Comments on: Cantu feel the love tonight

By: New, alternative packaging resolves carbon footprint, food-wine dilemmas | Dr Vino's wine blog

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 23:47:01 +0000

[...] Chef Homaro Cantu was a consultant in the product design. [...]

By: Dr Vino’s wine blog » Blog Archive » Who’s threatening us now: Homaro Cantu

Sun, 10 Feb 2008 19:39:34 +0000

[...] “Who’s threatening us now: cider!” [Dr. V] UPDATE: Read about my encounter with Chef Homaro Cantu and his laser beams Permalink | Share This | dining, On notice! This entry was posted on Monday, October 16th, 2006 [...]

By: Dr Vino’s wine blog » Blog Archive » No merlot, talking urinals, splurge, what’s hot - tasting sized pours

Fri, 23 Mar 2007 14:26:57 +0000

[...] — literally, and often pointlessly.” I found the same with molecular gastronomy desserts in my experience at Moto. [...]

By: Alastair

Alastair — Tue, 02 Jan 2007 13:27:00 +0000

LOL – I love the above option my Anonymous. Will you do sales for me

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 12 Dec 2006 17:56:00 +0000

What about this option: you remind the server that you asked & she responded that Chef was taking care of the tab. Tell her there’s 60 bucks (3 twenties, in cash) for her if the tab goes away. If she says it was a misunderstanding, pay the tab but don’t leave a tip.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sun, 10 Dec 2006 13:04:00 +0000

In response to the original October 16 post, Homaro wrote "Dont knock it til you try it," to which Dr. Vino replied, "The main obstacles standing between me and your laser beams and vanilla beans are a plane ticket, $160 per person, plus wine, plus tax plus tip."

Homaro's subsequent email said "Just let me know when you would like to join us and you will be my guest." The reasonable interpretation of that phrase, particularly in light of the prior exchange, is that it would be complimentary.

To be sure, the note did not say "Just let me know when you would like to join us and we will make the reservation."

Having arrived at the restaurant, instead of placing an order, they were also told "that the chef had taken care of us."

Charing for the meal was poor form and poor taste.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 06 Dec 2006 22:36:00 +0000

The blogger did not “not make a selection,” he simply told the server he didn’t know what Cantu had in mind for him (the blogger was being up front). Cantu made the choice to send the message back to the blogger that he was “taken care of.” Cantu invited him to be a “guest” and then made the decision of what the blogger was going to eat for him. If Cantu never intended to make the blogger a guest in what we all assume being “a guest” means (be real!), then Cantu was not being up front. How you come to your conclusion defies logic and sounds strangely suspicious. By the way, where is Cantu in this discussion? He commented on this blog before and knows the url (as he showed his kitchen staff) but now has strangely disappeared. Not v. smoothe in my opinion.

By: V Smoothe

V Smoothe — Wed, 06 Dec 2006 18:39:00 +0000

Moto has no a la carte menu. They only serve tasting menus, so the only choice diners make is which one of the tasting menus to order. When the blogger did not make a selection himself, he was given the cheapest tasting menu.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 06 Dec 2006 17:36:00 +0000

Target calls their customers “guests,” too, so I guess you could weasel out that way. But if you get a personal e-mail saying you’ll be the guy’s guest, and then you asked your server, and then you weren’t even asked what you wanted to eat or drink, that’s totally different. I don’t buy the last commenter’s argument. At all.

By: V Smoothe

V Smoothe — Wed, 06 Dec 2006 15:13:00 +0000

I've read over the initial e-mail from the Chef repeatedly, and no matter how hard I try, I can't see where one would get the impression that the meal would be free. You wrote to the chef and said that you would like to come to the restaurant, then he wrote back and said "Here are our hours. Be my guest."

I work in a high end restaurant, so I see this happen all the time. It appears that anytime a chef suggests diners visit his restaurant, they imagine they have received some sort of special invitation and expect their meal to be free. If you can't afford to pay for a meal, you really should clarify how payment will be worked out beforehand. A restaurant is in the business of selling food. If you expect to dine there WITHOUT paying for the food, it is incumbent on you to make sure that will be the case, not the other way around.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 05 Dec 2006 13:34:00 +0000

nah, the server was just the messenger. don’t shoot her.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 04 Dec 2006 20:17:00 +0000

i agree that the bill at the end of the meal was an example of extremely poor judgment. however, it sounds like much of the blame rests on the server.

By: ac

ac — Mon, 04 Dec 2006 13:05:00 +0000

Since the diners were NOT allowed to choose their meal (on account of having been “taken care of” by the chef), then it was in extreme poor taste for the restaurant to present them with a bill. If Chef Cantu had really been interested in proving a point with his wine (vs. just collecting some free publicity and $237 dollars) he should have invited them for wine ONLY and said as much. All in all, it is always tacky to invite some one specifically and then hand them a bill.

By: Dr. Vino

Dr. Vino — Sun, 03 Dec 2006 20:27:00 +0000

Alder,

Welcome. Thanks for your opinion. It clearly differs from mine.

In fact, a kitchen visit may not be THAT exclusive. Many diners were handed goggles and descended the stairs during our evening there.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sun, 03 Dec 2006 11:28:00 +0000

Pass the popcorn.