Alex Rast wrote:

> You could always have added butter to taste. And perhaps that's what they
> were thinking. How much butter goes on mashed potatoes is a very
> individualized thing. I would prefer very little, perhaps none; my sister
> wants the potatoes virtually swimming in butter. For the restaurant to make
> an arbitrary choice for the diner makes it nearly impossible for them to
> get it right for everyone. So, allowing individual diners to choose how
> much butter to add would be, IMHO, a "finer" serving method: then
> *everyone* can get it how they might want it, at least on the butter front.
>
> >...individual beef wellington I had was wonderful, maybe that's what I was
> >paying $25 for, ...

And yet, from time to time, there are threads where people insist, the
chef served the food the way they want to, it's their creativity.
No, not even salt and pepper on the table. Don't change the dish
one iota. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't like plain mashed potatoes
either, just saying, you can't win. Me, I'd have salted peppered and
buttered the mashed potatoes, even if I had to ask for butter.

nancy