Andouillette AAAAA. One could say that it’s an acquired taste.
Now it’s you be polite. 
I consider you a specialty retailer, not a clerk who does as I ask, but a specialist who knows much about their product. An ambassador.
I remember when your place expanded, you were not comfortable then, and you do not appear to be comfortable now with selling wine.
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If you’re unfamiliar with this early piece by Pete Wells, now NY Times food critic, google “excremental encounter chowhound”.
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Excuse me? Who do you think this? I honestly think you have the wrong person.
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It’s a good read.
My story needs a short scene setting. The town of Cambrai, from where that particular sausage originates, is in the Nord department of France and in the heart of the Great War battlefield area. It was the scene of a particularly well known battle in 1917 and I was in the area to take some photos for one of my books. We were driving through the town and I had a very urgent need to find a toilet. We stopped at a supermarket which had a cafe (and therefore toilets) and then had a coffee. And I suggested to Mrs H that it would be good, seeing as we were in a supermarket in the town, to buy some of the local andouillette. So we did. It came in a plastic sleeve, so we had no idea of the smell until we got it home. I gave it one bite to taste, spat it out and threw the whole sausage in the bin. It is, I think, the most unpleasant thing I’ve ever put in my mouth
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We were at a large Mexican restaurant on a Saturday for lunch with our young children. This was years ago. We had the rudest waiter I’ve ever encountered, he practically terrorized us the entire meal. I asked for a to go box, which he brought, so I scooped quite a bit of leftover food in there, including refried beans, rice & a bunch of gooey cheese stuff.
When we got up to go, I was wrangling with a toddler and accidentally knocked the to go food on the floor in front of the booth. Went everywhere & made a total mess. He was apopolectic when this happened and I felt very smug that it couldn’t have happened to a more deserving waiter.
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There are andouillette and there are andouillette. Just as there are cooks and cooks. I have found that the celebrated AAAAA andouillette are more assertive than not so heralded run-of-the-mill. At fairs and markets, andouillette are often available as sandwiches (in hot dog buns) and you see 5 year olds inhaling them. I have found these sausages to be quite mild, approachable if you will. Also at these events, there may be a grill set up where they grill cut up andouillette with white wine and onions. I find them fabulous! In country restaurants, andouillette is one main dish that I can depend on, served whole usually, with a pot of sinus-clearing Dijon. I love them. Probably because these people, both fast food and restaurant level, know how to cook them. I’m not sure how much experience Pete Wells has with this dish. And maybe the one he describes was off. But I’d be surprised that a known Paris restaurant would be unaware of spoiled sausage.
Did the menu list “Just Dessert”?
I suppose that it’s possible the one I similarly described was also off. Or it may be a specific characteristic of the Cambrai sausage.
VERY POSSIBLE… and not just Cambrai. Have you tried Troyes? Or Chablis?
Essentially “the same animal”. FWIW, DH won’t get within a country mile of one. There’s no accounting…
Yes, and the one I selected was called “Revenge is Best Served Cold” 
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I wonder if we can have a “customer rant” article.
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We could, and It might serve a purpose here on HO, but customers get to share with various ratings.
I am feeling particularly compassionate after learning physician ratings will now be on some websites when you choose your “provider”.
It’s called Yelp.
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There is a difference between sharing amusing anecdotes about dining experiences and creating a “bawl-out” forum. I find many of the low evaluations on restaurant reviews reflect “cockpit error” on the part of the diner, not understanding the cuisine, restaurant’s format, demanding more kinds of service than staff is paid to perform.
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Agreed. Reading Tripadvisor reviews are so depressing and unhelpful - whether positive or negative. Look at most places, regardless of “level”, and you’ll see the vast majority of reviews rate the place as “excellent”. Which, as we say in my part of the world, is total bollocks.
Yeah, I’m with you on this. I don’t understand that reply to you at all.
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It’s the “self-selection” bias. People who really like a place (or really dislike a place) are more likely to take the time to post a review. I used to post reviews to TripAdvisor (back when I traveled more), but I tended to skip reviewing places that were “good” or “okay”–why should I spend my time on them? Better to point out a truly excellent place, or warn people against a really bad one.
As for “cockpit error”, here are my notes on restaurants in Hong Kong and Thailand in 1990:
"We went back to the Ocean Centre Restaurant. The selection wasn’t quite as varied as it had been on Saturday, but quite acceptable. At first we seemed to get a cool reception, but toward the end of the meal, the manager even came over to chat for a few minutes. I think the fact that we tried almost everything–including the chicken feet–and ate it all redeemed us somewhat from being “just American tourists.”
“We went to Ka Tung for dinner. This was recommended by the Lonely Planet and was open! We had combination seafood in hot pot, some sort of bivalve shellfish, soured squid salad, a vegetable dish, and soup. The “manager” (who turned out to be the owner’s retired brother) looked somewhat askance at us when we came in, but after we ate everything (we haven’t left food on the table yet), he decided we were okay and came over to talk.”
And in Paris in 1999:
"I had a mussels in curry sauce appetizer; Mark had “creviches gris,” which are small, hard-to-eat shrimp. Somewhere between the appetizer and the main course the waiter got a lot less abrupt–Mark thinks it may be because he managed to eat these tiny shrimp rather than complain about them. "
Bottom line: At least overseas, Americans often have a reputation for being difficult, and my guess is that we got this reputation because of too many “cockpit errors” by previous tourists.
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We sometimes see that cohort including the obviously boorish pretending the restaurant staff are a “personal chef” who are supposed to do all unreasonable bidding.
