Don’t look down, Wile E. Coyote!

The Harvard Business Review’s Daily Stat of July 21, 2011, titled “Many Waitstaffers Say Tips Don't Reward Service”:

30% of waiters and waitresses said in a survey that they believe the level of service they provide has no bearing on the tips they receive, a finding that suggests restaurants should query job candidates about their beliefs on this subject, according to a team of researchers led by Michael Lynn of Cornell.

The suggestion that “restaurants should query job candidates about their beliefs on this subject” suggests, to me, that restaurants should select candidates who believe that better service will result in higher tips. Presumably, such waiters and waitress will deliver better service in their quest for higher tips.

But better service doesn’t result in higher tips. At least not much. A recent episode of NPR’s Planet Money covered tipping with the same researcher, Michael Lynn, who said that there’s a “pretty weak relationship” between service and tipping:

Studies have found for example that the amount of sunshine outside have as big an impact as the tips customers leave as the customer's ratings of service quality.

So the HBR is recommending that employers avoid hiring candidates who have a rational understanding of their industry’s (irrational) economics. Pick the guy or gal who goes with “common sense” instead.

The unfortunate thing is, it’s probably good advice.

Kinchley’s Tavern

Tim Kang at Serious Eats’ “Slice” blog reviewed the pizza at Kinchley’s Tavern, Ramsey, NJ. A must-stop whenever we return to the Spousal Unit’s ancestral homeland, Kinchley’s has the best pizza I’ve had in my life. So far.

Our mandatory pie is the garlic pie. The garlic is infused with the sauce.

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Addendum: Serious Eats also covered the strawberry donuts from Donut Man in Glendora, CA—my all-time favorite donuts. Two coast-to-coast favorites in a single week! Donut Man was also the first place I went in the first car I ever owned. I picked up my 1994 Civic del Sol from the dealer in El Monte in April 1999, and picked up some celebratory dozens for my fellow grad students on the way home. I guess the donuts were lucky; I drove that car to over 200,000 miles before selling it in good running condition.

The miseducation of American pallets

The Johnstown Galleria's Tonic Grille, when not calling young professionals the B-word, has an interesting suggestion:

I concur. Education of this overlooked demographic is a major problem facing America.

Obsessive possessive

Many businesses are named after their proprietors, using a possessive: Larry’s Auto Body, Audi’s Olde World Restaurant, Krisay’s Appliance and Bedding. Others, however, are not.

Growing up, my parents and I would fuel the car at Sheetz, and note with amusement that one of my uncles would instead go to “Sheetz’s.” But at least Sheetz is the name of the chain’s founder, so even if the sign says “Sheetz,” it is indeed Sheetz’s chain. So, okay, I guess. It still sounds better than Wawa.

The local Mexican restaurant, Rey Azteca (“Aztec King”) is a popular lunch spot for the guys at work. When I first started, they kept talking about “Rey’s.” I was briefly convinced that Original Famous Ray’s Famous Original Pizza had opened in Johnstown.

Since I reviewed a new restaurant, Ambrosia Fine Dining, one of the top search queries bringing visitors to my blog is [ambrosias johnstown pa]. (I have to assume it’s meant as a possessive, since pluralizing ambrosia makes even less sense.)

Is this insistence on possessivizing business names a local phenomenon, or more widespread? I don’t recall it happening when I lived in California.

Ambrosia Fine Dining (Johnstown, PA)

A new addition to Johnstown’s restaurant scene, Ambrosia Fine Dining is located in the Rosewood Inn on Scalp Avenue in Richland. As is customary for the region, Ambrosia apparently eschews the Series of Tubes in favor of other methods of promotion. I learned of the restaurant from crookedly photocopied menus that showed up at my workplace.

While the appearance of the menus was unimpressive, the content was exciting—a wide array of Mediterranean dishes, with descriptions that suggested attention to ingredients and creative preparation. I’ve scanned the menu for your convenience.

Ambrosia Fine Dining menu (January 2011) [PDF]

The Spousal Unit and I arrived at about 7:00 on a Friday, on a cold and snowy evening. We were warmly greeted, and offered a table near the window, or across the room. Wary of the cold outside, we chose the interior option. The dining room is large and open, and appears to have been recently decorated and furnished. The walls are painted in warm tones of burgundy and gold, and the black and red tablecloths provide a modern touch.

Preach it, brothers and sisters!

Via Daring Fireball, Never said about restaurant websites:

“I like when the music blasts as soon as the site loads. It signals to everyone at work that I am going out to eat!”

“Why would anyone want to skip this intro? I think I’ll watch it again.”

“Broken links tell me that this place really focuses its energy on its food, not on ‘image’ or ‘good customer service.’ I like that.”

Fortunately, in Johnstown, we don't have to worry about any of this, because our restaurants just don’t bother with those new-fangled Intarwebs at all.

New Year’s Eve: Green Gables (Jennerstown, PA)

For New Year’s Eve 2010, going into 2011, the Spousal Unit and I decided on dinner at one of our favorite restaurants, Green Gables, about 40 minutes south of us in Jennerstown. Green Gables is located just off Route 30 on the same property as the Mountain Playhouse, a professional summer stock theater. I had received an email from the restaurant, describing a special 5-course menu for the holiday, which had attractive choices, and looked well-priced at $55/person.

On an day that welcomed a thaw from a cold December, we arrived for our 7:00 reservation to a bustling dining room decorated in holiday red, with a Christmas tree. The hostess took our coats and showed us to our table in the main dining room, near the large stone fireplace. Reviewing the special menu, the Spousal Unit and I decided on different selections for each course. For the appetizer, she would have the lobster pot pie, and I chose the duck confit pizza. (The third option was a beet dish. I am always mindful of the edict that the dish that sounds worst is the chef’s best… but, man, beets are hard sell next to lobster or duck confit!) I would have the arugula salad described in the advance menu, while she would have a Green Gables iceberg wedge that was added to the printed menu. She chose the peppercorn filet of beef for her main course, while I went with the lamb, and for dessert she selected the chocolate crème brûlée, and I picked a pecan-and-pear bread pudding that was another late addition to the menu.

Audi’s Olde World Restaurant (Johnstown, PA)

Pregame

Veteran’s Day left me with a $1,000 repair bill for the MINI’s passenger seat ass-sensor and a standalone Friday to end the workweek. On my way to work, there was an ad on the local radio station announcing that Audi’s Olde World Restaurant, located at the John Murtha Cambria County Airport, was open for business, with a Mediterranean menu and a wine list with 20 selections. Sounds like a date, I thought!