A tipster tells us she spotted a staff memo posted in a less than discreet fashion at Lucky Strike. “Here’s what I saw and remember: ‘4/10 … As per Keith … now be smaller portions … tell them we are going back … report on all complaints immediately … Caesar salad — 1/2 chicken breast instead of 2; Tiramisu — wetter; beet salad — smaller pieces of beet.’” Of course, the memo (which was partially covered) may have been misread or misremembered (though one of McNally’s employees did say she noticed fewer lentils in the lentil salad at a recent tasting — “but it was massive before”), so we asked McNally himself what was up.
McNally told us the move wasn’t financially motivated (“I think we’re coming out of the recession,” he said), and that it isn’t a case of skimping. “Some things have gone back to where they were,” he told us. “We had a new chef and he was just putting too much on the plate.” Apparently head chef Wen Chen hired an overly generous underling. “We never consciously changed the size of the plate. The chef had hired someone new in the kitchen and he was plating incorrectly.” In any case, our tipster wasn’t complaining: “For what it’s worth, my Mediterranean salad with grilled chicken did not seem to be short on any ingredients.”
