Los Altos Grill Observation

My parents fly in town from Las Vegas every few months. What does this mean? This means a great meal is in store. We have a comprehensive list of restaurants we typically go to when they come to visit, but we recently went to the most fancy one of them all. We went to Los Altos Grill, which has an upscale yet gracious atmosphere. Once my family left, I hung around for an hour or so to simply observe. The restaurant is tucked away in the suburbs of Los Altos, which is a rather affluent area. Los Altos Grill is inspired by the woods; the inside of the restaurant is dark and extremely wooded. The tables, walls, and bar are all made of different types of woods. The restaurant makes me think about nature and the vast deep forest. This brings me …show more content…
As I observed my surroundings, I noticed that almost everyone was having a conversation of some sort. With that being said, the many people were trying to maintain eye contact during conversation, while they were eating. This slowed the eating process down and created the dining atmosphere. Individuals were eating rather slowly, causing the servers to tactically space out their meal. Along these lines, people generally acted excited when the food arrived at the table; the food quite naturally served as a transition for their conversation. The people were eating carefully as to not make a mess. They would slowly bring small portions of food to their mouths and immediately wipe their faces …show more content…
Half of the kitchen is exposed to the dining area. The costumers in the restaurant can view some of the preparation process. I noticed a few stations; there was the grill station where the ribs and steaks were being prepared. Often times, fire would spew from the grill providing entertainment for the people watching. On the other side of the meat station, there was a salad station, where lettuce and a number of other ingredients were being tossed around rather adeptly. Connected to this kitchen is the bar, which is the centerpiece of the restaurant. The bar is a huge island down the middle of the restaurant. At the bar, the several bartenders are adeptly handling and mixing drinks, which also is a point of attention in the restaurant. This set up reveals the entertainment portion of dining. Dining is not only eating, but it is an experience. This has forever been the case, but we take it for granted now. Since food is now more or less easily assessable, people don’t understand the experience portion of eating. In previous times, especially without all the technology, food consumption was celebrated a number of ways depending on the