I think he asked for the dish to be prepared "not so spicy," or "not VERY spicy."

One of the dumbest things I've ever heard someone say with a straight face on that show. So, in his brain, he actually thought that a server was supposed to somehow get inside his brain, and know what he thinks is "not so spicy?" I'm sure that the server laughed as they explained the order to the cook who also laughed. "One of those people" I bet they said.

And from what I gathered from him on that show, it looks like they were exactly right.

While at Spiaggia tonight I heard " Obama went to Table 52 on elm instead of coming here tonight " as CNN and local news stations were perched outside the doors of Spiaggia thinking he may come back again.

seebee wrote:I think he asked for the dish to be prepared "not so spicy," or "not VERY spicy."

One of the dumbest things I've ever heard someone say with a straight face on that show. So, in his brain, he actually thought that a server was supposed to somehow get inside his brain, and know what he thinks is "not so spicy?" I'm sure that the server laughed as they explained the order to the cook who also laughed. "One of those people" I bet they said.

And from what I gathered from him on that show, it looks like they were exactly right.

Oh my god. I wanted to slap that guy silly. If they had a shot out the window they could have showed the grass growing while he talked. Self-important much?

HI,

When a cuisine tends toward capsaicin heat, it is not always easy to explain what level you can tolerate.

My Mom and I once ordered bhel puri at medium heat. I thought it would arrive to the table something with a little tingle. What we received was over my threshold, however I felt committed to eat it. The staff couldn't tolerate watching us eat and offered to make a switch. Note, we did not even ask for the dish to be altered, we were willing to soldier on. They brought another plate that was much milder. The owner came over to advise next time we should order our bhel puri "sweet."

I didn't watch the Ed's Potsticker episide. If you were consulting with that guy knowing his capsaicin tolerance was lower than yours, how would you advise he order this dish?

Regards,

Overhead many years ago in a Michelin-recommended bistro with a ton of chalkboard specialties, deep in Burgundy. A busload of German tourists pulls up and fills a table next to us:

Tour guide to waitress: Haben Sie steak frites?
Waitress: Oui
Tour guide: Also, steak frites!
Waitress: Et vous?
Tourist: Steak frites!
Waitress: Et vous?
Tourist: Steak frites!
Waitress: Et vous?
Tourist: Steak frites!
Waitress: Et vous?
Tourist: Steak frites!

und so weiter . . .

Cathy2 wrote:If you were consulting with that guy knowing his capsaicin tolerance was lower than yours, how would you advise he order this dish?

I like stuff VERY hot. Particularly in Chinese / Thai restaurants, I usually tell the waiter / waitress to ask the chef to make it "the way they would eat it" rather than the default "toned down for American tastes". And I usually ask for the little jar of hot chili oil. Every now and then, they actually make it hot enough for my tastes, and I don't need to add more.

I'm still looking for some sort of keychain hot sauce holder (suggestions welcome). I already carry one of those little metal capsules with my standard medications, but wouldn't put anything as reactive as hot sauce into bare aluminum.

I typically have one of the tiny Tabasco bottles in my briefcase for emergencies.

Cathy2 wrote:I didn't watch the Ed's Potsticker episide. If you were consulting with that guy knowing his capsaicin tolerance was lower than yours, how would you advise he order this dish?

I'd advise him to order something else entirely, like one of the many items on the menu that are not spicy.

In this case, I just felt that he was out of line criticizing the place for this occurence. Order it the way the house intended and if you don't like it, fine. Otherwise, it's not really fair to criticize the restaurant. This is doubly true if you know you're going to be on Check, Please!. The diner mentioned that he'd waited tables in the past, so you'd think he'd have at least a clue about how restaurants work. BTW, he also thought the potstickers at Ed's were bland. So apparently, for this particular diner, there's a very narrow window of satisfaction.

=R=

ronnie_suburban wrote:

Cathy2 wrote:I didn't watch the Ed's Potsticker episide. If you were consulting with that guy knowing his capsaicin tolerance was lower than yours, how would you advise he order this dish?

I'd advise him to order something else entirely, like one of the many items on the menu that are not spicy.

In this case, I just felt that he was out of line criticizing the place for this occurence. Order it the way the house intended and if you don't like it, fine. Otherwise, it's not really fair to criticize the restaurant. This is doubly true if you know you're going to be on Check, Please!. The diner mentioned that he'd waited tables in the past, so you'd think he'd have at least a clue about how restaurants work. BTW, he also thought the potstickers at Ed's were bland. So apparently, for this particular diner, there's a very narrow window of satisfaction.

=R=

This diner didn't even have the most rudimentary idea of what eating in a Mom-and-Pop joint is about; he complained about the wait time, the decor, the foods, and closed out his review of the restaurant by saying "I think it's probably closer to what people eat in China than what people order in restaurants here in the States."

As Ronnie pointed out, if you're asking for a dish to be made differently than stated, then it's on you if you don't like it.

