That was nice.
I think there was a movie with a plot that early into the film went something like this:
Man gives waitress (set in the 50s or 60s) a megabucks tip, and the rest is….
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If you’re thinking of “It Could Happen to You,” that movie (which was not a period piece) was based on a true story.
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Yes, that’s probably the film I was thinking about and got the timeframe wrong. Thanks.
Here, in our shared community - we can all chip in and help our neighbors.
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What does constitute a “substantial meal”? The definition determines whether pubs in the UK can serve drinks …
Most people won’t be hungry after eating a scotch egg.
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These images from the major agricultural regions of California …
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“The secret of Chartreuse has long been the despair of distillers, just as the natural blue of forget-me-nots has been the despair of painters,” reads an 1886 document referred to in a recent history of the company and order. Father Holleran spent five years overseeing the distillation process, ordering ingredients and planning its production schedules. When he departed the site in 1990, he became the only living outsider to know the liqueur’s ancient formula.
“It’s safe with me,” he said. “Oddly enough, they didn’t make me sign anything when I left.”
This trade secret is both a marketing coup and a potential catastrophe. “I really have no idea what it is I sell,” a Chartreuse Diffusion president told The New Yorker in 1984. “I am very scared always. Only three of the brothers know how to make it — nobody else knows the recipe. And each morning they drive together to the distillery. And they drive a very old car. And they drive it very badly.”
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Of course, we understood that things were not at all okay, but that’s part of the wonderful experience of dining out: You get to leave the stresses of your life behind, whatever they may be, and suspend yourself in a world where people bring you delicious things to eat and drink. Even though it’s seemingly a simple money-for-services transaction – you are paying to not have to mix your own highball, cure your own salumi, roll out your own fresh pasta, pour your own wine or clear your own plates – dining in a restaurant is so much more than that. It’s the feeling of being cared for, cocooned from the world by the confines of your table. It’s the curation of the music and the design of the room. It’s the flattering lighting that makes everyone a bit more attractive. It’s the sense of harmony – that everything and everyone is working toward a common goal. Restaurants are magic, and there is no solitude I ache for more than the solitude of being alone in a crowded one again.
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“Welcome back to the 20’s Prohibition,” read the message, in a formal cursive script. “We are currently taking reservations for New Year’s Eve dinner. Inside.”
The message continued, “Please keep this discreet, but tell all your friends.”
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Thoughtful column from Frank Shyong in response to the La Scala “Speakeasy” NYE event contrasted with our ICUs having no open beds:
A few days ago, as ICU availabilities hit zero, I ordered from a local Jamaican restaurant on Uber Eats, and an older woman brought a plate of curry goat and red beans and rice to my doorstep. I tipped well, but it did not ease the guilt that I might have created multiple disease vectors with my laziness. There are multiple pandemics, and I live in the one where people are made comfortable by paying others to take risks for them.
In one moral reality, what La Scala did is detestable and I can comfortably condemn them. But I also can’t help but think of the desperation of people running restaurants right now, how no help is coming, and how I cannot judge what that desperation would make me do because I’ve never experienced it.
Take my patronage of takeout places: I might be forcing some employees to continue working in unsafe conditions with this order, but I may also be helping to keep the restaurants afloat and generating essential income for a delivery driver.
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I heard about this and wanted to ask food talkers… Would you stop eating at a restaurant you like if they pulled something like this? That is if you disapprove of it.
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What was there to like about that restaurant in the first place?
Not the question.
The question wouldn’t come up. When a place has such a profound lack of concern for its staff and customers, no one who’s paying attention would eat there twice.
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Yes.
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