Once the order goes through, the “Expo” needs to make certain the special instruction isn’t missed by the line (folks in the kitchen) and finally when it comes out, the “Expo” needs to make certain that the one Crab Caesar with “light dressing” gets to your table and doesn’t go to another table because you can’t really tell it’s the one with “light dressing.” In the case of the extra’s on the salad in lieu of the shrimp, by the time all those steps are taken and the person on salads pulls all the “extras” it would have been easier to just make the standard shrimp salad.
Finally please all of you out there that order a seared Ahi Salad please please stop asking us to “cook it to medium.” It’s a seared, slim piece of fish it’s going to taste like cardboard on top of mixed greens. The intent of the salad is to have a fresh piece of seared fish “raw in the middle” so fresh that it barely needs much but perhaps a wee bit of salt. Trust us, we know what we are doing and we want you to love us for that!
The other day, a woman came in and asked to taste our salad dressings. Seriously? Could you imagine asking a restaurant to taste their salad dressings? Usually if someone has difficulty finding dressing they like or don’t like they just say dressing on the side please. After all I already wrote about a woman who took out a bottle of her own salad dressing from her purse. I have since learned that Patti Labelle actually carries around her favorite hot sauce in her purse. Perhaps that’s not as unusual as I once thought. In any case they certainly don’t ask to have a salad dressing taste testing. Of course, we said sorry, we don’t do salad dressing tastings. So what happened? She left because we wouldn’t let her taste the salad dressing.
Last Saturday, a table of 4 came into the restaurant. 1 person ordered our Mussels, but the other 3 people all ordered our Crab Caesar Salad. This is the funny part: 1 wanted the crab on the side of the salad, 1 wanted the dressing on the side, 1 asked for light on the dressing. When you work in a restaurant in San Francisco, I believe that most people work in the restaurants they work in because they stand behind the food they serve. In our case, we are in the Ferry Building which is all about “good, sustainable food.” Why don’t people trust us to get our flavors and proportions right? Having said that, many people do trust us and love our food, but some people, I guess, have been scared in the past by bad food so they have developed a laundry list of “special requests.” To finish this little story, the one with the light dressing asked us for more dressing. Of course.
Beyond the “have it your way” bargaining for food seems to also come to our restaurant. A woman came in and ordered a Shrimp Louie Salad, but she wanted extra egg, extra cucumber extra tomato etc, but she didn’t want the shrimp on it. The server said that it would be $10.50, the same as a regular with Shrimp, since there were so many extras. The woman said how about $8.50 so the server said “excuse me?” The woman repeated herself. The server said, I’m sorry Miss, but it’s $10.50. She ended up ordering a regular shrimp salad, but simply giving her shrimp to her friend. Couldn't she have just done this from the get go?
At this point, I feel compelled to explain the world of substitutions to all of you who are not familiar with the inner workings of a restaurant. Anytime you have to substitute something, the server needs to “modify” the order on the computer and hand type in anything other than the most basic request like “dry” which is just a tap on the screen vs. “light dressing” which one has to type in separately. Once the order goes through, the “Expo” needs to make certain the special instruction isn’t missed by the line (folks in the kitchen) and finally when it comes out, the “Expo” needs to make certain that the one Crab Caesar with “light dressing” gets to your table and doesn’t go to another table because you can’t really tell it’s the one with “light dressing.” In the case of the extra’s on the salad in lieu of the shrimp, by the time all those steps are taken and the person on salads pulls all the “extras” it would have been easier to just make the standard shrimp salad.
Finally please all of you out there that order a seared Ahi Salad please please stop asking us to “cook it to medium.” It’s a seared, slim piece of fish it’s going to taste like cardboard on top of mixed greens. The intent of the salad is to have a fresh piece of seared fish “raw in the middle” so fresh that it barely needs much but perhaps a wee bit of salt. Trust us, we know what we are doing and we want you to love us for that!
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Surfer's Wave
For many years people thought that only cheap wine had a screw top, but going green has hit the wine industry as well and many people don’t realize that we are seeing many many wines internationally and domestically coming to us with screw top caps.
Alas alack some of our customers unaware of this trend seem to have many preconceived ideas about this new trend.
