I agree. I don’t have the time or the patience. I don’t want to “have a drink at the bar” for an hour or more, either. I have seen in a few instances that once the hipsters find the new hot place that the old place starts accepting reservations. And at that point I still think f*ck em’ because now they “want” my business. Unless its really, really good because this particular opinion of mine is easily swayed by good food and/or wine.
Even hipster hot spots have lulls and, as a former restaurant cook, it’s frustrating to alternately be in the weeds and bored, waiting around. And now with OpenTable, canceling a reservation doesn’t require a guilty phone call, just a click. No shows are a problem, especially at high end restaurants where food costs are high. For all these reasons, I totally support buying a restaurant " ticket" like Next in Chicago as a new mode of doing things. It’s fair to both diner and restauranteur. I agree that no-reservations policies are annoying, and they really make life difficult if you have children…
Now as for kale: good, healthy, useful but as annoyingly ubiquitous as Brussels sprouts, beet salads and still, to this fu @king day, seared rare tuna appetizers. But then again, what’s new under the sun? Artisanal heritage beans? Come on - THEY TASTE LIKE BEANS ( unless you cook them in Philly tap water - then they taste a bit like road kill) and are only pretty before you cook them.
I wrote above that I hate good restaurants that don’t take reservations. But I’m all for the ticketing system for high end places. It makes perfect sense for the restaurant and, in many cases, the diner as well.
No-reservation policies tend to work in my favor because: (1) my wife and I don’t mind eating early, usually; and (2) we can always get a babysitter through the service that we use. I go semi-regularly to Fat Rice, Longman & Eagle, and Dusek’s. I’ve still never been to Goosefoot because I don’t have the patience to figure out the optimum time to call for a reservation.
