No, let’s keep playing Inspector Parker about it.
Anybody have any idea what part of the country the OP lives in? If this were the internet of 1970, we’d know it was in Las Vegas (or Monte Carlo, Monaco, or Macao :p), but saying you were in a casino in 2009 doesn’t really narrow anything down.
I’m putting my money on “Emerils”. It’s the only TV chef I can think of whose high-end restaurants are named after him and can be found in a casino (Bethlehem, PA Sands Casino and MGM Grand in Vegas…I’m betting on the former given the “tackiness”).
Well, I’m not familiar with “Minneapolis Rules”. But “you invite, you pay” only applies in Manhattan when it’s a family or business meal or a date. So if someone happens to invite you out to Nobu or Del Frisco’s, you better bring your wallet.
If he was at a Detroit casino, Wolfgang Puck has a restaurant at the MGM Grand.
ISTM that if a TV chef has more than one restaurant, it counts as a chain.
OTOH, if he doesn’t have more than one restaurant, how the hell did he get to be a TV chef?
Is this a trick, St. Anger?
This was my guess as well. I’ve eaten at an “express” version of Wolfgang Puck and was very underwhelmed.
Some have a habit of underestimating and “forgetting” about appropriate tax and tip when they estimate. The few times I was involved in a pay an appropriate amount bill split, the unlucky person who took control of the bill inevitably paid way more than their proportionate share.
Waaaah!
But Mom! He started it.
Last time I heard that was from my kids when they were little.
:rolleyes:
It’s apparently called Neither Here Nor There.
I’m guessing something Emeril or Bobby Flay related. Or, in another direction, Wolfgang Puck.
Man some of you are tough cookies. There’s “inviting” and there’s INVITING. Which is which?
Case #1:
BG: It’s my birthday and I’d like to invite you all out to the Grammercy Park Tavern, my favorite restaurant.
Gang of friends: Woohoo!
Judge says: Birthday girl should pay.
Case #2:
BG: Hey. What do you guys say to going out this weekend? I feel like having a nice night out. Something really special.
Gang of friends: That might make a nice change! Any reason in particular? Also, where should we go?
BG: It’s my birthday. I dunno, I was just thinking we might try something fancy.
Gang of friends: It’s your birthday? We forgot! Oh definitely, let’s go wherever you want!
BG: Well, I always kinda wanted to try Grammercy Tavern, but we can go somewhere else if we can think of something else.
Gang of friends: Ooh, let’s do that! Woohoo!
Judge says: Everyone pays his own way. Wouldn’t surprise me, in a group of close friends, if the Gang actually secretly agrees to pay for the BG.
After the fact, one might casually say that BG#2 had ‘invited’ her friends to go out. But it’s a very different type of invite. Words mean things, but quite often the same word means two different things.
That’s funny you should bring up the Little House books, because I was gonna refute Dangerosa too using the same books, but By the Shores of Silver Lake and The Hard Winter instead of Little Town on the Prairie. In both books, the Ingallses invite their friends/neighbors the Boasts to dinner. These are not “pot luck” dinners where Mrs. Boast was expected to bring anything. Nevertheless, both times the Ingalls family is delighted when sweet, polite Mrs. Boast brings little gifts to enhance the meals: in the earlier book it’s a bag of popping corn; in The Long Winter it’s a ball of butter from the Boasts’ cow. The latter is especially notable because Mr. and Mrs. Boast have nearly starved while suffering the winter out on their claim, but still they are generous enough to offer a little gift to enhance the meal, because that’s the neighborly, generous thing to do.
So while it wasn’t mandatory to bring a gift, it was certainly done, and even by people who were quite poor indeed – even near starvation.
Also, weirdaaron, as a couple of others have said, a few TV chefs are indeed fine chefs. Gordon Ramsay is another (in addition to Morimoto and Flay) highly respected chef, and ditto Mario Batali, though in both cases the bloom is a bit off the rose.
Get a life.