Last Friday evening, a woman came in with what we determined was her son and daughter in law for dinner. They ordered a bottle of Bonny Doon Rose. When the bottled arrived at the table the Mother saw that the wine was screw top and from Santa Cruz. She seemed to believe that she would be sick if she drank the wine because it was screw top and that the only thing that happened in Santa Cruz was surfing and that no good wine could possibly come from there. So, she had a diet coke and refused to drink any wine.
Sometimes, folks come to our restaurant thinking they well, know more than we do about wine. Sometimes people do, but for the most part, we have a very good grasp on what we are selling. Last Saturday, someone insisted that our French Riesling should have bubbles. Now being open to a mistake, I did take time to double check to make certain one can't buy a Riesling with bubbles and in fact, no bubbles in Riesling everybody. Where our patron got that idea and then refused to accept our information that they don't have bubbles, I really don't know.
Finally, my favorite this week was..... "Excuse me, I'd like a Mimosa refill please." I guess they thought they were in a buffet....
Really everybody, trust us..., we want to make you happy. Maybe for April Fools Day, I should try to sell a made up bottle of some sort. I know, I will try to sell a screw top bottle of Riesling and call it our newest sparkling white from Santa Cruz, and call it Surfer's Wave. Nah, that's not nice!
Alas alack some of our customers unaware of this trend seem to have many preconceived ideas about this new trend.
Last Friday evening, a woman came in with what we determined was her son and daughter in law for dinner. They ordered a bottle of Bonny Doon Rose. When the bottled arrived at the table the Mother saw that the wine was screw top and from Santa Cruz. She seemed to believe that she would be sick if she drank the wine because it was screw top and that the only thing that happened in Santa Cruz was surfing and that no good wine could possibly come from there. So, she had a diet coke and refused to drink any wine.
Sometimes, folks come to our restaurant thinking they well, know more than we do about wine. Sometimes people do, but for the most part, we have a very good grasp on what we are selling. Last Saturday, someone insisted that our French Riesling should have bubbles. Now being open to a mistake, I did take time to double check to make certain one can't buy a Riesling with bubbles and in fact, no bubbles in Riesling everybody. Where our patron got that idea and then refused to accept our information that they don't have bubbles, I really don't know.
Finally, my favorite this week was..... "Excuse me, I'd like a Mimosa refill please." I guess they thought they were in a buffet....
Really everybody, trust us..., we want to make you happy. Maybe for April Fools Day, I should try to sell a made up bottle of some sort. I know, I will try to sell a screw top bottle of Riesling and call it our newest sparkling white from Santa Cruz, and call it Surfer's Wave. Nah, that's not nice!
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
You Can’t Believe What We Have Seen Around Here
It’s been a while since my last entry, but for those who follow my little Blog, here’s a selection of stories from the last few weeks at Ferry Plaza.
Many people, who visit the Ferry Building, think for some reason, it functions much like a food court. Even in a food court however, most people get that if you eat at a Chinese food restaurant, you don’t take napkins, forks etc. from the Taqueria to eat your Chinese food. Well, we had an incident the other day where a gentleman bought a meal at another restaurant and apparently needed a fork. Why he didn’t simply return to the restaurant he got the food from and acquire a fork we don’t know. One of our servers saw him and watched him take one of our rollups (restaurant language for a cloth napkin with utensils rolled up inside) unroll it and pull out stainless steel fork and leave the rollup on the table.
Excuse me, “What are you doing?”
“I need a fork.”
“You are stealing our fork.”
“Well, I needed a fork.”
“Then you should go get a plastic one at the restaurant where you purchased your food.”
So he left without apology and a bit baffled as to the fact that he was confronted for stealing.
Last Saturday, a large table of appx. 10 or 12 people sat down for lunch. We were really happy because apparently a few weeks earlier 2 of the people in the party had enjoyed lunch with us and then brought back this large group. We brought all of the beverages out which included one hot tea. We serve tea in a cup with hot water and an accompanied caddy of tea selections. After we dropped one hot tea, the gentleman next to the woman that had the tea took another tea bag out of the tea caddy and put it in his pocket. Then a couple of minutes later he ordered a “cup of hot water” not another hot tea. So essentially he stole a tea bag and then ordered a hot water so the table saved a couple of dollars for the additional cup of tea. I have never seen such a thing. Why did he do that? It was so odd and frustrating. In any case, because we saw all of this happen, we charged the table for the second cup of tea. This gentleman was a guest at the table and didn’t have to pay for his meal anyway. I thought wow, people have no shame.
