MetaChat - Have I Aquired A Superpower?

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02 April 2010

Have I Aquired A Superpower? Restaurants keep giving me things and it's starting to worry me. Of the last 5 times I've had to Seriously Eat Out (for work or not) 4 of those places have decided to give me free desert, wine upgrades, gratis sample platter and a visit from the owner. This has never happened to me before. What is going or what am I doing to make people think I'm important enough to impress?

post by: The Whelk at: 17:53 | 24 comments

I don't know, but please rub it on me next time we see each other. TIA.

posted by ThePinkSuperhero 02 April | 18:00

I think it's the notepad I bring so I can draw cause I'm kinda twitchy and I need to DO SHIT WITH MY HANDS. Note, in this was within 2 months, in NOLA, SF and NYC

posted by The Whelk 02 April | 18:02

Ah, the notepad. They think you're a restaurant critic.

posted by essexjan 02 April | 18:11

But I always bring my notepad for the last, oh 25 years of going out to eat. Could it be the new jacket and Hair Of Authority? It's making me look older then I am, and enough toward groovy NYT reviewer?

posted by The Whelk 02 April | 18:15

If it happens at the Viand, then I'll believe a superpower.

posted by Obscure Reference 02 April | 19:03

My vote is Power Tie. If you're not wearing a tie, your super power is to make people believe you're wearing a Power Tie, even though you're not. Kind of like Wonder Woman's invisible jet, except not so jet-like.

posted by filthy light thief 02 April | 19:06

Also: have you been bitten by anything radioactive in the last month? It might be that.

posted by filthy light thief 02 April | 19:07

Not ....to my knowledge.

posted by The Whelk 02 April | 19:18

Why do birds
Suddenly appear,
Every time
You are near. . .

posted by MonkeyButter 02 April | 19:34

Maybe your recently acquired Hair of Authority makes you resemble someone notable in the Restaurant Business (the preceding two words I'm considering adding to my Oxymoron List, but I digress). Check out the FoodNetwork website and see if you look kinda like somebody on one of its shows. If it's Alton Brown, they're treating you well out of respect; if it's Bobby Flay, it's out of envy; if it's Paula Deen, it's out of pity.

posted by oneswellfoop 02 April | 19:36

Aren't they ALL out of pity tho?

posted by The Whelk 02 April | 19:45

Also Alton- No I have hair. Lots of it. Bobby - who would do that to their head? It seems mean Paula - Not a Lady, also not grey.

posted by The Whelk 02 April | 20:07

Are these restaurants you frequent, or are they new joints? I find that restaurateurs or servers who know me and/or my host are likely to send over langiappes as a little courtesy, a small flourish to thank us for repeated custom. New restaurants sometimes give out amuse-bouches or tasting plates, presumably hoping that a sample of their goodies will draw you back again.

When a dish is quite extraordinary, I'll specifically ask the server to pass on my compliments to the chef. On a few of those occasions, the chef has responded by visiting the table and later sending out a small tasting plate of something unusual. (Probably confirmation bias, but this seems to happen when the complimented dish is something that most diners might shy from: organ meat or raw or otherwise a little bit non-mainstream.)

posted by Elsa 02 April | 20:28

mmmmmmmm free dessert

posted by rollick 02 April | 20:28

I get free stuff at restaurants all the time. I think it's the gun.

posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson 02 April | 20:57

I don't know, but please rub it on me next time we see each other.

Famous. Last. Words.

posted by ColdChef 02 April | 21:25

All of the places I went are places I had never been in before. It's not like, say going my favorite pub on Sunday cause that's what you DO on Sunday and of OF COURSE Dorian will just give you a Guinness when you sit down and Moses will put on some extras cause no one orders food but me on a Sunday and there is a running joke. I had never step foot in these places before, yet somehow I got to be a VIP and I have no idea why and I'm wondering what odd signals, if any, I am sending out.

posted by The Whelk 02 April | 21:27

As someone who's recently lunched with Monsieur Whelk, I must say that he's a charming dining companion and that he deserves all the freebies he gets.

And he rubbed it on me.

posted by ColdChef 02 April | 21:32

Also, thinking about it, this is not the first time this has happened, I've just been a total hermit since my first book and refused to Go Outside. About 3 years ago I'm in Montreal, waiting to meet someone at the Mt. St. Steven's Club for lunch and I am WHISKED away to a room off the main dining area, given a different menu and then, in a moment of complete surreal detachment, they put up a PAINTED SCREEN between me and the rest of the room. I'm at Langan's in London on a last day lark and someone comes up to my table, points at me and says "you're somebody's son, aren't you?" I, of course, said yes, yes I AM somebody's son, and then this man sent me a bottle of wine.

So, who the hell do I look like that makes people like I'm someone's son?

posted by The Whelk 02 April | 21:40

ColdChef now gets freebies all the time, just not in restaurants.

*canned laughter*

posted by The Whelk 02 April | 21:41

Mr. Cupcakes shares a name with a very famous sci-fi author. Once when we stayed at a hotel in Portland, OR, we found out the staff had actually thought he was said author. We were wondering why we got such great service!

posted by evilcupcakes 02 April | 22:40

Whelk, I really don't know who you are; but if you are ever in SW Oklahoma hit me up and we'll let you feed live, free range, undomesticated COWS. Yes, feedin' real Cows!

Gotta garage apt. too in case you wanted to live out sone Fonz deliera also.

posted by buzzman 03 April | 03:44

Whelk, if you're going to be at the festivities next weekend, please rub it on me, too?

posted by TrishaLynn 03 April | 09:20

I think you just have That Attitude. You don't look like anyone specifically famous, but it doesn't hurt to be extra-nice to you in case you are :)

My friends and I go to this sushi place often enough that the waitresses will comment if one of the party is missing. It's the only place on our side of town with Japanese sushi chefs. Anyway, the manager of the place is this really gruff lady who speaks broken English, so whenever there's some new promotional item she'll be all "You will take these things!" and we don't know what they are until we open them and they turn out to be calendars or t-shirts or something.

posted by muddgirl 03 April | 10:07

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