Win/Fail Friday: Yay for Scampo, Nay for Del Frisco's

Scampo owner Lydia Shire with executive team

This week’s WIN: Gluten-free dining at Scampo
While I love that plenty of restaurants around town now offer gluten-free menus — Nebo, Franklin Cafe, and Legal Sea Foods spring to mind — it’s nice when it feels like your server really, really cares that you’re getting exactly what you’ve asked for. My mother-in-law has a wheat sensitivity, and I took her to brunch at Scampo knowing that they can make gluten-free versions of most of their pasta dishes and many of their appetizers. While our server assured us that the Nicoise salad was perfectly safe, she noted the gluten-free request anyway, just to be sure there wasn’t any cross-contamination. Such requests are flagged by the kitchen and plates marked with a toothpick, she said, so the staff knows to take extra precautions and ensure that no one inadvertently gets the wrong plate.

This week’s FAIL: Sexed-up sides at Del Frisco’s
I get that steakhouses are, stereotypically, the restaurant equivalent of a Man Cave. You’ve got big hunks of meat, big shiny knives, fruit-bomb Cabernets served in gigantic glasses, and martinis galore. But the new Del Frisco’s on Liberty Wharf takes the testosterone surge to a whole other level. Order sides with your steak and they are delivered to your table by a bevvy of mostly blonde beauties in short black skirts, all cooing and bending and spooning creamed spinach and “chateau potatoes” onto your plate. This appears to be their only responsibility, as white-clad waiters and busboys were the ones to deliver all the rest of our food and drink on a recent visit. It’s all very strange, and hardly necessary. The noisy table of bachelors a few feet away seemed to appreciate the, er, service, but really: If I wanted to see a rack, I’d have ordered the lamb.

Stay tuned for next week’s Win/Fail!