People will try absolutely anything to scoot around rules. Restaurants have to cover a lot of costs in replacing lost items. This is really tacky. A woman took a glass from Hog Island across the aisle from us, and brought it to our restaurant. When our manager asked her if she would like a glass of wine, the woman said no thank you, I already have some. So our manager asked why she had a glass from Hog Island, in our restaurant, she said “she wanted to finish her wine.” Why is it so hard to imagine that it is inappropriate to drink another restaurant’s wine in our restaurant? We of course walked the glass back over to Hog Island.
My question would be, listen I haven’t finished my wine, would you mind if I pour this into your glass and return this one to Hog Island. Of course we would prefer that she drank our wine, but at least that would have been a more honest approach.
Finally, need I say more: Don’t take the Tabasco. We have these big bottles of Tabasco, I mean these are about 9” tall. Our manager has seen people stick the whole bottle in their bag. Of course, she asked for it back. I like to think they will think twice one day before they steal something from another restaurant.
Many people, who visit the Ferry Building, think for some reason, it functions much like a food court. Even in a food court however, most people get that if you eat at a Chinese food restaurant, you don’t take napkins, forks etc. from the Taqueria to eat your Chinese food. Well, we had an incident the other day where a gentleman bought a meal at another restaurant and apparently needed a fork. Why he didn’t simply return to the restaurant he got the food from and acquire a fork we don’t know. One of our servers saw him and watched him take one of our rollups (restaurant language for a cloth napkin with utensils rolled up inside) unroll it and pull out stainless steel fork and leave the rollup on the table.
Excuse me, “What are you doing?”
“I need a fork.”
“You are stealing our fork.”
“Well, I needed a fork.”
“Then you should go get a plastic one at the restaurant where you purchased your food.”
So he left without apology and a bit baffled as to the fact that he was confronted for stealing.
Last Saturday, a large table of appx. 10 or 12 people sat down for lunch. We were really happy because apparently a few weeks earlier 2 of the people in the party had enjoyed lunch with us and then brought back this large group. We brought all of the beverages out which included one hot tea. We serve tea in a cup with hot water and an accompanied caddy of tea selections. After we dropped one hot tea, the gentleman next to the woman that had the tea took another tea bag out of the tea caddy and put it in his pocket. Then a couple of minutes later he ordered a “cup of hot water” not another hot tea. So essentially he stole a tea bag and then ordered a hot water so the table saved a couple of dollars for the additional cup of tea. I have never seen such a thing. Why did he do that? It was so odd and frustrating. In any case, because we saw all of this happen, we charged the table for the second cup of tea. This gentleman was a guest at the table and didn’t have to pay for his meal anyway. I thought wow, people have no shame.
People will try absolutely anything to scoot around rules. Restaurants have to cover a lot of costs in replacing lost items. This is really tacky. A woman took a glass from Hog Island across the aisle from us, and brought it to our restaurant. When our manager asked her if she would like a glass of wine, the woman said no thank you, I already have some. So our manager asked why she had a glass from Hog Island, in our restaurant, she said “she wanted to finish her wine.” Why is it so hard to imagine that it is inappropriate to drink another restaurant’s wine in our restaurant? We of course walked the glass back over to Hog Island.
My question would be, listen I haven’t finished my wine, would you mind if I pour this into your glass and return this one to Hog Island. Of course we would prefer that she drank our wine, but at least that would have been a more honest approach.
Finally, need I say more: Don’t take the Tabasco. We have these big bottles of Tabasco, I mean these are about 9” tall. Our manager has seen people stick the whole bottle in their bag. Of course, she asked for it back. I like to think they will think twice one day before they steal something from another restaurant.
Friday, November 13, 2009
What Are We 5 Years Old?
