Restaurants that make you feel Cooler

Some restaurants have a way of making you feel cooler than you usually do just because you've walked into the place and everyone else seems cool. But paradoxically, some other restaurants have a way of making you feel more like a geek than you usually do just because you've walked into the place and everyone else seems cool.

I've never been able to lay my finger on the difference that makes the first kind of place the place it is and the second kind of place the place it is. Both seem to have the same sorts of cool people in them. And I don't think it's a matter of friendliness/snootiness of greeting staff. It's something more mysterious than that. And it's fascinating to me. If it's fascinating to anyone else, I'd love to hear some theories.

Maybe how cool you feel is inversely proportional to how well-lit the place is. The darker it is, the less likely the others will be able to discern how geeky you really are.

I always laught at people who describe restaurants as "edgy". To me, it's complete silliness propogated by those who try to create an aura for a place that serves low quality food and/or has crappy service.

A good example of this, IMO, is Coobah which for years, marketed itself as "The Restaurant where the Chef is the former drummer for Veruca Salt" while consistemtly underwhelming me with the product from its kitchen.

What on earth does the man's former employment in the entertainment industry with my dining experieince? I Suppose I could get Keith Richards or Bono to work in my kitchen...Is that a guarantee that my food and service will be above par? Hardly. As a matter of fact, I wouldn't eat in any restaurant that claimed Richards was its chef.

IMO, restaurants are about food and service. If edgy or cool come subsequent to the mastery of those two things, then more power to the owner. More often than not, I think that "edgy" and "cool" simoply serve to deter the diners from the fact that the kitchen is putting out slop served by untrained actor and actress wannabes.

Truly cool places (and people) are hip without tryinig, and certainly without making others feel unhip.

I think places where one feels geeky are places where the majority of the people there are (not necessarily the establishment's fault) trying to be cool/hip/whatever. These geek-making places may also be where you've gone after much deliberation on coolness, and what to wear, and who to go with. One's belief in one's own inherant un-hip-ness, just caring about the state of hip, can influence the attitude of those around us. Like dogs, restaurant hosts can smell fear. You can never be cool if you want to be. You either are or you aren't.

There are subtle things, done deliberately, that can make anyone feel unworthy to enter the place that is trying to establish its coolness. Does the host look at you in the face, or do you get that fast flick of the eyes where s/he checks out your clothing - followed by a change in attitude you can't quite put your finger on. If a place has instilled a host who does such things, whether s/he blesses your entry or not, turn around and leave, the place is NOT cool, and like other such establishments will be gone soon enough.

Case in point: the previously discussed Volo is quite hip without being alienating - thanks in large part to the friendly, casual staff.
On the other hand, my visits to Japonaise and either W Hotel restaurant/bars left me feeling like the scrawny dork in 7th grade all over again.

Anyone who cares about the coolness or uncoolness of a restaurant might consider the final fate and destination of any food consumed there.

To my despair, I have yet to find a restaurant cool enough for me. I share the attitude of the buzzard we once saw in a Yountville alley, calmly picking through scraps from The French Laundry - food is food. And not for long.

Harry V. wrote:I share the attitude of the buzzard we once saw in a Yountville alley, calmly picking through scraps from The French Laundry - food is food. And not for long.

Harry, non-rhetorical, non-provocative question: if you feel that way, what possible interest could you have in a forum like LTH? Restaurants are all about food differences, and so much more. (The "so much more" is of at least equal interest to me, which is one motivation behind this particular thread.)

Why would anyone care about what other people eating seem like? Does the food taste bad to you if the other patrons strike you as uncool?

The food is good or it's not. The surroundings are comfortable to eat in, or they are not. The waitstaff makes sure you get what you want or it does not. The only feeling of coolness, or otherwise, a restaurant can impart to me is though its heating and air conditioning system.

LAZ wrote:Why would anyone care about what other people eating seem like? Does the food taste bad to you if the other patrons strike you as uncool?

The food is good or it's not. The surroundings are comfortable to eat in, or they are not. The waitstaff makes sure you get what you want or it does not. The only feeling of coolness, or otherwise, a restaurant can impart to me is though its heating and air conditioning system.

Well for me (since you asked) it's not so much a question of "caring," but "observing." You say you observe whether the temperature of the restaurant is cool or warm, so you're not opposed to observing stuff with your sense of touch. Noticing the other people in the restaurant is just another form of observation, using the senses of sight and sound. I'm not sure why you'd cut off those senses when entering a restaurant, when I'm sure you don't cut them off in any other environment.

