Sun 4 Nov 2007
A Restaurant (& Diner’s) Worst Nightmare …
Posted by Fredric Koeppel under Restaurants[12] Comments
… is food poisoning. Which felled first me and then LL after we dined Thursday night at a new restaurant I was reviewing. Yes, a restaurant’s worst nightmare: The dining critic gets food poisoning. It ain’t a pretty circumstance for the diner either, lemme tell you, after about eight hours of cramps, violent vomiting and, um, other explosive eruptions. Needless to say, I missed work Friday and lay prostrate most of Saturday, weak, exhausted and, for some reason, aching all over. I did keep down some scrambled eggs and toast last night and I had my tea and toast for breakfast this morning; as I write this post I’m eating soda crackers and sipping ginger ale. LL took care of me until Saturday evening, when she said, “You know, I’ve been feeling pretty queasy since this afternoon.” Yep, it hit her too.
The culprit? Either the crab cakes with remoulade sauce or the calves liver I ordered. LL had a tiny bite of each; I finished off the rest. Did the food sit out too long? Had it not been refrigerated adequately? Was it already spoiled when it came from the purveyor? The point is that somewhere along the line, someone wasn’t careful enough.
Now, here’s the dilemma. Do I out the place? A charge of food poisoning can kill a restaurant. Do I review the restaurant as if nothing had happened? Call the restaurant to let them know? Drop the review altogether or wait a few months? I confess to not being keen about going back soon.
It’s interesting, in a way, that in 20 years of reviewing restaurants for my newspaper — 20 years this coming January — I have never been stricken with food poisoning. What are the odds? I’ve had plenty of bad or bizarre meals, but never this. The problem is, there’s no defense; even tainted food, I now understand, can taste fine, but once you’ve swallowed it, you’re done for.
So, excuse me, but I’m actually not feeling quite up to scratch.
November 4th, 2007 at 2:29 pm
Fredric,
Wow what a pickle. The first instinct is to out the place. Then you think it could have been an accidental, and underly leaving something unattended finding it and replacing it in the frig thinking no one the wiser!! I think, if it were me I would call the place, let them know what happened. We do not need anyone else paying the price you paid!! And maybe just leave it off the review circuit until someone you know says have you been here it is great. Sorry to hear your ill, but at least we all know you will give it up for the team, so to speak!!!
Hope you and LL get better
Big Mike
November 4th, 2007 at 8:39 pm
I second the notion of calling the restaurant (once you’re feeling a little better). Amber got a rather nasty case of food poisoning from the McAllister’s on Highland about a year ago from a bad batch of soup. I’ve been kinda kicking myself for never calling to tell them about it, because god only knows how many others got to sleep with buckets by their beds because of that soup.
Here’s wishing you and LL a speedy recovery…
November 4th, 2007 at 9:09 pm
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November 4th, 2007 at 9:33 pm
Happened to me once with some sausage, luckily, I was dating a nurse at the time and he took very good care of me. Pounded ice into chips for me to wet my mouth, talked to my doc, walked my dog, and stayed by my side for 4 days until I could keep anything down.
You know it’s bad when water or gatorade won’t stay down.
An experience I hope to never repeat.
November 5th, 2007 at 8:42 am
You are now part of the 76 million annual food poisonings the CDC estimates will impact US consumers.
Do you tell the restaurant? Yes! And quickly. Out them? Tough to prove it was them. Could have been one of a million places with a nasty bug hanging around waiting for a fresh hand to pick it up. Lots of Shigella making its mark of late.
Take a look at the CulinaryPrep. Great solution for fresh food of all kinds. Calf livers, crab and seafood, and all the veggies used in the process.
Better Taste.Better Health.
November 6th, 2007 at 2:09 pm
I also came down with food poisoning that I traced back to a new Memphis restaurant last year. I warned several friends immediately after the incident and have never returned to the restaurant. I hope that it was an isolated incident or beginner’s error, but I just can’t bring myself to risk spending another dollar there considering that my first meal was poisonous. It was the worst 48 hours of my life.
I find it troubling that bartenders and servers must take safe serve classes and get an ABC card in order to work; however line cooks and other kitchen employees in Memphis have no such requirement. Line cooks should have to sit through safe serve classes and carry valid proof of such coursework before they can be employed. I think some regulation and mandatory education, similar to what is required for alcohol service, would cut down on some “user errors” in the kitchens that result in food borne illnesses.
November 7th, 2007 at 10:34 am
Oysters are my weakspot.. i have to order them, no matter what type of restaurant or where the r’s fall in the month. “you know yer gonna get sick one day,” my wife always tells me. “But i’ve got an iron stomach,” i say….until last week. My iron stomach turned into a quivering bowl of cherries jubilee. I don’t blame the restaurant because they were fresh, but it is my responsibility to call the restaurant and inform them of an infected sack of oysters.
November 7th, 2007 at 12:22 pm
Well, there are not that many “Foodies” in Memphis. Calves liver is not served on many menus in town, certainly not many new menus. Your readers pay attention and most of us already know who it is. A chef’s job is to pay attention to his product. This seems to be a problem we have here, because too many kitchens waste time with other problems. Food is first. It is what builds your establishment.
November 7th, 2007 at 2:03 pm
“A quivering bowl of cherries jubilee!” Thanks, wolfman, i really needed that.
But seriously, I talked to the chef yesterday and he was of course mortified and devastated and said that he and his kitchens are always really attuned to safe and healthy practices, that the crab meat is pasturized, the calves liver frozen until the moment before cooking. that doesn’t mean that perhaps the meat was contaminated before shipment. anyway, the point is that it was an accident, a quite unpleasant one, but nonetheless. and it’s a lesson to everyone in the restaurant industry that vigilance must always be paid. I told him that the newspaper where i work would not base a review on such an occurrence and that we would wait some period of time and try again.
Charles: what im impressed with is walking your dog. that’s real friendship.
November 8th, 2007 at 3:46 pm
loup garou, Oysters, indeed. How can you protect yourself? I was once with a large conference group (maybe 80 people)in a winter camp/resort north of Quebec near the St. Lawrence. Raw oysters fresh from the river, maybe 2000 in huge barrels, were served. Someone showed me a neat trick with the oyster knife, and I got really fast–so fast that when the the bad one registered it was already sliding toward my devastation. I knew it. I was flattened. None of the others, speedy oyster tossers all, suffered. It did get me out of presenting a paper the next day. Gee, I’d forgotten this episode. In the present situation, now that we are recovered, I feel sorriest for the restaurant. We liked it. Bad food can get through a careful system. The chances are very small and infintisimal that the restaurant reviewer would be the victim. What luck!
November 8th, 2007 at 6:27 pm
button, button…well, the grappa sure helps. mmmmmm grappa and oysters. i got a date with a bivalve
November 19th, 2007 at 12:49 pm
Call the restaurant and see how competent the staff is in regards to this issue. If they will track down the shellfish etc. (tags must be kept on hand for 90 days after receipt) or seem serious enough about throwing away the mayo, AND they are sincerely apologetic then drop the issue. Unfortunately, food poisoning can take several days to brew up a wonderful storm such as the one that you fell prey to, and one can never truly be sure of where it started. If the restaurant gets enough calls from people who have fallen ill, then maybe they’ll take further steps.
There’s not much else to do, really. Like someone else mentioned, there are so many places where things can go horribly awry with the food in a restaurant, beginning with the source.