Incredible Service!

Bear with me as I tell a story that should wow you a bit, but takes a bit to get going.

The other day I went to Salvatore's, an Italian Restaurant on the corner of Baxter and Princess Anne in Virginia Beach.  The food was great.  Vouching for this place, I've even heard of some people talking about how the pizza there is their favorite (I didn't try it), but I figure this is probably amplified by the fact that Salvatore's makes their mozzarella cheese fresh.  But that's not the reason why I am writing the article (the title is a bit of a giveaway here); it was the service.  I don't think I've ever received more hospitality at a restaurant before in my life.

Admittedly, there wasn't anything at Salvatore's that initially impressed me that much.  It seemed like the stereotypical NYC style pizzeria NOT located in NYC.  But my impression began to change as soon as the wait staff started coming to my table.  They were well trained, attentive, polite and genuinely seemed as though they liked working there.  Even though they were very busy (the restaurant was packed), my water was almost continually being filled by the various people that tag-teamed our table (I drink a lot, quite rapidly).  

But those things didn't wow me.  I started being impressed when my first free appetizer was brought out-garlic knots.  No reason given as to why.  Just Italian hospitality I suppose.  The owner, Gabrielle I believe was his name, is Italian, and he likes to run his restaurant with satisfied customers it would seem.  

We (I was meeting with some fellow youth ministers) ordered our food, which included mozzarella cheese fries for an appetizer, and then we talked for awhile.  Honestly, it wasn't really a long period of time that went by when the owner came out with his arms full of bruschetta appetizers.  He gave one to our table, explaining that they were really busy and they didn't want us going hungry.  Take note: that was free appetizer number two.  

Then our lunch comes.  With it, our waitress explains that they are backed up in the kitchen and that our mozzarella fries will be on the house.  That's free appetizer number three.  I keep watching the owner throughout this process.  He's welcoming the customers, giving some of them hugs, some of them kisses on the cheek, having conversations and distributing free food.  These people are getting up out of their seats to say hi to him; they're excited to see him!  At one point, he was at a table with a lot of elderly women and he was personally refilling all of their wine glasses with a nice dessert wine.  It was no wonder as to why there were no seats available.  This man knew how to run a restaurant!

We didn't quite finish all our food.  The fries were too much.  Besides, we decided to eat the FREE cannoli that were brought to our table instead.  FREE.  

It's possible that the owner was simply trying to get me and others to talk about his restaurant, and that's why he was so nice.  But watching him, this guy didn't seem like a fake at all.  He was the real deal, and I think that everyone in his restaurant could tell.  Genuine hospitality that genuinely cares about the customer-that's how you run a restaurant.

More Bucks for Your Buck.

So Starbucks might hate me for writing something like this, but I thought it was an idea worth sharing. 

When I go to Starbucks, I almost always get a drink that is one size larger but without paying for the larger size.  I do this without cheating or stealing from Starbucks, and without ingratiating myself to the baristas (as I have known some people to do in scandalous, shameless ways!  You know who you are people!!!). 

Before I explain how I do it, let me first lay out all the elements needed for this little enterprise:

1. Doctoring Station: Starbucks has a little station where you can “doctor” your drinks up.  There you’ll find the half and half, skim and whole milk, the sugar/splenda/saccharine stuff and napkins.

2. Free Pumps: When you order a Starbucks drink, you can add extra pumps of flavor for free, so long as it’s the flavor that comes with the drink.  For example, when you order a Chai Tea Latte, you can add as many pumps of chai as you want for free.  If you add a pump of vanilla, you’re paying more, but so long as you stick to chai, it’s free. 

3. Space or Room: Some people, when they get their cup of joe, they like to have some space in their cup.  This is for adding cream and sugar and still being able to stir your drink vigorously without spilling the precious contents.  You get this space by asking for a cup size larger than the drink you are ordering.  The dialogue goes something like this, “I’d like a tall chai tea latte in a grande cup please.” 