Speaking of Check Please, I saw another episode recently where a diner noted with surprise that a restaurant served olives with pits! The way he announced it, I think he expected everyone else to find this as perplexing has he did.

ronnie_suburban wrote:

Cathy2 wrote:I didn't watch the Ed's Potsticker episide. If you were consulting with that guy knowing his capsaicin tolerance was lower than yours, how would you advise he order this dish?

I'd advise him to order something else entirely, like one of the many items on the menu that are not spicy.

In this case, I just felt that he was out of line criticizing the place for this occurence. Order it the way the house intended and if you don't like it, fine. Otherwise, it's not really fair to criticize the restaurant. This is doubly true if you know you're going to be on Check, Please!. The diner mentioned that he'd waited tables in the past, so you'd think he'd have at least a clue about how restaurants work. BTW, he also thought the potstickers at Ed's were bland. So apparently, for this particular diner, there's a very narrow window of satisfaction.

=R=

Bingo. I would have advised him to order sweet&sour chicken, and be done with it.

In a more humorous fashion, however, for those who watched the show:
I would have told him to go to his italian place, and asked THEM to prepare the Chinese dish he wanted. I'm sure they would have gotten it just right for him. And then they would have served it with a big fake smile and asked him how his day was as if they truly cared.

bibi rose wrote:Self-important much?

LOL!!!

To be fair-- though I watched this episode and agree the guy hardly deserves it-- the potstickers at Ed's are kind of boring, and I can see how it would be a hard restaurant to find the good stuff at (as the other person on the show noted, that she wished she'd had more guidance). Ed's is definitely one where it helps to have read a few LTHForum posts first.

Mike G wrote:To be fair-- though I watched this episode and agree the guy hardly deserves it-- the potstickers at Ed's are kind of boring, and I can see how it would be a hard restaurant to find the good stuff at (as the other person on the show noted, that she wished she'd had more guidance). Ed's is definitely one where it helps to have read a few LTHForum posts first.

I don't know. Asking a place to alter the way they ordinarily make a dish can be a recipe for disaster (pun intended ). Sure, some places can do it successfully but the odds are against it.

And yes, stopping here first is almost always a plus. In fact, I'd say LTHForum renders Check, Please! pretty much useless.

=R=

I haven't seen the episode in question, but we all have occasion to ask for substitutions at some point. If we take him at his word that the resulting dish wasn't very good, isn't it a useful data point to know about?

ronnie suburban wrote:I don't know. Asking a place to alter the way they ordinarily make a dish can be a recipe for disaster (pun intended ). Sure, some places can do it successfully but the odds are against it.

There are examples all over the website of how people get food made to their order and not how the restaurant might otherwise make it. One would certainly be Little Three Happiness under Gary's ordering direction has lots of specific nuances differing the experience from someone ordering off the menu. All the chiliheads asking for amped up food is getting stuff made for them and not the usual restaurant recipe. Yet, when someone wants a milder version that is not as easy to convey as "Make it so hot I will sweat like a rain forest," they are directed to order something else.

I am sometimes the person asking for the less amped version. It is not always an easy concept to communicate.

Regards,

I agree, communicating how to reduce the heat level is difficult - maybe if we knew how the heat in these dishes is added, we'd have a starting point. But if you ordered something less spicy, you wouldn't then call out the restaurant for making it too bland - in much the same way that you wouldn't complain if you ordered something "authentic" like duck tongues, and then didn't like it. If it wasn't your taste, so be it - but if you asked for something and they changed to accomodate you, it's not fair to blame the restaurant.

A lot of ethnic restaurants are difficult to navigate if you're a neophyte, and certainly Ed's has its quirks - but I thought the other woman's response was much more respectful and appropriate. FWIW, the entire exchange is online here.

Darren72 wrote:I haven't seen the episode in question, but we all have occasion to ask for substitutions at some point. If we take him at his word that the resulting dish wasn't very good, isn't it a useful data point to know about?

I personally don't think so but that was just my feeling after seeing this particular person/episode.

=R=

Cathy2 wrote:

ronnie suburban wrote:I don't know. Asking a place to alter the way they ordinarily make a dish can be a recipe for disaster (pun intended ). Sure, some places can do it successfully but the odds are against it.

There are examples all over the website of how people get food made to their order and not how the restaurant might otherwise make it. One would certainly be Little Three Happiness under Gary's ordering direction has lots of specific nuances differing the experience from someone ordering off the menu. All the chiliheads asking for amped up food is getting stuff made for them and not the usual restaurant recipe. Yet, when someone wants a milder version that is not as easy to convey as "Make it so hot I will sweat like a rain forest," they are directed to order something else.

I am sometimes the person asking for the less amped version. It is not always an easy concept to communicate.

Regards,

Well, special ordering at a place where you already have some history (or where you know the history) is completely different.

As for wanting something less hot, if the essence of the dish is heat, then yes, I would advise to order something else rather than change the essence of the dish -- at least if you want an accurate representation of it and the restaurant.

I personally don't care how someone orders a dish. My irritation here is specifically a result of the combination of special ordering a dish and then criticizing the restaurant on television for its shortcomings.

