Mountain Views News          Saturday, December 5, 2015

12

FOOD AND DRINK

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Mountain Views-News Saturday, December 5, 2015 

TIPPING ANOTHER VIEW

My dearly departed pappy Elmer Dills would 
tell me, don‘t argue sex, politics and or religion, 
I must add tipping to the list. I have used this 
topic many times on my radio show, Dining 
with Dills on KLAA AM 830 to get the phones 
buzzing. Just got back from Santa Barbara and 
I was put into this situation. The owner of the 
restaurant we were at was kind enough to act as 
our server as his bar was very busy, the bottle 
was $50, my question is do you tip the owner of 
the restaurant… In this case we did because it 
was my feeling he was going to pass it along to 
the help. A couple of notes from my dads tipping 
guide. Let’s call them my father’s rule of thumb 
was 10% for a buffet and couple of extra dollars 
to the busboy and never tip the full amount on 
an expensive bottle of wine, he thought was it 
takes up the same amount of energy to open a 
$25 bottle of wine that of a $200 bottle of wine. 
Makes sense to me.

What made me scratch my head is a recent posting 
by what seems to be a very capable blogger/ that 
is someone that posts on the Internet. This was a 
list of nine recommendations to us uninformed 
diners on how to tip in the year 2016, of course 
it might be a little biased coming from a person 
that works for tips, going through the list I agreed 
with the concept, $1 per drink at the bar as the 
tip, if you are using a coupon or getting part or 
whole of your meal comped , you should tip on 
what the amount should be, agree and agreed, 
but here is where the scratching took place.

Times have changed, (ok I am with you), and a 15 
% tip is now should be considered a bad tip, I am 
reading it as if you received bad service please tip 
15 % or that your server gave great service and 
15% is an insult. The reasoning continues to say 
that with the cost of living going up, that to be a 
server that 15% doesn’t cut it anymore. Here is 
my argument against that thought process. As 
a professional person such as a waiter, indeed 
you will not get a raise from the owner of the 
restaurant, it is set in stone and is a timeless 
practice, the job pays minimum wage plus tips. 
Not the end of story though, many restaurants 
will pay $2 more an hour to the “training” 
waiter or the headwaiter. As your experience 
grows and you become better, it would make 
sense that your tips as a percentage would grow 
accordingly. Tips… To insure proper service. 
Here is my rundown and no it hasn’t changed in 
twenty years of reviewing restaurants.

Anyone in any country that provides a service 
should be rewarded.

10% buffet plus $2 directly to busboy that 
brought you water and had to clean up after the 
kids through Jell-O on the ground.

$1 for each drink at the bar

$2 for a to go order, as long as they got it right

12% fair service, means they brought you the 
food and came back with your check

15% Good service brought you your food and 
drinks and refilled drinks and asked how was it

18% Very Good service all of the above plus 
asked you if your meal was prepared to your 
liking 

20-25% All of the above, brought items in 
proper order, waited for you to ask for check, 
asked if there is a validation needed and please 
ask for me next time.

One more note… I subtract 5% when the server 
blames the kitchen for a mistake, got it !!

 This a fun conversation please watch my TV 
Show Straight off the Menu at 3 PM on Charter 
188. Saturday and Sundays


TABLE FOR TWO by Peter Dills

thechefknows@yahoo.com

SEAN’S SHAMELESS 

REVIEWS:

CREED – 

THE UNEXPECTED KNOCKOUT 

By Sean Kayden

CREED, which debuted last holiday weekend, is kind 
of like a Thanksgiving meal. You know exactly what 
you’re getting, but it’s still one of your favorite meals of 
the year. CREED is the brand new film in the ROCKY 
series, which debuted 39 years ago. However, it’s the 
first ROCKY film not to center on its titular character. 

