Obnoxious

There was an article in last Sunday's Relish magazine (which is an insert in the NY Daily News) titled "5 Restaurant Don'ts".  After reading the author's article, I would NEVER eat in one of his restaurants or buy one of his 15 cookbooks.  Obnoxious is the nicest word I can use to describe him.  Judge for yourself....

# 2 on his list of things not to do at a restaurant is asking the server "What's good here?".  He seems to take offense at this remark and says that he views it as a cynical greeting that makes him cringe.   If you look up the word cynical in the dictionary it means: distrusting or disparaging the motives of others (I will get back to this later).  I find nothing wrong with asking the server "what's good"?  Especially, if you never ate at the restaurant before and need a recommendation of what to try. 

# 4 on the list is asking for the condiment on the side.  In his opinion, ordering a sandwich without the condiment makes no sense.  Really??  Maybe in his warped mind it makes no sense but it makes perfect sense to those of us who are capable of making decisions without worrying about offending the chef.  He goes on to further state that if you don't trust the sandwich maker to "artfully" assemble your sandwich, you shouldn't be eating in that establishment!  Has this guy ever heard of food allergies?  My son loves the turkey pannini from a local restaurant but MUST ask them to remove the Garlic/Mayo condiment due to his allergy to eggs and dairy.  I wonder if this guy would throw my son out of the restaurant because he had the gall to ask the server to remove the condiment?

The author seems to view himself as the restaurant God.  How dare us mere mortals doubt anything he does!  If you ask me, he also seems a bit paranoid, as #'s 2 & 4 on his list both mention his feeling that people don't "trust" his superior culinary skills.

# 5 on the list is a bit different than the others, as it simply calls into questions the audacity of a custoomer that has lived near the restaurant for two years but just recently decided to try it out.  He says the "customer's lack of curiosity about his restaurant is astounding"!  The only thing "astounding" here is this fool's arrogant attitude!  Has he ever heard of the recession????  Instead of berating the customer for taking two years to try out the restaurant, he should be down on the ground kissing the customer's feet!  As eating out is a luxury for many these days, he should be honored that the customer chose his restaurant at all.

So, what's your opinion?  Obnoxious or not?