Yes, everyone is entitled to their opinion.

Mine is that parents who are disrespectful of their fellow diners by not knowing how or choosing to ignore how to properly handle their fussy children in a restaurant situation SUCK. They should stay home.

As a former restaurant manager, I will also say that restaurant managers that don't know how to or don't care to intervene in cases of bad behavior on behalf of their patrons SUCK. I would agree that if Browntrout is actively ignoring bad parenting, that's bad business in the long run.

It is also my opinion that parents who do know how to respectfully manage their children should be made welcome in every "neighborhood" establishment.

Ultimately, I doubt we disagree that every patron that walks through the door of a "neighborhood" establishment deserves to be treated with respect and made to feel welcome.

Well spoken; I completely agree with everything you just said.

Going to Browntrout this Saturday, any strong suggestions? What's fun nearby? Don't know the area at all!

sujormik wrote:Going to Browntrout this Saturday, any strong suggestions? What's fun nearby? Don't know the area at all!

Fun as in drinks? The Fountainhead rooftop is nearby. The Huettenbar (further North) is one of my favorites. And of course, if you are out in the wee hours there is always the interesting Oakwood 83

Also Bad Apple (turns more into a bar than restaurant the later it gets) and Tiny Lounge are just 2-3 blocks up the street

Half Acre Tap room is fun as well.

Many thanks!

Well our evening at Browntrout was so-so. Food was ok, they had terrific heirloom tomatoes for the salad, thr tomato risotto had great flavor though I thought it could've used a bit more cooking time. The burgers were deemed "ok" as was the charcuterie.

The service was not great, I must say I don't like places where they don't write down your order and this night supported my dislike. Drinks took a long time,as did appetizers. We ordered a $6 bread with 4 rolls, and the. Only 3 rolls came out, it took a LONG time for the fourth one; they said one had fallen and had to make another, but it would've been nice if they told us that upfront. We had ordered that risotto for the tale to share, and got another tomato salad instead. Chef told us to keep the tomato salad and he'd bring us risotto, which he told us was on the house. But they charged us for the second tomato salad. Which was probably less than the risotto but felt weird explaining that to our friends as we split the check. If we lived nearby maybe we would return but definitely not worth dealing with city traffic for in our opinion.

Went to Katerina's after, had an AMAZING sour cherry martini, (I'd kill to get the recipe for the cherry sauce they use) but ended up not staying for the music. Nice bartender.

sujormik wrote:I must say I don't like places where they don't write down your order and this night supported my dislike.

With apologies if this is not specific enough for the Browntrout thread, I agree with your dislike for servers who don't write down orders. With very rare exceptions (two come to mind, all time), it seems they either make an error or return to the table to clarify or confirm something. I am not looking for a great memory in a server; I am appreciative of accuracy and efficiency.

With a friend in town for the weekend, I was looking for something relatively close to home and not normally in our rotation. Our one visit to Browntrout was a few years ago before they had a liquor license. I thought it was worth a return trip. We arrived for our 7:30 reservation and were seated promptly. We had our choice of two tables and the hostess raved about one particular server so we took a table in his section. He had a lot of tables and we ended up waiting a long time to get our drink order in because we weren't ready when he first asked and ended up waiting 10-15 minutes for him to return.

Despite a little bump in service attention, the food and drink was quite good across the board. Once we were able to order our drinks, I had the Elder (Death's Door gin, elderflower liqueur, lemon, rhubarb bitters, served up), my friend enjoyed the It's About Thyme (Crop Organic Cucumber vodka, burnt thyme infused vodka, Quinquina, lemon, soda water) and Mr. X had the Turning Japanese (Four Roses bourbon, rooftop purple shisho, lemon, simple syrup, ginger beer, Amargo-Vallet bitters, on the rocks). With our meal, we selected a nice Montepulciano.

