How to Make a Healthy Snack
McBites = Modern McNuggets?
Slow Cooker Recipes
When Should Bars Cut You Off?
How to Scrape a Vanilla Bean
Best Riffs on Hot Chocolate
Users of eGullet had a snarky field day with Nora Ephron’s kvetchy New York Times op-ed (registration required) that ran a few weeks ago. In the piece, Ephron (the auteur of the film Sleepless in Seattle and sometime food writer) gripes about several common tropes of high-end restaurants—no salt or pepper shakers on the table, servers who upsell water, etc.—and she’s not funny. Not to most Gulleteers, anyway: For more than a week straight, they analyzed the piece in a thread that was a curious combo of nitpickiness and spot-on criticism. Yesterday, user Brendan Jackson returned to the thread, providing a link to the S.F. Chronicle’s Sunday style section profile of Ephron and announcing his undying frustration with the woman: “Her rant has spoiled me on her forever, since i was so annoyed with her, i couldn’t finish reading the article.”
Why all the counterkvetching? As Chris Holst, the poster who kicks off the thread, puts it:
Poor Nora is annoyed at sea salt, and at pepper grinders, and at glassware selection for her Pellegrino, and at the size of dessert spoons, and at servers who dare to speak to her and her dining companions. Her ‘problems’ only afflict those fortunate enough to dine regularly at white-tablecloth restaurants, and for more well-adjusted diners, I’d doubt they’re problematic. What possessed the Times to print this drivel? It belongs in her diary, where it will be safely locked away from the rest of the world, so nobody else has to put up with it … or do any of our fellow eGulletiers share her concerns?
Others immediately chime in with comments on Ephron’s self-indulgence and lack of humor. eGullet user Shannon Elise provides a good example of how Ephron might have done it better:
May I please have the 45 seconds it took to read that piece back? I could really use it to apply lip gloss or tie my shoe —both of which are activities I find more enjoyable than that. Does she really want to see the salt shaker, with its rice to keep it from clumping that looks like small bugs, on the table? And could she please insert the word Pellagrino[sic] in her piece one more time? I don’t think the 50 times it was included was enough.
The fact that this commentfest goes on for 54 more posts is perhaps indicative of the fact that Ephron’s piece touched a sore spot for eGullet members. As a recognizable name with a new book out, Ephron is afforded a level of access that most people don’t have, given license to say whatever she wants about food—even if it’s boring and tired (or simply wrong, like her confusion about sea salt versus kosher salt). And of course she blatantly advertises her ability to afford dining at places where there’s nary a salt shaker in sight.
But Fat Guy, eGullet’s head honcho, doubts that the overwhelmingly negative response on the thread will be mirrored in the general populace:
It was a weak and ignorant piece from the standpoint of the food-knowledgeable minority, however I bet it resonated with the majority. I hear all of those complaints, often. If I’m giving a presentation about my book to a live audience at a Barnes & Noble, you can be sure a middle-aged lady’s hand will shoot up and that she’ll gripe about the lack of salt on the table or something along those lines.
And he’s right: Most Times readers had only praise (registration required) for Ephron after the article ran.
Do you think the critics are right, or should people just leave Nora be (she already feels bad enough about her neck, for God’s sake)?
Most of our fellow Americans don't know the difference between a coffee spoon and a dessert spoon. I've worked in plenty of better restaurants where customers used their coffee spoons to eat their dessert and then would complain, often rudely and often loudly, that they "didn't get a spoon for their coffee". At other restaurants where the table was "set" with a showplate, water glass, napkin,...+READ
Most of our fellow Americans don't know the difference between a coffee spoon and a dessert spoon. I've worked in plenty of better restaurants where customers used their coffee spoons to eat their dessert and then would complain, often rudely and often loudly, that they "didn't get a spoon for their coffee". At other restaurants where the table was "set" with a showplate, water glass, napkin, bread plate and butter knife, some people would actually call me over to rant about how rude it was to seat them at a table that wasn't "set". I would have to explain that we would bring the appropriate silver for the dish that they ordered. Still, they would go on, and I would have to explain that, if they ordered soup, their waiter would bring them a soup spoon. If their companion ordered a salad, their waiter would bring a salad knife and a salad fork. Patience and more patience is a requirement in the restaurant business.
If you would prefer eating your dessert with a coffee spoon instead of the dessert spoon, fine. Ask for another coffee spoon. If you want to drink your martini from a teacup, ask. Your waiter will accomodate your request. People used to eat ice cream with forks, and used their knives to eat peas. Relax. It's really nothing to complain about.
A few years ago, a woman from Scarsdale wrote in to the Times travel section, complaining about a dinner she had at Joel Robuchon's restaurant in Paris. She says that a man a few tables away lit a cigar, and "it was the worst night of her life". First, at Robuchon, the ventilation system is so good that she could not smell the cigar. I have been one table away from an after dinner cigar smoker and could not smell the smoke, and I know that I have a good nose. Second, if dining at Robuchon is the worst night of your life... I don't want to hear about it.-COLLAPSE
I didn't like the piece, either, although it didn't spur to write a scathing critique or anything. I think the bit that grates about it is that a woman who has access to the "finer things in life" is complaining that while there she's not also getting the regular middle-class things. If you want to eat at a "fancy" restaurant then you should expect to eat in a fancy way. If you want mom and pop...+READ
I didn't like the piece, either, although it didn't spur to write a scathing critique or anything. I think the bit that grates about it is that a woman who has access to the "finer things in life" is complaining that while there she's not also getting the regular middle-class things. If you want to eat at a "fancy" restaurant then you should expect to eat in a fancy way. If you want mom and pop quality food, there's absolutely nothing wrong with that, but don't go to Le Cirque hoping to find it. It's like she went to a black-tie event wearing jeans and a t-shirt, and then decided it was appropriate to make fun of all the other women for wearing uncomfortable heels and ball gowns. It's reverse snobbism.-COLLAPSE
Nora's piece wasn't perhaps the best choice for winning public empathy, but I do second her dessert spoon complaint. Laugh all you want, but I can't understand why my dainty restaurant desserts come with oversized spoons. If I'm meant to slowly savor these artistic structures of cream and sugar, why the shovel that makes my dessert look positively puny? It just doesn't seem in step with the small...+READ
Nora's piece wasn't perhaps the best choice for winning public empathy, but I do second her dessert spoon complaint. Laugh all you want, but I can't understand why my dainty restaurant desserts come with oversized spoons. If I'm meant to slowly savor these artistic structures of cream and sugar, why the shovel that makes my dessert look positively puny? It just doesn't seem in step with the small plates psychology of high quality goods coming in "appropriately" portioned packages. But then again, I've always been partial to small spoons, so it could just be a matter of personal preference.-COLLAPSE