Seattlest: Underground Restaurants Get Little Sympathy Here

missgnomer

Fri, 25 Apr 2008 23:35:49 -0800

Ronald, sounds like your "industry insider" is speculating about who the dishwashers were for this sort of thing. I can tell you, because on a number of occasions I was one, and I don't work as a dishwasher or even in a restaurant. Sometimes we were guests; other times we were servers, dishwashers, platers. It's about a love of food. This wasn't the sort of thing that you could get at a restaurant. It was intimate, and fun. I'm beginning to think I need to start my own "underground restaurant" or maybe I just need to have a good bbq. Happy Eating!

polyrhythmic

Fri, 25 Apr 2008 14:06:00 -0800

It seems the point of the private dinners is to encourage new people to meet and have a different experience, not try to be a restaurant or the coolest thing on the block. There is also the warmth of preparing food personally for people you interact with. I don't see the point of being so upset on either side, live and let live. BTW on the Costco case, Washington has state-run non-competitive tax markup silly liquor laws, so I don't blame Costco for trying to make it a little easier for everyone to get a drink -- Costco was just trying to work like they do in several other states.

ronaldholden

Fri, 25 Apr 2008 10:14:05 -0800

James, I don't disagree with the entertainment value of Gypsy, but as Simonian says, it's a dinner party, not a restaurant. Real restaurants have to worry about whether the dishwasher will show up. And here's a note I received from an industry insider who wants to remain anonymous: Plus it goes even deeper....those helper "volunteers" who are more than likely line cooks somewhere, plus all the guests, really are dining at their own risk. No L&I. No liability insurance. A slip and fall can put a good cook out of the kitchen for 6-8 weeks...and out of salary. Stunting young talent like that should be shunned. Perhaps you should enlighten your readership as to why secret dining is going on in other cities. For example San Francisco, the trend emerged when minority (read Hispanic) individuals could not secure space or funds to open their restaurants. Many of the "resident" illegals (mainly men) hunger for home cooked meals (they live several to a room, no hot plate...thus taco wagons, what they can afford). The secret restaurants of the south of Mission are "home" for these people. A few lucky gringos sneak in. Quite the opposite. The Seattle experience is punctuated by "haute" cuisine, weird combinations and trendy flavors that can be experienced anywhere on any night at licensed restaurants. Nothing new or revolutionary or authentically ethnic about it. The not so secret occasional dining spots in Portland, like Simpatica, are doing it right! Very limited seating. Two or three nights a week operational. All licenses in place. Seasonal, chef's choice menu. Fix price....including beverages, so there are no surprises at the end of the evening. Gee.....that sort of sounds like The Herbfarm! And the parking is better.

James Callan

Fri, 25 Apr 2008 09:51:44 -0800

It's a trap? Hell! While I belonged to Gypsy, I think the secrecy -- and melodramatic responses to perceived betrayal -- is (was) part of the entertainment value. Like Lost, it benefits from having an end. That said, I can't get indignant about their circumventing the law. I won't cry nanny-state, but shutting down underground restaurants seems on par with busting sex workers and breaking up private poker parties -- waste of resources. That said, it's the laws that gotta change.

jwhieger

Fri, 25 Apr 2008 09:38:46 -0800

Minnies made Denny's look like the Palace Kitchen. Horrible on all fronts.

Simonian

Fri, 25 Apr 2008 09:01:49 -0800

Word. Throw a dinner party or run a restaurant. You have to choose one or the other.

ronaldholden

Thu, 24 Apr 2008 21:24:36 -0800

And why did Minnie's close? It was closed by the IRS because of unpaid taxes, well over $100,000.

Wesa

Thu, 24 Apr 2008 20:54:14 -0800

Um, Minnie's closed a while back.

RMH

Thu, 24 Apr 2008 20:46:31 -0800

Seriously?