

From the department of "Wha-wha-WHAT?!?"
A French-born Manhattan resident claims a trendy SoHo restaurant tacked a gratuity on his bill without telling him - then said it was to "protect" the waiters because foreigners don't tip.
The restaurant of note is called Aquagrill, and what they did, if true, is a city violation. But I'm sure the management of the restaurant have other restaurateurs considering other types of 'Immediate gratuities'. If I ran a restaurant, I'd consider the following:
Overstayed your welcome gratuity: 5% charge remitted for each additional 15 minutes a party stays at the table after the initial payment has been procured.
Faux Bartender Gratuity: 10% added to the bar tab of anyone who insists on a flavorful dry vodka martini.
Beef Destruction Tax: 15% added to the bill of anyone who orders Wagyu or Kobe Beef "well-done".
Wine Bribe: 10% gratuity added to the bar tab of anyone who asks to smell the cork of the wine; added only if server keeps a straight face and compliments the sniffer on their wine knowledge.
Arrogance Fee: 10 dollar charge on anyone who enters a busy restaurant at 6 o'clock on a Saturday night and demands to be seated immediately even though they don't have a reservation. 5 dollar additional charge if they then say that they made a reservation, but the host or hostess must have screwed up entering it.
Closing Time Tip: 20% tip and a case of beer added to the bill to any parties that arrive within five minutes of closing time. The case of beer is for the crew in the back who most assuredly had to get out pots and pans already cleaned for the night.
(via The Food Section)
Technorati Tags: Restaurants, bigotry, tips
Sniffing the cork of an opened bottled of wine is a ritual that is unecessary. It won't tell you anything about the quality. You really should be sniffing the wine to ensure there aren't any defects, like oxidation.
Returning to our question, if the cork tends to smell like cork, it is not likely that anyone will be able to discern a flaw by sniffing it. The ability to detect Trichloroanisole is often debated and some experiments have demonstrated the inability of expert wine tasters to consistently and reproducibly identify the presence of TCA in wine.
The server or sommelier may hand you the cork so you can examine it visually. The main thing you should look for is the date: it should match that on the label. (Inexpensive wines will not have dates or other identifying information on the cork). You can also look for signs of mold, evidence of drying or cracks or breaks. (A crumbling cork does not necessarily bode poorly for the wine). You can also look for tracks of wine up the side of the cork which may suggest the wine was subjected to heat. (The heat causes the wine to expand and push against the cork, sometimes seeping around it). This may also happen when the bottle was too full during bottling.
However, sniffing the cork has very little to do with being able to determine the quality of the wine. This is especially true for anyone who is not the most highly trained and gifted oenologist on the planet - and even in this case it would be questionable as to whether the individual would, in fact, be able to detect the presence of mold on the cork which could help diagnose a bad bottle.