Escargot -

My daughter never got to see Darryl. She was stuck in the kitchen. She was explaining to me that the restaurant is supposed to be the inside of a tree. The wine room in the center of the dining room is the trunk and the ceiling is the underside of the branches. Pretty esoteric for my DH and I although he was very interested in the construction and walked around examining and touching. I agree that the staff was very nice and not at all stuffy. I was particulary taken by a very good looking bartender. I hope they succeed. So far they have complaints about the bathroom signage- symbols only (hard to remember after a few drinks), a line cook who said he was using the restroom and never returned, a dishwasher who was caught on camera purposely breaking a plate and cutting himself, broken pipes, etc. And they have only been open a week. I never envisioned starting up a restaurant to be so daunting.

the restaurant biz is very daunting - the percentage of restaurants that fail is extremely high - it takes getting rid of those wrinkles, then trying to keep the pace once you find it - perfect night after night - and to keep the patrons loyal and new ones coming with so many choices around - it's a tightrope in many ways - but hopefully they will succeed !!

<<we ended up with a nice bordeaux but they seemed disappointed that we didn't order champagne instead. is that a new thing?>>

We just ignore all that, along with being urged to order ridiculously pricey bottled water before we're even asked about cocktails...

djbooks
I hear ya, except if you knew my friend who does the water testing for restaurants and refuses to allow any of us to drink tap water in any restaurant....if you heard his stories, you'd either ditch the H2O in restaurants altogether, or pay the ridiculously high prices -! his stories area like many other stories we would really rather not know, about even the finest of restaurants.....

really nice review of Banq in the Boston Globe last week. the decor looks very interesting. I look forward to trying it out, one of these days.

escargot, I'm curious what you're saying. Are you suggesting that most restaurants' taps aren't connected to the regular city water supply? Or are you suggesting they do something to their taps inside their own buildings that would foul the water?

Patrick: sorry I was in town w/out my laptop for the past four days -
No, I'm not saying they aren't connected to city water.
What the inspector who came to my house, to test my private well water told me (he usually only does the health/safety checks for restaurants but periodically does x amount of homes/ something to do with company certification, etc)

What he told me was this: He often hears people say they got 'food poisoning' or just didn't feel well or 'just made it home' after eating in a restaurant - and many times this is not food poisoning, but from 'tainted' water, esp if it happens before you get home -
It has to do with the cleanliness factor of how they keep their water/ice - he said he mostly writes up restaurants for these types of citations; for example:
using a bucket to transport ice from the ice maker to the bar/waiter station/etc and using the same hand held scoop and putting it back in the ice instead of hanging above as supposed to with slip on gloves so infected hands are not reaching in and out of the ice; for things like placing that bucket afterwards, on the floor - and then it is again picked up, (with a filthy bottom) and used to "scoop" ice out of the machine, in a hurry; for placing the empty buckets on the floor, under mops, or hanging dust pans, etc -
for infractions that have to do with how they transport their water after it is taken out of the tap - where it is stored, what is used, what is cleaned, where water storage pitchers, etc are stored, placed, etc -
that this is how the water gets 'tainted' with germs,bacteria, etc - not when it comes out of the tap.

He said this is the number one violation he writes up - water and ice and not storing, transporting, cleanliness, etc - and this is why he will only drink bottled water in a restaurant.

I am not saying this restaurant does it or not; just saying this is what he told me and why he does not drink tap water in restaurants himself.

Many excellent restaurants get health violations from time to time. Not long ago in the Boston Globe there was one that listed infractions, minor and otherwise, at several excellent 'top ten' restaurants in town -
I don't know if I can find the article, but when we read it people we know in restaurants just sighed and said they all do the best they can.

ALso just realizing that while the OP returned, this thread originated in 07 !!
Well, since my last posting on 2/17 we ate again at LaVoile (lovely yet again), Sorrelina's, Mistral, Pops and Addis Red Sea, Metropolis .... I confess to paying for water ...... as well as a few others.... all excellent experiences as usual...

I think the manager/owner of Banq used to be the manager at Mistral...or somehow involved there

Thanks for the explanation. I've long known that I wouldn't want to see what happens in the kitchens of most restaurants -- including supposedly very good ones. But I had never thought about city tap water being a problem. But I do understand about the ice, etc. Thanks for providing a new "fear". LOL

Patrick: here's that story I was thinking about - and Mistral, as well as some of the others mentioned, are still some of my favorite restaurants - we just had yet another great meal at MIstral this weekend, and yet I do still have to say "forget that article' every time I walk in the door

oops, here's the tiny url to the link:

http://preview.tinyurl.com/36lcwt