Culinary Pet Peeves

[Darb]

Feel free to add your own to this list, in whatever order they occur to you.

This is strictly a stream of consciousness type thing.

1) STEMWARE: I really hate it when waiters wrap their sweaty palms around the drinking surface of wine glasses when carrying them to the tables of customers. I've trained more than a few people in wine service (I used to own a side business in private on-site bartending) and that one gets my goat every time. Stemware is supposed to be held by either the STEM, or the base ... not the bulb or the lip of the bulb !

2) BUFFET: I was raised by parents who grew up during the great depression, so I've been well trained in not wasting food. Accordingly, I really hate it when I go to a buffet, and I'll see some wasteful inconsiderate goomba shovel a massive portion onto their plate, get it back to their table, take 1 or 2 bites, decide they don't like it, and then abandon it for a massive portion of something else they havent had yet ... and the waitress dutifully lugs it away and dumps it in the trash.

3) FAUX WINE SNOBS: Speaking as an amateur winemaker, a former P/T wine steward and someone who's corked & uncorked thousands of bottles of wine over the years, I can spot a phoney "wine snob" a mile off. Case in point - It irks me when I see someone at an adjoining table, who hasn't the slightest clue what they're doing, perform a bogus "cork ritual" and/or improperly send back a bottle of wine for entirely wrong reasons. Just for posterity, let me give the uber-short version of how it should be done.

* THE CORK RITUAL: A properly trained waiter will bring the bottle to your table, display the label so that you can confirm that it's the wine you ordered, cut off the cap, and then remove the cork and hand it to you so that you can verify that (a) the cork is undamaged and (b) came from the bottle you ordered (proof against tampering - which has been known to happen with very expensive wines) ... nothing more. You can learn 95% of what you need to know just by looking at and pinching the cork. You only need to sniff it if there's signs of degredation or damage (which might be a telltale of a damaged bottle of wine) ... and that requires at least a passing familiarity of common wine problems that most lay people dont have (too much to go into here). I cant help but laugh everytime I see some noob conspicuously sniffing a brand new undamaged virgin cork from a very young bottle of wine ... hell, I've even seen noobs sniff those multi-colored plastic corks that are entirely immune to traditional cork problems (weeping, mold infection, etc.), as if doing so would somehow reveal the hidden mysteries of the universe.

* SENDING IT BACK: It's only proper to send back a vintage wine if the wine is damaged or otherwise not in good condition ... you cannot and should not send it back simply because you don't like a perfectly good and undamaged bottle of the wine you selected - you're the one who picked the wrong wine, and it's completely improper to punish the restaurant for your mistake.

[Darb]

4) FOOD PHOTOGRAPHERS: Who add things that don't appear in the recipes that they're photographing, or delete things that do belong, or who prepare the dish in ways that obviously were not in accord with the cook's instructions. Consequently, you have photos that bear only passing resembalences to the dishs they're supposed to document. Ditto for the cover art photos of cookbooks that include photos of dishes that don't appear anywhere within the cookbook in question.

Case in point: I once bought a Paul Prudhome book because it had, among other things, a photo of a whole roast sucking pig as the centerpiece on the cover. I wanted to learn the basics on doing something like that for a party I was considering. Yep, you guessed it - no such recipe in the book ... it was just there as a visual tease. I wrote to the publisher and basically tore the book's editor a new bodily orifice.

[Darb]

5) UNSANITARY SLOBS: It's easier to just tell the tale on this one, rather than try to explain it. A few years back, I wandered into a chinese buffet for lunch. First things first - I went to the rest room. There was a person who exited the rest room just before I did who didn't wash his hands. Strike one. Naturally, he headed straight to the self-serve buffet. Strike two. Pausing just long enough to sneeze into his palms (he appeared to have either cold or the flu), he promptly grabbed a plate and helped himself to a dozen or so dishes. Strike three. Talk about unsanitary and inconsiderate ! Ever since then, whenever I eat at a public self-serve buffet, I wash my hands before serving myself, I discreetly use a napkin to handle the serving spoons when serving myself, and I wash my hands again before leaving.

