I was about to spear a fried shrimp when J-boogie leapt across me and said, “Stop!” (Okay, it wasn’t that dramatic.)
It was Thursday night and we were hanging out Sullivan’s for their popular happy hour. It’s one of the city’s best, with live jazz and two bar menu items for $10. I went before at the request of the restaurant's general manager. They treated my friend and I like queens.
This time, I went incognito with a larger group of rowdy friends to see if we’d get the same good treatment. I arrived about 5:30 p.m. to reserve a table, which go quickly there. I joined other people sitting with large empty tables, reading books or magazines as we killed time waiting for our friends to arrive.
Once my friends arrive we ordered fried shrimp, the blue cheese chips, burgers, salad and salmon.
I’m sitting there with fork poised to grab a shrimp when J-boogie points to a itty-bitty white thing wiggling out of one shrimp. We froze. Let out a collective eeewww and passed the plate around. It was a live worm.
I’ve had a dead bug in a salad at Mama Ricottas years ago and hair in my food at numerous place. A live worm was new.
We called the manager. He ordered us a fresh plate and came back to explain how a live worm could’ve possibly ended up in our food. It was something about the jalapenos coming out of a jar. We stared at the freshly fried plate of shrimp. We acted like little kids saying, “No, you try it,” “No, you try it.”
I took the plunge. It was good and without the unwanted protein. The manager and staff were apologetic. They reduced our bill and gave us a platter of desserts to sample. (The bananas foster bread pudding was the bizomb! It's now my favorite bread pudding in Charlotte.)
We left still wondering how a live worm survived the frying process.
Everyone I’ve told this story too has a different way they would have handled. One friend said she would’ve left immediately and she would’ve wanted the entire meal comped. Another said she’d never go there again.
I’ll definitely go back. Bugs or hair in food isn’t that uncommon. What have you discovered in your food while eating out? And how did the situation get resolved?
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
Buggin' out in Sullivan's
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
9 comments:
Tonya,
You are more woman than I am. There is no way I could have eaten any of that shrimp, fresh fried or not. I know that stuff can happen to your food in the kitchen, but for me ignorance is truly bliss. I have a friend that is a commercial plumber and he will not eat out at a lot of places that he has worked in. Live worm in my shrimp? Major yucky..
You know Tonya, it would refreshing if one day you wrote about something positive - (that isn't afrocentric or related to the black community or the CIAA, that is).
The constant negativity you display has all the markings of a very unhappy person.
Attacking a paralyzed young man's friends who love him,telling us you're "ashamed to be an American", making a big deal about a worm at a restaurant who's sanitation grade/track record is very good. (you didn't bother to check)
The truth is homegirl we're all sick to death of you, your negative vibes, your mohawk, your "homegirls", your constant use of hip-hop slang, your celebrating the decline of our culture by promoting ugly thuggish rapping criminals, your garish taste in music, your single-faceted take on pop culture, your Spike Lee-ish "blame the man" attitude, your juvenile habit of lashing out at the wrong people at the wrong time, your distorted sense of justice and diversity,your baseless and subjective accusations of racism and overall stunted view of our community, the tacky events and happenings you waste ink and megabytes writing about, your paralyzing fear of taking on a real issue that would actually put your butt on the line,never admitting you were wrong, trying to make everyone forget that if you weren't for affirmative action, no newspaper bigger than the Fort Mill Times would hire you, your inability to tell any story objectively without including some thinly-veiled racial talking point all the while Uncle-Tomming it up with all the liberal suits at Knight-Ridder, your slippery ideas about promoting the gay and lesbian community without actually having the guts to come out publicly, your defense of young urban criminals, the complaining, the whining, the moaning, your desperate pleas for attention, your hackish attempts at creating controversy, and finally, your part in turning the Charlotte Observer into a liberal buttrag fishwrap disaster I wouldn't line a lowcountry cesspool with. You're a true disgrace.
p.s. - It's spelled "jalapeno". A real journalist would know that.
Careful there Herb. Don't insult the Fort Mill Times. It may be small, but it wouldn't hire Tonya.
Can a Black person have an opinion? Man, now the true racists are coming out since Tonya talked about the beloved white Ray. RACISM PEOPLE... read it above. If you ever wonder why Black people talk about, and experience it all the time READ ABOVE. This is probably the same 'nice' person you know from the office, a 'good guy', you would never know, right?
^ geeesh, rant much?
ANYWAY - I probably wouldn't have ate another shrimp. Most likely I would have ordered something else but still had that nagging feeling in my head and checked each and every bite. When I was young I was eating walnuts and I'd just cracked one open when a little worm (or maggot) came slithering out...I've never had another walnut again.
I went to Mert's because I had heard all the hype that it was a good soul food place for lunch one day and got a salad which had a HUGE fruit fly in it! I was totally disgusted but they brought me another salad which I could not eat. I will never go there again. The food I did eat was mediocre. Great Southern food? Don't think so. I'm a Charlotte native and my Granny's southern cookin' couldn't be beat. This stuff tasted like trash. I also felt like I wasn't wanted there because I was white; like they didn't want to wait on me. Never again!
Herb, you're my hero. Way to tell it like it is.
Whoaaaa Herb. Take a pill.
I am a white (over 50) woman who considers Tonya to be a very good friend. I've never seen the side of her that you so gently convey. You sound like a really compassionate and loving person Herb. Good for you.
Dear Anonymous 50 year old white lady,
How can you be anymore objective than Herb, since it's pretty obvious you're a lesbian. Plus, if you're such a "very good friend", why don't you sign your name like Herb did?
Truth is, we need more people like him to tell it like it is, without fear of reprisals from the PC Police.
Not judging someone on the basis of their skin color is one thing, but when a journalist brings the big pro-Afro American bag of tricks like Jameson does, trying to deliberately cause conflict, promoting the kind of rap and hip hop bling-bling culture endorsed by violent misogynist rappers, drug dealers, and NBA players that has poisoned our country's children while holding them back underneath an umbrella of failure shouldn't have a voice.
If someone circulated a petition to have Jameson fired from the Observer, I would be the 1st one to sign it. She's doing all of us harm, in our hearts and minds.
Post a Comment