Pass the ketchup please?
Written: Feb 11 '00 (Updated Feb 11 '00)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Great food & atmosphere
Cons: The chefs are a little high strung
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| Localboy's Full Review: Smith & Wollensky |
I love my dad soooo much!
Mostly because he's my father and he's just an all around great guy. But also partly because he's the source of so much laughter in my life. He's got stories that would bring the house down. Most of them are at his expense. But he's a good sport and doesn't mind most of the time. This one I'm thinking about happened at a great restaurant in New York called Smith & Wollensky's.
First let me describe the atmosphere there. It's sort of 5th Avenue meets the Ponderosa ranch, they have a wild night of drunken partying and then conceive a set of illegitimate twins called Smith & Wollensky. It's a steak house of course with some of the best steak, ribs and T-bones I've ever eaten. But it's also suits, formal wear, $7.00 coca-colas and waiters standing along the wall with towels draped over their arms scanning your table for the slightest raise of a finger to motion them over. It works of course, but always with the nagging notion somewhere in the back of your mind that at any moment some woman in a $10,000 evening gown will stand up and start screaming Yaaaahoooo while waiving her $5,000 Gucci bag in the air like she's riding a bucking bronco. (I keep going back hoping that someday I'll actually see that happen)
Anyway, the time I'm thinking about, my parents and I had just got back from some dismally disenchanting Broadway play and decided to drown our sorrows in some good old American steaks. Now I have to tell you that my family has a pretty good grasp on social etiquette. We were all raised around dinner parties and social functions. But every once in a while there's a burp in the well oiled machine we call Keone family manners. This time it was the fact that we are all Ketchup-a-holics. We put Ketchup on just about everything.
We ordered our steaks and after a few moments, out came our food. Everything looked delicious. My father thanked our waiter who then asked if there was anything else he could get us.
"Yes", my father replied. "Could you bring us out some Ketchup?"
I swear time actually slowed down at that moment. It was like the soft strains of the dinner music suddenly came to a screetching halt as every head in the place turned and looked at us. There was a confused look on the waiters face who paused and then stuttered something intelligible and walked away. It was like we'd just asked him to moon the Trumps two tables over.
"Um dad", I offered, "Maybe you shouldn't have asked for the. . ."
I didn't quite get the whole sentence out when out of the back stormed a man dressed in white from head to toe. Two things stood out. First, he was obviously the chef and second, he was extremely upset. He began screaming at my father (And I'm actually not exaggerating at this point when I say he was screaming) about what an insult it was to have to put ketchup on his steaks and what was wrong with them anyway and if we didn't like his cooking we could just get out.
Well we apologized and said it must have been a mistake. That putting ketchup on these works of art would not only be a mistake but should be a crime as well and couldn't we all just get along?
Well, tempers subsided and blood pressures returned to normal and the chef went back into the kitchen satisfied with our groveling.
We actually set some new land speed record for steaks consumed within a ten minute period.
As far as the restaurant is concerned? Great place. Some of the best steak I've ever eaten. That we like the place, is evident in the fact that we've even gone back to eat there. The sodas are a little pricey but on the other hand, for the cost of about 7 cokes you can get a set of Smith & Wollensky steak knives.
I'd recommend the Porter House. Just don't ask the waiter for any ketchup.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
Localboy
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Member: Robert Keone
Location: Orem, UT
Reviews written: 7
Trusted by: 2 members
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