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by Jerome a Paris
There's lots to write about today, but I just don't feel like it, so here's a lighter theme for those of you sick to death with gas...
I live just above a fairly typical Parisian Brasserie, those restaurants/cafés/bars that are open throughout the day for the various needs of the day - the coffee in the morning, lunch, dinner in the evening, and snacks, drinks or light food throughout the day. It is staffed by the archetypal Parisians garçons - men, of all ages but rarely very young, in their black and white livery, and their amazing ability to speedily carry all sorts of things in their hands and on their arms throughout the day, and their selective approach to clients (more on that later). For us, the place is very convenient, being downstairs from home - which meant that we could escape to it, when the children were younger, when they were asleep, with the babyphone carrying far enough to work there. It also helped that they serve excellent meat and very decent wines, as well as a wide variety of other dishes. Tourists often complain about the surly, unfriendly treatment they get in Paris restaurants or brasseries.
The important thing to know is that this is not just true of tourists - it applies to everybody, foreigner or French, tourist or Parisian. The only thing that matters is whether you are recognised as a regular or not. If not, you will get the basic treatment: service will be mostly indifferent (unless you are lucky to find someone friendly, but there is an element of randomness at play - you can also find someone surly, impatient or even hostile), and probably not very satisfactory, especially if the place is busy (as you may have noticed, these brasseries work with a fairly limited number of people given their size - garçons probably have to serve 2-3 times more tables than their counterparts in the USA). Tipping is not required, but is appreciated as it provides a real add on to the income of the garçons. They used to live only on tips, but now "service is included" in prices, which means that they always get a salary, but it is often quite low, especially considering how tough a job it can be.
Everything changes when you begin to be recognised by the garçons. If they remember you, and they remember that you have tipped them decently in previous occasions (say, 5% of the bill or more), they will start being much nicer to you, engaging in light conversation and giving you honest recommendations on the menu (telling you whether the special of the day is worth it or not, or which wines in the list are really good value for their price). The whole experience of eating at such a brasserie becomes a lot more pleasant and friendly. You know EXACTLY when you step into that category of "recognised clients": the garçons will offer to shake your hand. This is a very important step, and a very important formality, and it signals your entry into a new realm. They will start engaging in conversation with you; soon, you'll be able to choose your favorite table, you'll get complimentary peanuts or snacks with your drinks, and you can send back your meat if it's undercooked without being treated with contempt. All these things may sound fairly mundane (and maybe even as basic items of service to many of you) but they mark a real difference in the treatment of regulars and occasional clients in a brasserie in Paris. Now we get a nod each time we walk past the brasserie, and our kids can hop in to get candy - at least two of the garçons have a special stash for them. If they are on the terrace, they'll talk to us even if we're not coming to the brasserie. To give you an idea of the kinds of small advantages this brings, here's a tale from last month. Brasseries often install seafood stalls on the sidewalk in front of them during the winter months. Oysters, shrimps and other delicacies are sold both to clients of the brasserie as specials on the menu, or as take-away to anyone else directly on the street. This is a very convenient service for the holidays dinners, if you can get good quality products. Now, as it were, our brasserie always has good quality produce - excellent meat, fresh vegetables, homemade fries and so on, and we were happy to trust them to buy the oysters and shrimps we wanted for New Year's Eve. But, as the person handling the seafood stall was not a regular of the brasserie and did not know us, there was a risk that we would not get the best choice. So when we came to buy what we needed, one of the garçons pointedly came outside to shake our hands in front of the salesperson and talk to us, to make sure that we'd be well treated and get the best products available. (Note that this happened without us soliciting it in any way) And now, our brasserie even has - quite a luxury in Paris - a real non-smoking area for lunch and dinner. The idea that regulars get better service is nothing new, I know, and the quality of service we are talking about may sound like nothing out of the ordinary in other parts of the world where these things are taken more seriously, but I think there is more depth, and genuine care, in that brasserie service which makes it a really pleasurable experience. And it means that you get 2-Michelin-star service for the price of a normal meal. And it actually makes business sense for the brasserie, as the people who have come often enough to the brasserie to rate such service are likely to come more often to keep on enjoying it - thus the brasserie gets the repeat business and does not need to worry so much about occasional clients. It's really a self-sustaining relationship. In our case, we are quite lucky, as the quality of the food in our brasserie is really good, and the level of service - even for newcomers - also. Proof that this is the case actually comes from the fact that the owner of the brasserie is obviously a successful businessman and has actually taken over two other restaurants in out street, and personnel sometimes moves between the various places. So now we are blessed with at least 3 nice places where to go eat, where we are "honorably known" and where the standards are quite high. Which of course means that we hardly ever get out of our neighborood when we go out. Why bother with uncertain quality and indifferent service when you are treated like kings right at home? And thus our brasserie thrives... So. Any experiences with Parisian garçons and service? Any horror stories? At home, do you go out in your neighborood? Do you like to go to the same place or to change each time? What are your experiences with service in restaurants in general? How do YOU treat waiters and waitresses?
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Garçon, s'il vous plait! | 51 comments (51 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)
Garçon, s'il vous plait! | 51 comments (51 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)
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