My chef brother assures me that restaurant leftovers are more likely to see the inside of an employee’s stomach than to see a garbage can, so no worry about waste. Maybe waist though.
If it’s a meal that I liked and think will reheat well I always take leftovers with me. No cooking tomorrow!
Lots of opinions on taking food home…what about the wine?
I recently took home my first liquid doggie bag. I know it’s legal to do so where I come from. Where I was at the time (Iowa) I’m not so sure. I had the feeling I was going to get a puzzled look from the waitress if I asked her, and that I’d probably end up discussing the topic with a only slightly less clueless manager. It was a good bottle, and there was around 1/3 to 1/2 left that I didn’t want to walk away from. So after we’d settled up, I shoved in the cork and we took our bottle home.
Anyone else in this habit?
Count me in as someone else who insists on boxing up restaurant leftovers, and I ALWAYS eat them later. Nothing ever lasts long enough in my fridge to go bad on me. I love leftovers and hate wasting food, so there you go. If anyone has a problem with this, fuck 'em. I actually was out on a first date once, and asked to box up some food I didn’t finish. I swear, this college-age girl rolled her eyes and said in a very dismissive, snippy tone “You’re not actually going to take that with you, are you?” I decided then and there that the other half of my pasta would be very enjoyable later that night, but I suddenly lost my appetite for her.
“Leftover wine.”
“Left-over wine.”
I’m having trouble with this phrase. I know the words, but they make no sense! 
My partner doesn’t drink wine, and I don’t drink much - but the two glasses I may drink with dinner are almost as expensive as a whole bottle. I recently got up the nerve to ask a server if it OK to take wine home, and when he assured me that it is, I was a very happy puppy.
I don’t eat at restaurants that I don’t like - so why wouldn’t I want to eat my whole meal? Now, or as tomorrow’s lunch, makes no difference.
What an embarrassing question I’ve asked. Any wino cred that I’d established around here is now gone. :smack:
I’ve asked for a takehome box on occaision (a rather good tappanyaki, IIRC). There was no problem with asking for it.
I think a lot of restaurants around here (Toronto) shunt their leftovers into the city composting system. I know I’ve seen squillions of the green covered organics recycling bins outside them. It might be mandatory–I’m not sure.
I’ve always wanted a “European Portion Option”, where the restaurant gives one normal/smaller/<6,000Kcal portions.
I’ve gotten the impression that Europeans find taking home leftovers incredibly gauche. Oh well, they already think Americans are gauche anyway, not gonna stop me!
If it weren’t for the doggy bag option, I’d never get dessert. I purposely eat about half a portion usually, so I still have room for something sweet.
And when I worked as a waitress we were supposed to tell the customers they could take the leftover wine so they would be more likely to buy bottles rather than glasses.
Nothing wrong with taking home leftovers. In fact, sometimes we will order with just that in mind.
There’s a place around here that serves a delicious, but absolutely HUGE burger. Then on top of it, they will sometimes have buy one get one free specials. We can easily share one of those big burgers and take the other home for lunch the next day.
Sometimes when we go out we will split an entree (and maybe also an appetizer)if we know the place serves large portions and we don’t feel like taking some home.
What she said. Some things just weren’t that good to begin with. Some stuff doesn’t keep.
But good stuff I’ll take home, I too like having that ready made lunch. A local mexican place has great fajitas. They do a cajun fajita. I know, I know…no such thing. But that’s what they’re called, and I love them. The trouble is, there is enough for 4 people.
I can usually get two more meals and a snack out of the leftovers.
To be honest, if I had it for dinner, I don’t want it for lunch. I don’t care WHAT it was. The edible lifespan on leftovers is 24hrs tops, if you ask me. So I never eat them, they just rot in my fridge. I’m actually tired of getting crossexamined by dinner companions.
Maybe this is related to never eating leftovers as a child. My Dad had (and still has) a wonderfull ability to cook exactly the amount of food for the family. We just. . . didn’t have them. Ergo, I find reheated food kind of gross.
I think this is kind of what I was originally wondering, if those who didn’t take leftovers were doing it because it was gauche or because it’s “gross” (or both).
Sometimes, I think leftovers can actually be better than before. You can add parmesean cheese, or serve it with something different (granted, we’re not talking about fast food here).
Wow – even if somebody actually thought that this was gross, or gauche, why would they say that? The level of rudeness far exceeds any awkwardness about simply boxing up leftovers. Unbelievable.
I think taking home leftovers is pretty much an American thing.
Good restaurants are supposed to judge the portion size so there isn’t anything left over, certainly not enough left over to be worth taking it home.
I don’t know, I’ve never done it and never seen it done, anywhere, ever.
Uh, they assess everyone’s appetite when they walk in the door? They somehow know that one person eats several small meals through the day, but the other is breaking their fast at 3 in the afternoon? They can somehow sense that another patron had a heavy lunch that day while his companion went on a long run this morning? And they tailor the size of the meal accordingly?
Exactly-- Let portion size be your guide. In a resturant where portions are designed to be more than one human could comfortably consume in one meal, feel free to take home the leftovers. In resturants where it might be gauche, you usually won’t even have the need.
No. Usually they give you a portion of several dishes. It’s enough to satisfy, but not enough to “stuff.”
As an example, an appetizer at one of the chain resturants might be enough for more-than-a-meal. In a good resturant, it’s a few bites-- enough to whet your appetite, but not enough to put you off your meal if you eat the whole thing. The size of the main course is enough to be filling, but possibly leaving room for desert. Of course, one should not forget the obligatory fresh bread and cheese.
My husband has a bigger appetite than I have, but he’s never gone away hungry from a good resturant. Worse comes to worse, order another dish.
Podkayne writes:
> Uh, they assess everyone’s appetite when they walk in the door? They
> somehow know that one person eats several small meals through the day, but
> the other is breaking their fast at 3 in the afternoon? They can somehow sense
> that another patron had a heavy lunch that day while his companion went on a
> long run this morning? And they tailor the size of the meal accordingly?
No, they don’t do any of that. It is true though that the portion sizes are generally smaller at European restaurants than in American ones. You don’t find any of the sort of portion sizes that you sometimes get in American restaurants where nearly everybody couldn’t finish the meal and would want to take home their leftovers. There’s a trade-off here. On one hand, there’s less waste in European restaurant meals. On the other hand, if you’re really hungry, you’re more likely to able to eat as much as you want in an American restaurant.
Solution: tapas, or dim sum. 
It’s been legal in Colorado for several years – as part of an agreement to lower the blood alcohol limit for DUIs, as I recall. I don’t know how common it is, though – as others have mentioned, leftover wine is sometimes a rare commodity. I’ve done it a couple of times – it’s a nice way to prolong the experience of a wonderful meal at a great restaurant. The first time my wife and I did it was about a month after it became legal; the waitress was quite excited – she’d never re-corked a bottle before.
I generally don’t take home leftovers when I eat out. We have a tiny, tiny fridge that barely holds all our groceries, never mind leftovers. Unfortunately, we can’t get a larger fridge b/c it’s not owned by us, we rent our apt. which includes the fridge.
I do dislike wasting food, but I’m not going to force myself to eat a giant restaurant meal because of that. IMHO, it’s as much of a waste to overeat and feel bad afterwards as it is to just throw it out. Generally, unless I’m ordering just an appetizer for my meal, there’s no way I’m finishing what’s on my plate. And I don’t want to order an appetizer every time I eat out.
If restaurants offered smaller portions more often, it would be less of a problem. Many offer “lunch portions” but only of certain menu items, and generally only at lunchtime.