Heh, I’ve also been poking around the internet, looking for this restaurant. It’s just pure curiosity, not any desire to talk bad about the OP. I’d feel ripped off dropping $150 on a mediocre meal anywhere, regardless of what I or others might consider high end.
I seem to recall (and by “seem to recall” I mean “stalkerishly read old posts”) that the OP lives outside of Philly. So I’m imagining we are talking about Atlantic City.
The intereor of the Bobby Flay Steakhouse seems pretty tacky and has the requisite white table clothes. However, there is no French onion soup on the menu and no green beans. Could it be a special? There are strip steaks on the menu (they seem to be a specialty) and the prices seem right. Couldn’t find a picture of the wait staff. Seems to be reservations only.
Wolfgang Puck is reservations “recommended” and doesn’t have the white-tablecloth ambiance. Plus, no strip steak or French onion soup. I’d say, no.
So far, I think it’s either Bobby Flay or the OP was on vacation somewhere.
Yeah, some people look at something that’s priced at $10.99, drop 11 bucks on the table, and figure that will cover their dinner…but they didn’t think about their drinks (which, if alcoholic, will add up quickly) or the tax and tip. I’ve taken control of the bill a time or two myself, and I always seem to end up paying two or three times what I should, between the “forgotten” items, the tax, and the tip.
Unless it’s $150 for two, in which you’re getting ripped off for $75 per person. That makes some difference.
Damn. Good research. I’d have to agree, the interior seems tacky.
You seem to be making the basic mistake that anyone actually gives a shit about your intent in starting the thread.
I think you went to a touristy “chef name” place and got served standard Americana – hardly culinary “high brow” fare.
Back to the OP: if it’s any consolation to you, the tardiness of the participants would be considered rude even if the restaurant did not require reservations or had white tablecloths. Extreme tardiness is rude. But that’s another thread, isn’t it?
Ridiculous. Of course there are. And I say this as someone in the NoVa/DC area who eats out a LOT. (Off the top of my head, and defining “fine dining” as excellent, upscale food in a nice atmosphere, I can think of any number of great places.)
You and a lot of other people seem to be making the basic mistake that I actually give a shit about what you think about the restaurant I went to.
To follow up on this, here are a list of places within the D.C. city limits where you can get a fabulous meal for less than $155 for two people, even including a bottle of wine. At each of these places, your standard entree is $25 or (much) less, appetizers are $8 to $14, and dessert (should you lean that way) is $10. Personally, I often favor handcrafted cocktails (at around $10 per) to wine, but the total bill is reasonable regardless.
The restaurants are grouped by general neighborhood. Again, these are off the top of my head.
Adams Morgan
Cashion’s Eat Place
Bourbon
Las Canteras
Himalayan Heritage
U Street/Logan
Etete
Cork
Bar Pilar
Cafe Saint-Ex
Marvin
Woodley Park, Cleveland Park, and further up Connecticut
Dino
Indique
New Heights
Buck’s Fishing and Camping
Gallery Place/Metro Center
Rasika
Poste
PS 7’s (mmmmmm cocktails)
Cafe Atlantico
Tosca
Proof
Jaleo
SEI
Downtown/Dupont
Oval Room
Spezie
Vidalia
Firefly
Georgetown
Hook
Mendocino
Capitol Hill
Belga
Cava
Even pricier places like Palena, Central, or Obelisk (which has a $65 prix fixe menu including multiple appetizers and a dessert, and is one of the best meals in town) aren’t too much over your $155 limit for two people, depending what wine you get (and how much of it). It’s only when you hit the really upscale – Komi, Citronelle, Eve, CityZen, Adour – that the price tag is extremely hefty.
It seems like you’re basing your estimate mostly on overpriced steakhouses – and I assume you know that some of the best steaks in the area are at Ray’s in Arlington and Silver Spring, for much less than you’d pay at Ruth’s Chris or Morton’s or whatever.
Basically, I don’t think you know what you’re talking about when it comes to food in D.C.
Pithy.
Yeah, it was right up there with “Waaah” for sheer originality.