I took a few weeks break from my usual passive aggressive blog, but you know, I needed to get back to some more silly server stories so here’s this week’s memories:
Seriously I have never had someone ask me, even before they ordered their food, the following question: “Do you have free refills on soda?”
Not only have I never been asked that as a priority question, I personally have never even thought about free refills when I go out.
I did tell the woman yes we do, but I have to say, I was wondering if the dumb bread discussion was going to come again since that’s how we started our interaction together. Fortunately, she and her husband had a lovely lunch and everything worked out well.
A table of 6 came into the restaurant, 3 couples. Anybody who has ever been a server knows that when a table this size wants to have separate checks, it’s going to be “oh so fun” to serve them. There was one woman that was particularly well, not demanding, but high maintenance. When I originally approached the table the woman was putting in packets of Crystal lite tea into her water. When she ordered she requested a cup of clam chowder and a Crab Caesar Salad with no dressing. The rest of the table essentially ordered soup and sandwich combinations and some other basic lunch items.
As the self elected spokeswoman for the table, our discussion went something like this:
“Which chowder would you like, Manhattan or New England?”
“Oh, Manhattan of course that New England is fully loaded with so many calories, I mean who can eat that!”
I was thinking to myself wow, nice way to make anyone within ear shot feel guilty about eating their New England clam chowder and insulting our soup, but you know ok, you are entitled to your opinion.
“Now on your salad, you said dressing on the side yes?”
“No. No dressing at all.”
I was thinking wow, it’s going to be a dry salad, but that’s what she wants.
“Should I bring bread for the table?”
“No. She jumps in.”
“No bread right? You don’t want bread it’s so fattening.”
Guess not. I mean if I was at that table, I think even if I wanted it, I wouldn’t eat anything but lettuce and water in front of her. It must have been a super fun day out for the rest of them.
“Ok great. I will be back with your soups.” I said.
I came back with the soups for the table and they began eating. Out of my peripheral vision I see a hand waving me down as if she was calling a cab:
“Excuse me Miss…. Excuse me….. Excuse me Miss?”
“Yes…”
“Does this Manhattan chowder have any wine in it?”
“Yes, it does.” I replied.
“What?” She drops her spoon as if she had been stabbed in the heart….
“Who puts wine in chowder?”
“Well our Chef does Mam.”
“Well, I can’t eat this, I am allergic to wine. You should have told me it had wine in it.” She said.
“I apologize; I will take it away and off your bill Mam. I wasn’t made aware of your allergy to wine.”
So she continued to rant and rave about how we put wine “FOR SOME UNKNOWN AND ACCORDING TO HER, UNCESSARY REASON IN OUR CHOWDER” while everyone else ate their chowder in virtual silence.
The remaining food arrived and here’s the best part of the whole story. She puts another Crystal lite in her water and from her purse on top of her Crab Caesar Salad she busts out a bottle of Ranch dressing. She then proceeded to use the ranch dressing on the salad. I swear I have never seen anything like that. I wasn’t sure if it was the fact that she put Ranch dressing on the salad or the fact that she had her own personal bottle of salad dressing with her.
Anyway, I was so happy when they left and those 3 separate bills were only a couple of dollars difference. I don’t know why I could have just paid the bill with 3 cards rather than creating 3 separate checks.
People are really odd sometimes. Another woman came in with her husband or boyfriend and another couple. They were from New York. I always get along with New Yorkers because they are so straight forward and to the point. They had a super simple order 3 Crab Louie salads and 1 sandwich. The sandwich part is still a mystery to me, but let me mention the issue with the Louie dressing first.
One of the women says to me, and my supportive readers, I am not making this up: “Do not let me see the Louie dressing anywhere near my plate or next to my place setting. It’s going to make me throw up if I see it. I just want lemon, lots of extra lemon.”
Wow! Ok, are we five years old? I was thinking to myself. Immediately, her table mates said, don’t worry, so n so, we will keep it on our side of the table.
But this table get’s better. The guy that ordered the sandwich hated Mayonnaise so he said he wanted a crab sandwich with just crab on bread.
“Sir, are you sure you want that, because you’re sandwich is going to be really dry without any condiment on it. Maybe you could have a Crab Louie with vinaigrette or lemon like your friend and have a little bread on the side from Acme.”
