Doggy Bags

I have a rule of thumb that consists of when I do a Doggy bag I got to have at lreas 25% of my entree left, and it has to be outstanding, so so food stays in place to send a message, I don't take anything home but the meat or fish. I have people here who get a to go box for maybe 2 bites of a sandwich. What's your Doggy bag do's[pun intended] and dont's?

 Nice topic.
  Myself, I always over order to insure that I WILL have leftovers. 
  As a waitress though, it drives me crazy to have the lunch ladies ask me to wrap the remaining 4 penne noodles and tiny salmon nugget on their plate.
 I have gotten pretty cagey, I say " Sure, I'll be right back. Oh, you will be eating or refrigerating it within the hour? I want to make sure you don't get ill" usually they say nevermind. 
  Also why why why do people take FRIES home?  That trick never works. 
 

AHI MPLS


 Nice topic.
  Myself, I always over order to insure that I WILL have leftovers. 
  As a waitress though, it drives me crazy to have the lunch ladies ask me to wrap the remaining 4 penne noodles and tiny salmon nugget on their plate.
 I have gotten pretty cagey, I say " Sure, I'll be right back. Oh, you will be eating or refrigerating it within the hour? I want to make sure you don't get ill" usually they say nevermind. 
  Also why why why do people take FRIES home?  That trick never works. 
 

That's so true and funny!

I'm almost 22 years old and at no time in my life have I ever countenanced a so-called doggy bag. If I do not finish what I'm served I would never take what's uneaten home with me.
 
There was, however, one instance in which my wife and I did leave a restaurant with ordered food. We had ordered four lobsters for dinner, and just before they were brought out my wife, who was on call for the OR at University Hospitals, got called in. We had the bugs boxed up and took them with us to eat when she got home after finishing whatever was going on in the OR.
 
Oh, and I don't share food from my plate.
 

I usually cant finish a steak when I go out to eat, so that goes with me-I love cold steak as well as hot off the grill. Oh-and when I had dogs, and I had a bunch of food left, that went home with me for them.

AHI MPLS

Also why why why do people take FRIES home?  That trick never works. 

 
I've had pretty good luck reheating them in a toaster oven, especially when they're a thicker cut.
 
I rarely wind up with a small amount of leftovers; it's typically a significant amount (often when appetizers were part of the meal) or nothing at all.
 
Brad

Michael Hoffman


I'm almost 22 years old and at no time in my life have I ever countenanced a so-called doggy bag. If I do not finish what I'm served I would never take what's uneaten home with me.

There was, however, one instance in which my wife and I did leave a restaurant with ordered food. We had ordered four lobsters for dinner, and just before they were brought out my wife, who was on call for the OR at University Hospitals, got called in. We had the bugs boxed up and took them with us to eat when she got home after finishing whatever was going on in the OR.

Oh, and I don't share food from my plate.

 
 OHIO Michael, you stop at your favorite Italian Deli in Singapore, you order an Italian Grinder with the best Italian meats and cheeses, you ask for the oil and vinegar on the side so you can apply it yourself. The Grinder comes out on a nice crispy crunchy grinder roll with melt in your mouth italian meats and cheese, fresh veggies, olives, peppers, and onions. The grinder is cut in half so you only put oil and vinegar on one half. You are now overwhelmed with delight and yelling through the restaurant how darn good this sandwich is. You then open the grinder and see they put on thin slices of smoked Mozzarella cheese on the grinder that you have not seen for years. You now find out that the sandwich is a bit bigger than you expected ??????????? What is your next step, knowing you have a cold beer in the refer for a late night snack, when you get back to your home in Asia ( after taking a Prilosec)
.............Ohio............PNWC

Well, if they didn't put the olive oil on the bread before assembling the sandwich I don't want the sub. And if they put any vegetables other than roasted peppers and possibly some olives on it I don't want the sub. So no problem at all with leftovers because I ain't eating any of it.

If there is enough food left to make a meal, I'll take it with me. I also have had good luck reheating fries, so I don't understand why you wouldn't take them home.

 I guess that I should clarify that I  am sure that very very very many non food savvy folks just chuck the whole darn to-go box into the microwave and then enjoy their screamingly hot, yet wet and flabby fries...
 I'm a toaster oven gal too.  A wonderful appliance, though ironically, mine makes very poor toast.

I almost never take home leftover food when I'm in my hometown, but I have a real weakness for leftover pan-fried chicken from my favorite places when I'm traveling.  Because I'm usually traveling on business, and dining alone, I generally have lots of leftover chicken from places like Strouds, Hollyhock Hill, Hodaks, and the late-lamented Sleepy Hollow in Oklahoma City.  That, I take back to my hotel room.  If I have a refrigerator in the room, great.  If not, I'll put it by the air conditioning unit, but I always eat it within 24 hours or less.  I've also taken it home with me on the plane (non-liquids and gels, of course); I always take home leftover cinnamon rolls from Strouds, too.
 
And like most people, when I eat in a Chinese restaurant (NOT a buffet -- I never go to those), I often have leftovers, and take them away with me in the distinctive wire-handled white box.
 
Although I know opinions differ on this, I still prefer to have the waitstaff box up my food, rather than having him or her hand me a clam shell box to shovel in the food myself.  Some upscale restaurants pride themselves on packaging leftovers in attractive or whimsical ways -- I've had meat or poultry wrapped in foil, shaped like a swan.  That merits an additional tip from me.
 

 I always box leftovers for my tables ( unless they specifically ask to do it themselves)  We use clams instead of foil, but I always re-garnish and add extra sourdough and butter, and when it's a larger piece of (expensive!) fish I ask if they need any ideas on reheating later... 
  As a patron/guest/customer, I like to box my own.   Huh.

I see nothing wrong with asking for your leftover food to take home. I paid good money for it and since most restaurants give you more than plenty to eat I take them home. My son usually is the recipient of my leftovers or they are lunch for the next day. The only thing I usually don't take home is a leftover salad. Nothing worse than a soggy salad.

I only take it home if it's enough to have another meal out of, or if I know I'll be getting to a refrigerator soon. I write the contents & the date & my name in case I take it to work on top of the clamshell.

 
At House of Blues in LA, I didn't take any doggy bags because we were getting back on a bus to the OC, so I didn't know how long I would have to wait for a fridge, so I left the food there, and the dessert. I didn't eat that much of either, too excited! And the waitress looked at me like I didnt like the food. I did!!!
 
I won't take home nachos. We love chicken nachos, but tortilla chips don't do well in the doggy bag.

PP eats very little so we almost always take the majority home. Well we did when she was able to go out. Now I order her a whole meal to go. I still wind up eating most of it for another time.

I can never ever finish almost anything that I order regardless of the portion.  I always get a to go box and almost always my ugly dog gets to enjoy.  The other day I was driving my Miata with the top down and I wanted a McDonalds fish sandwich and a Diet Coke.  I had my ugly dog with me.  The managewr comped my dog with a plain cheeseburger.  Angel was in heaven.
 
Paul E. Smith
Knoxville, TN