An open letter to Chef Kent

Dear Mr. Rathburn

I guess I should start with a little history. Seven years ago I moved to Dallas. I knew exactly two people in town, and neither of them very well. One of them, a friend of a friend Dave, and I had one big thing in common, food. Seeing as I had just moved down here from the food wasteland known as Detroit, he offered to take me out for a very Dallas night. I told my boss about this, and she handed me a copy of D Magazine and told me to find something fun.

When Dave called to see where I wanted to go, I flipped through the magazine to the food section and jokingly said "lets do this alphabetically". He was up for it. The first restaurant listed was Abacus. He made a reservation and we came the next weekend.

That meal was one of the most amazing of my life. You have to understand. I spent five years of my life living off of coney island food and Labatts. My system was about to shut down. Abacus was a revelation. On a whim, I ordered the lobster shooters and the entire time I was eating them, I didn't speak a word. You have to understand. I'm a talker. The food was so good, it shut me up.

Anyway, over the next couple of years, Dave and I went to Abacus with friends, parents, coworkers etc. But Dallas being Dallas, the last couple of years, so many good places have opened up, that I haven't really frequented Abacus lately. I have been to Jaspers, but for some reason not Abacus.

This week, friends wanted to get together for drinks, and I saw your email about happenings at different Rathburn restaurants, and I saw that Abacus was having specials. One friend is on a significant budget, and I thought this would be a cheaper way to have a nice meal.

We met in the bar last night and ordered a couple of glasses of wine, which we knew were discounted, and a couple of sushi rolls. Unfortunately, I had read your site wrong. I had read it that the sushi was discounted along with the drinks from 5-7 and after 9. I swear that was how it looked when I saw the newsletter.

So, imagine my shock when we received the bill and the sushi was full price. The waitress explained I had read wrong. Sushi was only discounted after 9. I felt so awful. It was way too much for my friend to pay. Between her being in shock and me feeling awful, my third friend swiped up the bill and paid it.

Trully, I just felt awfull.

I just wanted to let you know that there are some of us non-english majors out there that might need some things spelled out more clearly for us. Unfortunately, the stimulus package almost gave a good friend a heart attack.

Thank you,
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UPDATE

Abacus just called. They had messed up in the newsletter. They had listed sushi was half price before seven. The waitress was supposed to honor this. They are giving us a full refund and paying for us to come back and have sushi and drinks on them.

YAY!!!!!!!!