Did Charlie Pay for Farina?

Last word on the Farina experience from the other night.

A restaurant should offer you a few things:

1) Great food that you can't or wouldn't bother cooking for yourself.

2) Service that treats you as an important part of the process, that is with understanding and intelligence, as well as kindness (delis are excepted from this rule).

3) A unique restaurant experience -- the place smells good, the other tables are occupied, there's a buzz about what everyone is eating, the decor and room set-up invite you to converse with your dinner companion (s).

4) Fun.

All this comes at a price -- and it's your choice whether or not you wish to pay it. If you don't, don't complain about it, just go somewhere else next time.

The Great Plotnik realizes that he is frequently put off by enormous prices -- remember shopping for sofas? -- but not if he gets payback. For example, the two Italian white wines that he and Ducknik tasted the other night seemed overpriced at $12 and $16 per glass, but they were both quite delicious.

Would they have tasted better at $6 or $8 per glass? Probably not.

Plotnik makes a few delicious veal dishes himself, so he was excited to see the "veal in a nest" dish on the menu, even though it was $36. $36! He could make scaloppine francese for 10 people for less than that. But -- ok. Let's see what the fuss is about.

What a tasteless letdown. Would it have been tastier at $12 or $16?  Oh, yeah.

Think about Chez Panisse. Every single dish makes you want to cry. Simply prepared, nothing vertical, no huge plates with tiny portions, no crap from the waitress about how the chef is trying to recreate his youth in a small fishing village outside of Milan. Chez Panisse empties two of your pockets but leaves you some change in the other two. And you're happy to pay, just when can we do it again?

At Farina, Plotnik felt like the Designer Chef could have picked his nose and dropped it in the veal and he would have considered it an honor for the poor peons he had deigned to warm it up for.

The question is what made The Plotster feel this way? Was it just price? If so, it's not the restaurant's fault. They offer something, you say yes or no.

Was it attitude? Probably not either. The waitress couldn't have been nicer or more helpful. She was a pro.

Was it the small portions? Maybe -- at those prices they at least ought to give you something to eat. But you don't get much at Chez Panisse either. So it has to be something else.

Plottie is a theater critic. Right after dinner he and Duck went to review Charlie Varon's new show that the other crtitics loved more than he did. He thought it was very funny in Act One but didn't pay off in Act Two. Now he's wondering exactly why he was sour about the second act.

He's wondering if he didn't take a little of that $36 veal out on poor Charlie Varon?

Plot likes Charlie. He has talked to him many times at various theater events. He needs to invite Charlie over for dinner. But Charlie Varon probably doesn't eat veal.