Is it just me, or does it seems like most steak houses are real dark. Most of the ones I have been to either cover up their windows or don’t even have windows at all. What gives? Does a little light ruin the whole experience, or is it that you might actually see what you are eating and get grossed out?
You step into the stream, yet the water keeps moving…Now you are in the presence of abscence
Seeing the crude on the ceiling that has never been cleaned will gross you out. One half inch of grease and dirt.
Plus, who wants to see the blood puddling on the plate from the steak that someone ordered rare?
They don’t have to wipe the tables or sweep the floor either.
I’m only your wildest fear, from the corners of your darkest thoughts.
Steak is a manly meal, hence steakhouse decor is also manly: Dark wood-paneled walls, steer horns on the wall, wagon wheel tables and none of that sissy sunlight pouring in.
What Ursa said; also, I have to add that I like that puddle of blood too :p.
Whenever I go to a restaurant, I want it like my beer: cold and dark.
I think Phobia is right. When I had a job as a waiter in an Italian restaurant I asked my friend who gave me the job why it was so dark. He said that it made the crumbs and crap on the floor less noticeable. From my point of view as a waiter, I was surprized at how many nice looking people can be clumsy slobs. We cleaned and mopped the floor every night after closing, but only at night. (Ok, we did mop up the one and only time I carried five servings of lasagna). think about it - how often in a sit down fancy real cloth table cloth type place do you see somebody moping or sweeping the floor during dinner? His father (the owner) added that lights might add a tint to the color of the food, and wierd people out and you end up with all sorts of complaints about the taste. So dark and romantic is the key. Besides, dim lights and a few drinks will make your dinner companions look better. (at least that’s what mine told me.)
FYI: There are no “Lone Star” steakhouses in Texas! I saw a map of current and planned locations. Geez!
Cooper,
I jokingly say I like my coffee just like my women. My wife says, “I’ve heard that before. You want your coffee black, right?” and I say to her, “no…, I want it Hot and AT WORK!”
Geez, somedays she just doesn’t have a sense of humor.
Enright
*Enright3: I jokingly say I like my coffee just like my women. *
On SNL, Mike Myers did a “Wayne’s World” fantasy sequence with Candace Bergen playing Garth Elgar’s hot mother. She offers him some coffee:
Mrs. E: How do you like your coffee?
WC: I like my coffee like I like my women. Cream and two sugars.
Mrs. E (puzzled): What does that mean?
WC (equally puzzled): I don’t know.
Judges 14:9 - So [Samson] scraped the honey into his hands and went on, eating as he went. When he came to his father and mother, he gave some to them and they ate it; but he did not tell them that he had scraped the honey out of the body of the lion.
jwg:
Not only do crumbs and other bits of food get dropped on the floor, but most of these places don’t even clean up until the next morning. I do commercial pest control for a lot restaurants, always in the morning before the place opens. Some of these joints haven’t changed the tablecloths or emptied the ashtrays from the night before.
The Dave-Guy
“since my daughter’s only half-Jewish, can she go in up to her knees?” J.H. Marx
There are other factors encouraging dim light. Most steakhouses have a 19th-century theme – candles and gaslight. They were also traditionally (have no idea of how things are at present) a place to meet your mistress, so you wouldn’t want to be too recognizable.
John W. Kennedy
“Compact is becoming contract; man only earns and pays.”
– Charles Williams