Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

I took a "coat check girl" job last night in New York at one of the steak houses because I am in need of some extra cash. Going from an office job to behind the scenes at a restaurant was a complete eye-opener. I am a very thrifty person and I never check my coat, always hanging it on the chair behind me, unless I am attending an event where everyone checks their coat - and even then I can't recall even tipping one dollar, although I probably have, because I never paid any attention to the coat check people. I can tell you that it is a tough job. I worked very hard to keep the coat room organized and took special care of people's things. I tried to return their belongings as quickly as I could when they returned with their tags. It was pouring rain last night, so people had a lot of bags and wet umbrellas that they wanted to store. It was amazing to me how many people checked two umbrellas and a heavy attache in one bunch, and tipped $1. One group checked 10 huge umbrellas together in one group, then tipped $5, which was at least better than nothing. I am sad to say that most of the women, if they were alone or with other women, did not even tip me $1. The men were by far the most generous tippers, some tipping $5 and one fellow $10. Even thinking about the $10 tip makes me appreciate this guy even more, because he must have a better understanding of what it means to be a coat check person than I did before I took this job. I can tell you that every dollar is greatly appreciated. I worked solely for tips, and the restaurant took 20%.

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I love Pizza Suprema. D'aiutos is all about the cheesecake, though I recently had some amazing rainbow cookies that were freshly baked. That corner holds all the classic american staples: pizza, cheesecake, hot dog venders, and burgers and fries (from the Burger Shack)

I'm going to have to second the "what happened to the leftovers?" question. I'm constantly aware of how much food I'm eating and maintaining a healthy lifestyle, and luckily I've managed to fit the rare treat from Shake Shack into the plan! But I always go with a friend to share my food, and we order only one or two things at a time. Reading about how you left all that food behind, and ordered in such gluttonous portions, is a little disappointing given how far you've come with your dieting. Portion control isn't really JUST about eating one or two bites of hugely fattening things - it's also about finding wholesome, healthy foods of which you can eat a TON and still lose weight. It sometimes feels like a cheat that you still eat (or post about eating) foods that most traditional dieters wouldn't touch with a ten-foot pole, because you're able to leave most of the food sitting on your plate. Not raggin' on you, though - keep up the good work! I'm sure next week will bring you down another pound ;)

@codasco: I was with Ed—he ate only bites of each thing at each place. He really does have some amazing will power.

@greenolivemedia: I only had bites of the stuff at Kefi. I was not into the mac and cheese there. But the Greek meze spreads was/were awesome.

@greenolivemedia Giving it to Adam should not be the answer. :)

I'm surprised you ask, "How could anyone finish that" in refrence to the mac and cheese yet for lunch you had hot dog, cheeseburger, custard, and mac and cheese. If I were on a serious diet, I'd be asking a different question.

Give the leftovers to Kuban?

Wait, so what happened to those unbitten leftover pieces of fooooooooooooood

When I went through airport security the checker spent the longest time examining my driver's license, finally I volunteered "I lost weight" and he nodded his head and let me go.

Down 42 pounds since August 5, 2008. Been trying to lose the last 10 for a while now, progressing at about 1/2 pound a week on average.

Adam- nice seeing you at the Hot Dog Hootenanny. Never been to the real Tony Luke's but before morphing into Shorty's (uphill on the decor, downhill on the food), the roast pork Italian at the Tony Luke's "outpost" on 9th avenue was at one point my favorite sandwich in the NYC.
--- Guttergourmet

To answer the question...of course not! Never say never and never say always. I must not be eating enough local food (anybody who knows me would laugh hysterically at this point) as I haven't gotten burned badly enough to feel like this...or my standards are awfully low!

Am I down with eating bad food produced by good people? No, but I'd like to help them become better producers with feedback. We need all the good growers/food entrepreneurs we can get. I had an experience where I bought pickles made by a CSA farm I love. They looked great but were kinda mushy. I spoke to the farmer and they realized what happened and learned what to do next batch/time. I think they decided to stick to being growers and not continue with value added items as it can be harder than it looks. I used them in tuna salad, etc and they were fine but not good for plain eating. Unless something is down and out manky/nasty, I can find a way to improve and use a challenging purchase. And if it is manky, any decent food seller will want to know, feel dreadful about it, and make restitution.

Ask for samples, if no samples ask what they'll do if you don't like their food (out of luck, money back, exchange). If you have an issue, speak up...though like others have said, one person's salt lick is another's just right - food is sooooo subjective. If you don't want to speak up, don't go back.

As far as thanking my lucky stars for Smuckers & Oscar Mayers? Food is better than no food however, I'm an upper lower class blue collar person who's been buying local/organic/natural for too long to feel very celebratory about agribiz and industrial food production. Not ungrateful mind you as I was raised on it and once I'm eating out and about...who can keep track of where everything comes from? I'm watchful and do what I can but don't get mental about it.

1-I have a couple of farm stands I go to regularly to buy fruits and vegtables and the occasional dairy product. They also sell various baked goods, and once in a while I'll buy a baked good thinking it *has* to be good cuz its from the farm. It never ever is good. I should just stick with my local bakery -- or even myself!
2-This is kinda along the lines of why I don't buy grass-fed beef and such from my local farmers just because they sell it: I wonder "who's inspecting this stuff"? "How do I know its safe and handled properly"? I wish I would have some assurance so I could bring myself to buy it, but so far, I see none.