Wednesday, January 23, 2013

EXCEPT ISAAC NEEDS THE FLASH TO CONFIRM WHETHER ANYONE'S SPITTING IN HIS FOOD:  Some NYC restaurateurs are banning diners from taking pictures of their dishes because, as David Bouley put it, “It’s hard to build a memorable evening when flashes are flying every six minutes.” Still, they're trying to be accommodating -- Bouley has invited some diners into the kitchen to photograph their courses immediately after plating and “is setting up a computer system so that diners can get digital images of what they’ve eaten before they even get the check.”

11 comments:

  1. Shouldn't the general rule usually be, "Avoid using a flash camera in restaurants."? I mean, I can understand if it's Grandma's 90th and you're getting a big family picture taken by the waiter, but it annoys me to have a flash go off in an otherwise dark/dim dining room, no matter the subject of the photo.

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  2. In less formal environments, I don't see the problem. In more formal environments photographing the food is cringe-worthy, but I don't see how you tell the nice couple from that came into the city for dinner and a show on their 22nd Anniversary that they aren't entitled to cheapen their memory of the occasion by documenting it on their iPhones.

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  3. KCosmo's neighbor10:44 AM

    I agree...allow the photos, but no flashes, tripods, etc. Honestly, if I'm at a fine restaurant, paying hundreds of dollars for a meal, I think I'm entitled to discretely photograph my foie. Personally, I am unlikely to do so, but at a place like Per Se, where the bill can exceed $800 for two people (for LUNCH!), the customer shouldn't be too bogged down with rules from the chef. Yes, I respect the chef, I respect the art, but really...who are these chefs without their customers? If you pay, you should be able to play (within reason). Personal note: I only feel the need to photograph my own culinary creations!

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  4. I guess I should qualify this by saying, in this college town, it's inevitable if you go out to one of our better restaurants that you're going to be in the same dining room as a table full of affluent college girls, one of whom is celebrating a birthday. The amount of flash-picture-taking that goes on THROUGHOUT THE ENTIRE MEAL can make one a bit grumpy.

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  5. Had dinner at Torrisi Italian Specialties on Sunday, which is a tiny NYC restaurant with about 8 tables. The couple next to us kept taking flash pictures of their dishes and it was horribly distracting (and blinding.) The matire d' eventually came over and asked them to turn off the flash, but seriously...how much of a moron do you have to be to use the flash in a tiny dark restaurant?

    I mean, I've been to Per Se, and I took pictures (it is likely that I'll never go again, and I was desperate to remember every detail.) But I'd have been horrified had the flash gone off, and checked EVERY time to make sure it was off before snapping.

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  6. And, I imagine, the WHOOOOOOOOOOOing.

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  7. Same reason they want bad pictures of their vacation: "Do you remember that time that we went to St. Blur's with Smudgy and Dark Shape? Those were good times..."

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  8. isaac_spaceman4:45 PM

    That must have been the vacation where we ate at the place that served the overexposed meat with a side of flash shadow on a bed of highly reflective surface.

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  9. isaac_spaceman4:50 PM

    Absolutely yes. I don't mind rare exceptions like "we just got engaged" or "oh my god I did not know I had a twin who happens to be sitting at the next table," or "congrats on my first Heimlich," but if you're just documenting your fabulous life, save it for the parking lot.

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  10. Adam B.5:03 PM

    But not, for example, "Hey, that's former NBA journeyman Buck Williams at the next table!", which happened to my brother and I at the Chinese restaurant at Paris Las Vegas about a decade ago.

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  11. Adam B. -- my husband and I had a dinner ruined when Dan Quayle and his family sat next to us at a charming French Bistro in Colorado. It was supposed to be romantic but we spent the rest of the meal ease dropping.

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