A reader comment on Rosas y Xocolate by Guest Critic Mark Makers regarding the markup on wines reminded the Critic of a funny experience he once had in the good old US of A.

On a not-so-recent trip to Houston, Texas, the Better Half and the Critic went out for a celebratory (ie ‘nice’) dinner at Pappas Steakhouse, the one on Westheimer, and after going through the opening sequence cocktail and having the dinner order taken by their flawless staff, a “house wine” was offered. Apparently this was a special wine that Pappas was serving this evening, blah blah blah.

“Sure, why not?” said the Critic. And he ordered two glasses, one for him and another for the Better Half. Along comes another server, pushing a cart with a gigantic bottle in a special sling and makes a great show of pouring two glasses of this wine for the Critic and BH. Other diners stare with amazement at the sheer size of this bottle.

Midway through an excellent steak, a delectable, cooked-to-perfection prime rib-eye, if the Critic recalls correctly, a second round of wine was offered. This time, only the Critic acceded to another glass. Again, the giant bottle on a cart show.

There was no room for dessert, as usual, but dessert was ordered anyway and it was fantastic. Gooey Pecan Pie. You will die and go to heaven if you order it – mouthgasms galore.

But the point of this story was the mark-up angle, remember?

Well. The bill comes to the table and lo and behold, that ‘house wine’ came in at 57 dollars a glass!!! Was the Critic in shock? You betcha. But hey, what can you do, right? Complain? About what? So the Critic paid and chalked it up to experience. And the Better Half and he laugh about it to this day.

Pappas Website – Highly recommended! But ask for the price of the house wine if it is offered!