[KiltanneN]

5) UNSANITARY SLOBS: It's easier to just tell the tale on this one, rather than try to explain it. A few years back, I wandered into a chinese buffet for lunch. First things first - I went to the rest room. There was a person who exited the rest room just before I did who didn't wash his hands. Strike one. Naturally, he headed straight to the self-serve buffet. Strike two. Pausing just long enough to sneeze into his palms (he appeared to have either cold or the flu), he promptly grabbed a plate and helped himself to a dozen or so dishes. Strike three. Talk about unsanitary and inconsiderate ! Ever since then, whenever I eat at a public self-serve buffet, I wash my hands before serving myself, I discreetly use a napkin to handle the serving spoons when serving myself, and I wash my hands again before leaving.

There should be a special kind of hell for somebody like this!

It would make a good piece in the vollyball...

kilt

[Darb]

I think he was 2 pools of filth over from Sigmund Freud down in Dis. Feel free to search the VB2004 thread in TQ&F for the post in question. I know it's there, because I was the one who wrote it.

[Darb]

6) CATERERS WHO CANT SPEL GUD: In just the last two weeks alone, I can recall seeing the following spelling errors appear on menus and special boards. What's worse, is that in most cases, when I lightly teased them about it, my corrections were casually dismissed - they firmly believed their spelling was correct. Mind you, this list is limited to places where the native language is English ... dredging up even worse spellings in Chinese restaurants is easier than shooting live carp in a dining room aquarium.

* Chicken Pacatta (it's 'Piccata' you ninny, and it's not authentic Italian either ... it's Italian-American).
* Veal Marcella (it's 'Marsala', after the wine you're supposed to use, ya goomba. Marcella is a feminine first name).
* Orderves (nice try, oh phonetically challenged one, but it's "Hors D'oeuvres")
* Tappanade (try 'Tapenade')
* Brusketta (correct pronunciation, wrong spelling. It's 'Bruschetta')
* "in a Soy-Lime Marinate" (you marinate something when you soak it in a marinade, silly)
* Sauvinyon Blanc (it's Sauvignon Blanc)
etc.

[Echus Cthulhu Mythos]

There is a very funny Chinese Take-away down the road from my house. Every time it had "Nuts" in a meal eg. with Cashew Nuts, it was spelt "Unts". Very funny. There is another one further down called Beautifull Dinner. And one in a small town named Taihape, inside it said "Welcome To Restuarant." It made me laugh so I hard that I just HAD to take a photo of it.

[ArsExpat]

We ought to have an asian restaurant menu faux-pas thread. My entry would be "Squids in sordid sauce". Meanwhile....

Things at restaurants that drive me crazy:

Lunch division:

1) A distinct lack of ice in one's iced tea or icewater.

2) Someplace like a midscale chain taking forever to get orders and the food out... hey we have to go back to work sometime this afternoon!

3) Soup with nothing in it. Try stirring the pot before you dip out a bowl, nitwit.

4) Stale salad croutons. I know you make a bazillion salads up in the morning and throw them back in the cooler, but can you leave the croutons off until you serve it?

5) Would you like condiment xyz? Yes? Ok, I'll take ten minutes to bring it.

[Darb]

Good good ... keep em coming

7) INCOMPETENCE: I hate cooks who try to serve/sell dishes that they've obviously never bothered to learn how to make properly. For instance - I had a penne ala vodka today that had neither shallots sauteed in rendered pancetta, nor garlic, nor genuine romano cheese, nor vodka ... it tasted like it was just a pureed tomato sauce, probably straight from a can, with a splash of cream and a handful of kraft green-box "sawdust" cheese dumped in. A totally pathetic offering by some uncaring untrained back-room knuckle-dragger who's obviously only suited to a cafeteria slop-n-go, rather than a proper restaurant or caterer. I mean come on ... it's not a hard recipe to learn, even if you want to make a decent virginal (vodka-free) fake. Hell, I could make a better tasting fake by adding some bacon and a knob cream cheese. Authentic examples are inexpensive to make, so there's no excuse for cutting corners. Duh.

AFAIAC, paying to eat food by a cook who doesnt know a recipe is like paying to listen to a song sung by a singer who doesnt know the words. Without the words, they can't even improv around the theme effectively. Very unsatisfying.

[Darb]

8} ERRONEOUS and/or INCOMPLETE TECHNIQUES: Forget innocent errors and typos, because those are a dime a dozen. The thing that pisses me off are recipes that are just plain wrong by design, because the chef who wrote it just doesnt know any better ... and the recipe in question just limps along because it didn't fail miserably enough for the chef (or editor) to notice.

