The foodies vs. the food snatchers

By Deborah Netburn

February 21, 2008

LAST summer at Houston's in Century City, the usual struggle to keep a server from clearing my plate too soon had escalated into a full-blown war. When she came to our table for the fourth time and made yet another grab for my plate, I had no choice but to wrap my arm around my half-eaten burger and still plentiful fries. The barricade worked, but just barely.

Battle weary as we left the restaurant, my friends and I discussed the anxiety we felt dining out in this town if your pace of eating isn't synchronized with the rest of your party. Speedy eaters' plates are almost always whisked away before everyone else has finished, leading those who eat at a healthy clip to wonder if they have just shoveled food down their throats. And slow eaters who are inevitably asked "Are you done with that?" three times over can't help wondering if the subtext is actually: "Maybe you should be done with that . . . fatty."

Even restaurants that are excellent in every other way can be notorious food snatchers. A quick survey of co-workers and friends reveals some recent offenders: Popular Via Veneto in Santa Monica ("At this point, I just tell them when I sit down that we don't want to be rushed," says a Westsider), En Sushi in Los Feliz (where a friend's salmon sushi was nearly grabbed by a busboy while she was sipping tea), the otherwise delightful Buddha's Belly in West Hollywood and the Cheesecake Factory in Beverly Hills, where a co-worker swears her plate almost disappeared mid-bite.

Evan Kleiman, host of KRCW's "Good Food" radio show and Angeli Caffe owner, says diners should feel perfectly comfortable telling a server they are not done.

"I'm very aggressive," she says. "I've never stabbed a busboy with a fork, but almost." She also thinks customers annoyed by overeager wait staff need to chill out. "Keep in mind that . . . the busboy's focus is to clear away empty. So I think it is perfectly understandable if they err on the side of clearing too much."

As for where to go when you want to be left in peace? West Hollywood's A.O.C. is pricey, but the wait staff paces the meals perfectly. And a recent trip to the always packed Casa Bianca in Eagle Rock found our waitress a little harried, but not asking to clear our table until every last one of us was done. The only problem: We had to wait almost an hour to be seated. But that's another peeve for another time.