“Permit Me To Have A Nervous Breakdown”

“The Road to Nowhere”

I am starting to research places to have my 40th birthday party.  Will you give me some suggestions of places where we can eat, probably buffet style and dance, either a DJ or live music.  I’m inviting around 50 people and expect 30-40 to come, probably.   A reasonable price is preferred.  I live near Addison and most of my friends live in the Plano/Frisco area, so North is best for location.  One suggestion was Sambuca in Addison, but I’m afraid it may be too expensive.  Another place is maybe a restaurant on Lake Ray Hubbard.

But under the first executive chef, Eric Hara, and under his successor, John Tesar, the kitchen turned out plenty of clunkers: mealy octopus; a lobster carbonara with bits of bacon as hard as pellets; tough prawns arranged prettily but pointlessly over the gluiest, saddest, blandest little pesto ravioli you can imagine.

But it’s not all bad. Bruni mentions several things he likes about Fishtail, including the fillet of halibut, the mussels, a Scottish langoustine special, and a “can o’ cake,” a dessert that comes with a cake batter-covered mixing bowl and paddles (yum). He also says David Burke produced a restaurant “with some real charms, among them its smooth, upbeat service and an attractive, comfortable setting in an Upper East Side town house.” Read the whole thing here.

A week ago, word of Another Broken Egg led to a discussion of the paucity of dining options in the Casa Linda/Little Forest Hills area. Consider this post another plea to any chefs out there looking for a location amid hungry, patient, would-be customers. I promise to be a loyal one (provided your food is good and appropriately priced).

Also up for discussion: What other neighborhoods are in dire need of dining options?

Ask any owner, and they will groan about the fee amounts, the charge complexities, and the required software upgrades to their point-of-sale equipment. Since 2001, the cost of processing credit card transactions has dropped considerably but merchant fees have risen over 133% , a fact that has lead the National Restaurant Association to join with other small merchant groups and support the Credit Card Fair Fee Act. To summarize, small business owners would like to know what they are paying for–merchant statements can include over 12 lines of various charges, depending on the type of card that was used.

For example, a guest could present a card for payment, and the fees, depending on what type of card they use could range anywhere from 1.86% to 2.8% (plus a transaction fee of 10 cents). For restaurants, which typically pay the fees on gratuities, this becomes a 3+% drain on gross sales. It has been estimated that less than 13% of the fees actually go towards the cost of processing charges, while 44% of the fees goes to a “points programs“, a recruitment tool for credit card growth.

But such excess in a free economy eventually brings cheaper alternatives. Already “contactless payment systems” and “mobile wallets” are being tweaked and perfected for an electronic age. And Revolution, LLC founded by AOL co-founder Steve Case is rolling ahead with the Revolution Money card, promising far lower merchant rates. For an even more in depth look at the future of the credit card payment industry, read Diamond Management & Technology Consultants 2006 report, “A New Business Model for Card Payments“, by Amy Dawson and Carl Hugener.