As Darren posted above, this sequence may be a useful data point for some readers here. For me, it wasn't. And the telltale criticism from the diner in question about the food at Ed's probably being more similar to actual Chinese food than typical Chinese food served here is what pretty much sealed the deal for me. If a guy's scared of what he perceives as authenticity, his opinion is basically useless to me. I'll bet he'd love P.F Changs, though.

=R=

ronnie_suburban wrote:
I personally don't care how someone orders a dish. My irritation here is specifically a result of the combination of special ordering a dish and then criticizing the restaurant on television for its shortcomings.

what's the difference between here and television? most of y'all got some foodie expertise, and some have some restaurant expertise, but y'all got opinions.
very few folks are professional critics, and even fewer are good at it.
there's a reason for that.

dk wrote:what's the difference between here and television?

People on here actually know what they're talking about

dk wrote:

ronnie_suburban wrote:
I personally don't care how someone orders a dish. My irritation here is specifically a result of the combination of special ordering a dish and then criticizing the restaurant on television for its shortcomings.

what's the difference between here and television? most of y'all got some foodie expertise, and some have some restaurant expertise, but y'all got opinions.
very few folks are professional critics, and even fewer are good at it.
there's a reason for that.

LOL! No difference, I suppose. I should have said "broadcast" because that's really what it's about -- he put his opinion out there in a public forum. And in the guy's defense, he was very up-front about the fact that he asked them to change the dish. I just wish he'd also conceded/realized that doing so may have had an effect on the resulting dish. I guess most viewers will factor that in.

=R=

The dish he ordered was "szechuan shrimp with shell"
The menu has an asterisk to denote the dish is "hot and spicy"

He also complained about the fact that he had to work really hard to eat them (because of the shell.)
I had a thought though. I wonder if the guy is a normal person, nicest guy in the world, loves all kinds of foods etc...
but the show's editors just decided to have some fun, and make him look like a total fool. It seems unlikely, just by judging the way he presented himself while speaking, but, maybe...

I dunno, if you go to a Chinese place, and if a dish has ONE asterisk denoting "hot and spicy" yet you are still kind of hesitant because it might be too hot, well, I think chile might not be for you. I always say if you have to ask someone how hot something is, it probably isn't for you. I've seen ppl bite into a poblano and cringe in pain. Tabasco sauce is not even hot in my book - it's just red vinegar. It's warm, but hot? No way. I'm not saying I'm some kind of hot food superman, that's not my point at all. My point is that ppl have varying heat tolerances. Most ppl I know are well aware of the fact that if you see something labeled "szechuan" on a chinese menu, it will have a few broken pieces of dried hot chile, and ground szechuan peppercorns. The dish will probably have a hint of heat, but more than likely be dumbed down. The cook has probably seen an order like this hundreds of times from some moron who had a drop of hot sauce on their eggs, and has now declared themself a "heat lover," yet they have to send the dish back because they put one of the four pieces of broken chile in their mouth and it sizzled them senseless. I'll bet it happens all the time. I notice that Indian restaurants will dumb down their offerings for non Indian ppl without even asking. I'd bet this is because of how many times they have gotten return requests because the food is too hot.

Why do you go to a joint, and ask for a spicy, shell on shrimp dish, when you don't like spicy food, and you don't like removing the shells?

I'm guessing he'd much rather go to a governemnt controlled Chinese restaurant where the scoville units are monitored very closely, and the shrimp shells have been removed. Or, maybe, he'd much more enjoy campbell's tomato and a grilled cheese sandwich in mommy's kitchen.

If you didn't see the show, well, he just kinda made me go - Wow. How did they get him untangled from the apron strings long enough to film this? Made my skin crawl. No doubt he was either an only child, or the youngest by a wide margin.

seebee wrote:No doubt he was either an only child, or the youngest by a wide margin.

Hey, I'm an only child, and I like spicy shrimp with the shells still on!

I will admit, Sparky (my only) doesn't like spicy...but the last time we were at LTH, he ate the heads off his shrimp and put the rest of the body back on the plate. I also wonder about the editing on this segment - but that episode made me really glad to be here on LTH, let me tell you. FWIW, the saving grace for me was that the young woman who picked Ed's was about as gracious as a person could be.

jesteinf wrote:Hey, I'm an only child, and I like spicy shrimp with the shells still on!

Thank you for validating leaving the shells on. In a dish where the shrimp-with-shells are in a delicious sauce (like the "barbecue shrimp" I had at Mosca's and Pascal Manale's in Louisiana), it seems to me that I am obviating the whole reason for the sauce by removing the shell. And yet I have wondered, "Can this really be the way I'm supposed to eat these?" I won't wonder anymore.

One thing about that guy-- I thought his comments were absurd, and the way he ordered was self-defeating. But he didn't represent the restaurant unfairly in the end. He made his own prejudices crystal clear. The sum of everyone's comments made it clear that you need to approach the menu thoughtfully. And, probably there are a good number of diners who are more or less like him who would be well advised to stick to PF Chang's.

I get much more frustrated with participants who just indicate that they don't like the food but can't explain why, so you have no idea if their input is useful.