rant: fine dining

[letsgocards89]

What's next people? Box wine??

Haha, guilty!

Love me some boxed wine.

Those Bota Boxes ain't bad.

[thrill]

This'll treat you right.

[Secret Weapon]

Canned wine is where it's at

[33anda3rd]

How do the same vodkas win tasting competitions year after year if there are no differences? I assume those are blind taste tests?

The better question, IMO, is why doesn't the same vodka win all the tasting competitions?

The World Beverage Competition, which I'd never heard of til I started googling this stuff this morning, says Beattie's Farm Crafted Vodka is best. They rate Smirnoff 3rd. Smirnoff, which costs $17.75 for a 1.75L, and which is a very cheap product.

The San Francisco Spirits Award for best vodka went to Neft, from Austria.

The Wine and Spirits Wholesalers of America deemed Xellent vodka, from Switzerland, best in show.

The World Vodka Awards named Hartshorn--unfiltered and made from sheep whey!!!--as best this year.

The one that got GG it's rep was the Beverage Tasting Institute, who called it the best vodka 20 years ago, and that's the marketing Goose ran with then (ads in the WSJ to get Finance Bros into the brand) and continues with now. On their site, here, they score over 400 vodkas. Five of them have a 96 rating. Three of those cost less than $18/bottle.

It's all very silly, having a tasting panel for something that is by definition flavorless. The only people in whose interests it is to have them different are the distillers, marketers and the people who sell ads and stuff writing about the difference in taste between flavorless things. When the World Beverage Competition has Smirnoff coming in with a medal next to a craft brand, and the BTI has 3 of their top 5 being dirt cheap it kinda illuminates my point. The cheap stuff is fine.

[33anda3rd]

As long as we are veering off course, what is the rule about leaving change as part of a tip? For instance, if the bill is $11.40 do you leave the 60 cents with the rest of the tip or is that considered rude?

I don't think that's considered rude. Especially if you're at a place that does a lot of cash and makes a lot of change, like an IHOP or a Denny's or similar. If every time someone's bill was $11.40 and the guest pocketed the coins and left only bills, they'd have to make a lot of trips to the bank to lug back rolled coins. Probably the servers are selling the coins back to the manager or host at the register for bills, keeping the drawer well stocked with change and saving the server from having to roll coins at home to deposit them at her bank.

The general rule of thumb at bars and restaurants in Chicago is to round up and down. So if the bill is $11.40 and you leave $15 you get $4 back in change. If it's $11.60 you'll get back $3. In each case leaving what the guest thinks to be a proper tip requires some math. In the former, you've had effectively a 40 cent rebate on your bill. If, say, you then leave $2 on the table then you're tipping 14%--$1.60 (the server ate the 40 cents you were basically comped) on $11.40. If you are in the latter and you leave $2 then you're tipping 20.6%--$2.40 on $11.60, allowing for the 40 cents that didn't come back in change.

So if you're a staunch "straight X percent" tipper who pulls out the ol iPhone to figure the percent you tip times the total on the bill then having the change come back is probably a good thing when you pay cash. Paying $11.40 with $15 and getting exactly $3.60 back allows you to leave exactly $2.05 if you're an 18% tipper or $2.28 if you're a 20% tipper and so on.

[stlouie_lipp]

My minimum tip is $5. I just never knew if it was OK to leave the change with it. Now I can do so guilt free.

[G. Keenan]

What's next people? Box wine??

Haha, guilty!

Love me some boxed wine.

You a Fronzia man?

I've tried it, but it's pricey compared to TJ's Block boxes for $11.99. That's 4 bottles per box!

[lukethedrifter]

I only buy Smirnoff for the little vodka drinking I do.

[tlombard]

I had Shake Shack for the first time over the weekend. They are a decent burger but I won't be going out of my way to get back there. I just think that $5.29 for a simple cheeseburger that isn't with nothing else is too much for me. It isn't bad but by the time you get fries and a soda (or shake), you're over $10 before tax. I just feel you can get a much better burger that is bigger with fries or another side somewhere else for pretty much the same price, maybe a dollar or two more.

[G. Keenan]

I had Shake Shack for the first time over the weekend. They are a decent burger but I won't be going out of my way to get back there. I just think that $5.29 for a simple cheeseburger that isn't with nothing else is too much for me. It isn't bad but by the time you get fries and a soda (or shake), you're over $10 before tax. I just feel you can get a much better burger that is bigger with fries or another side somewhere else for pretty much the same price, maybe a dollar or two more.

Agreed. The burger is a good fast food burger but whatever. Good fast food burgers are everywhere now and they're all the same.