In fact, it’s the first film in the series that wasn’t written 
by Sylvester Stallone himself. This time around, co-
writer/director Ryan Coogler, who helmed the terrific 
FRUITVALE STATION in 2013, sent his dream script 
to Stallone. He was so impressed by it that he took it to 
the original studio that made his classic first film. The 
movie shifts gears as it focuses on Adonis Johnson, the 
son of Rocky’s late friend and former rival Apollo Creed. 
Michael B. Jordan (FANTASTIC FOUR, FRUITVALE 
STATION) plays Adonis, a twenty-something year-old 
man who never knew his father. He wants to follow in 
his father’s footsteps, but he wants to make his own 
legacy by not adopting his father’s last name. He travels 
from Los Angeles to Philadelphia to become a fighter in 
the hopes to seek mentoring in none other than Rocky 
Balboa himself. Balboa refuses to help the novice boxer 
because that particular time in his own life has past, 
but Adonis remains persistent. Ultimately, Balboa 
reconsiders to help the son of his former comrade. 

 Yes, there are the very familiar scenes where the 
older and wiser mentor trains the amateur fighter, but 
they’re portrayed with such authenticity and precision. 
Frankly, Stallone hasn’t been this good in awhile and 
despite everyone familiar with the Rocky character, he 
brings new life to the aging, out of touch with reality, 
former boxing champ. He conveys certain warmth 
to the battered character that just exists through life 
in the distant background as everyone he’s ever loved 
has passed on. There are some wonderful scenes with 
Stallone and Michael B. Jordan that are emotionally 
stimulating. 

 Speaking of Jordan, the young, but already seasoned 
thespian, is absolutely terrific in this role. He plays 
the character of an ambitious and perceptive aspiring 
boxer convincingly. Adonis is the illegitimate son of 
Apollo, but Apollo’s first wife adopts the young Adonis 
when he was 8 years from a juvenile delinquent center. 
He always believed his father didn’t want him, but 
that wasn’t entirely true (since he died when he was 
just a baby). Adonis is adamant about not exercising 
the name Creed while trying to make a name for 
himself. However, it’s the name Creed that everyone in 
Philadelphia knows and admires and there’s no hiding 
from it. 

 CREED is a stellar film which goes beyond any 
expectations one could ever have for another Rocky 
movie or even simply a boxing drama in general. 
Cinematographer Maryse Alberti shoots the boxing 
sequences brilliantly. Often times in the fight scenes 
for boxing films, multiple cameras are used, but in 
CREED on numerous occasions only one camera is 
used with just a single take. It’s an amazing feat to say 
the least and comes off as some of the most realistic 
fight scenes in any movie. The conclusion CREED 
is deeply satisfying and doesn’t go off the rails in the 
slightest (which tends to be easy for sports drama). As 
a whole, CREED is indisputably a knockout. It delivers 
inspiration and heart, drama and action, friendship 
and love, but most of all, CREED delivers, pound for 
pound, the most enjoyable film of 2015. 

Grade: 4.5 out of 5


Jeff’s Book Pics By Jeff Brown

MEDICAL MEDIUM: SECRETS BEHIND CHRONIC 
AND MYSTERY ILLNESS AND HOW TO FINALLY 
HEAL by Anthony Williams

 Anthony William, the one and only Medical Medium, 
has helped tens of thousands of people heal from ailments 
that have been misdiagnosed or ineffectively treated or that 
doctors can’t resolve. He’s done this by listening to a divine 
voice that literally speaks into his ear, telling him what lies 
at the root of people’s pain or illness and what they need to 
do to restore their health. His methods achieve spectacular 
results, even for those who have spent 
years and many thousands of dollars on 
all forms of medicine before turning to 
him. Now, in this revolutionary book, he 
opens the door to all he has learned in over 
25 years of bringing people’s lives back: a 
massive amount of healing information, 
much of which science won’t discover for 
decades, and most of which has never 
appeared anywhere before.Medical 
Medium reveals the root causes of diseases 
and conditions that medical communities 
either misunderstand or struggle to 
understand at all. It explores all-natural 
solutions for dozens of the illnesses 
that plague us, including Lyme disease, 
fibromyalgia, adrenal fatigue, chronic 
fatigue syndrome, hormonal imbalances, 
Hashimoto’s disease, multiple sclerosis, 
depression, neurological conditions, 
chronic inflammation, autoimmune disease, blood sugar 
imbalances, colitis and other digestive disorders, and more. 
It also offers solutions for restoring the soul and spirit after 
illness has torn at our emotional fabric. Whether you’ve 
been given a diagnosis you don’t understand, or you have 
symptoms you don’t know how to name, or someone you 
love is sick, or you want to care for your own patients better, 
Medical Medium offers the answers you need. It’s also a 
guidebook for everyone seeking the secrets to living longer, 
healthier lives.“The truth about the world, ourselves, life, 
purpose—it all comes down to healing,” Anthony William 
writes. “And the truth about healing is now in your hands
PLOUGHSHARES INTO SWORDS by Thomas S Fiske 
& Lannea G Melzian

