Food for Thought on Food

I came across this interesting article on MSN Money entitled 10 things your restaurant won't tell you. The list runs as follows:

1. "It's more about the sizzle than the steak."
2. "Eating here could make you sick."
3. "Our markups are ridiculous."
4. "Big Brother is watching you . . . eat."
5. "There's something fishy about our seafood."
6. "Reservation? What reservation?"
7. "Our specials are anything but."
8. "There's no such thing as too much butter."
9. "Nice tip -- too bad your waiter won't get it."
10. "Never go out to eat on a Monday."

None of the aforementioned tips really piqued my interest save for the last two. Let me rant therefore in that order.

Normally, when I leave a tip, the last thing I think of is "Wow, that was a remarkably well-orchestrated effort from the entire team! Kudos to the entire restaurant staff and associated personnel!" If I wanted to leave a tip for the entire restaurant, I'll leave a tip for the entire restaurant, which I've done on occasion. But for the most part, I prefer to express my sincere appreciation for a person's service by extending gratuity to a person, not an institution. I'm not against the idea of everyone sharing in the largesse; I'm just saying that the customer should have the option to direct tips to a particular waiter without having to resort to Cold War level espionage dead letter box techniques to thank someone for a job well done.

The last point, "Never eat out on a Monday", should be read in its entirety:

"If you think that Monday, when restaurants tend not to be crowded, is a great time to eat out, think again. "You're being served all of the weekend's leftovers," says Francis, the exposé co-author. Kitchens prepare food on a first-in, first-out basis, meaning whatever is oldest gets served first. It's a way to ensure that everything on the menu is as fresh as possible.

The system works great most days, but it can run into a little glitch over the weekend. Distributors typically take Sunday off and make their last deliveries Saturday morning, which means that by Monday any food not used over the weekend is at least three to four days old. And it will be served before the same ingredients arriving in Monday's delivery.

What to do if you wish to dine out on a Monday? Ignore your instincts and go to a place that's perpetually crowded. "If you are open 24/7 and busy all the time," says New York chef Lucia Calvete, "all your ingredients are fresh all the time."

Which really means that on Mondays, my default restaurant of choice just became Goodah.

Photo Credits:

Picture of the Waiter comes courtesy of Jeff Shelly Illustration.