How do you like your steak?

[Zoltri]

I have been in the restaurant business all my life and a topic of discussion recently came up concerning customers.

Although it is not an exact science most staff members agree that customers who like their steaks rare are better spenders and more generous with gratuities.

Conversely, customers who like their steaks well done are the opposite with regards to their money.

The same theory applies to smokers. People who light up drink more. Character flaw?

I am curious how gamblers like their steak prepared? Personally, I'm a medium rare type of guy. /images/graemlins/smirk.gif

[nolanfan34]

I'm also a medium rare to rare guy, and I probably tip better than average, because I have family in the restaurant business.

I don't smoke, but I do drink a lot, I'm not sure what that means.

[fnord_too]

I'm like mine medium, though not all cooks know what medium is /images/graemlins/frown.gif.

[IndieMatty]

Medium Rare, and it isn't even close.

Oh I tip like 25% at least because my friends are all waiters, and I do semi/sorta smoke...and I drink "regularely".

[beerbandit]

i always ask the color rather than saying med. rare -- it seems that evry place is different

i like my with a light pink center -- i feel that i always tip well, sometimes even in situations when i prob. shouldnt be so generous

steak is good

i dont smoke cigarettes, but im pretty sure i can hold my own with most


cheers

[TimM]

[ QUOTE ]
Medium Rare, and it isn't even close.

[/ QUOTE ]

Agreed.

[tek]

Medium.

[IndieMatty]

I think all "gamblers" well us Poker Players are good tippers and generous with our money. Try going on a 300BB downswing/upswing, and not being flippant, and just handing a hundred over for a $73 dollar bill. At least that's my experience.

One thing Poker has taught me is that really, when it all comes down to it... "Money ain't a thang"

[Allan]

How do you like your meat thread (http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=exchange&Number=1371457&Fo rum=,f20,&Words=rare%20steak&Searchpage=1&Limit=10 0&Main=1371457&Search=true&where=bodysub&Name=&dat erange=1&newerval=1&newertype=m&olderval=1&olderty pe=d&bodyprev=#Post1371457)

[Shajen]

[ QUOTE ]
Medium Rare, and it isn't even close.

Oh I tip like 25% at least because my friends are all waiters, and I do semi/sorta smoke...and I drink "regularely".

[/ QUOTE ]

What he said, almost to a "t". Except most of my friends (and myself) were waiters or bartenders at one time or another, so it's a been there, done that type of thing.

Medium Rare is the only way to get a restaurant cooked steak.

At home it's more rare than medium...but I know what I'm doing.

[stabn]

I tip well but not excessive and i like my steak medium. However, it's so rare to actually get a steak cooked correctly that i will usually order medium rare and send it back if it's too bloody. I made the mistake of getting a NY strip steak in our cafeteria today. Besides the fact that everything in our cafe sucks ass, it came to me somewhere between medium-well and well done. No a millimeter of pink to be found.

[IndieMatty]

I was at Angelo Maxi's the other night, and my friend sent his steak back same reason, too bloody, he asked for medium rare. I have never done this. I eat it as is. I'm a pussy when it comes to ordering, all that catholic guilt I guess.

[stabn]

[ QUOTE ]

I have never done this. I eat it as is. I'm a pussy when it comes to ordering, all that catholic guilt I guess.


[/ QUOTE ]
One of the nice things about an undercooked steak is the fact that they can throw it back on the grill and finish it. That's why i'd much rather my steak be undercooked than overcooked (plus, i do like being able to taste it). I figure sending back an undercooked steak costs them a lot less than sending back an overcooked steak.

[FatMan]

I can enjoy a steak from rare to medium, so I always order medium rare so that it falls in an edible spectrum. Anything over medium and it's going back for a new steak. I normally tip 20% or up. When I was in college and just out of college I was a terrible tipper, so now I have vowed to make up for my previous stingyness. But, it cuts both ways. If service is bad I usually leave 10% or less. If services was horrible the manager will be talked with on my way out.

[Six_of_One]

Anything past rare, and I just don't see the point. Once the steak is cooked rare, the amount of flavor is inversely proportional to any remaining time it spends being cooked.

I can choke down medium rare if I have to, but medium is burnt.

[jdl22]

Medium-rare. I'm also quite generous tipping.

[Duke]

Medium, unless it's a cheap restaurant then medium-well or well.

I hate fat, and it's easier to remove it from a fatty well done steak than a fatty medium steak.

