Fine Dining for Children

I tried. <sigh>

I think it's easier for the Four Season to pull something like this off because they ARE the Four Seasons. However, it's something (in Louisville) I only see being done at a specific night MAYBE once a month. You don't want to make an event too regular or it gets old and people will stop going; leading to its cancellation.

It can be done. I'd enjoy seeing it. For certain ages, the same criteria they have in the article, but am not certain about the locations. You don't want it too "childish" or older kids will get bored. Food should be the focus; no jumpies or Build-a-Bear next to the souffle table.

I'm envisioning a once a year thing - not a once a month thing. Targeted to the 6-7 and up crowd ( not littles). A very special occasion in January when things are dead? I could see this at Corbett's and Oakroom to name a few. I think you want it to be firmly top white tablecloth so it's truly a special occasion ( and best behavior). Remember, the parents have to come too to make this work for the restaurants- you are talking a $25-$40 entree here.
Deb

[Robin Garr]

You know, thinking of the great Hats On Offline that we had at Seviche to reconcile the hat lovers and the hat haters, I'm just wondering ... would a Kids Offline get any traction? If an accommodating restaurateur wanted to make arrangements for us on a given night, what would it be like if some of the folks with kids brought 'em, and some of the cranky old fogies agreed to come along and get a handle on what it's like to be in community with families and kids in a fine-dining situation when it's not strangers' kids but the children of our friends?

Probably impractical, but it's interesting to think about.

That sounds great, but I am sitting at the kiddie table.

Everytime we have a discussion regarding dining with children, I am reminded of my Grandmother's way of teaching us how to act in a restaurant. When i was growing up, we did not eat out much, there was 5 kids and not a lot of money. As we approched the age of 12, Grandma would start on our "training" for the "special lunch". We learned how to sit, how to eat properly and what was considered good dinner conversation. On or near our 12th birthday, we were taken by Grandma to the Kaufmann's Tea Room for our lunch. It was our introduction to "fine dining" and after that we were expected to act as "grownups" at family dinners. I remember wearing white gloves and patent leather shoes, something up until then I had only worn to church.

I work with teenagers a lot now and most have never had an experience eating out except for fast and chain food. They have no clue how to use real silverware or how to speak to a server. I won't even get into parents allowing bad behavior by thier kids.

That sound you hear is my Grandmother doing summersaults.........

I appreciate the gesture and in theory I think a family oriented offline would be great. The problem is, I know I personally couldn't say for sure whether we would attend until an hour or so before we showed up.

Like today. It was my daughter's first day of full day school and her first day back. She's been a total butt since about... Oh. 6 or so. She's tired and it shows. Not only would eating out tonight be a craptacular idea for everyone else but it wouldn't be fair to her.

Does that make sense?

I cook at home a lot. We see eating out as a treat rather than the normal way we get our meals, so whipping up something on teh spur of the moment instead of going out to eat isn't a huge deal to me. Perhaps some of these badly behaved kids that have been observed are from families who eat out regularly and don't pay attention to the cues of their children. Or as has been mentioned, perhaps they have special needs.

And perhaps our kid(s) (the older ones are now in college) tend to be better behaved because we adhere to the traditional family meal where we all sit down together rather than eating in shifts in front of the tv.

While not white tablecloth, Adrienne & Co. in Jeffersonville has a regular offering for kids. Sometimes it is cooking school, sometimes it is decorate your own cookie, etc. My daughter has attended a couple of these that were age appropriate for her (not all are) and "grandma" is wonderful with the kids.

I also feel that there is, at times, an underlying distaste for kids in some of the posts on this forum. The first time I recall feeling this was while reading the thread about bringing in outside food for children when dining out. Those of us with little children can easily feel like we are being singled out by some of the comments from other posters. We dine out with our daughter at several local independant restaurants because we feel that it is important to support the locals while also trying to keep our daughter's horizons broadened.

As far as an offline with kids, sign me up. How about the Blind Pig?

Pretty much no one on the board likes kids.

Did my post imply that, Tina?

I like kids. Medium rare.

Last year Chicago had a kid's restaurant week. http://www.kidsrestaurantweek.com/chicago.asp Reservation times, prices (kids meal costs their age), and menus were child friendly without going down the dreaded "kid's menu" fryer path. If enough local restaurants got together and promoted something like this I imagine there would be decent support. Who knows, the restaurants might just create customers for life. I cant help but compare it to a drug dealer giving away the first free hit. Once these kids get hooked on the good stuff they're much less likely to be satisfied with the boring everyday reality of chains and fast food.

Not fine dining by any stretch, but I have made it a personal mission to break my step niece and nephew out of 'plain old boring' eating habits and get them to try more unusual things. Every time I volunteer to take them wandering or do a family cookout, I make sure to squeeze something different into the menu, since at home they are typical 'hotdogs, sandwiches, and mac n' cheese' kids.

Every time I plan a trip to Jungle Jims, they beg to tag along and we pick up something new and unusual to eat when we get back. Ants in chocolate, avocados, prickly pear fruit, lychees, ostrich and kangaroo jerky, frog legs, grilled blood sausage, and these http://www.hotlix.com/insect_candy/larvets.html have all been tried recently. The 10 year old niece is also now a hot sauce fiend, and was sampling most of what I tried at the Weekend of Fire.

The downside - the family still hasn't let me live down the 'post Hooters episode' from one of the trips - we stopped at one for lunch because they wanted wings, and when we got home the nephew explained to mom and dad what hooters were. Imagine a 7 year old boy who talks with his hands and expressions telling you 'Mom, Dad, do you know what Hooters are? They're boobs! BOOBS!' at the dinner table and you get an idea of how it went over. Not sure if they will ever let me forget that one... (In my defense, I did not tell him that - he picked it up on his own)

Ha Ha

I tried. <sigh>

My kids have always loved the food at Seviche, Uptown, Shalimar, De La Torres, etc.. Of course, why wouldn't they. With a few reminders about things here and there they are quite well behaved.

I wish you all could see my 6 year old nephew eat out. He's been to Ruth's Chris, Jeff Ruby's, Jack Fry's, Bourbons, etc. He's perfect if you don't count him hogging the bread and butter.

Also, if you check back on my field trip thread from the few weeks ago, this is what I've been working on. I want to expose our first graders to something other than McDonald's and school lunch. We're going to teach them ettiquette and get them excited about dining out.

[Robin Garr]

Also, if you check back on my field trip thread from the few weeks ago, this is what I've been working on. I want to expose our first graders to something other than McDonald's and school lunch. We're going to teach them ettiquette and get them excited about dining out.

Here's the link, Jessica. I really like what you're doing!

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