Sunday, November 15, 2009

Gornisht

Just came home from a friend's birthday party. A lot of food, booze, good company. The event was held at Benny's on Ocean Avenue and Avenue M. The place is under Rabbi Gornish.

As we're sitting and eating, a frummie couple walks in. Penguin suit and all. The hashgocha is posted in the window and is hard to miss and if you missed it, why would you even go in. They look around and decide to sit down. Then they start grilling the waiter on the origins of the establishment's chicken. Even after being told it's Rubashkin, and after wasting the waiter's time with their moronic questions, they just left without eating.

The guy looked familiar. I wouldn't be surprised if they're psycho BTs. Before you go into a restaurant, you check the hashgocha. If you trust the hashgocha, sit down, shut up, and eat. If you don't trust the hashgocha, what are you even doing there?! And if you don't trust the hashgocha, who says the staff aren't gonna lie to you about where their meat comes from. And if you're an idiot who takes upon himself every chumra he hears about, what are you even doing in a meat restaurant, or any kind of restaurant.

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18 comments:

  1. Some people just like talking to waiters. (Remember Glengary Glen Ross, some people like talking to salesmen?)

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  2. Well, the feeling should be mutual.

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  3. We once went to eat out, and the manager/mashgiach turned out to be someone SubHub knew. We started talking, etc, and towards the end of the conversation the manager said that after being in the food business for so long, he didn't trust anyone and didn't eat out ever. He even went home for lunch. All I could think about was - what a hypocrite.

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  4. Heh. So he wouldn't eat at his own restaurant because he doesn't trust himself but would eat at home because he does? Split personality?

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  5. There is more than one manager there, so I guess it's not that complicated :) But then if you can't trust anyone, then you can't ever get take out, go to the bakery, etc. Andhow can you buy meat? or any kind of cooked food, like hummus etc? Or even cereal? I doubt he only buys rice and eggs and flour in the store and slaughters his own chickens.

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  6. You never know...
    I know a guy who claims sulfites in wine and grape juice make it shaakol and makes kiddush on beer. Your husband might know him too.
    So there are all kinds of psychos.

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  7. Are these the people who hold of pesach all year round?

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  8. MOSHE:

    nu, so this guy has his meshugas. the only reason i would get upset is because the service in benny's is so damn slow, this guy shouldn't be making it any slower by wasting their time. (although the food is good and reasonably priced.)

    SUBWIFE:

    "manager/mashgiach"

    that's the biggest scam. what's the purpose of a mashgiach if he is on the restaraunt's payroll?

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  9. What's the point of being a mashgiach if you don't to do something bad.

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  10. LOZ,

    There's another mashgiach. He is really a manager who also supervises that only checked vegetables are used, etc. In any case, one ends up paying mashgiach one way or another. There is always some degree of conflict of interest.

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  11. By "he" i meant the guy I originally mentioned.

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  12. SUBWIFE:

    there is a considerable difference if the mashgiach is an employee of the kashruth agencey that certifies the restaurant or of the restaurant itself.

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  13. They obviously have an outside certification.

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  14. Obviously is is an outside hashgacha, but the question is who pays the actual mashgiach that works on the premises. R. Gornish, for example, can't be in every store he "supervises" at the same time. So there are mashgichim who report to him. The question is whether r. Gornish or the restaraunt actually pays the mashgiach. if the mashgiach works directly for the retarauent, he isnt goin to cause any trouble if he discovers a problem. (for that matter, if he is a manager he himself may responsible for the problem.) but is he is a direct employee of r gornish, then he has more independence to do what he is supposed to be doing.

    It's all about a matter of conflict of interests. Rarely does self-policing work.

    If I did kashruth iniquisitions before eating out, I wouldn't care how long the mashgiach's bears is. The first question I would ask is if the mashgiach is also an emoyee of the store. If yes, the. I really see no reason why he should have any ne'emanut as a mashgiach. (I actually know of a guy who is a partner in a restaraunt and he is the mashgiach!)

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  15. I heard of a guy in Israel who literally cooked everything himself because he didn't trust anyone. He shechted his own chickens and never ate beef. And he sifted flour three times before using it because there could be small insects in there that could have been missed during the first two siftings

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  16. Why is he an "idiot" if he takes on every chumra he hears about?

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  17. Because gemorah calls someone who follows both, chumras of Beis Hillel and chumras of Beis Shamai, a fool, if you want a scriptural source.

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