Absolute zero tolerance?

Industry Standard: Insider info for those who dine out

By MARSHA LYNCH

We had a lively discussion on our local foodie forum at www.LouisvilleHotBytes.com recently. It began when one forum member posted a link to a blog post that tsk-tsked the bookstore chain Borders for implementing a policy that made her feel, well, sort of empty.
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Festival food: Why does it cost so much?

By MARSHA LYNCH

With the Lebowski Fest, Forecastle Festival and HullabaLOU all recently put to bed, you might think Louisville’s festival season is over until next summer, but you’d be wrong.
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A condiment conundrum

INDUSTRY STANDARD:
Insider Info For Those Who Dine Out
With Columnist Marsha Lynch

I hate it when servers bring me something and try to pass it off as something else entirely, don’t you? Earlier this week, my boyfriend, John, and I were trying out a newish spot in the Highlands. On initial reconnaissance at a new place, I like to find out if the cook can actually, you know, cook, before I trust him to feed me offal or prepare some deadly poisonous blowfish sushi. So we ordered burgers and frites … but like the culinary magpie I am, I was distracted by something shiny that caught my eye from the other page of the menu. Artichoke aioli, it said — and like the magpie, I had to make it mine.
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The Happy Meal sin

INDUSTRY STANDARD:
Insider Info For Those Who Dine Out
With Columnist Marsha Lynch

Question: Is it ever acceptable for parents to bring along food from another restaurant for their children to eat in a fine-dining establishment? Answer: Almost NEVER.
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Well done, good and faithful servants

INDUSTRY STANDARD:
Insider Info For Those Who Dine Out
With Columnist Marsha Lynch

So, another Derby has come and gone. To the world outside Derby City, the “Most Exciting Two Minutes in Sports” is, at most, a couple hours of viewing enjoyment on a spring Saturday afternoon. To Louisvillians, of course, it’s much more: a two-week extravaganza with a celebratory feel; a chance to glimpse celebrities from around the globe; short, lazy days at the office and lots of early business closings; an excuse to acquire an elaborate hat; and a reason to buy up half the supply of fresh mint in the northern quadrant of the country.
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Coupon etiquette

INDUSTRY STANDARD:
Insider Info For Those Who Dine Out
With Columnist Marsha Lynch

Great news! Your great Aunt Hortense finally stopped sending you a hand-written $15 check for your birthday. This year, she sent you a $75 coupon to a swanky restaurant you’ve been dying to try. Now what?
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Amateur night

INDUSTRY STANDARD:
Insider Info For Those Who Dine Out
With Columnist Marsha Lynch

The day after Valentine’s Day, a friend asked where my boyfriend had taken me to dinner. I’m afraid a whoop of laughter escaped before I could clap a hand over my mouth.
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Don’t shun the store brand

INDUSTRY STANDARD:
Insider Info For Those Who Dine Out
With Columnist Marsha Lynch

My dear, departed mom was a housewife in the ’60s and ’70s. In addition to being enamored of all sorts of convenience foods (such as skillet-dinner-in-a-box and instant mashed potatoes), she was a starry-eyed brand-name-foods aficionada.
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Fed and not heard?

INDUSTRY STANDARD:
Insider Info For Those Who Dine Out
With Columnist Marsha Lynch

OK, people: Those who favor keeping children home and away from restaurant dining rooms, step to this side of the line. Those who maintain that children are people, too, and thereby have a right to go anywhere their parents or guardians accompany them, step to the other side. Now, prepare to dance — because it’s not that black and white.
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Gratuitous gratuity

INDUSTRY STANDARD:
Insider Info For Those Who Dine Out
With Columnist Marsha Lynch

You’re out to dinner at a favorite restaurant with five good friends when you spot a notice in tiny print at the bottom of the menu: “An automatic gratuity of 18 percent will be added to parties of six or more.”

You might be tempted to take umbrage. Perhaps you pride yourself on tipping well. Maybe you regularly tip 20 percent unless service is a disaster. Why would a restaurant, by policy, require you to pay something that is, by definition, a gift to be given at your discretion?
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Run Thanksgiving like a restaurant at home

INDUSTRY STANDARD:
Insider Info For Those Who Dine Out
With Columnist Marsha Lynch

Who doesn’t love Thanksgiving? Oh, my — I see a few of you raising your hands. That’s probably because it’s being held at your house, and you remember being up to your elbows in a sink of soapy water at 9 p.m. last year, muttering “Never again. Next year, we’re going out to eat.”
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Industry Standard: Let’s go somewhere new tonight

Insider Info For Those Who Dine Out
With Columnist Marsha Lynch

“Where do you want to eat?”

“I don’t know; where do you want to eat?”

Familiar scenario? You’re not alone. All too often, we end up dining somewhere we’ve been many times before. Familiarity is soothing. Predictability is comfortable — like an old pair of shoes you love to wear but hope no one scrutinizes too closely.
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