It had been a long time since I had a date on Valentine's Day proper - and so I had failed to recall the need for dinner reservations....having dated my now wife of 17 years for about 9 months - and having been told that the 14th of Feb was a very important holiday in her family....I suppose I should have picked up on the need to plan....I did get two tickets to a piano recital at UMKC conservtoary of music - a fine idea in my mind (but not in hers as it turned out) and when she went to sit down in her auditorium seat it was broken and creaked (and no, I didn't offer to switch seats - given that I was heavier, it would have made the creaking even worse during a piano recital full of soft passages) and there was no moving seats as it was a full house. And before the recital, we just drove to Joe D's in Brookside only to find to my surprise, that one needed a reservation (on what was a weeknight early in the week)....so we spent our first Valentine's Day dinner as a couple having a burger at Charlie Hoopers. I now docket on my calendar in mid-January to make a 2/14 dinner reservation.
We had dinner at Picasso in Las Vegas recently - about $450 for two (including the wine pairings) - and I can remember every dish we ate - each was fabulous and memorable....and we had a terrific table watching the fountains at the Bellagio with Picasso's artwork on the wall. But wouldn't (couldn't) do that every week - also ate for much less (and still good food) in Vegas.
Re: “New city ordinance lets restaurant customers BYOB”
I would like to know what part of the corkage fee goes to the waiter (and as is probably the case, this differs from restaurant to restaurant). We have a wine locker at a restaurant in town and so when we take a bottle from our locker (which we may have purchased from the restaurant or brought in ourselves) we add additional tip as if we had bought a bottle of wine that evening. So the waiter ends up with what he/she would have had if we had purchased a bottle of wine. But if the restaurant charges a corkage fee, does the server get a similar portion (say, the avergae wine price at the restaurant is $30 a bottle - so another 20% is $6 - would [should] the restaurant give the serve that share of the corkage fee - if not, then I would fee responsible to tip the waiter as well). (And another question while I am at it: is there some dollar amount for a bottle of wine beyond which I don't need to continue to add on the 20% - say I bought a $100 bottle - would a serve expect 20% on that as well - or does the 20% sort of phase out after some lesser amount. Though I suppose the correct answer is if you can afford the $100 bottle you can afford the 20% on top....and I don't buy $100 bottles in a restaurant so haven't faced the dilemma).