Tough tables

Menu at Per Se, Thomas Keller’s East Coast outpost. Photo by baobee.

One complaint you don’t hear too often from restaurant-goers around here is that it’s too hard to get into a place. Sure, Saturday night at 8 p.m. fills up fast in the good places. But I’ve never heard of a Western New York restaurant that was impossible to get into for months. I wish we had one.

Instead, read all about the phenomenon in a Wall Street Journal article.

“Times are tough for the mere mortal who wants to land a table at a top spot. That’s because recent changes in the restaurant world, from a new cottage industry of “table scalpers” who nab desirable seats and then resell them to the shrinking number of tables of top eateries, have turned getting reservations into a global blood sport.”

Apparently, people are scalping reservations at places like Nobu and Gramercy Tavern, at $35 a pop.

What a waste. I could have bought a salad at Le Cirque for that.