Examples:

* Baking recipes that use the wrong amount/type of leavening - clear evidence that the author is either clueless on proper technique, or that they just flat out stole the recipes as-is, without knowing enough to be able to correct it before including it as their own. I see recipes all the time that use 4-5x more baking soda than what the recipe needs or can effectively use, or which call for baking powder when they're clearly designed for baking soda (or vice versa). No excuse.

* Cooking charts that give "exact" cooking times, based purely on weight, without adequate regard to the shape of the meat and whether or not it's boneless (ex: pork loin roast**), and whether or not the STARTING TEMPERATURE is straight out of the fridge (32-38F) or something closer to room temp (50-60F) ... the latter gives vastly better and more professional results, but throws default cooking tables (designed for amateurs without thermometers) all to hell. For that matter, I hate chefs who are content to just list USDA recommended done-ness temps ... all of which are cover-your-ass type numbers which invariably result in meat that's overcooked by a minimum of 10F+ degrees. Real chefs will give BOTH temperatures, and explain WHY.

And then there's the whole matter of finesse and subtlety ... it never fails to amaze me to read rib recipes by supposedly 'star' chefs who fail to explain why ribs that are brined and slow roasted, with good moisture control, to a temperature that most cookbooks would tell you is badly overcooked are more tender and juicy than an identical rack of ribs that are just speed-grilled to the same temperature. The former are falling off the bone treats, and the latter are only chewable by your pet dog.

-----------------
** BONELESS PORK LOIN: This is a classic example of common cook book roasting-chart blunders, which invariably seem to assume that all roasts are perfectly spherical and that cooking times therefore should be in direct proportion to their weight. NOT. In this case, a boneless pork loin (not to be confused with a 'tenderloin', which is far tinier) is tubular piece of meat that's only about 4" in diamater, regardless of whether it's a 3 lb chunk, or a whole 7-9 lb roast ... the cooking time for both is THE SAME, because the diameter is roughly THE SAME. If you doubt me, think of it this way ... a strand of pasta cooks at the same rate, regardless of how long the strand is ... it's the thickness that matters, not the length or the weight. Case in point - I got invited to a relative's house for dinner once, I wandered into the kitched for a drink, and smelled overcooked pork. I opened the oven, scowled, briefly touched the roast with my finger to confirm, and found it was already badly overcooked (a thermometer confirmed it 190F) ... and dinner was still 90 minutes away. I alerted my host, who was surprised and let me pull it and tent it under some foil. We checked the book they used, and lo and behold was a chart for pork loin gradiated on weight ... that called for a roasting time of something like 3.5 hours (about 2x too long for the roast in question). It wasn't my friend's fault - it was the book's.

[NancyH]

My pet peeve is with the Outback restaurant in particular. Their menu claims "full flavored" food, but as far as i can tell this just means a lot of salt, cheese, bacon, garlic, and pepper on everything. They've completely covered up the taste of whatever meat or veggie is under all that stuff. IMO full flavoured should be done so you can taste the actual flavours (my best example is Thai soup, just an explosion of different flavours). Not that I was expecting a gourmet meal at this place, but they really ruin their food.

except for dessert. the Cinnamon Oblivion is fantastic and simple! a great blending of flavours and textures. Vanilla ice cream with hot Cinnamon Apple sauce and candied pecans. Some cocoa bread (?) croutons, one sliced strawberry and a dollop of whipped cream. mmmmmmmm!

[Aunflin]

Yeah, I know what you mean, Nancy. I hate it when places over-season their food--it just ruins it. The seasonings should accent the tast, not overpower it...

I typically don't get steaks when I eat out anymore...they either over-season it or don't cook it right. I can cook a steak better at home. But the other day, on a whim, I decided to order a steak because I was having a craving for some red meat. However, when I got the steak (I ordered it medium rare) the outside was entirely over-cooked (tough and gray over-topped by charred blackness) and the center was totally raw--no nice even pinkness. At first, I couldn't comprehend how the steak could've turned out like that...but then I finally realised they must have cooked the steak from a frozen state... It was really nasty. I couldn't even finish it, though I tried to force it down--like a fool. I likely won't be back to that place. If they can't even cook a steak right... /me shakes my head.

I'm trying to think of some more pet peeves, though Brad seems to have listed many of the same complaints I have...