He said, “Nope, I just want a dry Crab Sandwich. I hate Mayo, it’s so disgusting.”
I was like, wow, these two must be together they speak the same way.
I don’t get it though who wants to eat dry crab on a dry sandwich. Whatever, I’m just here to serve. In the end they were really happy so that’s all that matters.
Seriously I have never had someone ask me, even before they ordered their food, the following question: “Do you have free refills on soda?”
Not only have I never been asked that as a priority question, I personally have never even thought about free refills when I go out.
I did tell the woman yes we do, but I have to say, I was wondering if the dumb bread discussion was going to come again since that’s how we started our interaction together. Fortunately, she and her husband had a lovely lunch and everything worked out well.
A table of 6 came into the restaurant, 3 couples. Anybody who has ever been a server knows that when a table this size wants to have separate checks, it’s going to be “oh so fun” to serve them. There was one woman that was particularly well, not demanding, but high maintenance. When I originally approached the table the woman was putting in packets of Crystal lite tea into her water. When she ordered she requested a cup of clam chowder and a Crab Caesar Salad with no dressing. The rest of the table essentially ordered soup and sandwich combinations and some other basic lunch items.
As the self elected spokeswoman for the table, our discussion went something like this:
“Which chowder would you like, Manhattan or New England?”
“Oh, Manhattan of course that New England is fully loaded with so many calories, I mean who can eat that!”
I was thinking to myself wow, nice way to make anyone within ear shot feel guilty about eating their New England clam chowder and insulting our soup, but you know ok, you are entitled to your opinion.
“Now on your salad, you said dressing on the side yes?”
“No. No dressing at all.”
I was thinking wow, it’s going to be a dry salad, but that’s what she wants.
“Should I bring bread for the table?”
“No. She jumps in.”
“No bread right? You don’t want bread it’s so fattening.”
Guess not. I mean if I was at that table, I think even if I wanted it, I wouldn’t eat anything but lettuce and water in front of her. It must have been a super fun day out for the rest of them.
“Ok great. I will be back with your soups.” I said.
I came back with the soups for the table and they began eating. Out of my peripheral vision I see a hand waving me down as if she was calling a cab:
“Excuse me Miss…. Excuse me….. Excuse me Miss?”
“Yes…”
“Does this Manhattan chowder have any wine in it?”
“Yes, it does.” I replied.
“What?” She drops her spoon as if she had been stabbed in the heart….
“Who puts wine in chowder?”
“Well our Chef does Mam.”
“Well, I can’t eat this, I am allergic to wine. You should have told me it had wine in it.” She said.
“I apologize; I will take it away and off your bill Mam. I wasn’t made aware of your allergy to wine.”
So she continued to rant and rave about how we put wine “FOR SOME UNKNOWN AND ACCORDING TO HER, UNCESSARY REASON IN OUR CHOWDER” while everyone else ate their chowder in virtual silence.
The remaining food arrived and here’s the best part of the whole story. She puts another Crystal lite in her water and from her purse on top of her Crab Caesar Salad she busts out a bottle of Ranch dressing. She then proceeded to use the ranch dressing on the salad. I swear I have never seen anything like that. I wasn’t sure if it was the fact that she put Ranch dressing on the salad or the fact that she had her own personal bottle of salad dressing with her.
Anyway, I was so happy when they left and those 3 separate bills were only a couple of dollars difference. I don’t know why I could have just paid the bill with 3 cards rather than creating 3 separate checks.
People are really odd sometimes. Another woman came in with her husband or boyfriend and another couple. They were from New York. I always get along with New Yorkers because they are so straight forward and to the point. They had a super simple order 3 Crab Louie salads and 1 sandwich. The sandwich part is still a mystery to me, but let me mention the issue with the Louie dressing first.
One of the women says to me, and my supportive readers, I am not making this up: “Do not let me see the Louie dressing anywhere near my plate or next to my place setting. It’s going to make me throw up if I see it. I just want lemon, lots of extra lemon.”
Wow! Ok, are we five years old? I was thinking to myself. Immediately, her table mates said, don’t worry, so n so, we will keep it on our side of the table.