 How did Caltech contribute to the Atomic Bomb project 
during WWII? Who was supposed to have run the project 
instead of J. Robert Oppenheimer? Why did this famous 
institution become a rocket factory and build the famous 
China Lake facility? Ploughshares gives little-known one-
time secret answers to these questions as 
it recalls how civilians lived their lives 
and contributed to the winning of WWII.
Fates and Furies: A Novel by Lauren Groff 
Fates and Furies is a literary masterpiece 
that defies expectation. A dazzling 
examination of a marriage, it is also 
a portrait of creative partnership 
written by one of the best writers of her 
generation. Every story has two sides. 
Every relationship has two perspectives. 
And sometimes, it turns out, the key 
to a great marriage is not its truths 
but its secrets. At the core of this rich, 
expansive, layered novel, Lauren Groff 
presents the story of one such marriage 
over the course of twenty-four years.
At age twenty-two, Lotto and Mathilde 
are tall, glamorous, madly in love, and 
destined for greatness. A decade later, 
their marriage is still the envy of their friends, but with 
an electric thrill we understand that things are even more 
complicated and remarkable than they have seemed. With 
stunning revelations and multiple threads, and in prose 
that is vibrantly alive and original, Groff delivers a deeply 
satisfying novel about love, art, creativity, and power that 
is unlike anything that has come before it. Profound, 
surprising, propulsive, and emotionally riveting, it stirs 
both the mind and the heart.Above from Barnes and 
Noble and Amazon.


On the Marquee: Notes from the Sierra Madre Playhouse

A SEASON OF GIVING 

By Artistic Director, Christian Lebano

This has been a remarkable year for the Playhouse – perhaps in the future we’ll look back on 2015 
and see that it was the year which started a new era. We had wonderful critical successes – many of 
our shows landed on “Best of” lists and we received two Ovation Recommends for our productions 
of A Walk in the Woods and Always…Patsy Cline and two of the leads from those shows went on to 
be nominated for their performances (our first nominations ever!) 

We increased our attendance by 30% over the year and most wonderfully 37% of that number were 
patrons who had never attended our theater before. 

We have established wonderful relationships with local businesses in Sierra Madre, the Rotary, the 
Kiwanis, the Women’s Club, the Historical Society, the library and so many more. All as part of our 
commitment to be a theater “of” its community.

We launched our Advisory Council which is helping us make important decisions about our future 
growth and we’ve increased the size of our Board in anticipation of creating a new Strategic Plan in 
January. 

And we have increased our donor base to help us achieve many of the long-term goals we’ve defined 
with many gifts given in honor of what we are doing at the Playhouse. What this tells me is that 
audiences are liking what we are doing and appreciate having SMP in their community. We received 
the largest gift in our history from a private family foundation earmarked for two initiatives: our Field 
Trip Series play Charlotte’s Web and an electrical upgrade of our building. This generous donation is 
allowing us to offer the play at a greatly reduced price for public schools – we have practically sold-
out our run already – we’ll be offering shows on the weekends for families and fans of Charlotte! And 
the electrical upgrade will allow us to use our stage lights more efficiently and creatively. 

