What would you do?

Last week I asked a friend to go to dinner with me, I felt like I was in a rut, always dining at the same places, so asked him if he was up for trying somewhere new. We ended up at Local Three, and felt both guilty and embarrassed for having suggested it after we didn't have a great experience. As a qualifier, they are newly opened and were very busy the night we were there. However, of the six dishes we sampled, I didn't really enjoy any of them. There were also some service issues, although we fared far better than another couple who walked out after repeated requests for a menu were ignored. Our server was quite busy, so I wasn't bothered until after we had waited close to 20 minutes for a dessert that never came, because it had never been ordered, and I also realized that one of my small plates never came out, again because it hadn't been ordered. What made the whole thing more perplexing was that the server comped one of my friend's drinks to make up for not putting in two things that I had ordered.

That was that until I sent that same friend the following tweet yesterday: "are you up for another dining adventure? One that will hopefully be less sucky than Local 3? Are you busy tomorrow night?" What ensued was a completely unexpected twitter conversation.

@HungrySouthernr: @poodle_powerwhat was wrong with Local 3? Bad food or something?

@poodle_power: @HungrySouthernr food was uninspired & server kept forgetting to ring in items I ordered, made up 4 it by comping my friends, drink not mine

@HungrySouthernr: @poodle_power wow the food was uninspired? What was uninspiring about it? They'd love your feed back Chef Chris is very receptive

@poodle_power: @HungrySouthernr can't detail everything in 140 characters, would be happy to talk to chef Chris

@HungrySouthernr: @poodle_power do you remember what you had that night? I just meant you should have talked to Chris and told him or Ryan Turner.

@poodle_power: @HungrySouthernr you can look at my Foodspotting feed and see what I tried and how I felt about each dish

@HungrySouthernr: @poodle_power cool. How do I do that? Ill forward it to Local Three folks as well

@HungrySouthernr: @poodle_power did you speak with the manager? Just curious, I sampled the whole menu would love to hear which dish you found uninspiring?

@poodle_power: @HungrySouthernr by the time we waited over 20 minutes 4 dessert that didn't show because server never ordered, we were just ready to leave

@poodle_power: @HungrySouthernr I also think the experience may differ when you try everything 4 free before opening vs going on a busy night & paying

@poodle_power: @HungrySouthernr have you been back as a regular guest?

@HungrySouthernr: @poodle_power yep. I've been back several times for lunch and dinner and always payed.

@poodle_power: @HungrySouthernr you/they can look at my sightings at http://www.foodspotting.com/ultrafoodie

@poodle_power: @HungrySouthernr just wondering, maybe we picked an off night, or me really, as I suggested it & felt bad when we didn't have a good exprnc

@HungrySouthernr: @poodle_power yeah I looked at it. Hard to find anything positive in there. Did your poor service effect what you said about the food?

@poodle_power: @HungrySouthernr I don't think so, it wasn't that bad until the end when dessert didn't come, then I realized I never got pork rinds either

@poodle_power: @HungrySouthernr we actually joked about it because he seemed nice to us, till the end, but duo next to us walked out due to no service

@HungrySouthernr: @poodle_power did you talk to the manager? They are a new restaurant if you thought the food was that bad why did you pay, or send it back?

@poodle_power: @HungrySouthernr I didn't think the food tasted good, that doesn't mean the restaurant should pay for my meal, I just won't be going back

@poodle_power: @HungrySouthernr I won't send back food that isn't to my taste, it wasn't inedible, there wasn't raw chicken or hair or shards of glass

@HungrySouthernr: @poodle_power that is terrible to hear. Like I said if you/they didn't talk to the manager they can't fix the food or service problems.

@HungrySouthernr: @poodle_power yea not for everyone I guess.You seem to be more of burger person, why didn't you get the Mcdowell? To each his own in eating

@poodle_power: @HungrySouthernr I wanted to stick with small plates to try as much as possible, if I'd had the burger I would have eaten 1/2 then been done

@HungrySouthernr: @poodle_power I still think if you thought the food was lacking and had poor service you should have talked to the manager to give feedback

I'm curious, has anyone else experienced anything like this? Would anyone like to pick sides on this one? When is the situation bad enough to bring to the attention of the chef, owner, manager, etc.? What has been your tipping point?

One other question, in regards to fish bones, if you are eating something like a filet of salmon, should it be expected that the restaurant has thoroughly checked the fish and removed any bones? Or is that up to the diner? Does the answer change if the salmon is served as part of a BLT sandwich?

Turkey 4 ways

This was the first year of having Christmas at my new house, last year being out of the question because I had just moved in and the place was a disaster area (not that I am completely unpacked now, more than a year later, but that's another post). As I was hosting, I decided that gave me complete control over the menu, which meant roasting a turkey. To know why that's a big deal, you have to know that my father can't stand turkey and my mother claims to be allergic to the smell of it cooking, but this is my house, my rules. In retrospect, as my house still smells like Christmas dinner, my mother may be right, and as I overcooked the turkey grossly, my father maybe right, but that doesn't change the fact that I love turkey and finally got the opportunity to roast one.

My dad still doesn't quite understand my need to photograph everything I cook or eat for potential blog posts, so this picture was taken after he had carved the wing off, and no he wouldn't let me try to reattach it with toothpicks. It was 9:00PM, so maybe he had a point. I will be the first to admit that it was dry, like the Sahara, despite the stick of butter I stuffed under the skin, with my own sage that I picked from beneath the snow. However, with enough gravy and cranberry sauce you can choke most anything down.

Then comes the next ordeal, what do you do with the leftovers from a 14 pound turkey, when there are only 4 people at dinner and it is drier than dust? The good news is I was able to stash it outside for a day or two to deliberate due to the subarctic temperatures. I came up with turkey pot pie two ways and turkey soup. One pot pie was topped with leftover stuffing, made with fennel, roasted lemons, and pine nuts - one of the best stuffings I have ever eaten (recipe courtesy of Epicurious).

The other was topped by DuFour puff pastry from Whole Foods, which at $11.99 better be amazing, but it does not disappoint. As I had some leftover, I made some Old Bay flavored cheese straws, so tasty to snack on while you wait for your pot pie to cool enough to eat. I made the mistake of cutting vent holes into the top of the pastry, allowing the sauce to come through and weigh down the top, inhibiting puffing, but that didn't keep it from tasting delicious. The sauce was inspired by one in the DK Chicken cookbook written by Anne Willan, so you can imagine how good it was, and it successfully transformed the turkey into something palatable, so double win!

Even after I had stuffed as much meat as possible into the two pot pies, I still had tons leftover, so I decided to stuff the carcass into the crockpot and start a soup. This turned out to be another good way to use up meat, with orzo and carrots and more fennel, although the texture of the dry meat wasn't concealed nearly as well as when it was covered with a sauce full of butter and heavy cream.

Now dear reader, what holiday mishaps did you have in your kitchen and how did you save them from being a complete disaster?