Individual delivery of fresh pepper was discussed in GQ sometime ago. My parents tell me that the practice became common in NJ in the 1980s.
But samclem (IIRC) pulled out a NYC news article commenting on the practice from in the early 1960s. I suspect that was the time of the initial innovation.
It’s an odd ritual, one that makes both server and served feel like jackasses. I wonder what other anthropological curiosities share this trait.
(Delivering grated cheese in this way, OTOH, makes more sense to me.)
Not to mention, I’ve always found that made at the table Caesar is much better than kitchen-sitting-in, premade Caesar. Generally, big vats of the stuff have to be kept cold, which just isn’t as good tasting as room temp. But that’s just me.
Offtopic a little bit, but don’t kill yourself doing it by hand when you can just Google it: “50 aud per kg in usd per lb” results in this page, where you can see Google has decided that AUD50 / kg = USD16.58 / lb
Mnay years ago I was in a nice neigborhood trattoria in Rome. There were these load-mouth Americans that wanted cheese on something and called over the waiter. The waiter sprinkled a little on, but the customer just kept asking for more and more. Finally the waiter dumped about a cup of grated cheese on the dish. The customer looked shocked and the waiter gave us a little wink
Surprising, and I bet it’s a practice that goes away quick. As Turek said, things like that tend to find their way into handbags. As restaurants tend to operate on thin profit margins, most simply cannot afford to give away kitchenware.
Texas Land and Cattle Company has had pepper mills on tables for as long as I have gone to their restaurants. Based on the GQ thread about this, I asked the hostess if theft of the pepper mills was a problem. She said that occasionally they turn up missing, but it wasn’t that big of a problem.
I read an article a few years ago claiming that theft from restaurants are becoming epidemic. Perfectly law abiding citizens think it’s cute to steal silverware, napkins, cups. This, the article claimed, is why they have the poor jerk running around with the pepper grinder – so you can’t steal it. And good restaurants are increasingly moving to cheaper tableware.
More’s the pity. I hate those flimsy little utensils. Even more so when they don’t match. One of my personal gauges of restaurant quality is the flatware.
I think this was one of the “Aaah, the power of cheese” print ads: A standard plate of spaghetti with a MOUND of parm that took up 80% of the ad space. ilovecheese.com
That’s bizarre. It would never even occur to me to nick stuff from my restaurant table. This is not because i’m an especially morally upright person (although i am :)), but because stealing napkins and forks and pepper mills just seems so fucking lame.
It really is a conundrum, because if you confront the thieves you end up losing a customer. Of course, some will argue that a business shouldn’t worry about losing thieving customers, but when theft is so prevalent, confronting every offender could end up putting a place out of business. It becomes a question of whether causing a fuss is more detrimental to the bottom line than losing some of your fixtures.
I think this was one of the “Aaah, the power of cheese” print ads: A standard plate of spaghetti with a MOUND of parm that took up 80% of the ad space.