Incidental food

If you look forward to going to the car wash as much for the free popcorn as to get your car buffed, you'll understand what I'm about to say. There is food that one encounters that makes life's little errands palatable. We bargain with our kids and with ourselves: If I finally return the Dust Devil to Costco, I'll treat myself to that chicken thing with the cheese in the middle at the snack bar. If the kids don't melt down in line at the electronics store, I'll buy them a smoothie from the cafe.

These are not restaurants, per se, but purveyors of food that are so conveniently and craftily located that we cannot help ourselves. We buy it because it's an emergency: We are starving, bored or in need of a little love. We may not give this food a second thought, but many of us eat at these places with more regularity and with more gusto than our most favorite restaurants. And some of them may serve up food that rivals that at our favorite restaurants.

What are your favorite incidental food venues?

Whoa, it comes right out of the faucet.

I went to New York last weekend with four friends. We whooped it up. For example, Friday night ended with shards of multiple drink glasses shellacked to the inside of my purse with the contents of several votive candles. It was that kind of whooping.

Still, a few things came clear through the haze.

First, NYC is crawling with famous people. Who look entirely like themselves, only with less perfect hair. Here are the people we saw:

The Woody Allen and Julie Andrews sightings are less rock-solid than the others. Don't these pictures make you wonder why famous people reflexively grip the sides of their heads when photographed? But I digress.

The second thing that came clear is that tap water is the new black. No more Perrier or San Pellegrino or Evian. Collectively, the New York dining public has agreed to drink water right from the spigot. It's amazing that real change can occur so quickly. We read about how much waste is produced and fossil fuels are expended in our bottled water mania, and WHAM, I'll take tap water, please. People were even carrying around personal nalgene bottles filled with tap.

The third thing I became dizzyingly aware of is just how good New York City restaurants are. There are cheap ones, fancy ones, bustling ones, ethnic ones--many of them so scary good that you have to moan and roll your eyes during meals. So there I was all weekend, moaning, rolling my eyes and picking glass bits out of my purse.

Why food blogs suck eggs...

There was a piece in the Wall Street Journal last week by Katy McLaughlin that struck a nerve with me. Here's how it starts:

Dine, a contemporary American restaurant in Chicago, has been open for less than two years. But on one popular Web site, it is already rated half a star shy of Charlie Trotter's.

How did Dine garner such favorable reviews? One thing that probably didn't hurt: It fed many of the reviewers free. Last August, Dine spent about $1,500 on an event for members of Yelp, a Web site where consumers post reviews and rate restaurants. The nearly 100 members were treated to an open bar, duck roulade appetizers and red velvet cupcakes for dessert. As a bonus, they all received certificates for discounts on subsequent meals. The result: a torrent of favorable reviews on Yelp. Most reviewers mentioned that they attended a Yelp event, though few highlighted that the food and drink was free.

"I think if I was picking up the tab I wouldn't enjoy it as much," says Leigh Kelsey, a 28-year-old Chicago file clerk at a law firm who attended the event and posted positive comments on Yelp. A spokeswoman for Dine says attendees were not required to write reviews of any nature, positive or negative.

As online food sites become increasingly influential in the restaurant business, chefs and owners are plying bloggers with free meals to get good write-ups. Some are also posting favorable reviews about themselves on popular Web sites or becoming Internet scribes.

So, basically, the long story examines why restaurant critics at newspapers or magazines--those critics who dine anonymously; who do not take anything for free; who do not cultivate close relationships with restaurateurs, waiters or bartenders--are fundamentally better. Distance gives a critic perspective, and not feeling indebted or entangled with a restaurant allows a newspaper or magazine critic to evaluate more objectively.

Amen, sister.

Small is beautiful

My review today is of a new small-plate restaurant in Hyde Park called Cheap.

