That's because they're thinking that you've asked for stolen eggs!

I like anchovies, so when I'm in a place that might have a good Caesar salad, I ask if it has anchovy filets on it. Servers are surprised--and sometimes a little disgusted--that the right answer is, "Yes!"

As I keep telling my wife "A ceaser salad without anchovies is just salad!" :)

I get strange looks when I ask for a Tuna Melt without cheese

I've even had strange looks stared upon me before for ordering egg benedicts.

What gets melted? :confused:

Mr. Soames, who's very "British", once asked for some extra tartare sauce for his fish, at a Red Lobster in FL. The young waitress looked at him with a blank stare; then repeated "ta-ta sauce? what's that?"

Another time, at a semi upmarket restaurant in Boston, the daily special was
Braised Lamb shank, which I love. The server asked me, how I'd like it done. :D

Here's my smartass response to that: "Uh, braised?"

I'm sorry but if a waiter doesn't know what a poached egg is I don't think they should be working in any job function that involves food, let alone in a restaurant.

I once ordered an Americano as an apertivo at a high-end Cleveland resturant, and when the others were brought out their drinks I was brought coffee service.

Like the place, never had the shrimp. Will go soon and try them.

At least as of a few years ago, it wasn't on the menu...gotta know to ask. ^

I'd never heard the term "black and blue" for steak until I was at a restaurant in
New York earlier this year. I definitely approve! My favourite reaction to ordering my steak blue was once in Australia when the waitress's
response was "Yuk! Really?"
They say that the rarer you order your steak, the better the piece will be,
partly becasue the chef knows that you are a true connoissuear, and partly
because you can't disguise any shortcomings with over-cooking.
I'm happy eating good steak raw but it tends to upset one's fellow diners,
also searing the outside does something magical to the flavour.
I would love to be a vegetarian but my mouth is watering just thinking.
about steak.

Similar story...

Took my sister and mother to a new resto that had opened in the Boston area after a solid year of heavy pimping in the local press.

Dinner was a train wreck... Hamburger Helper would have been better on so many levels.

But, the icing on the cake was my mother's Irish Coffee. She orders, and the waitress gives her a puzzled look.

5 minutes later, she returns, with an even more puzzled look on her face. "Ma'am, I'm sorry, but the bartender doesn't know what's in an Irish Coffee. Could you tell me?"

My mom replies, and all appears to be well.

The waitress comes over with a big grin on her face, and a cup and saucer. Indeed, a cup of coffee was filled halfway with coffee, and the rest with booze. It was tepid, flaccid, and basically wrong on every possible level you could screw up such a drink.

Needless to say, I haven't been back.

Cheers,

-Andrew

One of my favorite drinks is the calimocho - equal parts cola and red wine with a few ice cubes tossed in. Most people have never heard of it or have any idea, and when I explain it, they usually cringe.

I thought I knew my drinks pretty well but even I had to look that one up...

I've had this drink but didn't know there was a name for it...I just made it one night when I had crappy red wine and didn't want to drink it as-is :D

But overall, I don't think I order anything that makes waiters go "huh?"