Face it, we all make mistakes in life. It happens.
We make bad decisions that come out of not knowing enough of a situation, or we make poor use of the information that we do have. Such decisions are made nearly every day in life. Some of them are fixable, such as returning that shirt that has a missing button. Some are no big deal, like buying a carton of milk when you already had one in the fridge. And then there are some irreversible ones that can make a big difference in your lives. Somewhere in the magnitude of “I passed on Cornell and NYU because my high school sweetheart only got into schools on the west coast and I wanted us to stay together.” My advice on those would be to try to just laugh it off if you can.
I don’t like making mistakes with my food. I mean, what can you do? You ordered it (and most likely already ate half of it) before the disappointment sinks in. Most won’t ask for a refund unless it’s for a better reason than ‘I just didn’t like it.’ So you just endure the last half, pay up, and get on with the rest of your life.
It’s an imperfect transaction. You don’t know what your dish will taste like until after you’ve ordered it and made a promise to pay for the service.
In reality, ordering the wrong dish isn’t a big deal. You got the sustenance your body needed and, in less than a day, it’ll run its course through your body anyway. The disappointment will not last long (unless it gives you food poisoning).
I may feel like I made the wrong decisions that night, but luckily I went with eight other friends to Campanile for their DineLA dinner and they made some very good ones. It should be worth noting that I went against the waiter’s recommendations on every dish, which may be of some useful information in the future. So, I’ll do something different and talk about what they had instead.
Here is the waiter’s recommended starter: Poached Egg with Porcini Mushroom Cream and White Truffle Oil. I think it just looks glorious, and they pile on the thinly sliced truffles too, which gives it that incredible flavor in every tiny bite. Alas, I went with another dish because I didn’t want to spring for the cash upgrade (too broke from Grace and XIV… those tiny upgrades have a knack for adding up). However, if I were to go back again soon, this would be the first dish I’d be ordering.
I liked my neighbor’s pork loin dish better than my own, although it needed the creme fraiche to compensate for some dryness in my opinion. Still, I liked the value and sides more than my mussels dish. I went seafood just cause I hadn’t seen too much shellfish entrees on all the DineLA spots that I’ve encountered this month.
Regrettably unfocused pic of the Bread Pudding. All but two people at the table went with the waiter’s recommended dessert dish, which was definitely pretty good. Maybe not the best bread pudding I’ve had, but very close. I just wanted to strike a different chord than the rest of the group and went with ice cream. Mango and vanilla iced cream with biscotti, no less. But not much more than ice cream you can have just about anyday.
Here’s the trio of dishes I ordered. I think my camera also was disappointed and didn’t figure to focus correctly. The soup was a bit too creamy and I think I could only down about half of it, but it made for a really good dip with all the free La Brea Bakery bread that was coming to us. The mussels were just okay to me, and again, made for a nice dip for the free bread.
Still, it was a fantastic place to get dinner with a good group of friends. Chef and owner Mark Peel really did a fantastic job with the venue. When you step in, you’ll spot a fountain and very tall skylit ceilings inside the converted indoor foyer. There’s also very spacious rooms in the back for hosting larger parties. Service was also fantastic as well. We happily spent two hours having a fun-filled dinner. Thank goodness for friends and sharing.
Edit: I looked up campanile in the dictionary, and it means “Bell Tower” in Italian. Makes sense now, because when I hear the word Campanile, I immediately think of Berkeley’s Sather Tower (aka “The Campanile”) that towers over the campus.
624 S La Brea Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90036
mark peel was on top chef masters so i will have to try this place eventually. it looks like a good space with good eats, though you are right, it’s best when you go with a group of folks so you can eat their food if your own dishes suck…that’s the lesson i’m learning from your post today
I’m glad to have passed on some knowledge! Yeah, you should totally try this place out, bags.
There has never been a single person that I’ve dined with that has not commented on 1) how long it takes me to decide upon my order and 2) how I order my food, as I tend to ask questions, ask for recommendations and more often than naught, ask for substitutions. My response to those naysayers; don’t hate the player, hate the game. I just know what I want and how I want it. Because as you mentioned, although ordering “the wrong thing” may not be the end of the world, it is a major buzz kill when you’re eating food that tastes closer to Elmer’s glue and playdough than amazing, mouth watering, yummy in my tummy, foodie goodness.
And as a side note, after tasting the result of what a little high “Mei”tenance can get you, those naysayers have a tendency to convert and become dogmatic disciples of my ordering technique. Or at the very least, scarf down what I ordered thereby, throwing me a literal bone that says “Yea Mei, you were right” which is, as we can all attest to, the sweetest dish of all.
Yeah Mei, you were right.
ehhh.. so.. what cam is this? No EXIF tags, unable to photo stalk you.