Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Restaurants 'I'll have the menu with the big, readable letters'
Posted by Cliff Bostock @cliffbostock on Tue, Dec 11, 2007 at 5:31 PM
Here's a complaint: I dined at Steel last night — more about that in a later post — and encountered a problem that keeps coming up in restaurants. I couldn't read the damn menu without holding it over the candle on the table.
Yeah, I know eyesight worsens with age, but every time I complain about this in a restaurant, the server says she's heard the same thing from others. In the case of Steel, which was certainly not the worst I've encountered, I could read the takeout menu more easily than the regular menu.
If you're going to keep the lights low in your restaurant, shouldn't your menu feature type bigger than a telephone directory's? And, even if you provide decent lighting, skip the fancy typography. No bright background colors or pictures, please.
And, double-please, no red ink on the menu! Red is especially unreadable. Years ago, I handed a Linotype operator a story I'd edited in red ink and he literally threw it back at me. While your fifth-grade teacher might have used red ink to correct your spelling test, it's considered taboo in the world of editing.
I have a small flashlight I carry to restaurants now and then. I guess I will have to add super-strong reading glasses or a magnifying glass to my reviewing gear.
(Image from bnscatalog.com)
Comments (9)
Showing 1-9 of 9
I have trying to figure out a way of asking those questions and since I could not find what the best way is (such as an appropriate section within the blog) I decided to simply ask them here in this section. I thought that someone here might be able to point me into the right direction. Can you recommend a place where I can find dishes like Mole and/or Chile Verde... Nothing fancy, just solid Mexican food. I really do not know a place where I can find those. Also, any store where can one get good fresh oysters. I am sad to say that the only two places that I know (Your DeKalb FM and Whole foods) sold me at times oysters that I had to throw out due to their smell (yuck). Besides seafood restaurants, any store that is reliable for seafood? Thank you very much!!
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Nelu, Check out Atlanta Cuisine.com they have a forum on Atlanta Restaurants that is great information. To answer your question: I like Agave and Pozole.
way to jack that thread, man- right of the bat! Cliff- love the Light Head Magnifying Glass- sounds like a song by Shonen Knife!
weird, i have to edit my stuff with red ink, or i can never see my corrections. black and blue ink just blend in too easily.
I concur with TJ; the mole at Nuevo Laredo is excellent. So is the family-made one at Zocalo on 10th and in Decatur. I'm not 100pct. sure they are still using their family product. Leila, on a double-spaced, typewritten page, handwritten corrections are quite obvious in black ink. This is really pretty moot now since this was an issue with typesetters, who worked at high speed and the red ink added to their eyestrain. I'm putting the LIght Head on my Xmas list. My friend Bette used to wear a miner's helmet to bed so she could read without disturbing her husband's sleep by leaving a lamp on.
Thanks so much for the recommendations. It looks like I will be making a trip to Nuevo Laredo this week to check out their mole.
I have just tried the chicken mole at Nuevo Laredo! It is indeed pretty good. Thanks for the recommendation. The place seems to be pretty busy at every hour of the day. For a city with fairly large hispanic population, I find interesting that mole is not easy to find around the Buford Highway area...
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