"tipping" news and stories

Good servers are constantly questioning their guests: Would you like a cocktail before dinner? Is your steak cooked correctly? Are you considering dessert this evening?

But restaurant etiquette dictates that the questions stop as soon as the check's dropped. No matter how lousy the tip, servers aren't supposed to ask their guests whether they could have done anything to make their experience better – even if the phrasing's exceedingly polite.

Staying mum isn't easy, especially since servers are trained to make sure their guests are happy. A poor tip doesn't seem too different from a restaurant goer yelping, "I'm having a terrible time!", a cry no capable server would ignore.

Each Thursday, we round up a selection of scrumptious links from our friends over at YumSugar. Here's what they've got cooking this week:

• It's about time famous toques do the tipping.
• Comparing one apple-cinnamon oatmeal to another.
• Starbucks had a baby, and its name is Roy Street Coffee & Tea.
• Making chorizo at home is easy, even if you don't have a meat grinder.
• When life gives you strawberries, make strawberry vodka cocktails.

Restaurant servers aren't shy about profiling.

Even the most open-minded servers tend to buy into politically incorrect theories of customer behavior that hinge on race and gender. I've worked with women who buy nutritional yeast in bulk, slap "Free Mumia" stickers on their biodiesel-fueled cars and refuse to wait on all-female tables.

But a new study suggests tipping's linked to yet another core identity, one I've never heard discussed in any wait station. According to HCD Research, Democrats are reliably better tippers than Republicans.

Democrats are two percent more generous when receiving bad service, leaving an average 10.8 percent to Republicans' 8.7 percent. That stat might be dismissed as evidence of liberals' bleeding hearts, except that the phenomenon repeated itself on the good service end of the spectrum: Satisfied Dems tipped 20 percent, while the average G.O.P'er tacked 18 percent onto his bill.

Independents were the worst tippers, leaving just under 18 percent when pleased with their service.

• Dublin's Koi Garden serves upwards of 1,000 customers at its weekend dim sum service. They must be onto something.
• You'd never think of tipping less than 20 percent for table service, right? Tip jar etiquette is not as clear. Think good karma.
• Either way, you'll have more left over for tips if you eat at one of these Bargain Bites.
• Smooth and intense, Gjetost is the Norwegian take on goat cheese -- and it's not for everyone.
• You know which wines to pair with chicken or steak...but what about broccoli?

There's something oddly endearing about Samurai steakhouses in the Benihana mold. I'd always assumed it was the chefs' talent for flipping itty-bitty shrimp into their toques, or their ability to simultaneously pun and chop onions. But it turns out there's an even better reason to love Japanese steakhouses – their owners stand up for their servers.

While I can't vouch for official policy at all of the many Japanese steakhouses across the country, Kanpai Japanese Steak and Seafood House in Winston-Salem made headlines last week when it banned a bad tipper from ever eating there again.

"We can't keep continuing to serve her anymore because the servers and chefs are not willing to serve her," manager Michael Lam told a local television station.

Monica Covington clearly wasn't leaving bad tips because she was so dissatisfied with her experience at Kanpai. According to reports, she's dined there multiple times, and seems to be intent on remaining a customer. After she was refused service, she collected hundreds of signatures on a petition accusing the restaurant of unfairly standing between her and her teppanyaki.