I generally over-tip to a huge degree, so I try to let someone else take care of the tipping. My sister and some other friends are or were servers.

~D

[Slacker13]

Med-Rare. I am def a good tipper. I use to bartend.

[wayabvpar]

Medium rare, with a nice merlot or cab to go with it. Damn, now I am starving.

[tek]

As far as tipping, it is based on service for me. It's not an exercise in ego-tripping.

What I would like to ask is: Does anyone tip in advance?

Tip is an acronym for To Insure Prompt (and I would suppose quality too) service. Therefore, shouldn't we tip in advance?

[IggyWH]

With a blowjob.

[stabn]

[ QUOTE ]

You're absolutely right, of course, to be skeptical about the "acronymic" origins proposed for many words. As I've noted before, acronyms were very rare in English before World War II, so any term that can be shown to have existed before about 1940 is very unlikely to have started life as an acronym.

And you're also largely correct in drawing a distinction between "ensure," which generally means "make certain or guarantee" that something will happen, and "insure," which usually means to obtain or issue an insurance policy on something or someone. Personally, I also happen to enjoy the distinction between those two words. But I'm afraid that you and I are members of a vanishing minority, and that, at least in the U.S., "insure" is increasingly accepted in place of "ensure" in the "make certain" sense. Oh well. Can't argue with vox populi, I suppose.

Now, as to "tip," those bozos are not even close. "Tip" doesn't stand for anything. It probably comes from the lingo of thieves in the 1600's, where "to tip" meant to give or lend a small amount of money or goods. Back then, "tipping" also meant "touching lightly," as in tapping someone on the shoulder to get their attention, or possibly "touching" them with a request for a small amount of money.


[/ QUOTE ]

From: Tip is not an acronym. (http://www.word-detective.com/030600.html)

[TimM]

[ QUOTE ]
any term that can be shown to have existed before about 1940 is very unlikely to have started life as an acronym

[/ QUOTE ]

I guess this shoots down that "For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge" thing.

[tek]

You nits still haven't answered my reasonable question... /images/graemlins/mad.gif

[stabn]

[ QUOTE ]

You nits still haven't answered my reasonable question...


[/ QUOTE ]

Wasn't your whole question based upon a falacy?

[Shajen]

No I don't tip in advance. IMO, if you do, you ensure crappy service roughly half the time. I mean, they already got their tip, no need to bust their ass right?

I tip really well for 2 reasons:

1) I used to wait tables and bartend. When I did, I was an excellent waiter and an awesome bartender. I also have a pretty good memory for stuff like who's a cheap bastard; they get poorer service the next time.

2) In Georgia, servers get $2.15 an hour. Basically, just enough to cover their taxes on whatever they claim. My girl bartended her way through college, she never once got a pay check with a positive amount on it. It's horse-[censored].

[Zoltri]

[ QUOTE ]
In Georgia, servers get $2.15 an hour.

[/ QUOTE ]
Holy sh it! I wish I could pay my staff that wage.
I pay $6/hr Canadian.

I know some one will pipe in and suggest the $6 Canadian has the same value as your $2.15 /images/graemlins/tongue.gif

[Inthacup]

The entire restaurant tipping policy is stupid. I've never understood why waiters get all the tips while the cooks get a crappy hourly rate for much harder work.

The fact that society says that 15%+ of the price of my meal should go to the guy who takes my order and not the guy who prepares it makes no sense to me.

I know that a lot of a waiter's job is more than taking and delivering orders, but it's the same with cooks as well. They usually spend 3+ hours prepping the food before the restaurant even opens, they usually stay later too.

Just my 2 cents.

Cup

[Shajen]

In a lot of places, the cooks and waiters share tips...tip pooling is really common.

Same goes for barbacks and greeters/hostesses.

[gcoutu]

Medium Rare and its not even close

I am a big drinker and tipper too. Don't smoke though.

[Inthacup]

I've worked in several restaurants and I've never seen cooks and waiters pool tips. However, the barback/hostess pool is pretty standard. Is the former more common in a specific style of restaurant?

[Shajen]

I dunno. Where I waited tables, we didn't pool tips.

In most of the decent restaurants around Atl, it seems pooling is pretty standard practice.

[B Dids]

rare to med rare and I'm a big tipper.

[plaster8]

The bloodier the better.

And yes, I smoke, drink and tip well. /images/graemlins/smile.gif

[Zoltri]

A German, upon hearing that British like to eat their steak rare, (often referred to as "bloody steak") went into a British restaurant to try this meal.