For an appetizer, we shared the Wood Grilled Wild Mushrooms (popcorn grits, sous vide duck egg, arugula, pickled onions, ginger soy glaze) to start. My friend had the Pappardelle Bolognese for her entree, which she very much enjoyed. Mr. X raved about the Browntrout Ramen. He was told the broth takes two days to make and it had an incredible richness. I had the lamb three ways: grilled loin, ramp sausage and lamb belly. This came with grilled ramps and fingerling potatoes. All three lamb preps were fantastic...and looked much better than what was pictured above.

For dessert, we split the Rice Pudding and Raspberry (brown vanilla rice pudding, candied pecans, raspberry preserves, whipped creme fraiche) and the rhubarb dessert, which had a rhubarb jam and root beer ice cream in the description. There was no mention of the fritters that came on the plate. It was a great dessert, although I though the root beer ice cream was too overpowering. My dining companions had no problem eating my share. Desserts were rich and we were glad we didn't try to order one per person.

The place was hopping on a Saturday night. I liked how they created some separation for diners at the long communal table by using vases of flowers in between parties and not using all of the seats. (Unlike the seating at Tweet on Sunday morning where the row of hot sauces does little to divide one party of two from the other... )

I'd be interested in hearing from others who have been to Browntrout recently. I'd return.

Nice meal but I found this item on the menu.....Buy the staff a six pack $10.

No.

hoppy2468 wrote:Nice meal but I found this item on the menu.....Buy the staff a six pack $10.

No.

Yeah, that falls under the category technically known as chutzpah.

riddlemay wrote:

hoppy2468 wrote:Nice meal but I found this item on the menu.....Buy the staff a six pack $10.

No.

Yeah, that falls under the category technically known as chutzpah.

Not in my world. To me, that's a great way to do something nice for the kitchen staff, who never see a penny of the tips left by diners. I do this all the time at Publican, where it is well-deserved. Sometimes I even bring something for the kitchen.

=R=

ronnie_suburban wrote:

riddlemay wrote:

hoppy2468 wrote:Nice meal but I found this item on the menu.....Buy the staff a six pack $10.

No.

Yeah, that falls under the category technically known as chutzpah.

Not in my world. To me, that's a great way to do something nice for the kitchen staff, who never see a penny of the tips left by diners. I do this all the time at Publican, where it is well-deserved. Sometimes I even bring something for the kitchen.

=R=

No disagreement that it's a lovely gesture, Ron. Only making the point that asking for a lovely gesture undermines the whole concept of lovely gestures.

riddlemay wrote:No disagreement that it's a lovely gesture, Ron. Only making the point that asking for a lovely gesture undermines the whole concept of lovely gestures.

I think it's on menus because some diners don't realize it's possible to do. It's just an easy, built-in way to let them know. It's never felt nervy to me.

=R=

ronnie_suburban wrote:

riddlemay wrote:No disagreement that it's a lovely gesture, Ron. Only making the point that asking for a lovely gesture undermines the whole concept of lovely gestures.

I think it's on menus because some diners don't realize it's possible to do. It's just an easy, built-in way to let them know. It's never felt nervy to me.

=R=

This is common in restaurants that don't give the kitchen a beer to refresh hot and sweaty line cooks when they're breaking down at the end of the night (most places have kitchen beer but not all).

I've brought a 6- or 4-pack of beer to places for the staff.

I find this odd. If some people like doing this when they dine at a favorite place and want to show their appreciation to the staff, that's fine, but in what other line of work do customers bring alcoholic beverages to the workers? "I think it's on menus because some diners don't realize it's possible to do." That seems silly to me. If I wanted to press a $100 bill into the palm of every person working in the kitchen, do you really think I'd wonder if there was perhaps some restaurant rule or city ordinance preventing me from doing so?

I also wonder if it's done at the beginning of the dining experience or the end. If the former, it seems to me like greasing the skids. Which of course anyone's perfectly entitled to do. Just curious, does anyone here who brings beer for the kitchen staff wait to give it until after they've paid the bill?

