{"id":42,"date":"2014-05-08T12:11:03","date_gmt":"2014-05-08T12:11:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.brothersbites.com\/?p=42"},"modified":"2014-05-08T12:12:09","modified_gmt":"2014-05-08T12:12:09","slug":"prix-fix","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.brothersbites.com\/?p=42","title":{"rendered":"Prix fix"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Mammoth\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Hi Tony,<\/span><\/p>\n

I am on the same page as you. Super expensive, 18 course degustation menus are fine and all, but does that make the restaurant better from one offering a la carte? Pretty sure I\u2019ve had that seafood fried rice you speak of too, and agree, it is pretty amazing.<\/span><\/p>\n

One of the most insidious trends to permeate the Melbourne eating scene is the \u201cno bookings\u201d restaurant. Seriously, if I want to go for some food with a\/some friends, I like to know I am going to be able to get some food. I get why restaurants complain about bookings not showing. I blame the serious foodie and the media for playing into this hype. I also blame the serious foodie and media for not having the common courtesy of calling to cancel a booking. <\/span><\/p>\n

Picture this, showing up with 3 friends to a no-booking restaurant at 6pm, expecting that a sitting will be assured within a few minutes, only to be told said restaurant is already full, but we can find a table for you in about 4 hours. Take my number, you ask? \u201cNo, we don\u2019t do that\u201d. Find a bar nearby, where you drink (with no food) for a few hours and forget to check back about a table. You arrive late to check back to find your name has been crossed off, because \u201cwe found a table for you 2 hours ago and you weren\u2019t to be found\u201d. No, don\u2019t go postal, it\u2019s about creating an artificial demand.<\/span><\/p>\n

If the restaurant is good, no-shows for bookings will not matter as there are plenty of walk-ins to fill the table.<\/span><\/p>\n

The newest experiment is prix fix (pay fixed amount for 2 or 3 courses at booking \u2013 non-refundable). Must admit, this solves many of the issues. If you are the type to blow off a restaurant booking\u2026well, you\u2019ve already paid, so restaurant is ok on revenue front. They may even be lucky enough to fill your table with some walks ins. It\u2019s a 2 for 1 switch!<\/span><\/p>\n

We are spoilt for choices in Melbourne, but I refuse to line up for one of these no-bookings restaurants. I can do better and know I\u2019m going to be eating when I chose to, or near enough to it.<\/span><\/p>\n

Back to the US. We headed to Lake Tahoe. A stunning part of the world. Odd, but stunning. I am still trying to figure out why there are a multi-million dollars houses and only a Safeway to get groceries. Where is the providore? The fishmonger? The artisan baker? <\/span><\/p>\n

I went back to an old favourite (<\/span>Rosie\u2019s Caf\u00e9<\/span><\/span><\/a>) for a burger, and again for breakfast. Perhaps because it was close. Not sure. What I did recall was that we returned to the \u201cit\u2019s bigger, therefore better\u201d attitude. The caf\u00e9 latte was no exception. Pretty sure it was a good solid litre! Was it good? Well\u2026it was big.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Rosies\"<\/a><\/p>\n

South Lake Tahoe was worse. Cal\/Nev border means wanna-be glitzy casinos on one side of the street and run down motels on the other. Nothing about it was good. We didn\u2019t stop, just stared.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mammoth Lakes was next stop. This is where we were pleasantly surprised, but it wasn\u2019t because of some funky place in town, but rather the food at the daylodge at <\/span>Mammoth Mountain<\/span><\/span><\/a>. I don\u2019t think I\u2019ve ever seen snowboarders with plates of salad before\u2026.certainly not with pants hanging around thighs and for lunch at a ski resort?! <\/span><\/p>\n

LA was final stop. I was going to say something about LA, but I still think the best part of LA is leaving\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

Back in Melbourne now. Big weekend planned, a ball, a 50th<\/span><\/sup> and rounding things off with a Eurovision party with some Danish friends (who had no choice but to host\u2026both the party and Eurovision).<\/span><\/p>\n

Dan<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi Tony, I am on the same page as you. Super expensive, 18 course degustation menus are fine and all, but does that make the restaurant better from one offering a la carte? Pretty sure I\u2019ve had that seafood fried rice you speak of too, and agree, it is pretty amazing. One of the most … Continue reading Prix fix<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[38,34,32,36,35,33,37],"class_list":["post-42","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-travel","tag-eurovision","tag-los-angeles","tag-mammoth-mountain","tag-melbourne","tag-prix-fix","tag-rosies-cafe","tag-tahoe"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brothersbites.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brothersbites.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brothersbites.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brothersbites.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brothersbites.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=42"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.brothersbites.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brothersbites.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=42"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brothersbites.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=42"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brothersbites.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=42"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}