When the waiter came to take his order, he said, "I would like a bloody steak."

The waiter replied, "Would you like some fvcking wine too?" /images/graemlins/grin.gif

[tek]

[ QUOTE ]
No I don't tip in advance. IMO, if you do, you ensure crappy service roughly half the time. I mean, they already got their tip, no need to bust their ass right?

I tip really well for 2 reasons:

1) I used to wait tables and bartend. When I did, I was an excellent waiter and an awesome bartender. I also have a pretty good memory for stuff like who's a cheap bastard; they get poorer service the next time.

2) In Georgia, servers get $2.15 an hour. Basically, just enough to cover their taxes on whatever they claim. My girl bartended her way through college, she never once got a pay check with a positive amount on it. It's horse-[censored].

[/ QUOTE ]

So you just contradicted yourself. If servers remember people who tip and aren't sure if new customers will be repeat, they have a +EV in providing good service to good pre-meal tippers.

[tek]

The incorrectness of the acronym did not invalidate the essential premise of my question.

[Benholio]

[ QUOTE ]
No I don't tip in advance. IMO, if you do, you ensure crappy service roughly half the time. I mean, they already got their tip, no need to bust their ass right?

I tip really well for 2 reasons:

1) I used to wait tables and bartend. When I did, I was an excellent waiter and an awesome bartender. I also have a pretty good memory for stuff like who's a cheap bastard; they get poorer service the next time.

2) In Georgia, servers get $2.15 an hour. Basically, just enough to cover their taxes on whatever they claim. My girl bartended her way through college, she never once got a pay check with a positive amount on it. It's horse-[censored].

[/ QUOTE ]

You'll be happy to know that Atlanta is the second most generous tipping city based on the results of a recent and rather large survey. Here in Atlanta we tipped an average of 19.1%, second to Philly at 19.2%.

Personally I tip very well, especially at any place that I will visiting more than once or twice. I used to wait tables, and I like building up a regular-good-customer relationship at bars and other places where you will eventually get free drinks / perks. Heck, we (me and my friends) have built up some places to where an entire night of drinking and pool for 4-6 people will ring up about a $12 tab (and a $60 and up tip).

To answer the OP, I like my steak mid-rare. I am still working hard on my GF to order hers less than mid-well, but she gets squeamish if she sees any pink. Any recommendations besides force-feeding some not-burnt meat down her throat?

How many jokes can I set up in one paragraph? Don't let me down!

[MelchyBeau]

I like my steak medium or medium well. I guess I break the hypothisis on tippers. I tip 20% minimum. I usually tip about 25%, more if I see a bunch of highschoolers at the place. I know they probably will leave crap tips.

I'd say it has paid off for me. I usually get real good return service coming back.

Melch

[Tim&Joe]

Tim: How do you like your steak Joe?

Joe: In a tube of course, how about you Tim?

Tim: The same /images/graemlins/blush.gif

[CCx]

medium well, cooked throughout no pink

[NotMitch]

Extra medium.

[Kurn, son of Mogh]

I like steak very rare or Pittsburgh even better.

[MHarris]

Medium rare, although there are times I absolutely have to have my filet very rare.

[jasonHoldEm]

[ QUOTE ]
The entire restaurant tipping policy is stupid. I've never understood why waiters get all the tips while the cooks get a crappy hourly rate for much harder work.

[/ QUOTE ]

Because the cooks don't have to put up with the [censored] customers. /images/graemlins/smirk.gif

Seriously though, I've worked both spots and I'd argue that they are roughly equal as far as effort and work go (although they are different types of effort/work). On the line you have to deal with the heat and the rushes are much worse than for those in the front of the house, but you get to listen to music (at least we did) and generally speaking you mood/attitude/effort has zero effect on your income (with the exception of the long-term considerations of raises/promotions/keeping your job/etc).

Waiting tables you do a lot more lifting/moving, there is more stress involved, and you've gotta be "happy" all the time (or damn good at faking it)...in addition if you're waiting tables you have more at risk because if anyone (bar, kitchen, etc) screws up you end up paying the price.

There are nights where I'd gladly trade my section for a spot on the grill and vice-versa. Neither job is easy (or well paid) considering how much work you do.

J

[John Ho]

medium rare at a good steakhouse - anything else disgusts me.

[Clarkmeister]

Medium rare. I tip very well in general.