I see many of us share with the server, how about the Chef ?
I don’t always do it, but I have brought a bottle just for the Chef & others in the kitchen , for a place I go often.
I haven’t done a bottle yet, but share when the moment hits us. Sometimes the server will say the chef is a wine nut and I’ll pour another glass.
We will usually invite the restaurant manager and chef to have a glass, sometimes sending one to the, via the server.
I often send the rest of bottles back to the kitchen
Hmmmm…what be this thing you call “the rest of the bottle”?? ![[snort.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/b/bdc3944606213c4dca6c1169cf0a166c8bc4f8c9.gif "snort.gif"){kind=small}
If I know the chef is a serious wine nut, I always make sure he gets a sample. Last night at Arioso, we shared the
last glass of the Freddy-Willem Gymn Graacher Himmelreich Auslese '71 w/ Julian. He couldn’t get over how
amazingly good it was…nothing he’d ever experienced before.
Tom
Left a bottle of Damoy Clos de Beze with our server once. An unopened bottle. Apparently I had been over-served.
Chefs at my house, yes indeed. Chef’s Table at restaurants, also a yes. Otherwise, nah, too many people back in the kitchen. Server, mostly yes but can depend on circumstance.
Did a dinner at Restaurant August in N.O. awhile back and brought the backup bottle of 94 Fonseca to the kitchen at the end of the night.
We have chipped in to buy the kitchen a bottle of scotch at Schwa in Chicago. But I’ve never send back a bottle of wine. Happy to share a couple of glasses or leave the extra wine for the staff.
Sure do when I feel in the mood after a great meal!
I quite often bring a bottle of my own EMH wine to a chef or owner/chef. It is a wonderful way to connect and show appreciation. One chef north of Boston carried his gift bottle around the restaurant, showing it off as if it were a new child of his! I understand this a different twist on the question in the OP, but the chef sometimes likes to point out to his diners that a winemaker is in the house. Everyone feels good about it.
Semi-reguarly. It’s a nice gesture.
I’m not this damn nice, though! ![[wow.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/7/7d450e9830889c8943b674446a21b7254cad657e.gif "wow"){kind=small}
Chefs at my house, yes indeed. Chef’s Table at restaurants, also a yes. Otherwise, nah, too many people back in the kitchen. Server, mostly yes but can depend on circumstance.
Happy to share with the chef, but a whole bottle, no.
The entire back office staff, no.
If I brought the bottle, I’d kind of like to have a taste myself.
I’m happy to share but if they they can add it to the corkage if I need to take care of the whole place.
I’ve been trying to put a serious dent in my collection since I’m moving soon (and just helped my wife move in Texas) so for two people we bring two bottles. We finish about half of each and leave the bottles for the staff. I never expect anything but it usually gets rid of corkage and everyone generally seems pretty appreciative.
Yes, on several occasions, when it seemed fit. The most we ever left was over half a magnum of an '89 Chinon at the Playground. We also had such an awesome time at Meadowood that we drove down the hill, picked up 2 cases of beer and drove back up to give it to the kitchen.
There was one special situation where it would have been very awkward if we had not sent wine to the chef and head manager of a small, intimate local restaurant in Germany. Our wine theme for the evening was “75 Paulilac” and I called beforehand to talk to the couple who ran the restaurant (chef and head manager) on the phone to settle the corkage fee. It was a large number of chateaux bottles, and I was unsure whether they had a limit on how many we could open, but they allowed us to bring them all, so I had them transported early in the day. When we got to the restaurant in the evening, the chef popped out of the kitchen to greet us, and to discuss what he could offer us from the kitchen to match these wines. It was a curious exchange, as the chef was a local celebrity, in his elder years, and his appearance in the dining room turned a lot of eyes from other tables. His favourite BDX, Lynch Bages, was sitting right in front of me, as he talked about his memory of the BDX 75 release. The restaurant manager & sommelier quickly took our bottles to a side table to prepare them for the tasting, and took sips of each after opening to test their condition. There was such a large amount of wine that these test sips from the staff did not really bother me. What I thought was a mistake though was our seating arrangement: Since the restaurant did not have a private dining room, our group was seated in the middle of the dining room surrounded by quiet tables of two who were ordering a la carte looking for a quiet evening out–probably locals who thought of the restaurant as “their restaurant” and were obviously growing jealous and even angry at our dining party. As the evening progressed, our dining party grew a little loud and I could tell we were annoying these diners because of the decadence and expense of our wines, our louder conversations, and the special treatment we were receiving from the staff, who did not shoosh us (but should have). Amazingly, by the end of the evening, we had not finished every bottle of 75 Pauillac. The restaurant was empty except for us and the staff, and a server came up with that bottle of 75 Lynch Bages to show me that, “oops, some is still left.” I quickly said, “send it to the kitchen with our compliments for your hospitality.” As we picked up to leave, and approached the entrance, the chef was sitting at the front table with a glass full of that 75 Lynch Bages and a calm expression of joy and fatigue in his face. One of my guests saw he had a nice watch, and this led to a final round of horological discussion and complimentary dessert wines for another hour. All the time, the chef was drinking that 75 Lynch Bages with such pleasure: I was so happy I had sent that bottle to him, obviously the right recipient. In the end, I think we did not pay any corkage fees, and were comped quite alot of servings. It was a tremendous evening, both tasting these 75 Pauillacs and interacting with the staff. The story has a sad ending: two months later, I read in the newspaper that the chef had died of a heart attack, and that the restaurant was relocating. Every time I think of him, I think of that evening.
We have certainly sent glasses of wine back to the chef/staff.
Our old time favorite BYO for crazy Boston offlines in the '90s/early '00s, we always had to bring a six pack of Bud Lite!
We often give a glass to the chef, the server, and the owner of our local BYOB.
Very nice !
I’ve seen “buy the kitchen a round” many times on menus