obnoxious Barney videos in the bedroom, shutting the kids in there and ordering a pizza.
Posted on 01/15/2014 4:05:37 AM PST by JoeProBono
CHICAGO, A couple dining at an upscale Chicago restaurant were sharply criticized online when their infant spent the evening crying at the eatery.
Chef Grant Achatz of the Alinea restaurant took to Twitter with a question about crying baby etiquette after the infant cried though the dinner service Saturday night at the three-star restaurant, where meals can cost hundreds of dollars, the Chicago Sun-Times reported Tuesday.
"Tbl brings 8mo.Old. It cries. Diners mad. Tell ppl no kids? Subject diners 2crying? Ppl take infants 2 plays? Concerts? Hate saying no, but ...," Achatz tweeted.
The tweet sparked sharp criticism online for the parents, who many said should have known better than to bring an infant to an upscale restaurant.
"IT IS ABSURD TO BRING YOUR BABY TO ALINEA," tweeted Michael Nagrant, who reviews restaurants for RedEye. "You do not take a baby to Alinea. Unless the babysitter canceled last minute and Alinea would not refund your ticket. No other debate."
The restaurant takes reservations by allowing customers to purchase tickets, sometimes months in advance. The tickets are not refundable.
Achatz posted a picture to Twitter Sunday featuring two fish heads on a plate.
"Definitely not baby food," he tweeted.
The furor over the incident led to the creation of a Twitter parody account, @AlineaBaby, which bears a user bio saying, "I'm a baby who likes fine food, fine drinks, and crying."
Nor mine. I like good cuisine as much as anyone, but I far prefer traditional cooking to the avant-garde stuff.
Achatz' style of cuisine is known as molecular gastronomy, which was originally the term for food science that studied the physics and chemistry of cooking. It's become applied to a style of cooking that embraces the results of that research, and employs modern technology and techniques (hi-tech equipment, commercial ingredients, etc.) to produce interesting and exotic results.
Someone upstream mentioned that these kinds of restaurants don't serve grilled cheese sandwiches. Which is true. However, if Achatz could figure out how to do it, he would serve a "grilled cheese sandwich" in the form of an orange cube of gelatin, and it would come to your table hanging off an odd stainless-steel sculpture.
I've read the Alinea cookbook. I could skip the avant-garde presentation, but some of his flavour combinations are worthy of experimenting with.
Sounds interesting, simply from a scientific perspective. Food Science is an event in Science Olympiad!
For that kind of money, though, I could get the best seats to see Ricky Skaggs and the Del McCoury Band, and have enough left over to generously compensate a babysitter.
Yldstrk, when did people start hating adults?
It is an interesting double standard.
Restricting children to teach civilized behavior like “shut up and sit down at the table”, “Don’t yell”, “don’t throw” when in public is seen as too restrictive, so many parents won’t teach them manners. Respecting an adult who says “Call me Mrs. XYZ” isn’t taught.
Yet a black kids beating up whites results in a lecture, maybe time out, and sometimes a question to the white kid about how it could be mollified/prevented in the future.
Failure to teach and enforce behavioral constraints leads to worse actions later.
Black mobs attacking whites for fun is ignored or, at most, results in a financial slap in the wrist. Why not? They weren’t severely punished for hitting white kids 15 years ago, and now it is a “Game” for adults.
If we don’t teach children civilized behavior, civilization falls apart. And it is.
Fancy restaurants are one thing but some don't have a choice in bringing their children with them on flights.
If you want to argue that there should be "adults only" seating on airplanes separate from children, that's one thing but to accuse parents who fly with their children of being "entitled" is pretty silly.
“When did people start hating kids?”
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
****RAISES MY HAND**** OH ME PICK ME!! I KNOW THE ANSWER!!
In the 70’s when Roe vs Wade was made legal?
pet stores sell those electro-shock collars that keep dogs from barking ... hmmm
People who love their children teach them how to behave in public. You apparently don't.
The 8 month old baby can't be expected to know what proper behavior is, or to exhibit it. You CAN expect the parents to know, and to exhibit it. If your child is crying and can't be comforted or distracted, you take them where others won't be infringed on - the car, a restroom, etc.
A modicum of training goes a long ways. I took my daughter out from age 3 to some relatively fancy restaurants. A lttle bit of coaching, and reasonable tolerance for accidents and ignorance, and she was a very welcome patron and companion.
I'm surprised at your tone here. You're usually very thoughtful and reasonable.
We’ve managed to avoid Barney almost entirely. I’d shut mine up in the spare room with John Wayne movies and popcorn ;-).
I’d say the people who “hate” kids are the ones who do not discipline them appropriately....leads to a myriad of problems in life.
Your post reminded me of a visit to a Cracker Barrel last summer. My youngest daughter and I had dropped my son off at work, and we wanted breakfast. Of course, daughter chose Cracker Barrel because she could eat yummy pancakes and have bacon and real maple syrup in a cute warm bottle. We were sitting at our table minding our business when this pterodactyl-like screech came from a few tables away. We looked over to see a table with two adult women and two toddlers. One was around 18 months old. It was ear-piercing. A few waitresses jumped at the sound. Several elderly couples glanced around looking at one another wondering what made that child make such an awful sound. We all looked at the women with the guilty baby. They did not jump, budge, stop their conversation, Anything. It was like nothing ever happened. Then it happened again. And again. And again. Whew! Even I was annoyed, and I am pretty tolerant when it comes to other people’s children. (I am much less tolerant with my own! They wouldn’t dare!) finally, they left. Everyone still there was relieved. Then my daughter said, “That’s Ms. So in So. She teaches another second grade class at my school.” The screeching toddler was the child of a teacher from my children’s school! And the woman did not do ANYTHING to stop the child or correct the child or even to take the child out of the restaurant. I was so thankful that my child did not have that woman as a teacher.
Come to think of it the kid did have red hair......
BINGO! “Unsocialized”.
Here is a tale: flying back from Miami to Washington DC I was sitting behind two parents with a six year old kid. Kid was crying to beat the band and was really miserable the whole way. Finally asked the parents what the kids problem was. He had an ear condition that wouldn’t let him relieve the pressure on his ears. Told the parents that the cabin was pressurized to 10k feet and that the kid must be in agony and maybe they shouldn’t be flying. Answer: “well but we had to get home to work”. Always hoped the kid got even with his parents
A few years ago while waiting to board a plane in San Francisco, a stand-by woman with a 2 year old child was hoping to get a seat. The gate attendant wanted to find out if the young child could understand directions so he asked the mother if the child understood the word ‘No” and if she responded appropriately. The mother said, “Oh, I never ever use the word ‘no’ with her.”
Selfish California parent. Wait till that little girl hits puberty.
When I was in grad school I did a stint as a waitress at a NJ diner.
Some of the wait staff use to beg the hostess NOT to place toddlers and children under 5 or 6 at our tables.
It didn’t bother me, so much. I found if I was nice to the moms, brought extra crayons and placemats for their kids to color with and then praised the kids, even sometimes asking if the artwork was good, if I could have it, the moms were very appreciative, and not only did I get a nice tip, I got cool artwork for my fridge.
That’s a kind, sweet way of handling things, Gefn.
Not a restaurant, but any given Walmart... at least in my area.
Being a mom or/ and dad is the hardest job in the world. I have nothing but respect for those who are good moms and dads. Sometimes they just get a bit overwhelmed and they need a time out too.
On the other hand, I’ve been to two of those fancyMichelin star restaurants in Manhattan that cost an arm and a leg to eat at, Never saw any children there but did see several traders and pit runners who were drunk acting like children :) ,
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