4. Temperature: Finally, you can order your drinks extra hot at Starbucks.  If there’s milk in a beverage, the limit is 180 degrees because after that you scald the milk and it tastes exactly like canned awful after that.  But if it’s coffee that you like, you can tell them to go even beyond 180 and name your specific temperature. 

Now that we’ve got the elements, I’ll explain how I get more Bucks for my buck.  I always order the beverage that I want extra concentrated and extra hot (up to 180 degrees for me because I always like milk in my drinks and I have a wussy tongue.)  When I do this, I order it in a cup size that is one size too big (so for a tall I get a grande cup, for a grande I get a venti cup).  After I get my drink I head over to the “doctoring station” and add milk to my drink.  Viola!  The milk dilutes the extra concentrated drink to a normal flavor while simultaneously cooling it down to a drinkable temperature.  By the time I’m done with this, I have a drink that is about one size up at the perfect flavor and temperature, but at the lesser price. 

Warnings and Tips: this isn’t fool proof, and it won’t work for every drink you get.  Sometimes, you can’t get the perfect flavor by diluting it. However, don’t give it up if at first you don’t succeed.  I had to try a couple of times before I got the precise measurements down for the perfect drink. 

Also, I don’t always do this because I can’t add the perfect amount of other syrups to my drink for free if for some reason I want them that day (caramel is good in hot chocolate you know, and vanilla is great in chai tea lattes!). The technique I’m sharing today is just usually the way to go.  

Don’t go overboard with concentrated syrups.  I typically add only one pump extra.  If I’m feeling crazy or needing caffeine, I’ll go for two.  More than that and the stuff becomes undrinkable sludge.

Sometimes, you’ll want to put your hand to the metal part of the milk container at the doctoring station to check the temperature.  If the baristas have freshly refilled it, it’ll be extra cold and you won’t be able to add as much to your drink that day because it will cool it down too much. 

Likewise, if you’re one of those people that was born with insulation in your mouth (“asbestos mouth” we used to call them in my family) and you basically like your coffee as soon as it comes off the roiling boil, this trick isn’t for you.  You’ll despise the chilly milk reducing the heat of your lava java. 

Diets, TV, Social Networking, Yo Yo's and More!

I know that what I’m about to say is controversial and that people on both sides of this argument will likely exaggerate and/or take my words out of context.  Nevertheless, I feel as though I have to talk about this topic. 

Growing up, I remember when the no-fat diets went into vogue. Scientists backed it up.  Doctors would get on TV and tell people how healthy it was to cut fat from their diets, and there were loads of magazine articles telling everyone they had to avoid fat if they were to ever become thin.  Tons of people were coming forward giving personal testimonies to how effective this diet craze was.  All this stuff made such great sense that no one could really question it, save for butter-loving Julia Child who denounced such ideas as bad cooking.

The YoYo: Fun toy for kids and grown-ups
alike!  But it makes for crappy dieting!

Fast forward a few years into the late 1990’s.  The Atkins, a.k.a. “high protein” or “low carb” diet gained national notoriety.  Now the buzz was that you could eat fats—in fact, your body needed them for things like brain health and vitamin absorbtion!  What was causing people to become fat was eating carbs—evil carbs!  Again, the scientists backed it up, doctors got on TV, articles were written and even more testimony-sharing zealots spread their story of how fun it was to eat fatty steak and broccoli while still losing weight!

Now we have a new diet, albeit, this one is slightly different (I feel) in how it’s coming about.  The new diet is a conglomeration of vegan, no GMO’s and organic foods.  Now the “science” is saying that you can’t eat meat, genetically altered foods or anything that uses pesticides because it’s unhealthy.  Scientists are backing this up, doctors are on TV (and web videos), and there are tons of testimonials; only this time the people testifying are able to spread their ideas quickly on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and the like.

What is happening is that social media and the web have come alongside the traditional media outlets to either confirm or deny “truths” to our society, and this includes the “truth” about what we eat.  Anyone in marketing worth their salt knows this, and many documentary filmmakers know this too. 