But this table get’s better. The guy that ordered the sandwich hated Mayonnaise so he said he wanted a crab sandwich with just crab on bread.
“Sir, are you sure you want that, because you’re sandwich is going to be really dry without any condiment on it. Maybe you could have a Crab Louie with vinaigrette or lemon like your friend and have a little bread on the side from Acme.”
He said, “Nope, I just want a dry Crab Sandwich. I hate Mayo, it’s so disgusting.”
I was like, wow, these two must be together they speak the same way.
I don’t get it though who wants to eat dry crab on a dry sandwich. Whatever, I’m just here to serve. In the end they were really happy so that’s all that matters.
Friday, November 6, 2009
Don’t be a Crabby Trout!
A few weeks ago there was an article in sfgate.com talking about restaurants turning to trout. Trout is a wonderful, tasty, less expensive fish to order when you go out to eat. Many restaurants including yours truly are including trout on the menu.
Did you know Salmon costs up to three times as much as Trout and California is banned from fishing salmon for the third year in a row.
Last week we had a really great fish called Corvina. For those of you that aren't familiar with this fish, it's a type of SeaBass like Bluenose or Striped Bass. It’s found on the Gulf of Mexico and Pacific Ocean.
We serve our fish baked in olive oil with simple salt and pepper, some seasonal sautéed vegetables, Japanese brown rice and sliced seasonal fruit. Right now we are serving our fish with persimmon.
Other fish we commonly serve based on availability are as follows:
Sole
Black Cod
Ling Cod
Wild Salmon
(We get it from the Columbia River near Seattle Washington)
Halibut
Mahi Mahi
Moving into November always means 2 of my favorite meals. Thanksgiving and our annual family Dungeness crab feed. Every year my family has a crab feed the day before Thanksgiving. We pick up one crab per person, some nice white wine and some beer add some melted butter, a loaf of Acme bread and get cracken!
This meal is perfect for a few reasons: 1.) There’s virtually no prep if you get your crabs cracked and cleaned prior to bringing them home. 2.) There’s hardly any table set up: A few crackers, poking utensils, a small bowl of melted butter per person, a couple of large metal bowls (figure one bowl for every two people) for catching shells, and you are done.
The whole point of this is to spend quality family time so don’t make it fancy just have a great time. I highly suggest a pair of jeans or sweat pants and simple tee shirt you can down and get crabby!
In San Francisco, our Dungeness crab season is from about the middle of November to the beginning of May.
You can always call us to see if we have whole Dungeness crab in house for purchase.
Originally posted in November of 2009.
Did you know Salmon costs up to three times as much as Trout and California is banned from fishing salmon for the third year in a row.
Last week we had a really great fish called Corvina. For those of you that aren't familiar with this fish, it's a type of SeaBass like Bluenose or Striped Bass. It’s found on the Gulf of Mexico and Pacific Ocean.
We serve our fish baked in olive oil with simple salt and pepper, some seasonal sautéed vegetables, Japanese brown rice and sliced seasonal fruit. Right now we are serving our fish with persimmon.
Other fish we commonly serve based on availability are as follows:
Sole
Black Cod
Ling Cod
Wild Salmon
(We get it from the Columbia River near Seattle Washington)
Halibut
Mahi Mahi
Moving into November always means 2 of my favorite meals. Thanksgiving and our annual family Dungeness crab feed. Every year my family has a crab feed the day before Thanksgiving. We pick up one crab per person, some nice white wine and some beer add some melted butter, a loaf of Acme bread and get cracken!
This meal is perfect for a few reasons: 1.) There’s virtually no prep if you get your crabs cracked and cleaned prior to bringing them home. 2.) There’s hardly any table set up: A few crackers, poking utensils, a small bowl of melted butter per person, a couple of large metal bowls (figure one bowl for every two people) for catching shells, and you are done.
The whole point of this is to spend quality family time so don’t make it fancy just have a great time. I highly suggest a pair of jeans or sweat pants and simple tee shirt you can down and get crabby!
In San Francisco, our Dungeness crab season is from about the middle of November to the beginning of May.
You can always call us to see if we have whole Dungeness crab in house for purchase.
Originally posted in November of 2009.
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