Waiter There is a Fly in my Soup

As you know by now, I usually don't post a recipe on Saturdays.

Today I want to talk to you about a touchy subject.

While dining in a restaurant, have you ever found a stray hair or a bug in your food?
I have.

Even in the cleanest, nicest places it can happen.

I ate at a hip trendy restaurant in Charleston, S.C. and I found a centipede crawling over my salad.
When I mentioned it to the server, she said "sorry, we use organic lettuces, would you like another salad?".

I decided to try my luck and eat the centipede one. They removed the creepy crawler from the plate, and I dug in.
I am still alive to tell the story.

Well, I have long, thick brown hair.
I am very careful when I cook, and tie it back in a bun or barette, but every once in a while that stray hair gets in the food.
I know it's disgusting, but what should I do? Wear a hair net?

I debated about showing this photo. I will not mention the name of the bakery, but this was taken with my friend's cell phone while passing this popular establishment on Saturday night.



Willard & his pet Ben just can't resist cupcakes!
Yuck.

Comments

Ciao Chow Linda said…
YIKES! That is truly disgusting. Sometimes when I pass some of those cases in sketchy NYC neighborhoods I have wondered about varmints getting into those cases. Now you've given me pause to try ANY bakery. That photo truly takes the cake (or cupcake). yuck.
StaceyEsq said…
Well, that just put me off my breakfast.

I try to be careful when I cook, too, since I have waist length hair that the shower drain adores. It needn't make an appearance in family meals!

Have a great weekend!
SarahB said…
Linda ....worse yet. It is in a great neighborhood! Those critters are everywhere! Sta, a centipede would have freaked me out!
kat said…
I once heard that there isn't a restaurant in San Francisco that doesn't have mice. A friend once had a creepy crawly in her salad & mentioned it to the waiter & he got all mad at her saying they were one of the best restaurants in the city & won't apologize
Dana said…
First of all, yuck! I once found a small worm in my salad and was totally grossed out until I realized that worms are a part of the earth and it was probably just hanging out on the wild mushroom I found it on when it was picked. Yes, the dining room should have done a better job of washing them, but at least it wasn't a cockroach. I ate the salad and the restaurant comped it.

I am less tolerant of hair because, as far as I know, hair doesn't grow or live in the forest! :)
Angelica said…
Eating a burger at Wendy's in Key Largo, FL once, I found a curly suspicious looking hair smack in the middle of the burger... I complained to the burger people, got a refund, but simply couldn't eat the new burger they offered me.
The bug on organic lettuce I can understand. It has happened to me too. But a mouse? That's a completely different matter. Completely unsanitary and completely disgusting. Ugh.
I have a friend who's in pest conrol, and you don't even want to know some of the things he's told me about famous restaurants, you would be sick to your stomach and never eat out again! We never know whats lurking in resturant kitchens.
I know one thing for sure, I don't think I'd buy any of their cupcakes!
LaDue & Crew said…
Now I can handle a hair... possibly a bug. But a mouse or a rat, OMG I would croak.
Colloquial Cook said…
Wow cupcakes at that bakery seem to be universally appreciated. Is that standard practice to leave stuff in the shop window after closing hours?? I would have thought they had to refrigerate everything.
Maris said…
OMG! You must email me and tell me where that was because I will never go there again! I live near and work in NYC and if it's a popular cupcake place it's likely I will nevvvvver be going there again. Gross!

mariscallahan@gmail.com
Nancy said…
Hmmm, I'm still recovering from the stomach flu, right after eating something from a bakery. This picture makes me wonder - was it the flu?
One of my most vivid memories is from when I was about 8; my mother, father and I were eating at a restaurant in Florida and my mom had a pasta dish. About half-way through her pasta dish she found a fly baked right into it. EWWW!!! A hair is okay and understandable and hopefully washed that morning but a bug or rodent...just yucky!!
ew, ew, ew, I am going to have nightmares tonight!! This is the worst!

Sues
Chris Hernandez said…
I love listening to servers and chefs give reasons like that. I too have, on occasion, had to tell customers that what we use organic produce. That still doesn't make it right, I always go through vegetable to look for possible bugs.
Beth J. said…
This is absolutely vile...My family and I eat out/ take in alot. I don't even want to think about how much vermin shit, bugs and hairs I've ingested. I guess we need to continue to read your blog and eat home more often!!
Michele said…
Wow, I don't even know what to say. That's gross!
Anonymous said…
The problem is that most restaurants/hotels, use pre-bagged salads, just like what you but at the supermarket but only larger. They come "pre-washed" but not pre-bugged.

Many times I've seen live bugs of various types inside the bag and yes, they sometimes reach the guests' plate.

My blog:
So You Want To Be a Banquet Manager
lydia j. said…
This comment has been removed by the author.
The Food Hunter said…
Gross! Gives me more motive to eat at home. I can deal with hair but bugs and rats...no way.
The JR said…
One of my sayings to one of my work friends is "if you bring your own food to lunch, you know what's in it and how it was cooked".
Ramona
Karen said…
I imagine every bakery have their resident mice. What you don't know usually won't hurt you.
I don't thin I'll be picking up any cupcakes anytime soon. And I hope those sprinkles are just... sprinkles. - John