06/07/2007

by Joel Stein

I always ask for tap water, no matter how nice the restaurant is. It's my way of telling the waiter that, despite my choice of the $80 tasting menu, I'm not some self-important yuppie jerk. Other than the Saint Emilion and the truffles, I'm keeping it real. Now nice restaurants are coming around to my way of thinking. Alice Waters, citing environmental reasons, banned bottled water at Chez Panisse in Berkeley, Calif. Several other high-end Bay Area spots have also gone tap-only, and soon Del Posto, Mario Batali's expensive Manhattan joint, will join them. I'm betting that fine-dining establishments will eventually follow my environmental lead on napkins too and let diners wipe their mouths with their sleeves.

So when I invited Michael Mascha, author of Fine Waters: A Connoisseur's Guide to the World's Most Distinctive Bottled Waters, to a lunch where he would pair our courses with different bottled waters, I was doing it To Catch a Predator--style. I wanted to see if the guy who helps restaurants pick their water lists would suggest a coq au Volvic.