Anyway, fine, if you like giving gifts. But a suggestion on the menu that you do so does seem to me to be in poor taste. It is always "nervy" to tell someone that you want them to give you a present.

Katie wrote:"I think it's on menus because some diners don't realize it's possible to do." That seems silly to me.

The first time I saw this on a menu, it was something I hadn't thought of before, so I'm merely speaking from my admittedly limited dining-out experience. Perhaps it makes me silly but I thought it was a fun thing.

=R=

love when the mods go off topic.....
makes it more fun around here!
fewer rules the better!

mhill95149 wrote:love when the mods go off topic.....
makes it more fun around here!
fewer rules the better!

Just following a tangent directly related to Browntrout. Have you been there? What did you think? Me personally, I didn't like it enough to buy a 6'er for the kitchen.

=R=

Ronnie, my dining experience is far, far more limited than yours, so I do respect your opinion on this. I'm just commenting on how it strikes me. Perhaps I should say, in what line of work do workers get to tell customers that they want them to bring them alcoholic beverages? (No line of work I've ever been in, which is making me reconsider some of my choices in life.) That's really what strikes me as odd. I'm all for generous tipping and tipping with six packs if that's your style. It's the suggestion on the menu that seems inappropriate to me.

On another forum I read, there was a recent discussion about a bill someone got on which 15%, 18%, and 20% tip amounts were handwritten at the bottom. The general consensus seemed to be that it's one thing for a restaurant to print those things on all bills and another for an individual server to write them onto an individual bill. Splitting hairs, you might say. It's a matter of opinion. I'm just saying I do agree about the chutzpah, as someone put it, of putting a request for what is essentially a tip for certain employees on the menu. Every December, my Tribune delivery person leaves me an unstamped self-addressed envelope I can use to send her Christmas tip to her. It never puts me in the Christmas spirit.

I agree with riddlemay: "No disagreement that it's a lovely gesture, Ron. Only making the point that asking for a lovely gesture undermines the whole concept of lovely gestures."

Katie wrote:Ronnie, my dining experience is far, far more limited than yours, so I do respect your opinion on this. I'm just commenting on how it strikes me. Perhaps I should say, in what line of work do workers get to tell customers that they want them to bring them alcoholic beverages? (No line of work I've ever been in, which is making me reconsider some of my choices in life.) That's really what strikes me as odd. I'm all for generous tipping and tipping with six packs if that's your style. It's the suggestion on the menu that seems inappropriate to me.

On another forum I read, there was a recent discussion about a bill someone got on which 15%, 18%, and 20% tip amounts were handwritten at the bottom. The general consensus seemed to be that it's one thing for a restaurant to print those things on all bills and another for an individual server to write them onto an individual bill. Splitting hairs, you might say. It's a matter of opinion. I'm just saying I do agree about the chutzpah, as someone put it, of putting a request for what is essentially a tip for certain employees on the menu. Every December, my Tribune delivery person leaves me an unstamped self-addressed envelope I can use to send her Christmas tip to her. It never puts me in the Christmas spirit.

I agree with riddlemay: "No disagreement that it's a lovely gesture, Ron. Only making the point that asking for a lovely gesture undermines the whole concept of lovely gestures."

It's a suggestion. Like everything else on the menu.

payment is a suggestion?

Katie wrote:Ronnie, my dining experience is far, far more limited than yours, so I do respect your opinion on this. I'm just commenting on how it strikes me. Perhaps I should say, in what line of work do workers get to tell customers that they want them to bring them alcoholic beverages? (No line of work I've ever been in, which is making me reconsider some of my choices in life.) That's really what strikes me as odd. I'm all for generous tipping and tipping with six packs if that's your style. It's the suggestion on the menu that seems inappropriate to me.

