The first secret menu lawsuit

http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/ ... 2094c.html

Because of being charged a buck for rice, this guy is going to set back the cause of getting authentic food by 20 years.

I an a bit wary of bringing this into the political realm but, if the resturant is charging people different prices for the same dish based on their ability to read on language or another, it is a pretty clear cut case of discrimination. Imagine if a hot dog stand or the like charged customers more if they could read english... Look at how many places have menues in English and Spanish.

On the other hand, it would suck if this prompted resturant owners to simply not offer "secret" menues to all commers. Thankfully this is in NY and should only be a blip on the radar here.

Yeah, I'm kind of in the same boat as Stagger. While I can't say the knowledge that some of the secret menus offer lower prices for the same dishes bothers me that much, it doesn't mean I think it's right or legal (not that my opinion on what's legal means anything). And I see the opposite of what you fear happening, Mike. Rather than destroying the usually more authentic secret menus, I think it more likely that this would force them out into the open. The demand for those dishes isn't going anywhere, and if anything it's growing. You're starting to see a lot of small ethnic places having great success by outing previously secret menus, and as fun as it is to have insider knowledge of the uber-authentic dishes, I think the time is ripe for them to start showing themselves publicly.

They're going to show the secret menus more publicly?

Representatives for the restaurant have denied the existence of two different in-store menus.

They're going to be more eager to share them with us non-Chinese?

"People have also complained that they didn't get service because they're not Asian," said Liu, the first Asian-American to serve in the City Council.

They're going to be more receptive to non-Chinese asking questions after this?

the Human Rights Commission could impose several punishments, including fining the restaurant

These restaurants could have 12 uber double-secret menus for all I care, but the fact that different prices are being charged for the same dish solely on the basis of the customer's ethnicity or nationality isn't cool. One could even say discriminatory (I'm not a lawyer so that's just speculation). To say that "this guy is going to set back the cause of getting authentic food by 20 years", is going a bit far.

jesteinf wrote:These restaurants could have 12 uber double-secret menus for all I care, but the fact that different prices are being charged for the same dish solely on the basis of the customer's ethnicity or nationality isn't cool.

Hate to tell you, but it has happened to me a number of times, especially in restaurants where they don't post prices.

It is discrimination.

Also known as doing something for your own people, which is a habit in immigrant communities that goes back to the beginning of time. It's discrimination in the same sense that providing jobs for 10 Chinese in your Chinese restaurant is discrimination, when you don't open the job to non-Chinese-- and, frankly, also only need about six people.

My point is, was it worth a buck off his rice for this guy to make Chinese restaurants in New York much more wary of non-Chinese? Much more likely to deny they serve anything beyond the Chi-Am standards? Much more likely to find a way to avoid serving non-Chinese entirely?

I'd have paid a buck more for rice to not screw this up for everybody, is what I'm saying.

Well, no, Mike, I'm not necessarily saying that's what will happen at THIS PARTICULAR restaurant, but they're already busted.

What I'm suggesting is that if you run the Chinese joint next door and you're doing the same thing, you can respond in two ways. Be even more careful around the white folks, as you suggest, or just split the difference in prices and bring the secret menu out in the open. Go the former route and you can still be sued if somebody overhears you. Go the latter route, and now you've just established yourself as a place where people can come for the real deal. Which makes more sense, especially with the ever-increasing popularity of non-Americanized cuisine?

And moreover, you agree that it's discrimination, but I hope by saying that it's always existed you're not trying to justify it. There's a long history of other types of discrimination in this country as well, but I doubt you'd feel so hands-off about a restaurant in some waspy neighborhood breaking out a pricier menu every time a minority rolled in the front door.

While we can certainly disagree on speculation as to how some kind of court ruling might have a ripple effect, and neither of us are personally offended by the practice of "home team discounts", I'm a little surprised you find it unreasonable that somebody feels something should be done about the fact that they're being charged more beacause of their race.

*Last sentence edited for clarity.

I guess what it boils down to is that I'm just not sure how much of a real impact this is going to have. I mean, if people seem to know that this sort of thing is going on, then can this guy be the first person to raise a stink? I'd be interested to hear if there are any actual precedents on this (really...not a lawyer, maybe just too many episodes of Law & Order).

I'm sorry, I'm helping this thread drift into verboten territory.

As for the parts that are okay to discuss here, sure, there's potential for this kind of thing to push authentic secret menus further underground. But while I may be overly optimistic, it seems to me that the simplest and far more prudent move, if you're worried about being sued, would be to simply start offering everything on a unified regular menu. Given the success that many places have had in doing so, I have to believe there are a lot more restaurants considering it... wouldn't this be just the nudge they needed to get the menu translated and put it out there?

Mike G wrote:It is discrimination.
My point is, was it worth a buck off his rice for this guy to make Chinese restaurants in New York much more wary of non-Chinese? Much more likely to deny they serve anything beyond the Chi-Am standards? Much more likely to find a way to avoid serving non-Chinese entirely?

I'd have paid a buck more for rice to not screw this up for everybody, is what I'm saying.

If he was not an insider how would he know that he was ruining anything for anybody?