Restaurant Week in Center City
I won’t claim to be the most well mannered person on the planet but I know which fork to use with fish. I know to put the butter on the bread plate and I also know how to position my flatware so the waiter knows to take it.
Now when I’m at Bennigan’s these rule hardly apply but at the Ritz Carlton you gotta step it up a little you know?
So the Mrs. Hotviti and I trekked our way up to the City for lovely night out. If you didn’t know it’s Restaurant week in Center City Philly, presented by Benz. There are about 40 or so 3 and 4 star places reducing their prices to attract customers and get them to stray away from the typical chains. The restaurants have an abridged 3 course menu for $30. A majority of the restaurants typically serve $25 to +$50 entrees. You are still going to drop about $90 to $120 but it is less than you would normally spend if you had a similar menu.
More or less it is a chance for the po’folk to eat at the fancy-schmancy places and have them laugh open their arms to those that wouldn’t normally dine in ther fine establishment.
The Mrs. and I dined at The Grill in the Ritz Carlton. It is funny to watch some of the people that dine at these events. Last year we dined at La Famaglia in Old City It was nice ,in fact it was awesome. It wasn’t so nice to see the people come in jeans and yuck it up, but what can you do…
Anywhooooo, last night while dining it was funny to watch a distinct group of four dine. I think certain rules apply to you no matter where you eat, but to watch it unfold at one of these places is doubley fun. I can only imagine how that staff regrets looks forward to working during Restaurant week.
So I guess in the end I just have a few tips for you to consider applying while you dine out, be it Mcdonald’s, Friday’s or the Ritz:
1. Don’t order food while talking on your cell phone
2. Don’t order food with your mouth full of bread
3. Act like you’ve been there before. It’s the Touchdown rule.
4. Dress Nicely, it isn’t church but maybe act like you care and they aren’t doing you a favor
5. Don’t pick your teeth during dinner
6. Don’t slurp your soup
7. Only cut enough food to eat, don’t slice up all the food on your plate like you are a 5 year old eating vienna sausages. It cools the food off for one. Also depending on the food it can really ruin it.
and my favorite rule of all
Try something new! Live a little!
That’s it. Off to Pompeii tonight. change of plans found another place Ristorante La Buca
Tags: Donviti
Great rules to live by. This restaurant week sounds awesome. I’ll have to try it out sometime.
BTW – I hate it when doofuses can’t get their shit together enough to find a collared shirt in the closet.
They have it a few times a year.
Wilmington tries to pull it off but they can’t hold a candle to Philly
Two of the very few things I miss about working in Philly: the choices of restaurants and the ease to turn a corner and get a pop. I better clarify that, several years ago, when it applied to me, that meant turning the corner and going into an establishment for a quick brew. In today’s Philaraq terms, it means getting shot for turning the corner.
It wasn’t Center City, but when I felt an urge to pay extra for lunch, I used to stroll down to South St and eat at MontSerrat (their way of spelling, not mine), now defunct. While down there, if I changed my mind, I would instead stroll into Tatoo Moms and share a $2 pitcher of Pabst Blue Ribbon with a co-worker. Good thing I wasn’t in manufacturing!!! I forgot the name, but there is another bar/pub associated with Tatoo Moms, but at 2nd & Church (one block north of Market – Olde City). $2 Pabst pitchers there, too. Not that I am a big fan of Pabst, but $2? C’mon!
Anyway, I read, I think on Philly.com, that there is a big push to sell Foie Gras in Philly. Pretty much a last-ditch effort to stave of an attempt to ban it from the city, based on the methods of fattening the goose/duck liver. Not for me, anyway, but did you see or get any of that?
Did the Ritz offer $2 Pabst pitchers? Probably not…posers.
Follow up…I think the other “Moms” at 2nd & Church is Sugar Moms, but not positive.
$2 Pabst pitchers, baby!
I love foie gras. It sucks they have to nail their feet to a board and force feed them with a galvanized pipe, but hey, other people eat veal. On the plus side, by the time your eating the liver or the veal, they’re already dead.
no PBR, but they had Schlitz in a caraffe (sp?)