Let's redefine the word "restaurant"!!

[Middle Earther]

I live near Vancouver, BC, which will host the coming winter olympics and I've noticed that McDonald's has been promoting itself as the "official restaurant of the 2010 Winter Olympics".

I refuse *stamp foot* refuse to think of McD's as a "restaurant".

If I take my wife on a date night and get a babysitter and say "Let's go out to a restaurant." I would be in serious doo-doo if I pulled up to a McD's!! Her response would be "That's not a restaurant, you fool!"

So, let's say the new definition of restaurant cannot include any place with plastic trays or squirt your own ketchup or stuff like that. Anyone else with me?

 

[Kestra]

Umm, don't you have to squirt your own ketchup at many restaurants? Am I not going to fancy enough places? Then again a really fancy place probably wouldn't have ketchup!

 

[Shaytan]

So, let's say the new definition of restaurant cannot include any place with plastic trays or squirt your own ketchup or stuff like that. Anyone else with me?

[snobbish Parisian]
Yeps, in a restaurant, you sit, you order your food and someone serves you.
[/snobbish Parisian]

 

[judge alba]

I agree there a restaurant is not a mackie dees. mackie dee is more of a trough place for when you need to feed with speed

 

[Count Zero]

I agree with the both of you, Middle Earther and Carrie. Carrie's definition is basically how I would define a restaurant, too (it can include Ketchup you have to squeeze yourself ).

 

[Shaytan]

Carrie's definition is basically how I would define a restaurant, too (it can include Ketchup you have to squeeze yourself ).

[even more snobbish Parisian]
A real restaurant doesn't serve ketchup, it makes its own sauce. [/even more snobbish Parisian]

I have a reputation to protect !

 

[Count Zero]

[even more snobbish Parisian]
A real restaurant doesn't serve ketchup, it makes its own sauce. [/even more snobbish Parisian]

I have a reputation to protect !

Well, there are different levels of restaurants, I'd say. In the more exclusive ones this is certainly true. It also depends on what kind of food they serve. But most restaurants will relent on their 'no ketchup' policy in the case of kids, at least.

 

[Holdfast]

I'm probably one of the most naturally snobbish people here, but even I'm happy to call McDonald's a restaurant. It's just that it's a fast-food restaurant.

The core aspect of a restaurant is that it cooks food for you and you eat it on the premises. Of course, I suppose some would argue whether what McDonalds cooks meets the definition of food, but having an abnormal fondness for a quarter-pounder with cheese means I can't argue that one. Waiter service is not a core aspect of a restaurant per se.

 

[Count Zero]

By that definiton, most snack stalls with some tables in front of it where you can eat the food would be restaurants, Holdfast.

 

[Kirby]

If we change the definition of 'restaurant' to exclude places like McDonalds, then we need to change the definition of 'automobile' to exclude shitty cars like the Dodge Neon. Restaurants need to have a caste system instead of a redefinition.

Speaking of restaurants, Middle Earther have you been to Fuel? I hear they're shutting down at the end of the month.

 

[Plecostomus]

I had a Dodge Neon, got 250,000 mile on it before some asshole rear-ended me and pushed me into a dump-truck. I walked away but the Neon was destroyed.

Perhaps the key here is the term "fast food." Fast Food Restaurants more or less preheat mass-produced pre-packaged stuff and serve it in less than 5 min.

This is opposed to a causal or formal dining situation such as my wife's diner where things are prepared from scratch and or kits... or a snooty French Restaurant where you order Escargots farcis au fromage d'égout to start, followed by a main course of
Tranches de boeuf servi plus de brûler un pneu bourré de militants politiques and wash it down with a $90 bottle of Maison de chaton pissant ze carpet.

 

[Shaytan]

Well, there are different levels of restaurants, I'd say. In the more exclusive ones this is certainly true. It also depends on what kind of food they serve.

Fast foods < brasserie < restaurant (with or without "stars")

If it's food, we've already thought about it

But most restaurants will relent on their 'no ketchup' policy in the case of kids, at least.

My parents managed to have french fries specially for me in an Alsacian restaurant specialist in sauerkraut

 

[Holdfast]

By that definiton, most snack stalls with some tables in front of it where you can eat the food would be restaurants, Holdfast.

If they actually own/rent the area with the tables, they are technically restaurants (either of the fast food or cafe variety). The kiosk type places where you buy something and eat it in a shared public place with seating? No, because they don't own that area.

If we change the definition of 'restaurant' to exclude places like McDonalds, then we need to change the definition of 'automobile' to exclude shitty cars like the Dodge Neon. Restaurants need to have a caste system instead of a redefinition.

They already do.

Fast food joints are technically QSRs - Quick Service Restaurants, which is I think the lowest rung of the ladder (the lowest of the low is, I think, QSR Snack, which is the kind I think Carrie, Count Zero and I are discussing earlier in this post). Next up is Fast Casual, then Casual Dining, then Upscale Dining, then Fine Dining. I think that's roughly right, though my memory is hazy and I'm sure there are multiple definitions. And then within fine Dining you have plenty of increasingly rigorous levels leading up to 3 Michelin stars at the very pinnacle. Of course, how much credence you give to the classification is up to you, but the caste system already exists!

 

[Count Zero]

Well, there are different levels of restaurants, I'd say. In the more exclusive ones this is certainly true. It also depends on what kind of food they serve.

Fast foods < brasserie < restaurant (with or without "stars")

If it's food, we've already think about it

We have this sort of layered system as well, with 'Gaststätte' instead of 'brasserie', although the terms are not always used in a clear-cut way. I also wonder how to integrate places like American diners and sushi bars into this system.

But most restaurants will relent on their 'no ketchup' policy in the case of kids, at least.

My parents managed to have french fries specially for me in an Alsacian restaurant specialist in sauerkraut

You can specialise in sauerkraut? I'm sorry, but now I have the hilarious picture of snobby Parisians commenting on the nuances in sauerkraut in my mind.

 

[Shaytan]

You can specialise in sauerkraut?

You can specialise in everything. There are places known for their sauerkrauts (yes, plurial, they serve different kind of sauerkrauts including one cooked in champagne and one with fish instead of meat ), Chez Jenny near République for example.

I'm sorry, but now I have the hilarious picture of snobby Parisians commenting on the nuances in sauerkraut in my mind.

Don't be sorry, I had a (too loud) laugh in an Italian restaurant where 2 guys were commenting with too much details the tiramitsu to the waiter

Actually, we do comment the nuances in cuisine and restaurants

 

[RoJoHen]

Fast foods < brasserie < restaurant (with or without "stars")

Brasserie? Is that, like, Dairy Queen?

 

[Middle Earther]

If we change the definition of 'restaurant' to exclude places like McDonalds, then we need to change the definition of 'automobile' to exclude shitty cars like the Dodge Neon. Restaurants need to have a caste system instead of a redefinition.

Speaking of restaurants, Middle Earther have you been to Fuel? I hear they're shutting down at the end of the month.

Never heard of Fuel? Is that a Canadian place?

I like the idea of being snobby and having a caste system. I think we need some more snobbiness, actually. It's fun being a snob!

 

[Kirby]

^^ Fuel is in Vancouver on Burnaby island. Stargate producer Joe Mallozzi constantly raves about it on his blog, so when I was in Vancouver last summer on business I took my traveling companions there and it was probably in the top 5 meals I've ever had.

 

[Capn Flukie]

I went somewhere today, got served food, and ate it right there.

So vending machines qualify as restaurants too?

 

[Lindley]

They're calling them "dwarf restaurants" these days.