A reader wrote me about his favorite small plate restaurants. At the top of his list is dim sum. In homage to that--and because my in-laws just got back from China--I will show you a tantalizing array of dim sum now, courtesy of my father-in-law:

"My favorite small plates are at T. C. Choy's Asian Bistro.  Those are of course dim sum.  I would be tempted to put reichstaffel ahead of that choice, but there are no Indonesian restaurants in the Tampa Bay area to my knowledge.  My preference for Asian cuisine comes from being a teacher of Asian studies for 35 years.  Our tastes are not totally in synch.  I went with a group of Chinese friends to Yummy House and we found the Cantonese food there to be too bland.  However I must admit they were out of the highly recommended dou fu and none of my group were from South China.  If you want to try something spicier, go to Fushia.  It's on Amberly Drive just to the right of the intersection with B. D. Downs--a little over a mile north of the Bearss Ave. intersection...They serve dim sum that is modestly priced but not quite up to the level of the Asian Bistro.  Fushia's strength is in Szechuanese cooking.   The owner hired a chef down from NYC and he knows his stuff.  For starters,  the hot and sour soup is done just right.The eggplant hot pot is as good as I've had anywhere. The Yan Jian pork, and Ma Po dou fu are also fine. So are his renderings of whole fish if you go with friends or family. Stay away from all Japanese offerings--he hasn't a clue. The twice cooked pork is too fatty for Western tastes, though the Chinese love it. If members of your party are not into the spicy stuff, he can prepare Cantonese food with skill and there are many such dishes on the menu. But you must ask for the Chinese menu. The owner has been catering to Western tastes and the luncheon crown with a limited menu of the old standards. Don't worry--the Chinese menu is in both Chinese and English. I have been enjoying your reviews and try to take full advantage of them. Keep up the good work."--Harvey Nelsen, professor emeritus

Eating alone aka declaration of independence

More feedback on dining alone:

I really appreciated your article about solo dining. I started dining alone in college – 'cause friends would rather save what spare cash we’d have for clubs or bars. While I also enjoyed those establishments with friends…I wanted to eat food that didn’t come from campus or a fast-food joint everyday. That is when I started going to sushi restaurants, Vietnamese spots, and oyster bars alone. Friends thought I was crazy, because they knew me as a chatterbox and a sorority brat. But, what I learned 10 years ago that many people might never get to learn, is having a true sense of confidence and enjoyment in being alone where most people don’t have the nerve. Like your article, I think dining alone can be very satisfying and entertaining. Thanks for writing about a topic that relates so well to me! I was beginning to think I was crazy. Last month, I left my new baby daughter with my husband and went out for a drink and appetizers while I read a book!--Jane

Laura, finally an article about this. I love dining alone. In fact, though happily married, I would fly to New York for three days of wonderful restaurants, theater, and concerts. I savored Danube with the Klimts surrounding me and endless courses (and waiters) with the chef's tasting menu. I'll never forget the pan-seared halibut in a puree of cauliflower and white truffle at Picholine or the dish of lobster done three ways at Cello on the Eastside. Sometimes I'll take a book or magaizine, but as you suggest, I love just people-watching as well as simply concentrating on the great food!--Tom in St. Pete Beach

I love eating alone and do it regularly. I've traveled all over the world alone too, so it was the natural thing to do. I was always treated with special attention. Even locally in Tampa Bay, I have my favorite restaurants I eat at often. I tip very well, get to know the owners and staff on a first name basis, and they are always happy to see me. I find the whole experience delightful. Thanks for a great article, but there is a positive spin on it to. Lots of folks like me out there.--Elisa Abolafia

Just a short note to thank you for your article on solo dining in today's St. Pete Times.  It was most interesting--I am often a solo diner when I travel--and it was the first time that I had read something on the topic with such a light-hearted combination of affirmation and practicality.--Ray Luck

Oh solo-mealo!

Started to get some good feedback on my dining alone piece in the paper today. Here's one I thought was very thoughtful, from reader Ann Hipson:

What a great article!  As a single woman of mature years, I decided long ago that if I wanted to do something, I would do it—even if no one wanted to go with me.  Why deprive myself?  This has included eating alone.

I find that eating alone is most comfortable keeping certain things in mind—

·         Begin eating alone at lunch.  It’s a great transition into the world of solitary dining.

