Dining Dos, Dining Don’ts: The New Rules of Restaurant Etiquette

Christopher Kimball’s Milk Street Radio

Milk Street Radio

Food, Arts

4.4 • 2.8K Ratings

🗓️ 26 September 2025

⏱️ 56 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Bon Appétit columnist Maggie Hennessy helps us navigate the new rules of dining out. Is it ever OK to take out your phone? What’s the best way to grab your server’s attention? And how fussy is too fussy? Plus, Irene Yoo throws a soju party, and Grant Barrett and Martha Barnette of A Way With Words share the stories behind your favorite pasta shapes.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, Mil Street listeners, we're taking our show on the road. Please join us for a special live taping of Milk Street Radio at the Art of Cheese Festival in Madison, Wisconsin.
0:09.6	We'll be at the landmark Orphium Theater on Saturday, September 27th. I'll be hosting cheese trivia, taking your cooking questions with chef Tori Miller, handing out samples of some of the best cheese in the state,
0:21.3	and my favorite part, even get my fortune read with a block of cheese. You will not want to miss
0:26.6	that. Tickets are on sale now at artofcheasefestival.com one more time, art of cheesefestival.com,
0:33.8	and we'll see you there. A Better Help ad.
0:43.2	Lewis Capaldi partnered with Better Help to get word out about how important therapy can be.
0:48.9	I struggle most weeks to get up, get myself up and ready and go to therapy or whatever.
0:53.2	Like even like to open the laptop to talk to, my therapist sometimes could be really difficult.
0:55.5	But I do it because I realize how important it is for me to continue to feel good.
0:58.1	Because I felt the best I've felt in a long time through therapy.
1:01.7	Learn more about online therapy at betterhelp.com.
1:08.9	This is Mill Street Radio from PRX, and I'm your host, Christopher Kimball.
1:14.8	Today we ask, what are the rules for dining out?
1:18.5	This is the funny thing, isn't it, about going out to eat?
1:20.9	It's like our human behavior is on display in a semi-public place.
1:24.7	Is it ever okay to have your phone on the table? You know, because it's like, oh, you're most important to me, unless something more interesting happens on my phone. There are also situations that are real mind fields like tipping. What are you going to leave? Let's coordinate the tip here. Why? Well, when you split the check, we both have the exact same bill. So why don't we need
1:45.8	the same thing so one of us doesn't look like an idiot? We favorit nations all of a sudden for lunch?
1:50.4	Had to be a good diner that's coming up later in the show. But first, we're joined by Irene Yu. She's
1:56.7	the co-owner of Ryan Bar in Brooklyn, also author of Soju Party, How to Drink and
2:02.6	Eat Like a Korean.
2:04.6	Irene, welcome to Milk Street.
2:06.5	Thank you so much for having me.
	...

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