Obviously, you, LAZ, do use your senses of smell and taste (so that's 3 out of 5), because you say the other thing besides room temperature that you care about is the food. But restaurants, for most of us, are about so much more than food and thermostats. There's the decor, the design, the ambience, the quality (not just promptness) of the service, the feeling you get from the staff, the music that's playing (or not), and on and on--including, yes, the other customers you see and hear around you. Restaurants being about more than food is why I visit LTH instead of a forum on recipes.

Ultimately, of course, all these sense-observations do translate into "caring," because that's what the mind does--attaches values, positive or negative, to the things our senses observe and the way these things make us feel.

But excessive self-consciousness can be painful, and I'd gladly trade mine away if I could, and more power to you if you lack this weakness.

I appreciate the observations and ideas that have been shared by other posters on this thread. The "bright light/dim light" variable suggested by tapler reminded of a story which I hadn't thought about when I started this thread, and haven't thought about for years. It was back when I was in my twenties, in the seventies, when "dressing up for dinner when you went to a nice restaurant" was what you did. The restaurant was elegant, small, and, unfortunately, brightly lit. Most of the patrons were somewhat older than me and my wife, very well-dressed and looking like they belonged, and I was feeling self-conscious. But I was glad I was wearing my jacket and tie, so that I could "pass" for one of them. And I thought, on balance, that I was doing a darned good job of "passing." As we were shown to our table, though, I had the uneasy sense that the patrons were looking at me with haughty bemusement, as if I didn't belong there; but I wrote that off to my typical self-consciousness and dismissed the feeling. It was only when I sat down that I realized that my fly was gaping wide open.

I've rarely found a restaurant where a high "scene" quotient has also had a high "good eatin'" quotient. There are a few, I suppose, in Chicago...Japonais might qualify I suppose. There are times when I want to get a little fancy and go to someplace more hip. I'm not terribly unhip myself, or at least I'd like to think so. Actually, at my age (25) I feel more welcome at the "hip" type places than at the suit and tie establishments who treat me like a 12 year old.

There's something to be said for ambiance, I feel, but when the ambiance is trying to cover up mediocrity in the kitchen, run away. So why do these places survive? Most people have horrible taste. Simple.

riddlemay wrote:Well for me (since you asked) it's not so much a question of "caring," but "observing." You say you observe whether the temperature of the restaurant is cool or warm, so you're not opposed to observing stuff with your sense of touch. Noticing the other people in the restaurant is just another form of observation, using the senses of sight and sound. I'm not sure why you'd cut off those senses when entering a restaurant, when I'm sure you don't cut them off in any other environment.

You began this thread talking about how your perception of other patrons in a restaurant made you feel about yourself. I said that strangers with whom I happen to share a restaurant have no impact on my self-image.

That doesn't mean I don't notice them, or that they don't affect me at all. If the diners near me are loud, for example, they affect the quality of my experience. When, at Naha, the women at the next table sang "Little Rabbit Foo Foo" through dinner, it definitely had an impact on my meal. But they cared no more about what I thought of them than I cared what they thought of me. (I thought the restaurant's managment should have cared, though, so I haven't been back.)

When do restaurants affect my self image? Here's one example:

Last night I had dinner at Tin Fish in Oakbrook Terrace. The main portion of the menu at this seafood house has a mix-and-match format. You choose your fish, its preparation and then the complements. Order straight across the line for the chef's recommendation or pick your own.

There are 188 possible combinations, so you could come up with some pretty odd mixtures. I don't think I'd care for blackened Lake Superior whitefish with brown-sugar glazed Asian greens and ginger soy hollandaise, for example. My husband took the chef's recommendation and had the greens and hollandaise with pepper-grilled yellowfin, which was very good.

I, however, went my own way with the Georges Bank scallops. Instead of choosing to have them sauteed with poached leeks and asparagus lemon butter sauce, as suggested, I had them crusted in cornmeal and served with tomatoes, peppers, onions and andouille sausage in pale ale gravy. This turned out to be remarkably delicious. So at meal's end, I felt very smart and pleased with myself, and with the restaurant, too.

Tin Fish
630/279-0808
17W512 22nd St., Oakbrook Terrace IL 60181
Also Tinley Park