After the movie last night, we headed over to Legal's for a bite. (We first went to the new place in town, The Local, but there was an hour and a half wait! We'll have to try it sometime on an off hour.) I had grilled herb-marinated mahi-mahi with mushroom risotto and carrot purée. I was remembering that mahi-mahi used to be called dolphinfish, but they (they who? the dolphinfish lobby? I don't know) found that people didn't want to eat it because they thought they were eating actual dolphins (the mammal), so they adopted the Hawaiian name, mahi-mahi. Anyhow, it was delicious.
Granted, I don't get out much anymore, but I was very impressed by two hand-held devices in use at Legal's. First, our waitress (who was fun and had a great sense of humor) took our order with a stylus on a machine about the size of two iPhones. Tap-tap-tap and off our orders went to the bar and kitchen! Very cool, and much easier on the wait-staff, who now don't have to write it all down and then either bring the paper to the bar or kitchen or punch it all in at a shared computer. Then, when our meal was over, we were brought another machine, a little bigger than the first, on which we could enter the tip amount, swipe our credit card, and print out a receipt! Awesome.
The first machine sounds pretty cool - don't recall seeing anything like that in a restaurant before. The second sounds like a chip-and-PIN machine. They're pretty much standard in restaurants in the UK - supposed to help combat credit card fraud.
Posted by: Kirsty | February 08, 2009 at 04:55 PM
Kind of like the Apple store!
I find it really annoying when waiters don't write down your order...and then end up screwing it up. I feel like telling them, "Look, I want my food and I want it right much more than I care whether or not you can memorize each order at the table."
Posted by: Di | February 09, 2009 at 06:54 AM
Chip and PIN is the very near future for the United States. As Kristy said, they are standard in the UK. In fact, most of Europe has adopted similar systems based on a standard established by a couple of credit card companies.
France has cut credit card fraud by 80% using their EMV system!
Posted by: steve | February 09, 2009 at 09:03 AM
And wasn't Chilean sea bass formerly known as Patagonian toothfish? Yuck! Thanks for the heads-up on the new restaurant devices. They haven't made it to Alabama yet, but I'll tell my husband that we need to go out more and find them -- for research purposes, of course!
Posted by: Cathy | February 09, 2009 at 09:10 AM
I love Legal's! I can hardly wait!
Posted by: Amy | February 09, 2009 at 08:42 PM
One of my top five all time bars is the Local in Minneapolis. Is there a Local nearby now?
Posted by: Kate | February 10, 2009 at 10:34 PM
Again, totally different planet. Jersey sounds really nice. And modern. You are in Jersey, right?
Posted by: Laura | February 23, 2009 at 04:21 PM
Nope, Boston!
Posted by: Karen | February 23, 2009 at 04:26 PM