First: I love Chef Michael White.
Second: I hate Restaurant Week.
I’m not going to lie though, I’ve participated over the years many times, in recent years always because someone thinks I enjoy it and then I feel like a jerk if I respond with “no, thank you” to an invitation from a friend simply because I dislike the surrounding event. So I go, and suffer silently.
In any case, I’m not here to denounce Restaurant Week, nor am I here to defend my choice to go this year. I’m simply here to report on my experience at one of my favorite chef’s restaurants during Restaurant Week 2014.
I arranged for a group of four of us – BFF, Dessert Zombie, and Mr. “I can eat anything!” to go on President’s Day, since we all had off our various occupations. When we arrived for our 1:30pm reservation, we were seated promptly with a smile. We looked over our menus, made our choices, and the dining commenced.
BFF and Mr. “I can eat anything” both chose to start with the butternut squash soup with pickled delicata squash and brown butter. They both remarked on how creamy the soup was, and seemed to enjoy it.
Dessert Zombie and I were also twins in our choices and both chose the terrina di maile – the housemade pork pate with mustard and cornichons. While I felt there wasn’t enough bread for as much pate as we received, the pate itself was rich, pork-tastic, and had bits of pistachios throughout that I liked for the textural change-up.
For their main course, BFF and Mr. “I can eat anything” again chose the same – this time, the pan roasted chicken, mushroom puree, parsnips and hen jus. The chicken skin was described as “heavenly” and the chicken tender, delicious, and awesome. I saw clean plates, so I assume everything was above and beyond what they hoped for.
DZ and I once again chose the same – pan roasted skate wing, braised fennel, sweet potato, guanciale, and bitter orange. The fish was perfectly cooked – tender, pulling off into long strands of very mildly flavored fish that was bumped up by all that was around it. Both DZ and I cleaned our plates happily – I especially enjoyed the brunoise behind the fish that you can’t see.
Three of the people at my table ordered the chocolate dessert: dark chocolate mousse with a sheet of chocolate up top, crunchies within, and fior de latte ice cream next to it. Mr. “I can eat anything” really can’t eat anything, so minus one bite, this befell me to devour happily. I really enjoyed it – it WAS quite delicious, especially with the crunchies to counter all the softness of the dessert – but I was eager to return to my own dessert…
Blood orange panna cotta with balsamic crema. Oh my goodness, the texture of this panna cotta surpassed nearly every panna cotta I’ve ever eaten (and there’s been a lot, believe you me). Dense and creamy all at the same time, rich with the taste of blood orange but not overwhelmed by it, this was the perfect end to my meal.
That panna cotta. Yes.
Strictly on food alone, I was pleased with our meal. It was the first time anyone in my party besides myself had been there, and I thought it was a good introduction to Ai Fiori’s cuisine. At $25 for 3 courses for lunch, when their lunch menu usually offers a $42, two-course prix fixe, I think there was a good deal had and they truly embraced the spirit of Restaurant Week without compromising either their standards nor their bottom line.
(My major complaint about a lot of restaurants during RW is that they just offer random items that don’t showcase the restaurant’s good qualities, they “cheap” out on choices, and no one wins. The customer, who may be trying out a restaurant to add to their favorites, winds up getting a subpar meal and assumes the worst, that the restaurant is always like that. The restaurant loses out on a potential repeat customer. No one wins.)
However, while our service in the beginning of the afternoon was stellar, at some point, our server began… not ignoring us exactly, but … well, ignoring us. We didn’t really need anything, but he stopped appearing at our table. Our coffee – and the wrong number of them – came well after our desserts did, and no one ever checked on us once we were done with dessert. We literally sat there for 15 minutes, just chatting – which wasn’t unpleasant, but felt strange that no one ever came by to either see if we wanted more coffee or anything else. Our meal, from start to finish, was a little over 2 hours, which is a touch long for lunch.
The place was half to three quarters full when we arrived; by the time we left, a lot more tables had been seated. Actually, a table next to us was seated about 30 minutes after we arrived, and managed to eat, pay and leave before we did – despite also ordering the same 3 course menu.
And though this will surprise exactly no one, almost all of the diners in the restaurant towards the later part of the afternoon were Asian or of Asian descent. I remarked on this to my party, and someone responded “that’s because Asians are cheap” – ah. (Our entire party was of Asian descent.)
One final note that has absolutely nothing to do with my opinion of Ai Fiori – except maybe to laud the servers for not laughing in someone’s face – a group of 8 young Asian Americans came in at one point – well, they trickled in, as one of their party actually showed up about 2 hours late, I would have been livid – and one of the women was wearing cat ears. I mean literal cat ears. At some point, her friend began wearing them. I found this more than a little distracting… criticize me all you want, but I don’t think cat ears are appropriate attire for dining at a restaurant like Ai Fiori. Go to McDonald’s if you want to wear animal ears at the dining table.
Despite the quirky service towards the end of the afternoon – which I attribute completely to the surge in diners, and possibly to some snobbery regarding Restaurant Week diners – I thoroughly enjoyed my meal and would recommend anyone visit for a RW lunch. Outside of that, you should go here anyway because the food is amazing on a regular and consistent basis, and while it’s by no means inexpensive, it’s well worth every full priced penny.
