Sutter Home White Zin is what I think of… and now pink is all the rage EVERYWHERE.
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Do not confuse rosé, which is vinted as such, with blush with is a blend of red and white. As I recall, Sutter Home White Zin is a blend, not a true rosé.
Correct; that’s why I said pink!
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You are right, it was Wh Zin!
my understanding is that the upcharge for neat is because you’re not getting the ice which takes up room. . . so you are getting more booze.
The thing is, that is not true. The pour is the same. This is just a way to gouge customers.
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Like I said that is what I’ve heard. I don’t drink things neat so it has never happened to me.
I think Leo and Greg are right - you’re being charged by the pour (shot, dram, jigger, two fingers, whatever the pour is called). So the glass is fuller, yes, if you have ice, but it is similarly less full if you don’t have ice.
So I think this “neat charge” is, unless there’s some better explanation, just bullstuff overcharge.
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Can you say a little more about that? I know who/what Sysco is, and am leery of huge menus, but how can you tell a restaurant is going that route?
@CurlzNJ may have a different answer than me and I don’t mean to jump in, but the larger the menu, the harder it is to source quality ingredients. Diners are the perfect example: you got a 10 page menu with a hundred choices ranging across chicken, beef, pork, seafood, etc, etc, yeah its Sysco or similar distributors. No manager/chef/owner is personally sourcing such volume. Ever wonder why certain items taste exactly the same across different restaurants? They have the same source. Chicken Fingers and “Giant” pretzels come to mind (not that I’ve ever ordered the former).
Not that it’s a guarantee, but a high-end place with a one page menu (especially one that rotates) is likely not mass-ordered and can be personally and/or locally sourced. I’m sure @paryzer can confirm that.
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I read the 2nd of the “Greedflation” articles linked above. The NYT one was blocked for me. The takeaway from it for me was well investors, the big corps killed the goose so think about putting your nickels elsewhere.
Yes, I agree. Most of the farm to table restaurants we go to have 1 page menus and use locally sourced ingredients. Some grow their own vegetables and herbs like The Circle restaurant. Others will have a list of local farms that they source their ingredients from. The menus can change weekly depending on what is in season at the time. Their french fries are hand cut (like at James on Main) and not uniformly the same size like Sysco fries.
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I can’t remember the last time in 10 years I have seen a burger at $14 in a restaurant setting - I wish we had your prices
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Expensive restaurants like Il Nido and others that we regularly patronize do source their ingredients locally and/or buy from high end purveyors. Their menus change seasonally, so the ingredients reflect that. For example, in summer, Drew gets his tomatoes and corn from Samaha’s Farm, in Aberdeen. Il Nido’s current menu includes Jersey Girl burrata, a company in NJ that makes small batch cheeses, and Anton Mills polenta, an artisan hand made product.
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Actually Sysco in itself is not bad as it carries many different levels of quality wrt their products. Sysco doesn’t mean automatically that the restaurant uses mass produced ingredients. Many upscale restaurants which also have strong connections to local farmers still use Sysco (or one of their competitors) to get a certain subset of their ingredients.
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I agree. Working in food service, we rely on Sysco and similar services (AFI in my case) or we could not operate. Maybe I’m spoiled or desensitized or just do so much cooking of my own that when I actually do go out, I’d prefer it to not come wholesale off a truck. But that depends on the place as well and their image. A dive-bar, sure, get your food wherever. I’m not picky. But some places it matters. If you have $50+ steaks on the menu, it shouldn’t be Sysco, etc.
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Sysco and its competitors have also access to quite high-end stuff
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Thank you @gcaggiano. I see.
When I think of big menus, I think of that chain with macaroni or spaghetti in the name.
I am in Nor Cal, but originally from New York, and sometimes find myself in this sub-forum.
Most of the places we go to when we dine in ( sometimes San Francisco , usually Napa, Sonoma), name the source for each item. Even the soap in the bathroom!
I love it, and I’m joking, but sometimes it does seem a bit precious.
My sister lives in Durham, NC, so the NYT article was especially interesting. I might “gift” her with it.
I’m curious about how costs here compare to the touristy places in New Jersey, but not enough to do the research !
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Gyro meat (the US-common mushed up “Spam” type, as we’ve called it in another thread; not the whole meat slices version) is another good example. I don’t think I’ve found a Greek restaurant yet that makes their own; most of the meat comes from one of a few large distributors, and they all taste about the same (and all use bread crumbs fer cryin’ out loud - that doesn’t go in there!).
The store will usually have a wall hanging pic somewhere of some attractive women enjoying a gyro wrap, like this:
The irony of that tagline, “Hungry for Something Different”. It’s all the same wherever you go.
Now here’s Something Different (a spoof, I assume)
I must say - for a business outsider like me, this has been a wonderfully informative thread.
Thanks!
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For those of us who live in or near Monmouth County NJ, this place marinates and skewers their own meat. I spoke with the owner and he was laughing about the cone of mystery meat most places use.
And, since we’re in this thread, no they are not expensive.
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