Does your town have a public restaurant that requires a coat and tie

[kennethpollock]

There are no longer any in Atlanta.
I think the only one left in NY is the 21 Club and only at dinner. I am not sure about Le Grenouille, but at Daniel, Le Bernardin, and Jean-George only coats are required.
Does anyone know of any others?

 

[Kasper]

I have don't think that I have ever been to a restaurant that requires a coat and tie but I eat almost all my meals in a suit even at diners and Waffle Houses.

 

[eg1]

Ed's Warehouse in Toronto used to have such a proscription, and in fact had jackets on hand for those who came without. It has been a very long time since I went there, though, so I cannot say whether or not the rule is still in effect.

The last time I was in New Orleans (about 6 years ago) Antoine's required a jacket -- I still have the Valentino odd-jacket I picked up in NOLA just for the occasion

 

[mrpologuy]

We only have one in the Detroit area that I know of. I hear it is not worth going to for the amount of money it will cost. It is called The Lark or Larks I think.

 

[itsstillmatt]

yes.

 

[Bradford]

Mary Elaine's at The Phoenician resort still requires gentlemen to wear a coat and tie.

http://www.frommers.com/destinations...ix/D30954.html

 

[RJman]

Yes. Leave your wine basket at the door.

 

[Edward Appleby]

Originally Posted by kennethpollock

There are no longer any in Atlanta.
I think the only one left in NY is the 21 Club and only at dinner. I am not sure about Le Grenouille, but at Daniel, Le Bernardin, and Jean-George only coats are required.
Does anyone know of any others?
Are there not even any club grill rooms that still have such a requirement?

 

[epa]

There are not many around here. We have "La Terraza del Casino" close to where I live. I once went to dinner there with my wife and some friends, and they actually called us the same day to remind us that men had (yes, really had) to wear a suit (or odd jacket) and tie.
I like that, but when I got there I got really upset because at the table next to us there were some famous actors (Tim Robbins and a local (Spanish) actor I do not remember the name of), and they did not wear any ties and it was clear that nobody intended to force them to do so. At least Tim Robbins looked "decent" with clean and tidy clothes (I think he wore black trousers and a black tee-shirt, maybe it was not his fault that he did not wear a tie because I guess the Spaniards may have invited him and forgot to tell him the rules of the place), but the Spanish actor wore some hideous worn-out jeans and some reeeeally ugly sneakers that looked like he had run a few marathons with them.
I do not mind people dressing the way they like, but I really cannot stand when a restaurant treats famous people in a way different from the rest of us. Actually, the Spanish actor looked like he took a real pleasure in showing the rest of us that he could break the rules and get away with it. Unfortunately, today being famous seems to give you a license to behave like a jerk.
In any case, I did not like the food at that restaurant anyway. Really pretentious BS.

 

[kennethpollock]

Originally Posted by epa

There are not many around here. We have "La Terraza del Casino" close to where I live. I once went to dinner there with my wife and some friends, and they actually called us the same day to remind us that men had (yes, really had) to wear a suit (or odd jacket) and tie.
I like that, but when I got there I got really upset because at the table next to us there were some famous actors (Tim Robbins and a local (Spanish) actor I do not remember the name of), and they did not wear any ties and it was clear that nobody intended to force them to do so. At least Tim Robbins looked "decent" with clean and tidy clothes (I think he wore black trousers and a black tee-shirt, maybe it was not his fault that he did not wear a tie because I guess the Spaniards may have invited him and forgot to tell him the rules of the place), but the Spanish actor wore some hideous worn-out jeans and some reeeeally ugly sneakers that looked like he had run a few marathons with them.
I do not mind people dressing the way they like, but I really cannot stand when a restaurant treats famous people in a way different from the rest of us. Actually, the Spanish actor looked like he took a real pleasure in showing the rest of us that he could break the rules and get away with it. Unfortunately, today being famous seems to give you a license to behave like a jerk.
In any case, I did not like the food at that restaurant anyway. Really pretentious BS.