SkippyMom says
They tend to do RW a bit better in DC. They don’t skimp on their menu and really try to showcase themselves. Although we don’t have the plethora of restaurants of NYC, obviously. Competition seems to be a little more fierce.
I appreciate the waiter got busy, and it was nice of you to understand, but if I want my check and the server isn’t back with it, I get up and find it. Being a former server, and having been triple sat, sometimes we just can’t get back.
The thing you have to remember about RW, and it goes to your point about everyone losing, is ….people tend to tip their servers on their discounted meal, although the service and the food is on par with [or in your case above] the normal price. The patron may lose in a bit lesser service, due to volume of guests, but the as you said – that is 3 course, for less than the price of the regular 2 course of $42.
Before RW existed, my greatest heartache as a server were the 2 for 1 whole lobster or prime rib dinner coupons [think Groupon] I dont’ think I was ever tipped for the work I did serving TWO dinners, for the price of one. Sure, I would make 20% on the discounted check, unfortunately I was running just as hard serving double the meal.
I am of the school that everyone should work at least one season in either retail or a restaurant – people would have a better appreciation for those serving us.
And WTF is up with the cat ears? No. JUST no.
SkippyMom says
PS – I can’t post on instagram, but I wanted to just say you’re not my favorite person right now. Bobwhite? At 10 am? Cruel woman, cruel.
::starving::
Feisty Foodie says
You raise an excellent point. While a lot of services (Groupon, Restaurants.com, etc.) now list on the vouchers “Please tip on pre-discount total”, Restaurant Week doesn’t have a voucher or necessarily a place that emphasizes the importance of that. I suppose it would have been worth mentioning that three of the four of us also ordered wine with our meal, and the wine definitely pads the bill significantly (inasmuch as one glass for DZ clocked in at $21). But to your original point, it’s true – a lot of people will go in and order the $25 menu and tip off the $25 (and sadly, from experience as both a server/bartender and as someone who dines with other Asian people, Asians as a group do not tend to be generous tippers), which has to be frustrating for servers that still go above and beyond to provide excellent service. I know some people will protest “but the reason I go to RW is because I can’t afford the restaurant at full price” – well, the fact is, if you can’t afford the tip, you can’t afford the restaurant. My opinion anyway.
BTW, last night on Late Night, Jimmy Fallon asked Michelle Obama what her first job was. She said it was at a book bindery and “it caused me to go straight to college” – she worked there for 2 weeks, putting a pin in a certain place, then handing it to the next assembly worker. She said it taught her to respect the importance of all those who work jobs about which they aren’t passionate, but they show up on time and do their job because it pays the bills, and she respects that greatly. I thought of how I feel the same as you – that everyone should work in retail or a restaurant for a little bit, just so they can understand what it means to be in the service industry and how hard it is. I completely agree with you.
SkippyMom says
Think of what my husband does for a living. It’s blue collar. I am insanely proud of him and he loves his job, but it seems the more money people have [and clients in his industry have a LOT of money, it’s a luxury after all] the shittier they are to the “help”. He’s office now, but some of the stories are so atrocious it makes me wonder if these people EVER had a minimum wage job.
Working at McDonald’s in HS didn’t send me to college, but serving and working retail helped put we through it. People seem to forget that people that do these jobs are PEOPLE too.
Love ya sweetie!
hungry says
Sigh, that’s another reason why I hate RW. I’m Asian and I don’t want to be grouped with those cheapo Asians that only go out to nice places during RW. My personal philosophy is that I will work and save up to have that nice meal with their normal menu. It makes it feel like a reward for doing work. It’s kind of nice actually.
And to SkippyMom’s comment: I’ve never worked in retail or the service industry because I know it’s damn hard and unpleasant many times. People always say, “Oh I can just work at this restaurant/bar/shop.” But really they can’t or they do a terrible job. It takes a certain personality to do that kind of work. I don’t have that kind of personality. And with that, I absolutely respect those who are in those industries. They just never get enough thank yous and/or tips.
Feisty Foodie says
Completely agree with the second and third sentences. Well, all of the first paragraph, though I obviously dislike RW less than you do.
You know, when my mom worried about me quitting my job in 2010, I told her not to worry because I had no problem working at Starbucks. That’s a total lie. I’m actually terrified of steaming milk because I feel like I will burn myself repeatedly. And also, the crazy lines and cranky people who haven’t had their caffeine yet scare me too.
But on a related note, while reading SkippyMom’s comment, I thought about how much I actually enjoy working in service. Yes there are crappy things about it and some days my back hurt and I was grumpy, but overall I loved interacting with customers, and I liked how every day was different. Hospitality really suited me.
Dessert Zombie says
Great food, funny service, but pleasant lunch overall.
Meow!!
That skate was a winner!! Mmm chocollllllllatteeeeee.
Plus Chef Michael White stopped by our table to thank us for having lunch at his establishment! 😛
Feisty Foodie says
Ah yes. I didn’t mention that part. He did 🙂