- Eliza Truitt/The Stranger
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Art of the Table chef Dustin Ronspies, not pouring Coke.
What if the fancy restaurant actually gives you directions to the 7-Eleven? But then the chef shames you on social media for it? That’s the weird story over at Nosh Pit: A woman from Mercer Island and her family went to Wallingford’s acclaimed farm-to-table restaurant Art of the Table. They’d been there before, and having tried the nonalcoholic drinks and not liked them, been allowed to bring Coke on a subsequent visit. This time, they forgot, and they asked a server, who gave them directions to the 7-Eleven. Then they went and got Cokes, came back, ate, and paid their $414 bill (with, kindly, extra for the tip because they don’t drink).
That night, Art of the Table chef Dustin Ronspies posted to Facebook:
“While dining at AOTT is ask [sic] that you please refrain from bringing 48 oz Big Gulps to dinner. It just looks bad. #nogmo #nohfcs”
And, later:
“It also makes chefd really irritated.”
Ronspies later took the posts down and apologized; he explains that he was stressed and freaked out, and would’ve really preferred to pour Cokes for these people rather than have “these Big Gulps sitting around the place sweating and melting!”
This particular situation is obviously quite complicated, but for the sake of all future fancy-restaurant-goers (and chefs) everywhere, let’s make the legally binding Slog poll nice and simple, shall we?