We used to go there a lot, because the food and service were good and they had a separate smoking room, preventing pecksniff leak, adding to its appeal.
They went non-smoking a couple of years ago and we stopped going there.
We mentioned to our waitress that we used to be frequent customers, but stopped patronizing them because of the smoking ban.
She reacted like someone who's been in a foreign land would react to hearing their native tongue for the first time in years. Said that business has been way off, that she quit smoking herself 6 months ago and would love it if they allowed smoking again. She said they all used to compete to be assigned to the smoking section, because the smokers were more fun and tipped a lot more than the non-smokers.
That's my scientific study, and Stanton Glantz can shove his where the sun don't shine.
Rose, did you know that back in 1998, Chillie Pengree was on the committee to ban smoking in all the restaurants in Maine? I have that article somewhere, and am desperately looking for it. But it was in the news about the committee that banned smoking in Maine Restaurants and her name was one of them.