Actually, it is my understanding that the fad of dressing very badly at grand restaurants started over a decade ago, in California, at Ma Maison, by actors Jack Nicholson, Demi Moore and Bruce Willis. I think that they, too, wanted to prove that they could violate the rules that were in place for everyone else.

 

[chorse123]

Originally Posted by Edward Appleby

Are there not even any club grill rooms that still have such a requirement?

The Harvard Club of New York requires a jacket and tie in the dining room at dinner. Not sure about other times. Jeans are not allowed in the club at any time.

 

[imageWIS]

Originally Posted by RJman

Yes. Leave your wine basket at the door.

Oh, come on! You live in Paris!

Jon.

 

[vanity]

I think part of it is the American mentality that if we're going to spend this much money in your restaurant, we're going to wear what we want. You can judge that right or wrong as you please.

And also in the 'States, denim is the new suit. You can wear jeans virtually anywhere aside from professional occupations. So jeans and jacket arent looked down upon at all.

 

[itsstillmatt]

Originally Posted by kennethpollock

Actually, it is my understanding that the fad of dressing very badly at grand restaurants started over a decade ago, in California, at Ma Maison, by actors Jack Nicholson, Demi Moore and Bruce Willis. I think that they, too, wanted to prove that they could violate the rules that were in place for everyone else.
Ken, I was living in LA over a decade ago and they were talking about the good old days at Ma Maison from 20 years earlier.

 

[No Shoes]

Not that I know of but I just wanted to share an interesting (to me anyway) story. About 2 years ago I was bored (I work from home and had nothing to do) and decided I'd jump on the L (public train) and just bum around downtown Chicago...figured I might go to the Art Institute for "free Tuesdays" and catch the free "Tour of The Galleries" at 1:00, which is a daily event I highly recommend to anyone visiting this fine city, but I digress.

I enjoy dressing but for the most part but am a jeans, T-shirt and flip-flops kind of guy...hence the name "No Shoes". I probably spend 80% of my life in slippers or flip-flops (even in Chicago), as my digressions continue.

So I'm just about to go into the Art Institute when a buddy of mine calls up and asks if I want to go to lunch. He picks me up about 10 minutes later and insists on going to Smith & Wollensky. So here I am dressed in shorts, T-shirt and flip-flops. I put forth some initial hesitance but I love their food and was reassured by my friend that my attire was no cause for concern. So we go.

Let me preface this by saying that I go to Smith & Wol several times per year (far from being a regular) and it is at the high end of the restaurant scale for me...and I've always dressed for the occasion. Upon arriving, we are greeted by the maitr' de who recognizes my friend and greets him with his last name (Mr. "Smith"). This person was obviously looking at me like "what's up with Mr. Smith's friend and the no shoes approach to dressing" but after requesting and being seated at an outside table overlooking the Chicago River, we were having a very pleasant lunch. And then it started to rain.

The staff started moving all of the outside patrons into the building but we were like "no, we're fine...but maybe bring a whole bottle of that wine." To make a long story short, we sat there in intermittent rain, getting kind of wet (the tables have umbrellas) and literally had the time of our lives telling stories of past and laughing not only at the stupid things that we've done, but at our situation of being in this great restaurant, getting drunk, getting rained on, my hesitancy to go because how I was dressed, and just feeling good about life in general.

I'm not sure if it's because my friend was recognized there (he has a certain notoriety surrounding him), or because of my dress, or because of the strange weather circumstances, or because we generally made spectacles of ourselves that day (we did), or that we did it with the full confidence of "owning the place", or because we tip well, or any combination thereof...but even to this day, half the time I go back to Smith & Wol I am recognized (by name now) and there are always compliments on my dress or a reference to how good the weather is (with that smirky little grin betraying an inside joke).

Like I say, I enjoy dressing up and regardless of the occasion, I am conscious and intentional of my appearance. It seems though, as an observation, the whole formality thing (jacket and tie, etc.) has been pretty much abandoned. Dress requirements in public settings seem to have a certain pretentiousness and, as I read on another thread in this forum (regarding attire in general), "suits are for worker bees".