"south philadelphia" news and stories

It's an age-old conundrum. You're finishing off a meal at a restaurant and a few pieces of bread remain in the basket. You know that the bread will be thrown away if you don't take it with you, but you've also been taught that it is bad manners to take leftover bread home. You're already taking the remnants of your dinner home to snack on the next day, so it wouldn't be hard to pop those last few crusts in the bag. What do you do?

I was faced with just this dilemma last Friday night. Scott and I had gone for a late dinner at an Italian restaurant in South Philadelphia. We had skipped the bread basket, preferring to wait for our meals, but the particular restaurant we were at is known for serving excellent, seeded Italian bread. Knowing that it would just get thrown away after we left, I surreptitiously tossed it into the bag that was holding the last of my delicious, brick-oven pizza.

Scott looked at me and shook his head, but I couldn't bear to let bread (especially such good bread) go to waste. I happily ate it up over several days, toasting it to restore the crumb. I don't for a moment regret making such a tacky move, but I'm curious what the rest of you do when confronted with the same situation. Save face and leave the bread or take it home, much to your dining partner's chagrin?