[mrdude]

I too have experienced many problems with dinning in my time. So here are my Peves

1) Display how much things cost! This does seem like an odd thing but it has occured to me and, although I will take some credit for not actualy asking how much, I belive an establishment should do such. I once went to a favorite resturaunt of mine for a valentines day dinner. It was a several course meal all planned out for the occosion. The menu given to us simply gave us a few choices on each course, rather than the resturants normal menu. Obviously we were expecting something expensive, may 20 - 25 dollars for each of us. Sadly we were mistaken, the meal ended up being $90 for the two of us, that was not including a tip and we had water to drink. So yes, let people know before charging them an exorbadent price.

2) Fill my beverage up dang you! I happen to be a person that tends to drink a lot of water with my meal, so I hate it went I am given a nice 8 oz glass and then ignored for the rest of the night.

3) Were'd you go? Ok so this usually dosn't happen, but more comonly has occurred to more finer establisments such as denny's or Village in. The waiter/waitress simply abandons me after my food is brought. I can ask for nothing such as condiments they didn't bring, more water, a check after 10 mintues of being done and ready to leave. I literally once had to go pour myself more Iced-T at a dennys because the entire staff decided to vanish.

That is all I can think of at the moment. I know I have had other bad experiences at resturants, but those are the most common ones I run into.

[felonius]

I don't eat in restaurants often, but back home on weekends I would often hit greasy spoon type places for a late breakfast around 10 or 11.

My personal (rather unsophisticated) peeve is with small glasses. I love orange juice and I drink a lot of it, so when I order "a large glass of orange juice", that means I want the glass to at least as big as your typical beer glass. You should see some of the piddly "large" glasses that have been set before me in the past. Two gulps and it's gone. That ain't a glass, it's a knick knack. Give me a glass that holds EIGHT OR NINE OR EVEN TEN big gulps of juice - that's a large glass. And free refills - how come most of the time one only gets free refills with coffee and water?

[Darb]

FELON: I know EXACTLY what you mean. If you're lucky, honest places will give you an 8 oz "high ball" glass ...



However, there are plenty of stingier places what will try to placate you with a dinky little 4-6 oz version that doesnt hold an honest cup. The way around that is to tell the waitress exactly what size glass you want - be specific.

MRDUDE: Back when I was still actively involved with bartending & catering, I always reminded servers to frequently 'survey' their customers with their eyes, even if they were physically busy doing something else. I hate servers whose attention span suddenly vanishes as soon as they pick something up and have to carry it somewhere - they should be using that transit time to be monitoring their customers and planning their next task(s). And wherever they bring something to/from the kitchen, they should always bring something needed back to the floor/table ... no empty hands or empty trips.

[Darb]

9) BILLS WITH GRATUITY ALREADY INCLUDED: Talk about presumptuous ! Tipping should ALWAYS be the perogative of the customer, and should always go directly to the people who work hard to earn it ... not to the restaurant itself, who might choose to simply pocket it and only give a pittance back to the waiters. Anytime I encounter such a policy, I challenge the owner, then leave the minimum and state that I have no intent on returning until the policy changes. My policy regarding tips is that if service is bad, I leave a tip that's in direct proportion to how bad ... if it's sub-par, that's 10%, 5% if it's truly lazy/inept/negligent, and 0% (plus words with the maitre'd) if it's non-existant or horrendous. If service is average I'll leave 15-18% (roughly double the tax), if it's above average I'll leave 20-30%, and it's truly extra ordinary then the sky's the limit (50-100%, plus good words for the maitre'd, and a nice review with outfits like Zagats).

10) COLD CEREAL: I've had some varieties that taste like dried catfood ... like Kashi 7-grain. Hell, the stuff even looks like purina cat chow. Yuck.

[laurie]

Op.Cit. UNSANITARY PRACTICES
re: the glass/plastic shields above salad bars/buffets (I don't know their real name - I call 'em "sneeze guards"

These things should be lowered drastically in most restaurants. The only sneezers they protect the food from are NBA players - anyone of average height (or less, like kids) just spray the food. Disgusting!

Also, I don't like picking a plate from a stack next to the salad bar - your plate should be given to you at your table, and brought by you to the bar/buffet. More chance of it being clean - maybe........

[Darb]

9) (addendum to "Gratuity Already Included"):

Man arrested after leaving small tip

The Associated Press
September 13, 2004, 6:48 AM EDT

LAKE GEORGE, N.Y. -- A New York City man accused of leaving an inadequate tip at a restaurant was arrested, fingerprinted and photographed for a mug shot.

Humberto A. Taveras, 41, faces a misdemeanor charge of theft of services after he and his fellow diners argued with Soprano's Italian and American Grill managers over the legality of requiring an 18 percent tip for large parties.

