AmmianoGate: Surcharges Were Paid, Kinda
Monday, May 5, 2008

---

Following last week's reports from San Francisco Magazine that Supervisor Tom Ammiano's party refused to pay the 4% health care surcharge at 2223, the Chronicle's Phil Bronstein breaks down the entire situation as individually recounted by the players involved. Turns out SF Mag—or 2223—may not have gotten all the facts completely right, though as pointed out by Mr. Bronstein, the entire story has become a bit of a he-said, she-said ordeal. First, the fallout from last week's hubbub, from its trio of protagonists:

In the angry crossfire: Supervisor Tom Ammiano says people are blaming him for things he didn't do because "I'm not so pretty, I'm old...I don't know." San Francisco Labor Council board member Criss Romero, eating out with Tom and friends, wonders if the owner of 2223 "had me confused with people who work in the kitchen -- I was one of the only Latinos in the restaurant that night." And the owner/chef, Melinda Randolph, who happily concedes she's a "bleeding-heart liberal", has gotten "hateful emails from people who think restaurateurs only work four hours a day, drive Lexuses and go home and sip wine."

Now that the dramatis personae for our morality play are set, what about the payment/non-payment of the health care surcharge, you ask?

More from Bronstein:

The six diners paid for the food, a whopping 20 percent tip on top of the automatic group gratuity, but there was that pesky surcharge and the waitress coming over to deliver the dogma. Romero marches up to the hostess. "If they're gonna tell me about this then I'm gonna tell them my point of view." Which he does.

Romero says the whole group paid every part of the bill but the hostess took off an appetizer to make amends. Melinda Randolph says the restaurant removed the cost of two desserts. OK, not a big difference there. But then things go from broil to fry.

After the removal of the desserts (or appetizer) from the bill, Randolph formed the following opinion:

Bottom line for Randolph, which was presumably passed along to SF Mag: The comped desserts mean "they did not pay" the surcharge.

And then the bell sounded on Round Two.

We suppose one could split hairs about what did or didn't get paid, and the dramatic arc of everyone involved, but we'd say Bronstein summed it up pretty nicely, so do check out his take on the entire saga. Besides, for us, the most entertaining part of Bronstein's piece is the revelation that someone at Range "actually booted" Ammiano because of his legislation. What we wouldn't have given to be on hand for that exchange.
· Did Ammiano Get Smeared? [Bronstein At Large]
· Supervisor Tom Would Rather Not Pay That Surcharge [~ESF~]
· Staff Blog 4/29 [SF Mag]

[Photo courtesy]

Back to top

www.flickr.com More photos in Eater SF

Links
Utility
AOL CityGuide
Burritoeater
Citysearch
CleanScores
Dodgeball
Menupages
OpenTable
outside.in
Savory SF
SF Station
SocialDomain
Urbanspoon
Yelp
Zagat

Print Media Online
7x7
Bon Appetit
Contra Costa Times
Gourmet
Oakland Tribune
San Jose Mercury
San Francisco
SF Bay Guardian
SF Chronicle
SF Examiner
SF Weekly
Saveur
Sunset Magazine

Gastro-Communitites
Chow
Chowhound
Digesty SF
eGullet
Mouthfuls
ShamelessRestaurants

Blogs
Amateur Gourmet [RSS]
Bay Area Bites [RSS]
Becks & Posh [RSS]
Beer Blog
Between Meals [RSS]
Bits and Bites [RSS]
Burritophile [RSS]
Chez Pim [RSS]
Gourmet's Choptalk [RSS]
Covers [RSS]
Daily Feed [RSS]
NYT Diner's Journal [RSS]
eggbeater [RSS]
Epi-Log [RSS]
Gridskipper SF [RSS]
Chow's The Grinder [RSS]
GrubGirl [RSS]
A Hamburger Today [RSS]
JATBAR [RSS]
Megnut [RSS]
Metroblogging SF [RSS]
F&W's Mouthing Off [RSS]
NTF: San Francisco
Offal Good [RSS]
Restaurant Whore [RSS]
Ruhlman [RSS]
SFist [RSS]
Slice [RSS]
Vinography [RSS]
Waiter Rant [RSS]
Zagat Buzz [RSS]

Newsletters
Daily Candy
Juli B
Tablehopper
Thrillist

About Eater SF
From the newest temples of haute cuisine to the oldest bars in the Bay Area, Eater SF has you covered. More about Eater SF...

Tipping Is Customary
Know about a restaurant opening or closing in your neighborhood, or other SF restaurant gossip? Do let us know.

Search

Archives
Browse Eater SF Categories... About Eater SF Adventures in Shilling Buzz Buzz: Closed Buzz: Contests Buzz: Deathwatch Buzz: Institutions Buzz: Open Buzz: Plywood Buzz: Post-Plywood Buzz: Pre-Plywood Buzz: Television Buzz: The New Black Dish Drink East Bay East Bay: Berkeley East Bay: Oakland East Bay: Walnut Creek Eat Eat: Eater Complaints Dept. Eat: Eater Inside Eat: Eater Investigates Eat: Eater's Journal Eat: Greener Than Thou Eat: Prose Eat: Specials Eat: The Gatekeepers Eat: The Tab Eat: The Word Eater National EaterWire Listage North Bay Quicklink SF SF: Bernal Heights SF: Castro SF: Chinatown SF: Civic Center SF: Cole Valley SF: Cow Hollow SF: Dogpatch SF: Duboce Triangle SF: Embarcadero SF: Excelsior SF: Fillmore SF: Financial District SF: Fisherman's Wharf SF: Glen Park SF: Haight Ashbury SF: Hayes Valley SF: Hunters Point SF: Marina SF: Mission SF: Nob Hill SF: Noe Valley SF: NoPa SF: North Beach SF: Pacific Heights SF: Potrero Hill SF: Presidio SF: Russian Hill SF: SoMa SF: South Park SF: Tenderloin SF: The Richmond SF: The Sunset SF: Treasure Island SF: Twin Peaks SF: Union Square SF: West Portal/St. Francis SF: Western Addition South of San Francisco Status: Closed Status: Open Status: Reviewed The Critics The Critics: Banned on Chowhound The Critics: On the Blogs The Critics: Yelp The Industry The Industry: Headhunter Top Week in Reviews Wine Country

Full-Content Feed

Eater SF
Editor
Paolo Lucchesi

Eater Eds-in-Chief
Ben Leventhal
Lockhart Steele

Banner Design
Jim Cooke

Publisher/GM
Kyle Crafton

Head of Technology
Eliot Shepard

Other Curbed Sites
San Francisco
Curbed SF

New York
Curbed NY
Eater NY
Racked NY
The Beach (seasonal)

Los Angeles
Curbed LA
Eater LA


Contact Us
Email Eater SF