February 19, 2004
YOU HAVE BEEN SERVED
Steve "Steinski" Stein:
I used to eat at Shopsin's all the time, for years. I started at the old location when all the kids were small, before they had the built-in booths. Truly the greatest restaurant ever.
I was eating there one evening with a friend, when a couple of obvious newbies wandered in the door. They looked around tentatively and took the table next to us.
Kate, the waitress at the time, came over with a menu and said in a fairly threatening tone, "The kitchen closes in 5 minutes, so you'd better make up your minds fast." She tossed the menu down and left.
The couple was bewildered at the brusque treatment and the size of the menu. The guy turned to me and asked "What's good here?"
Luxuriating in my insider status, I began to point at the menu with a sympatheic smile when Kate rushed back, grabbed the menu, and said loudly "The kitchen's closed!. No service! I'm sorry, but you'll have to leave."
She hustled the poor couple out, practically pushing them through the door. As they left, she came over to me pointing her finger and hissed "Don't EVER fucking do that again! They didn't belong here!" The busboy trailed after her and whispered to me "You're lucky Kenny didn't catch you. He don't like new customers."
Posted by Sasha at February 19, 2004 05:53 PM | TrackBack