BYO...Food?

I was just over at This thread and I noticed that more than one person had brought their own seasonings or toppings into the restaurant with them to put into the food sold there and eaten there.

I'm just wonding what people's opinion on this is, and where is the line? Part of me thinks, "hey no problem, could be a good idea, chill out" and another says "that's kind of rude and if I had a restaurant and people did that it would bug me."

I tend to be a dining Libertarian so it doesn't bug me a lot, but I think it's more appropriate for a run-of-the-mill type of restaurant. Going to a place that's chef-driven I think the idea would be to taste it as it was intended to be eaten and bringing sriracha or some other condiment would be a really bad idea, even if you happen to like it on everything.

We used to go to a small local mom & pop diner and if we were going for biscuits and gravy we had a small pepper grinder that we brought with and used. The diner used the cheapest most tasteless pepper ever. The owner thought it amusing. I would never do that anywhere else, we were well know regulars and friends of the owner.

Makes me think of the hipster who brings his own ice in "S**t Bartenders Say"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EB2aVzmPxxM

I'm seriously not judging anybody who BYOF, but my feeling is that if your dissatisfaction with the food offerings at a restaurant is so great that you have to BYOF, you'd be happier at a different restaurant.

As a concrete hypothetical example (if that's not a contradiction in terms), if I like everything about a place except that the hot sauce on the table is not my favorite hot sauce, I will nevertheless use the restaurant's hot sauce. It's not going to kill me or offend my sensibilities to use my second-favorite hot sauce instead of my favorite. But other people's priorities may be different.

In the case of people with food allergies or dietary restrictions who are dragged to a place not of their own choosing, I see the point of BYOF completely.

It depends on what kind of restaurant it is. I would never do it at a fine dining restaurant but if it was a more informal place and I wanted to bring out some hot pepper flakes or hot sauce descreetly I do not have a real problem with it. I have never done it though.

I kept a bottle of Cholula at the Ramova before it's demise, and I keep one at Maria's Community Bar as well for whatever takeout I bring in. To the contrary of anyone minding, both establishments were thrilled to have a secret stash of the stuff. My regular status at both places could be a mitigating factor, but there's a time and a place for everything, I think it's just a matter of using your judgement.

MKL wrote:I was just over at This thread and I noticed that more than one person had brought their own seasonings or toppings into the restaurant with them to put into the food sold there and eaten there.

I'm just wonding what people's opinion on this is, and where is the line? Part of me thinks, "hey no problem, could be a good idea, chill out" and another says "that's kind of rude and if I had a restaurant and people did that it would bug me."

I will do it occasionally.

I will bring my own maple syrup in if I plan to order waffles or pancakes as I don't like the fake maple syrup.

I will bring in my Cajun Power Sauce into a restaurant if I plan to eat fried chicken or catfish.

If it offends someone, sorry.