Comments

Happy weekend everybody! 

I've been studying up on my restaurants in Paris for my upcoming semester there and one of my favorite aspects of the French dining culture they do in France but not here in the States is including the tip as a service charge at restaurants. Obviously this is unfortunate if the service was atrocious and does not deserve the 15% tip automatically placed in the bill, but on the other hand it's nice to not have to fiddle around with your cell phone calculator figuring out 15% of $87.17.

I'm old school when it comes to tipping, I almost always do 15% unless the service was particularly special (or attractive I'll admit) or particularly terrible.  I've been more sensitive to giving low tips after reading the novel Waiter Rant and hearing stories from my friends who have worked as waiters about restaurant owners' treatment of their waiters and stealing tips away from them. Being a waiter is a tough profession and not a very well paid one, so they deserve a good tip of at least 15%. However, let's remember that when dining out we want to be treated with respect, what's the point of a snooty waiter? So if the waiter treats us diners like we don't matter, then why should we pay for that disrespect? It's a tough, tough dilemma when service is bad about whether to be furious with the waiter or pity them. So here's my solution, let's just always have waiters treat us with respect! I understand waiters are human too and restaurants have their off nights and I take that into account when tipping and writing reviews. I do have a lot less pity though when, say an expensive restaurant like Spago has an off night as opposed to a corner bistro.

And my other tip on tips for those who are incompetent at math like me- buy a little tip chart to put into your wallet! It makes you look so cool when you take out the credit card and the tip chart in front of your date because you can't figure out 15% of $100...hmmm

Also, I tried the delicious and very seasonal peppermint chocolate challah bread today that is sold outside of many of the 5C's dining halls on Fridays at lunch. It's sort of a strange phenomenon to bite into bread and have peppermint be the taste sensation. I've tried the cinnamon raisin, chocolate chip, and plain versions as well, and all are always terrific. Way to go!

I hope everyone does visit a few of the places I listed in my article today on my personal favorite small, mom and pop restaurants around Claremont and L.A. In addition to being delicious and easier on the wallet, they also tend to be in safe, non-touristy neighborhoods that one would not usually visit, so this gives you an excuse to explore this great city even more! And you can feel good by helping out these family run establishments as well that are a far cry from the corporate giants running the show of Olive Garden and Cheesecake Factory.