I was outed this week at a restaurant, thanks to a server that I worked with down in Sarasota way back in the day. She pegged me from the get go and I decided to stick out the meal and feed the restaurant some rope. You can read about the results a week from Wednesday.
I do go to some minor extremes to maintain anonymity when reviewing places: I usually use an alias credit card, I call on other people's phones when making reservations and, of course, I don't make the ressies in my name. There have been a few times when I thought the restaurant might suspect, usually because of questions I ask, but it's usually after the fact. I did run into some trouble last week, however.
I paid with a new alias card which, apparently, I had forgotten to sign. Who checks that, anyway? This server did and asked for ID. Mind whirring, I decided to go ballsy and said "I don't have it with me," although my wallet sitting on the tabletop gave lie to that statement. When he asked me for something, anything that might confirm my identity, I just stared him down and said "Nope, nothing."
Thankfully, he was unwilling to force the issue and just shrugged and handed the card and receipt over. Phew.
This article appears in Jan 16-22, 2008.