Overheard in Chicagoland restaurants...

I'll start:

"We don't get out to very many Oriental restaurants. We had a Thai dish at another restaurant in a yellow sauce that was good. Do you have anything in yellow Thai sauce?"

-- two fifty-something women to 16-year old Taiwanese waiter, Joy Yee, Chinatown

Not in Chicago, but in the spirit of the thread... overheard by a friend, who insists they were deadly serious:

"There's no lime. There's no salt. So what makes it a margarita pizza?"

Dmnkly wrote:"There's no lime. There's no salt. So what makes it a margarita pizza?"

Ha! I would have just told them that the cheese is made out of tequila.

eatchicago wrote:

Dmnkly wrote:"There's no lime. There's no salt. So what makes it a margarita pizza?"

Ha! I would have just told them that the cheese is made out of tequila.

This brings up that the replies can be just as interesting to overhear as the questions. For instance, I'm dying to know what the waiter at Joy Yee said.

Well, at Joy Yee they probably do have something in yellow curry.

leek wrote:Well, at Joy Yee they probably do have something in yellow curry.

Which, in some way, vindicates the two fifty-something women.

(Just standing up for the rights of the oppressed ill-informed, since if anybody overhears me, I'll probably find myself on this thread someday. )

How about Mike G. asking if the falafel and baba ganoush at Al-bawadi were chips and salsa.

stevez wrote:How about Mike G. asking if the falafel and baba ganoush at Al-bawadi were chips and salsa.

On a related note, "I can't find nachos on the menu."
Overheard in a Cuban restaurant.

"This seared tuna is still pink in the middle!!! Are you trying to kill us??"

60 ish couple @ Philander's Oak Park. The man stood up and yelled this to the server across the room, for the entire place to hear.

seebee wrote:"This seared tuna is still pink in the middle!!! Are you trying to kill us??"

60 ish couple @ Philander's Oak Park. The man stood up and yelled this to the server across the room, for the entire place to hear.

LOL... When I was working at a sushi restaurant here in Chicago, I had a customer complain that her seared tuna is raw...

She proceeded to tell me to take it back to the kitchen and have them cook it more. I told her we couldn't do that and her reply? "Don't you guys have a microwave?"

And she spoke v-e-r-y s-l-o-w during the entire conversation, because "my people" don't speak "engrish" good...

When I worked for Convito Italiano we used to keep track of our favorites. Sadly, I've lost the running list. The only 2 I remember right now, both asked in absolute un-ironic and un-malicious earnestness:
1. Do you have any wine that isn't sour?
2. Do you carry "Dago red?"

And, of course, dozens of variations on demands for psychic powers which distill down to: "So, can you guarantee I'll like this wine?" Or, "We just got back from Italy and had this wonderful wine with a castle on the label. Do you have that?"

The subject: a frisee salad with lardons

The comment made to a friend of mine who is a server: "This salad is okay, but the fatty bacon--No!--I so don't think so!" (Add in your favorite insipid valley girl/clueless/trixie voice here.) I have always wondered if that woman ever found non-fatty bacon. (Sizzle Lean or similar?)

The second comes from my dear mother in response to the delivery of her dish. She ordered tilapia:

Mom: "Wow. Why would they serve a vegetarian dish with fish?"
Me: "Mom, you ordered tilapia. I heard you."
Mom: "But I thought tilapia was a type of root vegetable."
Me, inwardly: "sigh..."

One afternoon my husband and I were enjoying dim sum at Won Kow. We had just started digging into our favorite thing - sticky rice in a lotus leaf - when a woman stopped a our table on her way to the bathroom to ask what it was. When we informed her, she wrinkled her nose and said, "Well, it looks DISGUSTING!"

So of course we made fun of her as she walked away...and when she got back, we noticed she joined the table next to us, all of whom seemed kind of embarrassed for some reason

mrbarolo wrote:When I worked for Convito Italiano we used to keep track of our favorites. 2. Do you carry "Dago red?"

