🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <9904@pine.cam.nist.gov> guthrie@cam.nist.gov (Will_Guthrie_x2854) writes:
>References: <92317.175648FR5641A@auvm.american.edu>
>
>One reasonably priced French restaurant that I like is L'Escargot 
>in Cleveland Park.  The food is good and two people can eat there 
>for about $50-$60 including one glass of wine each.
>

Yuk.

I liked this place on one visit, but the next visit was a disaster.

My friend (who is an avid gourmet food/wine guru), and I brought a favorite
bottle of wine to L'Escargot, planning our usual (high-budget) feast.
When we showed the waiter the wine and asked about a corking fee, he
talked to the maitre d' then told us we would not be able to drink the 
wine there.

My friend and I have taken wines into many DC restaurants, from the finest
to the weakest.  We have been charged anywhere from nothing to $20, which
we think is fine.  A few restaurants (very few) have stated that they 
do not allow the practice.  This, too, though disappointing, is fine.

We asked if we could talk to the boss.  The maitre d' came over and told
us it was "against the law" for him to open our wine.  We were stunned.
We told him that this was simply not the case (Phyllis Richman publishes
corking fees!), and asked him why.  He insisted, even after we explained
to him that we knew the wine laws, that it was against the law.

The fact was the man wanted to sell us a bottle of wine.  We bought
a bottle and ate the mediocre food. 

We will not further patronize a place that holds its customers in such 
low esteem as to lie to them.

_Le's Car Go Somewhere Else!_

 Timothy Law Snyder
 Department of Computer Science
 Reiss 225
 Georgetown University
 Washington, DC 20057

tim@normal.georgetown.edu
(202) 687-6208