·         There are some restaurants that are inherently uncongenial to the woman eating alone.  These include most chain restaurants on Friday and Saturday nights.  You’ll be out of there in 30 minutes with food splashes on your clothes from dishes being slung at you.

·         There are some restaurants that are congenial to the solitary diner.  These include mom and pop restaurants and high end independent restaurants. 

·         To indicate that you do not wish to be hurried, order a glass of wine BEFORE ordering your food and decline to order until you have savored most of the glass.  High end independent restaurants especially respect that. 

·         Dress up.  Stand up straight.  Approach the hostess or maitre d’ with confidence. 

·         Ethnic restaurant can go either way.  Many years ago when I was young, I lived in West Tampa and because I didn’t like to cook, I ate out a lot on Boliche Boulevard.  Most of those restaurants treated me like one of the family and I could have spent the entire evening there and they wouldn’t care.  However, once a Chinese restaurant in Cardiff, Wales refused to seat me in a totally empty restaurant because they had “reservations”.  Other ethnic restaurants have been obviously uncomfortable with the idea that I was by myself. 

·         Be friendly but not overly familiar with your server.  The server wants to be respected and treated well, but he or she has enough friends and probably (unless the night is really slow) does not want to be your best friend for the evening.  Being friendly also sometimes brings little goodies from the kitchen. 

Thanks for the article.  Let’s hear it for the solitary diner!

Do vegetarians eat animal crackers?

I’m working on a round-up story of how notable local restaurants accommodate the needs of vegetarians. Which has prompted me to think of the needs of vegetarians.

A menu is a text, a way for us to interpret the vision and aesthetic of a chef/artist. We read through each dish, skimming the ones that don’t interest us—na, no sea scallops, not in the mood for veal—but some dishes capture our attention. We scrutinize the details, we imagine the sauce, the accompanying starch.

This should hold true for vegetarians, too. If a menu, in small italic print at the bottom, says merely, “We can accommodate special dietary needs,” the restaurant has punted. They have not imagined, executed, tweaked and menu-marketed a meat-free dish. They’re just making something up on the fly or, even worse, asking the vegetarian customer himself to come up with an idea.

It’s also not enough for a restaurant to say, “we can make any of the entrees vegetarian” by either substituting tofu or by merely deleting the protein. Then it’s not the dish the chef intended. With the protein deleted, there’s a gaping hole at the center of a dish, a hole that, texturally, tofu can’t always fill. Also, what does this mean for the price? Delete a $36 filet mignon and sub tofu—what’s the revised cost to the customer?

Another strategy restaurants sometimes adopt is to feed a vegetarian a variety of the side dishes from other entrees. So, a pile of “vegetable medley,” mashed potatoes, etc. Nutritionally, the lack of protein makes this approach inelegant.

Having just visited nine out of the ten restaurants I'm writing about, my conclusion is basically that every restaurant should offer at least one meat-free option that has had the same thought brought to bear on it as anything else on the menu.

Wine Whine

What’s a reasonable wine mark-up in restaurants? It seems like generally I see roughly two times or two and a half times the restaurant’s cost (which is wholesale, not the retail price). Some of this mark-up can be attributed to the cost of temperature-controlled cellaring, serving, decanting (oh, well, sometimes), stemware, washing the stemware, etc. But really, wine mark-up is where many restaurants make their real money.

A lot of places don't have a consistent mark-up across the board. It's a sliding-scale strategy whereby less expensive wines carry a higher mark-up and the most expensive bottles are more modestly marked up. Same with food, meaning the food cost for a $20 chicken dish is actually $3, but the $35 rack of lamb costs the restaurant $20. Food cost is determined as an average of all dishes.

So, if a restaurant pays $6 for a bottle of wine, it could command a wine list price of somewhere between $12 and $18. A wine that costs the restaurant $60 might be priced at $120. Thus, the better "deals" may be had at the higher price points on the wine list.

This all make sense? Anyone have strategies for getting a good deal on restaurant wines?