We received a Matching Grant from the Sierra Madre Community Foundation for the installation 
of air conditioning in our lobby. Those of you who sweated through Always…Patsy Cline this 
summer will appreciate how badly we need to have a/c in our lobby. We are mailing an appeal to our 
supporters to help us maximize the dollar for dollar matching grant – I hope when you receive the 
appeal you will choose to support SMP. Please mark your donation “matching grant.” I always say 
that my goal is to make us a cultural landmark of the San Gabriel Valley and with your help we’ll get 
there. We have so many more things we hope to do in 2016.

A Christmas Memory 
opened beautifully 
last Friday and has 
gotten wonderful 
reviews. It really is 
perfect for all ages and 
speaks to a time when 
Christmas was much 
simpler. The cast has 
bonded so well and 
their joy of being on 
stage together just 
shines in this show. A 
Christmas Memory 
runs through the 
holidays to December 
27.Get your ticketssoon as the Sunday 
matinees are already 
sold out. There is still 
room at several of the 
Saturday matinees 
and during the 
evenings. 

There is no chance of extending this one. Please visit our website at SierraMadrePlayhouse.org or 
call Mary at 626.355.4318 to arrange your purchase. 

Jeff’s History Corner By Jeff Brown

1. You know what Renaissance gave to theworld? Michelangelo,Da VInci and many others 
and you’d still ask how it changed the world. 

Renaissance was no event but an age that triggered 
the cultural rebirth of Europe after it was struck 
by the destruction caused by the Black Death. 
Columbus and Vasco da Gama changed the World 
maps intended to look with new civilizations to 
offer. Books were printed and no more the educated 
were from the church, the common man had just as 
much to read as the priests and monks. It was not a 
cultural change but a breakthrough that made the 
conservative orthodox Europe adapt to the more 
logical ways of the world.

2. The discovery of Penicillin as an antibioticstill remains as one of the greatest of all medical 
discoveries. It has cut down the human mortality 
rate by large figures. Not just health, but the 
discovery led to a series of other discoveries which 
have impacted human life. Then we have the 
discovery of vaccination by Louis Pasteur, which 
again changed the kind of life we enjoy today. There 
was a time, when a small cut would have killed a 
man, or diseases like smallpox were regarded as the 
ultimate form of divine punishment for the evil-
doers. Without these discoveries, the human race 
would perhaps have long gone into extinction!

3. Throughout his life, books were vital toThomas Jefferson's education and well-being. 
When his family home Shadwell burned in 1770 
Jefferson most lamented the loss of his books. In 
the midst of the American Revolution and while 
United States minister to France in the 1780s, 

Jefferson acquired thousands of books for his 
library at Monticello. Jefferson's library went 
through several stages, but it was always critically 
important to him. Books provided the little 
traveled Jefferson with a broader knowledge of 
the contemporary and ancient worlds than most 
contemporaries of broader personal experience. By 
1814 when the British burned the nation's Capitol 
and the Library of Congress, Jefferson had acquired 
the largest personal collection of 

books in the United States. Jefferson offered to sell 
his library to Congress as a replacement for the 
collection destroyed by the British during the War 
of 1812. Some sharp debates occurred in Congress 
about the wisdom of purchasing Jefferson's library 
as a replacement for the nearly destroyed contents 
of the Library . They were particularly concerned 
that there were large numbers of books in foreign 
languages and other subjects not believed germane 
for the use of Congress. Congress finally purchased 
Jefferson's library for $23,950 in 1815. A second 
fire on Christmas Eve of 1851, destroyed nearly 
two thirds of the 6,487 volumes Congress had 
purchased from Jefferson.


Special Holiday Fundraiser 
Pasadena Senior Center 485 Holly St Pasadena, CA 91103 
Validated Parking for the parking structure at Holly & Arroyo Parkway (southeast corner)
Strandsof HarmonySale to BenefitAmazoniaWildlifeFoundation
Saturday December 12th 1-4 PM
Jewelry 
"Diane Kelber as Sook, Patrick Geringer as Buddy, and Sheldon 
as Queenie the dog. Photo by Gina Long"

Mountain Views News 80 W Sierra Madre Blvd. No. 327 Sierra Madre, Ca. 91024 Office: 626.355.2737 Fax: 626.609.3285 Email: editor@mtnviewsnews.com Website: www.mtnviewsnews.com