Balance of Food

Thomas Keller, one of America's foremost chefs, has announced that as of September 1, he would abolish the practice of tipping at Per Se, his luxury restaurant in New York City, and replace it with a European-style service charge. For those of us who used to work in restaurants, please leave the tips alone. Tips makes the job financially worthwhile, and gives great incentive to get excellent service. While this might obviously apply to how fast you get your food, tips is an incentive to get better food. Servers make recommendations -- they are your gateway to the kitchen. They can help you get medium rare if that is what you want. When they screw that up and they don't care, they should pay. Tips make that happen. Automatic service charges don't.