Restaurant freebies

Here's one of the stories in Wednesday's Life section:


By PATRICIA TALORICO
The News Journal

Forget the complimentary bread basket.

Some restaurateurs are doing a little more for customers than handing out free rolls.

Restaurant "freebies" or little extras given before, during and after a meal can be a savvy way to thank diners for their patronage and possibly ensuring their return.

Wilmington's Moro restaurant and Sovana Bistro, of Kennett Square, Pa., are among the many eateries that start diners with a no-charge amuse-bouche, a one-bite nibble, sent out by the chef.

The Hotel du Pont's Green Room has long ended meals with its signature freshly baked macaroons, while for nearly 16 years Pizza by Elizabeths has presented free pieces of handmade toffee to each diner along with the bill.

"We call it Greenville crack cocaine," jokes Pizza by Elizabeths' co-owner Betsy LeRoy about the toffee, which became a customer favorite not long after the restaurant opened in 1993.

"We decided when we opened that we wanted to give the customer one little last sweet bite before they left," LeRoy said. "I'm not a big dessert eater, but I always like something a little sweet at the end of a meal."

At first, the restaurant gave out buttercreams and white and dark chocolate bark. But LeRoy soon began looking for another confection to offer and turned to her family for advice.

"My mom made what we called 'chock o' nut toffee' every year for Christmas. I asked her if I could have the recipe."

The toffee - which has a crackly caramel base made with sugar, butter and cream - is topped with melted chocolate and toasted pieces of walnuts.

"It's pretty labor-intensive," LeRoy says of the toffee, which cools on baking sheets before being broken by hand.

While the Pizza by Elizabeths staff continued making buttercreams and bark, it wasn't long before customers began asking solely for the toffee - and sometimes even fighting over the pieces.

"Everyone just wanted it. Now that's all we make. I told my mother, 'You missed the boat. You should have been a candy maker. You'd be sitting on easy street right now,'" LeRoy says laughing.

The gratis toffee - one piece per customer - has actually made some diners lifelong Pizza by Elizabeths fans. After one man left a comment card complaining that the restaurant was "stingy with that toffee," LeRoy wrote him a letter explaining the involved process of the candy making, thanked him for his business and then sent along a free box of toffee.

"He said he would be a walking advertisement on Kennett Pike," LeRoy says.

For those customers who want more than one piece, the candy is now available for sale at the restaurant in 1/4-pound boxes for $6 and 1/2-pound boxes for $12.

Savory chips

Free bowls of salty munchies are a given at many restaurants and taverns. But Capers & Lemons takes it one step further.

The Italian restaurant makes the rosemary-flavored potato chips that it sets out for customers sipping cocktails at the bar.

"We were trying to do something unique and were looking for a different way to set us apart," says Carl Georigi, owner of the Mill Creek-area eatery, off Centerville Road.

Homemade potato chips have been a part of Georigi's Hockessin restaurant, Dome, for several years.

The deep-fried chips at Capers & Lemons, which also grace some plates in the dining room, are made with thinly sliced potatoes that are sprinkled with rosemary, garlic power and salt and pepper.

Georigi says the homemade chips are a natural extension of the kitchen, where executive chef Mike O'Hare also makes his own mozzarella and cures his own meats.

"They're out on the bar as a savory, salty offering. It encourages you to drink and it's a little tease as to what's to come," Georigi says.

Bags of the chips also are sold in the restaurant's adjoining market for $2.95.

Cutting costs

Not every restaurateur believes in giveaways, especially in a dodgy economy.

Last fall, Harry's Savoy Grill, in Brandywine Hundred, offered customers plates of complimentary pickled mushrooms. Now, the only freebies at the Naamans Road restaurant are the mints at the front door.

"Over the years, we've done those things, but we currently don't," says Harry's owner Xavier Teixido. "It's expensive."

And the free crocks of smooth, creamy, homemade cheese spread that had graced the tables at the Hunter's Den restaurant for more than 27 years have been removed.

Owner Don Jester says the cheese spread, a family recipe, was first served in 1981 when his parents, Don Sr. and Helen Marie Jester, purchased the old Blue Lantern Inn on Kirkwood Highway and renamed it the Hunter's Den.

The tradition followed when the Hunter's Den moved to its present Marshallton location, at 3517 Old Capitol Trail.

But several months ago, Jester stopped giving away the cheese spread. "Some people would eat it and say 'I don't need an appetizer.' "

"We're trying to cut things back," says the restaurateur, who also has scaled back prices at the eatery and now offers a $5.95 lunch menu and $10.95 dinner menu.

The cheese spread isn't gone; it's just become a part of the menu.

"We're still offering it as an appetizer, and for $3.95 it's pretty dirt cheap," says Jester, adding that the spread also is available for takeout. A one-pound container is $5.95.

"It's staying," he says. "We're selling about 20 to 30 pounds a week."

Just don't ask for the recipe. "It's a secret," Jester says. "I've had phone calls asking what's in it, but I can't tell you."

Sometimes the best things in life aren't free.