Pamphlet with your Pasta?

I've worked as a short-order cook, and in a white table cloth restaurant. I've been a bartender, a dishwasher, a bus boy, a cook, a prep cook -- i know what goes on in kitchens large and small, humble and proud. I am capable of completly putting that from my mind, however, and enjoying a meal "out." When i do that, i'm reconciled to spending more than my cheap heart will ever believe the food is worth, simply so someone else does the work, and brings it to the table.

I'm not cheap in terms of appreciation, though. In white table cloth restaurants, i tip 20%, even if there was a complaint or a problem, for which the server is usually not responsible. Although, if the server is bad, in terms of attitude, then my tip is: "Don't expect strangers to give you money." In diners, and other such locations where working mothers without marketable skills are to be found, i tip 33%. They get the restaurant minimum wage, which is about $2.25/hour, so they rely on their tips. In white table cloth places, the tips the servers receive can be considerable. In diners, these working moms get stiffed all the time, and most frequently by other women, who ought to know better & behave better. The added benefit is that when i enter a diner, and smile and joke and flirt, they call me "honey" and "sugar" and i get first-class service. So they earn their money from me.

I realize of course, that i've rather ignored the drift of your question, Boss--i know what i'm eating in restaurants ain't good for me, that's why i go there . . .

Setanta- I WAS wondering?

What a pain in the ass for restaurants to have to break down every calorie and gram of fat in everything they sell! The average consumer knows that Fettucini Alfredo is full of fat and house salads usually aren't. For people with food allergies, simply ask the waiter to check with the chef to make sure there are no peanuts, or whatever, in your minestrone. Of course, there may be some obsessive-compulsives out there who have to count every gram of fat but I say, "Relax, you'll live longer!"

NickFun- I agree- I think that if a person has half a brain, he will KNOW what is good for him, and avoid the rest. The problem is that government is starting to make noise:




So what will happen is that the government will intrude even further into citizen's lives.........and on top of that we will have to pay the cost of the labeling requirements through more expensive prices for restaurant food!

I am ambivelant about it. If I know too much about what they are doing I can't eat the food. If I just charge in and get it I can have it wolfed down before having second thoughts.

Many times I will order something that I know damn well is not good for me, but what the hell! I think that if I had the list of ingredients and nutrients in front of me, I would just feel guilty. Then the whole pleasure of eating out is destroyed.

Bottom line- If any of you have read my posts on medication threads, I will trot out the same broken record. Learn as much as you can, and then choose what is best for you. Don't allow the government to turn us into dependent children. Knowledge is power!

Dressing on the side is also an option. I have worked mainly in high-end restaurants and hotels and there is very rarely a problem with making special requests for dietary reasons, as everything is done from scratch. I find it ridiculous that a good restaurant should have to break down the nutritional value of every friggin ingredient on the menu. I did have a larf at Phoenix's mention of Alfredo being labelled 'heart healthy'. Butter, heavy cream and parmesan cheese....there's yer basic Alfredo sauce. Making this law will be fine for the big chain restaurants, but the little ones will get crushed financially, and that just ain't fair. An educated staff is not only a better solution, it's cheaper too.

When I eat out, I automatically assume much of it is not something I should be having. That is why I rarely eat anybody else's cooking.

The whole idea seems preposterous to me. Like cavfancier said: Alfredo sauce? butter, parmesan and cream. Duh. Yes, it is full of saturated fat.

It is also expensive to get a lab to make an approved nutritional breakdown of food. Supposedly, if the recipe/formula changes at all, you need to re-do the testing and it seems silly for a restaurant whose chef may be having a creative moment. (What's this, today's special? But it might kill me!) There are fast-food places whose menu is stable and provide voluntary "truth-in-advertising" via their nutritional display. If people are worried, maybe they should eat there.

Insisting on this for restaurant food is government-run-amok.

BTW, I'm with Setanta on the big tips in diners. Considering that a diner meal may only cost $6, a 33% $2 tip is a kindness.

cavfancier- An educated staff is fine, but some patrons WANT rich food. It is the patron who needs to educate himself!

I don't know if I was unclear, but the restaurant I spoke of did NOT label fettucine alfredo as heart healthy. If I saw that in any restaurant, I would leave, quick.

I always ask for salad dressing on the side. What a lot of people don't realize is that a perfectly healthy salad can be turned into a nutritional nightmare, by adding the dressing. A lot of places just glop the salad with dressing. I will take just enough to flavor it.

There was a fast food place where I used to live that was geared to dieters. The were famous for their salads. They would take a little bit of diet dressing, put the dresing and the salad in a wok, and wok it. By doing that, you got the flavor of the dressing on every part of the greens. It was delicious!

Phoenix, my mistake, I misread your first post there. A decent restaurant does not drown a salad with dressing, the garde manger cook generally leaves in fear of the chefs dressing down if they did, so to speak, heh heh...but there are lots of requests for dressing on the side these days (also balsamic vinegar only). However, some diners dip every leaf in the dressing on the side and end up consuming far more oil than if they had let the chef dress the salad. Just so you know...

I work a lot with variations on Japanese style dressings, rice-vinegar based, other good stuff, and just a touch of highly-flavoured oils. They are light, low-fat, and are delicious on a variety of salads. Also, I should address the staffing/patron issue. Being a service industry, if a patron wants rich food, let them go for it, that's the rule. However, if they ask a question, or want something lighter, that is where an educated waitperson becomes more valuable than a pamphlet of figures.

Put down that bottle of sesame oil, and move away from it slowly . . . get far enough away and you won't get slattered when i take my shotfun and blow this vile liquid to hell where it belongs . . .

Bah...each to their own Set, lol....I am not a huge fan of 'fusion' cuisine, but a lot of people like it, especially if they are dieting.

If i taste celantro in one more dish, i'll be hard put to it not to ralph on the table . . . spare me the lemon grass, too, 'k ?

Yeah, and bring on the fried balogna sandwiches.

While I'm pretty set in believing packaged food be labeled (as many of you know <grin>), I think restaurants fall into different categories. Chains that make the same food the same way in mnay restaurants should (and do) have the info available. As for other restaurants, well, I guess I'd like to see all the ingredients (but not neccessarily the RDA breakdown) on the menu. You know, they detail a little bit already under the items, why not list it all? My dad has to ask constantly if there is animal fat in the food he orders and most of the time that means the waiter has to go back to the kitchen to ask.

Yeah, i know what ya mean, Boss . . . i get real upset if there ain't enough animal fat in my meal . . .