On another forum I read, there was a recent discussion about a bill someone got on which 15%, 18%, and 20% tip amounts were handwritten at the bottom. The general consensus seemed to be that it's one thing for a restaurant to print those things on all bills and another for an individual server to write them onto an individual bill. Splitting hairs, you might say. It's a matter of opinion. I'm just saying I do agree about the chutzpah, as someone put it, of putting a request for what is essentially a tip for certain employees on the menu. Every December, my Tribune delivery person leaves me an unstamped self-addressed envelope I can use to send her Christmas tip to her. It never puts me in the Christmas spirit.

I agree with riddlemay: "No disagreement that it's a lovely gesture, Ron. Only making the point that asking for a lovely gesture undermines the whole concept of lovely gestures."

Katie, no reason to back off here, your original comment and follow up are spot on. While Ronny and others are welcome to do whatever they want ( unless it involve public nudity!) I think it's an odd practice, and an objectionable thing to find on a menu. The self addressed card for the paper delivery guy was never successful with me either.

To qualify for the thread subject, I've been to Brown Trout and found it fine. Also, am I the only guy who finds the name highly disturbing given its, possibly, more popular use in the lexicon of American slang?

Pursuit wrote:am I the only guy who finds the name highly disturbing given its, possibly, more popular use in the lexicon of American slang?

I didn't, because I never heard of it, until you mentioned it and I looked it up here.

Mrs Willie, my parents & I had dinner last night.

Highlights, the below 4 dishes will make us return
Shaved Butternut Squash - pickled squash, parmesan, candied walnuts, ginger apple ciderviniagrette, farmers cheese, pickled ramps
New England Mussel Chowder – creambased chowder w/Blue Hill Mussels, bacon, celery, thyme
Chicken Liver pate -
Freedom Ranger Fried Chicken – ¼ dark dinner w/mashed potatoes
Music on Sunday nights by a very good bluegrass/country 3 piece band (2 guitars, 1 bass)

The ok - we enjoyed but will choose other options on next visit
Hot Smoked Lake Trout - creme fraiche, rooftop dill, mustard aioli, ciabatta crostini, b & b pickles, lemon pudding, pea tendrils.
Maitake mushrooms - popcorn grits, one hour egg, pickled red onions, arugula, ginger soy glaze

The pass - gnocchi was very gummy and I'd rather just have a Banh Mi from Nuh Lan
Parisenne Gnocchi - Pumpkin puree, brown butter, parmesan cremae, carmelized cauliflower & broccoli, sahved orange & purple cauliflower, meyer lemon, slivered almonds
Banh Mi - tomato garlic meatballs, porchetta di testa, cilantro, daikon, rooftop peppers, pickled carrot, house egg roll, chili coriander aioli, frites, ketchup

Lots of families having dinner as kids eat free (5-7pm everyday) w/an adult purchasing an entree.

BYOB with a $25 corkage fee each bottle, no corkage fee for bottle vintages older than 10 years.

Sweet Willie wrote:BYOB with a $25 corkage fee each bottle, no corkage fee for bottle vintages older than 10 years.

So if you bring in a $15 bottle, corkage s$25 but if you bring in an expensive bottle it's free??? I don't think I've ever seen anything like that.

They have a full bar along with a decent (if I recall) wine list. I think it's nice they allow BYO and are clear about the charges.

boudreaulicious wrote:

Sweet Willie wrote:BYOB with a $25 corkage fee each bottle, no corkage fee for bottle vintages older than 10 years.

So if you bring in a $15 bottle, corkage s$25 but if you bring in an expensive bottle it's free??? I don't think I've ever seen anything like that.

That is odd. They must have a rationale. What do you suppose it is?

Is it that they're actively incentivizing the kind of customer who would bring in a 2004 or earlier vintage, since this kind of customer must be a high-rolling connoisseur? Or is it that they're deincentivizing BYOB because they'd rather sell from their own bar anything equivalent to what most people would likely bring in, but in the case of super-old vintages--which they acknowledge they can't supply an equivalent for--they'll make an exception? The first rationale seems a little snobby, but the second strikes me as defensible.