Service Included

Peter Sagal’s Second Dinner at Alinea

Peter Sagal
Peter Sagal

By his own admission, Wait, Wait … Don’t Tell Me host Peter Sagal kinda sorta maybe snubbed Alinea in his 2007 book The Book of Vice: Very Naughty Things and How to Do Them (chapter two, “Eating, or Sodom’s Restaurant” centers around a meal at the restaurant and an interview with Achatz; amidst all the description, Sagal might have forgotten to mention that he actually enjoyed his experience). This past Friday night, he and his wife returned to the restaurant, and instead of being greeted with Bronx cheers, the Sagals were pleased (if a bit surprised) to be warmly welcomed:

“On the one hand, they are a four star restaurant serving an international clientele with exacting expectations of service, but on the other hand, I had referred to chefs such as their proprietor “reaching up behind their perfectly tailored chef’s jacket with their names embroidered on their breasts” and pulling recipies out of their asses. So they would have been justified in shall we say, turning up a nose. But: no. We were welcomed by name, instantly recognized — “You were last here, I believe, the spring of 2006″ — and seated instantly, and then served the single most astonishing and inventive meal it’s been my pleasure to lick off custom serving pieces.” Class all the way, folks. [Peter Sagal’s Blog]

Peter Sagal’s Second Dinner at Alinea