That's actually an odd (admittedly offensive) regionalism that many people of a certain Italian American background wouldn't consider off-color. In Western PA, the 'yinzers tend to call the house wine at any Italian establishment Dago red. That term is also a common enough synonym for homemade wine. The Italian-Americans of P'Burgh and surrounds are somewhat known for their humble garagiste efforts. Anyway, my mom and her many siblings, who grew up speaking whatever it is they speak in Caserta (Napoli), used to throw that term around without malice or irony all the time.

PS, it us. means this:

http://www.citrawines.com/home.html

mrbarolo wrote:2. Do you carry "Dago red?"

Everytime that I have heard that question, it was straight from the mouth of a 1st or 2nd generation Italian and when they are looking for a jug wine as opposed to a fine wine.

Years ago I was on a business trip in Colorado. Had a pretty decent expense account.

Went to a teppanyaki restaurant near the office. Not a place one usually goes by yourself, but I wanted something different. They seated me at a table, then shortly they seated a party of 6 senior citizens at the rest of the table. As I was sipping some tea, they asked "Do you served an American food here", and when the puzzled waiter said no, they all got up and left.

I ended up at a table by myself for the evening.

Another occasion where I wasn't present but my wife was. She was having a meal with a few other ladies, and a group of men sat at the table next to them. Turns out they were a manufacturer and several dealers that I regularly buy stuff from. The manufacturer was telling his dealers about a coming price cut, to react to expected market competition. For the next few months the dealers were having "crazy" sales, dumping inventory before the retail price on the merchandise dropped to what the wholesale price had been. But thanks to what she heard I passed on all the sales, and waited until the price cuts that followed.

And not a restaurant, but I was on a train one day, in a car wilt a lawyer on his cell phone. He was babbling non stop loud enough for everyone to hear, what I could only describe as privileged client communications. I really wish I had known who the client was, so I could have called them and told them how stupid their lawyer was.

j r,

If you are going to have a sensitive discussion in a restaurant, then it better be crowded and loud. You don't need people overhearing your conversation.

I was stuck in traffic on Lake Shore Drive, the attorney in the next car was having a screaming conversation with his windows open. Hardly discrete.

In a post church breakfast with Mom, Dad and their kids ranging from 14 to 3, I noticed a table of old ladies didn't talk much with their entertainment coming from overhearing our family's conversation. I decided to give them something to really cluck about. "Mom, Dad, isn't it about time you got married?" You should have seen those ladies wake up. My Mom still brings this up regularly claiming the old ladies looked at her like the whore of Babylon.

Regards,

Cathy2 wrote:In a post church breakfast with Mom, Dad and their kids ranging from 14 to 3, I noticed a table of old ladies didn't talk much with their entertainment coming from overhearing our family's conversation. I decided to give them something to really cluck about. "Mom, Dad, isn't it about time you got married?" You should have seen those ladies wake up. My Mom still brings this up regularly claiming the old ladies looked at her like the whore of Babylon.

Regards,

Funny Cathy2, when I was 8 or so my Mom, Dad and I took a trip east that included a stop to Niagra Falls, this would be mid-1950's. We stayed in a hotel that had a very nice restaurant (Dad had an expense account and always used it) It was the first time I ordered a whole steak for myself and the waiter asked if this was a special occasion. I told him we were on our honeymoon. We sure got lots of looks on that one. The next day we ate room service. They didn't trust me anymore!

Cathy2 wrote:j r,

If you are going to have a sensitive discussion in a restaurant, then it better be crowded and loud. You don't need people overhearing your conversation.

Never use last names! That's the golden rule of public discussions.

stevez wrote:

Cathy2 wrote:j r,

If you are going to have a sensitive discussion in a restaurant, then it better be crowded and loud. You don't need people overhearing your conversation.

Never use last names! That's the golden rule of public discussions.

It works only if you do not have a collection of first names people might recognize. In my other life, I had nicknames for people I was discussing that you really needed to know the details to figure out who it was. It began because I couldn't pronounce well their names, the habit remained because it allowed discussion without giving clues to strangers who was involved.

