DallasBill: You go there as a regular... say no more. Next time, put on good disguise and go as a tourist.

'Nuff said.

Fail reading did you?

.....Not surprising you being from Dallas, AKA Loutsville athwart the Trinity, City of Gulliverian Yahoos. Dallasites would accept an Old Milwaukee Tallboy and a AA $3.00 Snakpak are gourmet dining, if the napkin was big enough and the waiter geehawed on key. Down here around Waco, we have a keener grasp of culture and the culinaria (and English), apparently...

I said I go at least once a year. Living 535 miles up the road, close to a full day's drive, I don't exactly run down for dinner, so I'm hardly a "regular".

I'm not surprised you were treated like a "tourist". Galatoire's was never noted for the warm congeniality of its staff, but you might be amazed how they act when (a) you are not wearing long black sox w/shorts and sandals, (b) are level-headed enough so that the snuff drips equally from both corners of your mouth, (c) remove your hat or "gimme" cap upon entering, and (d) appear to have familiar with cloth napkins long before switching to short sleeved shirts.

I suspect that one who "acts" the tourist, or at least the objectional sort, flouting an air of bombastic insecurity, can be expected to be treated with little deference in worse joints than Galatoire's. I'll add the caveat made before, and suggest that you might profit from the folklore imparted by tribal elders. Go at 2PM on a weekday afternoon, not a bad schedule after late night beignets and coffee at DuMonde and "Elevens", a petite dejeuner, orange juice, coffee and a croissant

;-P TMO