"They chased us down like a bunch of criminals," Taveras said. "It killed our weekend."

Taveras and eight others had pizza at the restaurant Sunday night. He told the Glens Falls Post-Star they weren't completely satisfied with the food and left a tip of under 10 percent. Taveras said they also were not told of a mandatory 18 percent gratuity for parties of six or more and did not see notice of it on their menus.

Restaurant owner Joe Soprano said all the menus have the notice, and the waitress informed the group. He said he did not choose to pursue charges because of the money, but because Taveras' group was obnoxious.

"It's unfortunate it has come to this, but this guy was rude and abrasive. They practically threw food at us," Soprano said.

Taveras plans to fight the charge. He was issued an appearance ticket and was scheduled to appear in town court Thursday.

The arrest raises the issue of whether the gratuities that restaurants automatically tack on for serving large groups are legally enforceable debts.

Warren County Sheriff Larry Cleveland said he did not believe the issue had been litigated before in New York. He said the case could turn on whether the person is notified of the tip requirement beforehand.

"It's not a black-and-white issue," Cleveland said. "It will be very interesting to see where it goes in court."

I cant WAIT to see that stricken from the books - I've always despised mandatory gratuities.

[Darb]

10) LAZY CHEFS/BUTCHERS: I hate lazy chefs who do sloppy work ... such as not cleaning the bitters out of bell peppers, not cleaning their squid properly, failing to remove pin-bones from salmon fillets before cooking them, butchers who cheat you by failing to trim off huge chunks of fat off a steak and simply tucking it underneath where you cant see it (supermarket meat aisle) - and have to re-do their work, etc. The list is endless.

11) CANNED MUZAK: I hate restaurants who have only 1 music tape, which they loop endlessly, over and over again, for months on end. I have a chinese buffet near where I work, where I eat lunch on average 2x per week, that does that. After an entire summer of the same music, I finally got fed up today, and told them that if they dont change their music, then the next time I go there I'll turn around and leave the second I walk in the door.

[mrdude]

Now that's I have had some good experience forking int the food service i shall reveal some pet peeves that I have on my many customers.

1) My biggest pet peeve is actually quite specific. I work at a coffee shop as many of you know and so many a time people come up and attempt to order a starbucks drink from us despite the fact that we are not, in any way, affiliated with those spawns of hell. I can get over them asking for a "grande"or "tall" cup of coffee (eventhough we kindly display all three of our sises, small medium and large directly in front of them) but when they ask for a Carmel Macciato or a Frapachino I get a little less happy. So pay attention to where you are people, those drinks are not only copyrighted by starbucks, but are made up words really. There are drinks known as macciattos but they are in no way equivalent to starbucks concentrate gloop. Other starbuckian terms are Mistos,or the classic I would like a "lite" they made that up folks, if you show up at other places it sounds like your asking for a "monkey with extra syrup on top"! Ok that's enough of that rant.

2) Listen to what I say people! I find that a large majority of my customers ask question where either they must know the answer and just want to make sure I do too, or otherwise they really just don't care but decided to ask me anyway. When a costumer comes up to me and asks "where are the restrooms?" I find it odd that they will turn away before i manage to tell them.I usually get out "they are directly b....." and by that time they are headed in the wrong direction. This troubles me. Another instance when this occurs is after I make a drink and call it out. Say you ordered a Late and you had been standing in a line with 10 other people, would it seem logical to pick up the drink that the kind employee just told you was a mocha? I think not. I have had to re-make more drinks because someone didn't listen and took the wrong one than from me actually screwing one up, and I will tell you honestly I am not perfect. Listen for the love of Pete people!

3) READ! The coffee shop I work in is in the middle of one of the biggest independent book shops in America and the customers that come up with a copy of war and peace in their hands cannot read any signs. We have a sign telling them kindly where to form a line so we can best serve them, they completely ignore this. We have labels on every pastry item and they still point to them and ask what they are. We even have a sign asking them to refrain from dumping their coffee in a false drain in our water dispenser, it overflows daily.

4) Stupid questions. I don't like them, I once thought that there was no stupid questions but people can really rise to the occasion. Things like "What is in the chocolate Croissants?" or "Where are the fiction books?" re not only stupid but it is extremely hard for one to answer these without making them sound stupid. "Why sir the chocolate croissant is filled with chocolate". Do you realise how broad a term fiction is really? more than half the books in our store are fiction. There one that gets us laughing the most is the question , usually only asked once a month. See we have a four star restaurant in the store called "the fourth story restaurant" and there is always someone who asks us, quite seriously, what floor its on. Indeed.

