Etiquette Tuesday: Shoes Off
©JohnnaKnowsGoodFood "Shrimp & Grits from Red Rooster"
This weekend, I spent some time checking out the new hot spots of my old town of Harlem. Art deco rules the new scene and with chefs such as Marcus Samuelsson making there way uptown, a posh attitude is necessary. I thought everyone knew this until I glanced away from my “Brownstowner” cocktail and saw that someone had removed their shoes in the restaurant. Etiquette Tuesday here we go: keep your shoes on. Your feet may hurt, they may be feeling a tad sweaty in those flats you have been trucking around in all day and they may just need some air relief. That’s not our problem and in “our”, I mean the rest of the patrons in the restaurant.
Feet and food don’t mix. If you’re in your house, a friends house or basically any other private quarters, feel free…remove those shoes! When dining out, however, especially at a restaurant like Red Rooster, please leave your shoes on. The other patrons could do without your smelly feet distracting them from the tasty nuggets and toast or seeing them as they sip their cocktails. Now there are instances where the table cloth is covering those toes…this might be the one instance where a rest from those painful Choo’s might be acceptable…
Category: Etiquette Tuesday
About the Author (Author Profile)
Johnna French is a Harlem NY native with deep roots in Panama, Washington, DC and North Carolina. All four places have heavily influenced her life and the foods she loves today. After graduating Howard University School of Law and beginning her life as a young professional in the city she was led to start Johnna Knows Good Food in November 2007 to keep family, friends and colleagues updated on where to go and what to eat while dining in the nation’s capitol. French, who still practices law, leads a team of three writers to cover the ever expanding Washington, DC food scene. French has been featured in print and television, appearing in Washingtonian Magazine and is a regular contributor to various local TV affiliates including WUSA 9, FOX 5 DC and WJLA (ABC Affiliate) News Channel 8. During the 2016-2017 football season, Johnna aired on Comcast Sports Mid-Atlantic (CSN) show, Redskins Life, as the weekly tailgate host. Johnna is currently a regular contributor to the FOX Baltimore Weekend morning show.Subscribe
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OMG that is so funny….so confession time….I do kick off my shoes; however, I have two rules–my feet cannot be visible to anyone in the restaurant (this usually can happen when the table cloth is very long) AND the definitely cannot smell.
Now before I instituted these rules I had an unfortunate incident while dining at Jose Andres’ Minibar. As you know, you are actually sitting at a bar on a bar stool. Despite the fact I was sitting, my new shoes were bothering me so I slipped them off and tucked them in my oversized purse. Well my feet had been dangling for about 2 1/2 hours so by the time I was ready to stand up, my feet I swear had swollen to another shoe size. No matter what I did, I could not fit my feet back into my shoes. I had to walk out of the restaurant in my stocking feet. Thank goodness we were the last seating so there were not a lot of people in the restaurant and also that we used the valet!
Lmao!! That is hilarious because my feet swell at night for some reason so I can imagine how it felt like you were trying to squeeze your feet in those shoes after 27 courses!