If there was a discussion of LTHforum folks, it would get complicated because if you don't otherwise know the person's name beyond a screen name, then you are nailed.

Regards,

"Do you have cheeseburger topping?"

Overheard at Burt's. Customer to Sharon.

Overheard while having dim-sum in Seattle Chinatown:

Table of young twenty/thirty-something Caucasian males at an adjacent table.

Table Guy: "What's that?" (pointing while standing up)
Cart Girl: "That's turnip cake." (lo bak go)

Table Guy: "Tuna cake!" (very loudly)
Cart Girl: "Turnip cake"
Table Guy: "Hey guys, want some tuna cake? Tuna cake sounds good. We'll have some tuna cake."
Table Guy:" "Hey, what's that?" (pointing...)

Never use last names! That's the golden rule of public discussions.

Funny you should mention that. I was at Katsu on Sunday (I might have posted about it eventually, but somebody else pretty much covered everything I had) and I overheard a table of folks in the film industry. Specifically, cinematographers. And no... leaving out last names did not conceal the identity of Laszlo and Vilmos whom they were talking about (or at least name-dropping).

j r wrote:And not a restaurant, but I was on a train one day, in a car wilt a lawyer on his cell phone. He was babbling non stop loud enough for everyone to hear, what I could only describe as privileged client communications. I really wish I had known who the client was, so I could have called them and told them how stupid their lawyer was.

Oh god. I rode Amtrak from NYC to White River Junction, Vt. A psychotherapist of some kind spent the whole trip talking loudly to his companion about things patients said in therapy. One of his patients had related a dream where s/he opened the refrigerator door to find what smelled rotten, and the therapist was in there. Dr. Loudmouth seemed to find this very amusing.

I feel like I hear a very wacky conversation every single time I go out in NYC. Much more so than here. In the Village, I listened to one woman tell someone, "The only problem with living in Manhattan is that you can't buy bread here." On questioning from her companions it emerged that she didn't mean good bread, she meant any bread at all. Someone pointed out a bakery visible through the window, and she still didn't change her mind.

I took someone to the Country Mansion in Dwight once. The place is beautiful, but at the time, the food just wasn't very good. Anyway, my guest asked for his pasta to be al dente. The server replied that they didn't have that kind of wine!

At Lao Sze Chaun:

tablelady: I don't see any Egg Foo Young on the menu..where is the Egg Foo Young?
waiter: we don't have that here
tablelady: but this is a chinese restaurant, and you don't have egg foo young?
waiter: ::silent::
tablelady: do you have general tso chicken?
waiter: we have governor chicken
tablelady: what's that
the waiter trying to describe and she can't understand him
tablelady: forget it, I will have the orange chicken thanks. And whatever this is on the table,. I didn't order this and its too spicy (refering to the spicy cabbage/veggie on every table)
waiter: removes dish and walks away with table order

tablelady: supposed to be whispering to her tablemate but loud enough for us to hear ::they don't serve dog here do they?::

CM2772 wrote:tablelady: supposed to be whispering to her tablemate but loud enough for us to hear ::they don't serve dog here do they?::

Apparently they serve swine.

riddlemay wrote:

CM2772 wrote:tablelady: supposed to be whispering to her tablemate but loud enough for us to hear ::they don't serve dog here do they?::

Apparently they serve swine.

And we wonder why these guys hesitate to serve us the good stuff.

Reminds me of that guy on Check, Please! last night regarding Ed's Potsticker House. Wanted to sock him in the nose right then and there.

Mhays wrote:Reminds me of that guy on Check, Please! last night regarding Ed's Potsticker House. Wanted to sock him in the nose right then and there.

For those who didn't see the segment: an idiot (who clearly cares more about decor and service than actual food) walks into Ed's for the first time, sees a spicy dish on the menu, asks them to alter it so that it is no longer spicy and then complains about the resulting dish.

=R=