Omnivore - Separate checks, restaurant politics, erotic puns
Here and there
La Tavola will host the next Big Gay Supper Club’s monthly brunch. It’s scheduled 12:30-3 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 16. Your $20 buys a three-course meal, served family style. Check out the club’s website for details....
Is this usual? I ran into a friend who was hired to head up the kitchen at a local bar. He quit his current job to take it. During the following two weeks he found himself in the middle of boundary politics between two managers. Did the manager who hired him have the right to do that without the agreement of the other manager? Finally, at the end of two weeks, my friend showed up to work and a note that informed him someone else had been hired to head the kitchen. No explanation at all. Ugh.....
Unlike everyone else, I did not rush to the grocery store Friday to stock up on bread, milk and Moon Pies. So I drove the two treacherous blocks from our house to Grant Central, where I had an especially good version of their nightly meat lasagna special.....
Speaking of Italian in Grant Park, Stella is closed and will reopen as Doc Chey’s in February....
I’m not sure why, but I’ve encountered more and more servers offering to bring separate checks to the table. In years past this has been taboo in many restaurants. I’m not sure if it’s the ailing economy, improved technology or what that has made restaurant staffs willing to do this more often....
Yay for surf and turf! The Marietta Houlihan’s now has a Thursday special that gives diners a free lobster tail if they order a 9-oz. prime top sirloin, an 
z. filet mignon or 12-oz. New York strip steak. The special starts at 4 p.m. The restaurant is located at 1401 Johnson Ferry Rd., 770-977-9324....
Speaking of Houlihan’s and Cowtippers (see post below), what’s the deal with erotic puns? In the email for its lobster special, Houlihan’s suggests that you “tell your friends how to get free tail legally.” Cowtippers claims on its site that “no one can beat our meat.” Ka pum pum.