You know you're NOT in a roadfood restaurant when

When fish eggs is a menu item

When the presentation is more interesting than the food

When you pay $35 for an entree and it looks like it can be eaten in one bite

When you're asked if you'd like to upsize, for just $.59 more

danimal: like paying $28 for macaroni and cheese at Alain
Ducasse in NYC?

In addition - if a restaurant is located in a shopping mall, it's generally not a roadfood restaurant. I've never seen a place at an indoor mall, at any rate, that wasn't a chain.

They have cloth napkins.

You are seated by a Maitre De wearing a tuxedo.

quote:

Originally posted by berndog

You are seated by a Maitre De wearing a tuxedo.

COMPETELY DISAGREE,

you are seated by a Maitre D' at Joes' Stone Crab in South Beach. I believe that Joe's epitomizes' "Old Miami" road food.

when the food stinks!---the service sucks and the experiance bland!---and i bet i can get some some great roadfood in Osaka where there is fish eggs on the menu!

When they're pictures of each food on the menu.

When they're no cars in the parking lot and you're the only one in the place.

When the wait staff is over 80 years old.

When all the cars in the parking lot are Buicks.

When they're no prices on the menu.

When there is no menu.

When the closest bathroom is at the gas station across the street and it's out of business.

When they're current Department of Health stickers on the front door.

When no one shows up for the grand opening.

When six ambulances are in front of the place taking customers away.

When you walk in and the entire place is filled with smoke.

Upon entering you sense a rancid odor.

When all the customers are cross dressers, except you.

When you see the owner's dog or cat in the waiting area.

quote:

Originally posted by rmcielwain


danimal: like paying $28 for macaroni and cheese at Alain
Ducasse in NYC?

Wow - think of how many boxes of Kraft you could buy for that price!

I think I once saw a $12 peanut butter and jelly sandwich on a room service menu. And room service is definitely not roadfood!

quote:

Originally posted by chicagostyledog

When they're no cars in the parking lot and you're the only one in the place.

When all the customers are cross dressers, except you.

Disagree on these two.

as far as no cars in the parking lot- this has happenned to me several times because everyone else is too busy eating at Applebees across the street! Or because I arrived off hours (between breakfast/lunch or between lunch/dinner hours

Cross dressers- Depending on what time you go in New Orleans you could be the only non cross dresser in the joint!

When you work in a restaurant like mine. Oops!
www.kincaidgrill.com

When (as outlined in the humorous dictionary Coo-king by Henry Beard and Roy McKie, under "fast food") the primary skill required to prepare and serve your meal is the ability to operate a motor vehicle.

quote:

Originally posted by lleechef

When you work in a restaurant like mine. Oops!
www.kincaidgrill.com

OK....now you'vve done it! It's much too early for me to start salivating today. Do you have the Truffle Prawns available in a CARE package?

danimal, the mac and cheese story was from an article in USA
TODAY about 2-3 years ago when a food writer took his wife to
lunch - some of the other quirks were the bill being folded up
like a scroll, the waiter bringing you a box of pens for you
to choose from so you sign the bill, $18 for about a half-pint
bottle of water; and the total cost for that one visit came to
over $500 (including the wine)
Since then, most of that glitz has been cut back as they try
to bring the food up to the standard of Monsieur Ducasse's other
properties in Paris and Monaco....

When your food is waiting for you under the heat lamp.

When your wait person says " Hello, my name is ________and I'll be your server today.
When all you see is a bunch of giggling teenagers who are working there.

When you are given one of those light up beepers to hold until its your time to be seated.

When there are no "Todays Specials"

When you have a different waitperson for every different phase of the meal, ex: ordering, bringing drinks, refilling drinks, bringing entrees,
bringing bread, etc.

Lisa, it looks divine!

quote:

Originally posted by Lone Star

Lisa, it looks divine!

It sure does and I would love the recipe for the sauce that is served with the duck..............sounds very interesting.

I would say it's ok to have "no today's specials.."

If you have never been there before everything is special. If the place as a menu that they cook really well and esp. if it's a short menu (short = fresh, more quality in my mind), then why should they add other things to menu?

Many of "today's specials" are either things that are going bad and they are trying to get rid off, or they are trying to make the menu more interesting to very regular customers who are looking for something different.

On the flip side is a place that truly orders in something special, like say smoked pork chops that take 2-3 days to brine and a day or more to smoke and then offer then as a special; special because it is;

Case in point:

Today my coworker and I had lunch at the Yale Pharmacy lunch counter. We both had the special which was a slab of meatloaf (the grey kind), lumpy mashed potatoes with brown gravy over it all and peas. With a roll and icetea of course.

We just broke out the rolaids.

Woops. This was supposed to be in the YOU ARE IN A ROADFOOD thread. Y'all are getting to confusing.

quote:

Originally posted by lleechef

When you work in a restaurant like mine. Oops!
www.kincaidgrill.com

Can I get the carpaccio without the truffle oil? I'm allergic to fungi.

You know it's not a roadfood place when the server, who would be called a waitress in a roadfood place, doesn't tell you to save your fork for dessert.

You know your not in a road food place...

when there isnt' a dessert that sounds worth trying..

Or where it, dessert, comes fully out of some can or jar, (and i'm not talking about something canned by the owner which of course could be fine..)

Or where there isnt' a dessert that sounds hmm unique...

When the name of everything on the menu is just a variation on "Chicken with Three Adjectives."

When the blender drinks are more interesting than the food . . . and more expensive.

When the special of the night was on "Emeril Live" six months ago.

When they bring kids balloons the moment they sit down.

When all the appetizers, entrees, desserts, and tableware are deep-fried.

When there are more than two tables of college students eating nothing but appetizers and drinking Long Island Iced Teas.

When the waiter's outfit costs more than your car.

When one of your buddies asks, "How much for de leetle girl?" (The Blues Brothers) or when one of your buddies is Abe Froman the Sausage King of Chicago (Ferris Bueller).

...when you have to wait to be seated and you can't sit whereever you want.

where your check comes out in a leather bound holder.

carl reitz

....when the waitress does not call ya "hon".

carl reitz

quote:

Originally posted by lleechef

When you work in a restaurant like mine. Oops!
www.kincaidgrill.com

Reserve me a bowl of that Forest Shroom Soup! I'll try to make it there within the next few years...

quote:

Originally posted by Lone Star

Case in point:

Today my coworker and I had lunch at the Yale Pharmacy lunch counter. We both had the special which was a slab of meatloaf (the grey kind), lumpy mashed potatoes with brown gravy over it all and peas. With a roll and icetea of course.

We just broke out the rolaids.

Woops. This was supposed to be in the YOU ARE IN A ROADFOOD thread. Y'all are getting to confusing.

Grey meatloaf... You have to love it when meat sits under Flourescent (heat?) lamps all day...