"I told you, I don't want 9:00 reservations. I want 8:30 reservations!" "Can I get a corner table?" "Do these come with wine?"
Grant Achatz, the chef of Chicago’s Alinea, which is currently ranked as the #10 restaurant in the world by Restaurant Magazine, has come up with a way of making restaurant eating a bit more…stramlined. Check out the NY Times article where Achatz talks about selling tickets to his new restaurant (instead of taking reservations) as a way of saving money, making restaurant reservations transferable easily (his staff don’t have to do didilly), and taking the awkward food-for-money transactions out of an otherwise excellent evening (How much DO you tip on a $500 bill?). You basically buy a prix fix meal. Tickets for later in the evening would be cheaper (off-peak tickets), which is sort of equivalent to a matinee show.
Here’s my question: Would there be scalpers for tickets like this?
This figure ads nothing at all to this post. I just thought this dude was hilarious.
Alinea is booked for months solid. It’s like that his NEXT Restaurant (the actual name!) will be too. How much would you pay for a reservation tomorrow? Craigslist/StubHub?/Ebay would LIGHT UP if this idea catches on. No matter what happens….Alinea. I want to go to there.