What restaurant was that? So I can avoid it.
Noting that he mentioned a “Bloomin’ Onion”, I feel compelled to point out that Outback is (a steakhouse). It says so, right there in the name…
Yeah, Bloomin’ onions are awesome. We found out my wife was pregnant when she ate a whole one in less than 5 minutes. 
Heh. You’re lucky. We found out mine was when she absolutely had to have cream of mushroom soup that wasn’t from a can. The only place in town that was serving it was John Dominis, the very model of the modern pretentious restaurant.
He avoids the hijack and sticks the landing! The crowd goes WILD!!!
I’d like the OP to come back and clear up the confusion, too - I don’t think it’s fair ball to question what someone paid for a meal, only what was included in that bill (there are many subjective things in the world, but how much money something cost you is not one of them).
I agree with the law of diminishing returns in gourmet dining, too. For me, the critical factor is value - either I get a heaping helping of chicken and baked potatoes for a good price at Swiss Chalet, or I get a very good fancy dinner for a much higher price, but either way, I want to feel like I’ve gotten value for my time and money. The OP obviously did not feel that from his dining experience, and that is a shame.
What the hell is a “coulis”?
I am over 40 years old, I speak both English and French, I eat three times a day, and I have never encountered that word before. I am soooo sheltered…
I had to look it up, since I never heard of it either. From here:
isn’t that from the lyrics to Hotel California?
No, it was the Beatles. “The girl with the coulis goes by”.
So…ralph?
(The only time I ever had coulis was as part of the dessert – it was strawberry coulis – at a restaurant in Prague last fall. The dessert was okay, but the entree, which was butterfish with shrimp and coconut milk risotto, was out of this world.)
I’m amazed that you got a decent risotto in Central Europe. I’ve never managed to get anything resembling a real risotto in that part of the world.
But, yeah, as far as “coulis” goes, it’s not an uncommon term at higher end restaurants, but, I confess, my experiences with that term were mostly in English and Scottish restaurants, not American ones. At the restaurant I briefly worked in in Scotland, a coulis was made by pureeing fruit and a bit of sugar and perhaps lemon juice together, and pushing the resulting mash with a wooden spoon through a fine sieve. We would use the coulis either for desserts or as an accompanying sauce to game meat.
pulykamell:
It was this restaurant here. I highly recommend it next time you’re in Prague; great stuff.
And your description of coulis sounds like exactly what I had.
I can certainly enjoy a good meal, even a fairly pricy one, but although I’m a bit on the lightweight side, I need to be filled up. When I go nto a restaurant, it’s because I want to EAT. I require energy.
I’m actually rather confused at the foodies who seem to like the non-meals they pay hugely for. Frankly, If someone served me a tiny portion for a huge price, and I left hungry, I would have to go get something else to eat. Which sorta puts a damper on eating out in the first place. And I wouldn’t go back, ever.
But first I would request a manager, inform them that because their service sucked, the waiter was a jackass, and the food portions required me to go to another restaurant to get something to actually ease my hunger, I would be happy to pay and never return, after informing everyone I meet long and loud about exactly why the restaurant was not worth going to. And after looking azt the idiot’s face go bloodlessly white, and realizing that I was about to cost him several thousand bucks, he’d probably comp me the meal. I would leave a penny as a tip, and tell the waiter this was generous.
Thing is, I’ve never been to a restaurant with reasonable, smaller portions and left hungry. American portions are, frankly, enormous. I’m not a small guy (~200 lbs), but portions at most average or chain restaurants I can easily split with at least one other person. I would actually rather pay more for less food prepared better. I want to leave a restaurant feeling sated, not like I’m about to give birth.
Yeah, I think it is largely a myth that you can walk out of a “fancy restaurant” with “tiny portions” and leave hungry. (Not that it never happens, just that it’s largely a myth.) First of all, there are generally several tiny portions of several different foods eaten at a single meal at restaurants like that. Second, it actually doesn’t take much to make a person feel as though they’ve eaten enough. Just eat a couple of bites, wait twenty minutes, and hey presto, you will feel (not like you’re going to explode, but) full.
I don’t know if appetizers are designed to work this way, but the way they work for me is–I eat a little bit of an appetizer, and the “signal” from this act that “I’ve eaten” kicks in twenty or thirty minutes later–just as I’m finishing my main meal. In other words, the appetizer works as a way to trick my system into feeling “full” at the time I want it to feel that way.
-FrL-
There’s a lot about you’re imaginary scenario here that you apparently had in mind, but did not tell us.
-FrL-
Wait a minute. Coulis is nothing more that that yummy-looking sauce underneath the main event on the plate? I hate those. I always feel the restaurant should offer me a privacy screen, so I can pick up the plate and lick the sauce off…
It’s a specific type of thick sauce made of pureed fruit or vegetables. It would not describe most sauces or reductions you would find on a sauced plate.
That’s not consistent with my experience:
Some examples:
Uncle Jack’s ($100): http://menupages.com/restaurantdetails.asp?areaid=0&restaurantid=5154&neighborhoodid=0&cuisineid=61
Old Homestead ($195): http://menupages.com/restaurantdetails.asp?areaid=0&restaurantid=4722&neighborhoodid=0&cuisineid=0
Craft ($102/105): New York Menus - New York, NY Restaurants Guide - MenuPages
BLT ($26 per ounce):
New York Menus - New York, NY Restaurants Guide - MenuPages