5) Remember I am a human. Please don't throw your money at me, wad up the credit car recite you just signed and toss at me, or come up and ask for a small or simply hold out two fingers identifying your order. Don't talk on the phone while ordering your drink, or wad up all the sugar packets you used and throw in in your undrunken coffee. Be nice please.

6) Know what your ordering. Please stop getting mad at me when you order one a drink and then don't get what you expected. If you ask me. I don't view stupid questions to be "what exactly is a cappuccino" but I do get annoyed when you tell me you would like it without any foam and to be 1/3 drip coffee. Don't you want to know what your consuming?

That's it for now, it feels good to vent.

[mrdude]

I cant WAIT to see that stricken from the books - I've always despised mandatory gratuities.

Ditto. And I even depend on my tips for part of my income. I make only $6.00 and hour so without tips, which count to a measly $1.50 an hour on average, I would be hard pressed for cash, as it is I am on a verry limited budget. Still I would be upset if tips were manditory, prices of food, particulary at resturants, are so exorbidant already, adding 20% more to the check just to help out where employers refuse to is becoming outragous. Also at one point in time, even within my lifetime, 10% was not a bad tip, now it is frowned upon. I hope the resturant losses, tecnically a tip should not be required at all, it's not even like they left without paying one! That inffuriates me!

[ChoChiyo]

This is what bugs me. I haven't worked in a restaurant since I was about 17 years old, which was quite some time ago, you young whippersnappers.

However, I remember very well what it was like to serve people who were impossible to please.

I hate going to a restaurant and hearing people bitch about food or service that there is nothing wrong with, simply so they can get something free or at a reduced price. I have two "acquaintances," I won't call them friends, although we have been in social situations numerous times, who bitch every single time we go out. I'm sorry, but there just can't be something wrong with your food EVERY TIME. They are rude to the waiter/waitress, and then get huffy if the waiter/waitress isn't 150% sweetness and light to them--after they've abused the poor soul!

It's not that I've never sent something back, I have--but rarely, and for legitimate and obvious reasons, like the time my lettuce leaf "bowl" was crusted with dirt, or the rare steak I ordered was....uh...mostly charcoal or when I asked for no pepper and the fish was black with it.

But my god! These two women are beyond belief. After bitching at the waitperson, the manager, and half the customers seated around us, they write letters to the restaurant in hopes of getting something ELSE! The sad thing is that they often DO get coupons or certificates for something free. Sigh.

I now regularly ask if these two shrews are going to be there when my little group goes out on the town. If they are, I politely decline the invitation. (Being the silly human unit I am, I always feel compelled to make it up t o the poor waitperson by giving them extra tip money and a whispered, "DOn't mind them, they're butt munches." )

I comfort myself with the thought that MY food is never spit upon, while those two probably eat a gallon or two a month.

[Edge]

My worst experience: ordering soup, then watching the person bringing it to me carry the bowl in their hand... with their thumb in the soup!

[Darb]

10) LAZY CHEFS/BUTCHERS: I hate lazy chefs who do sloppy work ... such as not cleaning the bitters out of bell & jalepeno peppers, not cleaning their squid properly, failing to remove pin-bones from salmon fillets before cooking them, butchers who cheat you by failing to trim off huge chunks of fat off a steak and simply tucking it underneath where you cant see it (supermarket meat aisle) - and have to re-do their work, etc. The list is endless.

This one popped up again today ... I got to my office with a nice big bowl of calamari marinara from the cafeteria, and the very first bite netted me a 2" long piece of chitin, because the chef didn't clean (or even chop) the squid before tossing them in the sauce.

That's the one big negative of this hobby - 90% of the time you're eating (and paying for) food that's vastly inferiour to what you can make yourself ... if you only had the time to do it.

The older I get, the more I realize that TIME is the ultimate luxury item.

[tollbaby]

yick! Brad, you've got to come up here at some point... there's a little pub called Grace O'Malley's (there are 2 of them actually, one in the east end, one in the west end). The one in the East end does the most INCREDIBLE extra crispy calamari... a HUGE plate of it.... and it's just cooked SO nicely - not rubbery at all, nice and tender and... *drool* damn.. I have the kids tonight. I SO feel like going out for calamari tonight now...