It is important to note that documentary makers are not reporters and they are not the “new media” that can be trusted more than others (it’s no secret that lots of people are looking for alternative yet viable news sources in this day and age).  Documentary filmmakers are still filmmakers, and the good ones have got an angle to make their film appealing.  Shock value still sells, and people purporting any kind of exposé on the food industry are not going to try to present a balanced argument, they are going to present a biased view so as to sell more of their documentary.  The news does the same thing.

TV shows that put the “pop scientists” on their shows, are likewise still after viewers.  I’m not calling these people evil, I’m not saying that they all, or even most of them, have an agenda.  I am saying that my experience in TV, film production, radio and sales have led me to conclude that when something is hip it’s going to get air time and the people showing it aren’t going to ask too many deep questions about the validity of what they are airing, nor are they necessarily going to present balanced arguments because it makes for boring content.  

The kicker for all this is that I’ve lived long enough to have seen too many of these fad diets not work in the lives of real people: long term, that is… the weight comes off, then goes back on, comes off then goes back on again.  “Yo-yo dieting” I believe it is called.  Yes, there are a lot of success stories, but that's usually because someone started down the road with one of these diets, learned healthy habits and then balanced themselves out as they went.  

Disclaimers: I’m not calling this a big conspiracy made up by the organic food people, and I’m not even saying that there is no truth to what is said in documentaries such as Food, Inc. or Forks Over Knives.  I am NOT saying I am a nutrition expert, know more than scientists or doctors, etc.  I’m just stating my hesitance to buy into all of what they are saying; I think there's a lot of exaggeration going on.

I’m also not saying it’s bad to be vegan or vegetarian.  You can still be strong, get enough protein and beat up people that eat meat.  Except for AHNOWLD.  No one beats up AHNOWLD!

The reason I've felt compelled, maybe even pushed to write this article is that some people are getting dogmatic, even religious and sometimes, unfortunately, self-righteous over this vegan thing, organic, no GMO thing.  So let me say it here: believe it or not, it’s a proven, self-evident fact that there are other ways to lose weight and be genuinely healthy OTHER than going vegan/organic/no GMO, or as I will say from now on, "VOGMO." 

I would like to point out that typically, whenever people start to think about what they eat on a regular basis, they take in less unhealthy food and often exercise more too!  This always helps people lose weight, regardless of what diet they are on, and this is a good thing.  Bravo!  I am honestly happy for them.  I recently heard from someone on the VOGMO diet/lifestyle who lost 40 pounds and is in way better health than he previously was—I’m delighted for him.  I also spoke with a relative just the other day who had lost 3 inches to the waistline: on a low-carb diet eating soy (GMO’s!), non-organic veggies and meats with all sorts of added hormones! 

When I was over 300 pounds, I lost about 80 pounds of fat just by eating less food overall, but making healthier choices for what I did eat and exercising more.  15 years later, the weight is still off.  But I eat meat all but probably 3 or 4 days a year.  Plus I love cheese.  Eggs I could live without, but not the cheese.  So vegan is a lifestyle that I could not embrace.  

So on the one hand, I applaud any diet if it helps people lose weight andkeep it off by helping them transform their lifestyle.  Sometimes, just getting started and learning some things about taking care of one’s body is a beginning for people that are losing weight, but their education should continue. 

On the other hand, I denounce making any one diet dogma, especially when any diet is presented as a fix-all to one’s health and obesity issues. No diet can replace other healthy habits nor self-control when it comes to eating and exercising.  

To all who have lost weight or are continuing to lose weight through whatever means, I wish you the very best in getting to your target weight and in learning all the habits of heart and mind that keep that weight off of you.  It’s not easy, but it is worth it. 

To my VOGMO friends, I respect your decisions, understand why you are making those decisions and bless you to be in good health.  I believe there is much to be learned from you, and hopefully the points you bring up will improve the food industry and care of animals.  I am genuinely glad you have shared with me why you eat the way you do.  Now I feel I have said my peace as to why I eat the way I do.  Let us then live in peace.  :)