Atlanta:
Given the old-school setting, it could not seem more incongruous.
At Bone's, Atlanta's most venerable steakhouse, a clubby place of oak paneling and white tablecloths, the gold-jacketed waiters now greet diners by handing them an iPad. It is loaded with the restaurant's extensive wine list, holding detailed descriptions and ratings of 1,350 labels.
Once patrons make sense of the touch-pad links, which does not take long, they can search for wines by name, region, varietal and price, instantly educating themselves on vintner and vintage.
Since their debut six weeks ago, the gadgets have enthralled the (mostly male) customers at Bone's. And to the astonishment of the restaurant's owners, wine purchases shot up overnight -- they were nearly 11 percent higher per diner in the first two weeks compared with the previous three weeks, with no obvious alternative explanation.
Other restaurateurs who are experimenting with iPad wine lists, from Sydney to London to Central Park South, report similar results.
The devices seem to be spurring deeper interest in wine and empowering bolder, more confident selections, they say, potentially revolutionizing the psychology of dining's most intimidating passage.
"I felt like they had given me the answer sheet to the test," said Bradley D. Kendall, a Bone's regular who recently used the iPad to select a 2005 Corté Riva cabernet franc for $102, about 25 percent beyond his usual range.
Mr. Kendall, 43, described himself as a bit of a wine poseur. He has vacationed in Italy and Napa Valley and has a cellar at home, but he cannot remember a label from meal to meal. He knows just enough, or perhaps just little enough, to become suspicious whenever a waiter recommends a vineyard he does not know.
"In the back of your mind," he said, "you're always thinking: 'OK., is this some kind of used-car special? Did they just get 200 bottles of this?' "
But Mr Kendall said the ratings he found on the iPad -- by the wine writer Robert M. Parker Jr. -- carried credibility. He decided that the price of the cabernet franc was justified by Mr Parker's award of 92 points out of 100. "I found a bottle of wine that I never would have tried, and it was wonderful," he said.
Some who have used the iPads predict the gradual extinction of the leather-bound wine list, saving reams of paper each week and threatening sommeliers with superfluity.
"If they build one that can open up a bottle of wine, I'm going to be scared to death," said Fred Dame, one of the country's 105 master sommeliers and president of the Guild of Sommeliers Education Foundation. "When I saw this thing and saw the applications, I said, 'Oh, man, that's the end of the print shop.' "
Interactive wine lists began appearing at a smattering of restaurants as early as 2001, and leading wine analysts have for several years offered recommendations via smartphone applications. But Apple's introduction in April of the iPad, which approximates a conventional wine list in size, shape and weight, has substantially accelerated the trend.
Incentient, a Long Island company that makes wine-list software for the iPad, has received orders from 40 restaurants, up from 5 a few months ago, said Jennifer Martucci, the vice president for product development, sales and marketing. Celebrity restaurateurs like Gordon Ramsay and Todd English are among the pioneers. Some restaurants, including Bone's and Naples Tomato in Naples, Fla., have developed their own software.
"Selecting wine is an age-old tradition," Ms Martucci said, "but the time has come to enhance the experience in the way that we're used to getting information today."
Not everyone is so sure. One of Bone's owners, Susan DeRose, continues to nurse concerns that the iPads will preoccupy diners and depersonalize the fine-dining experience.
"I thought the men were going to be playing with it and not talk to each other," Ms DeRose said, acknowledging that her fears are as yet unfounded. "I just think it's very important for people to connect. You saw '2001: A Space Odyssey.' We do not want to develop a HAL."
Bob Reno, the wine steward on a veteran staff, said he and his co-workers had initially been cynical. "We didn't want to be replaced," he said. "We had to find a way to make it work in tandem."
But the waiters quickly came to appreciate the iPad's ability to monitor and instantly update an inventory of 20,000 bottles. They found that customers still sought reinforcing advice, particularly about pairing wines with food.
"With the information on the device, they seem more apt to experiment by buying a different varietal or going outside their price range," Mr Reno said. "It stuns me, but they seem to trust the device more than they trust me, and these are people I've waited on for 10 years."
Kevin J Burns, 49, who selected the wine for a recent business dinner at Bone's, said the 15 minutes he spent with the iPad helped him choose among several pinot noirs from the same winery.
"It's fabulous to be able to understand not just the prices but the flavors and the nose and the winemaker's comments," Mr. Burns said. "The technology allows you to do a heck of a lot more with a wine list than we ever have before."
Added Cindy A Mannes, who was seated to his right, "It doesn't make the sommelier worthless, but we all like to own our decisions."
Waiters at Bone's have seen beer and cocktail drinkers switch to expensive bottles of wine after spending time with an iPad. The same has been true at South Gate, a restaurant at the Jumeirah Essex House in New York that introduced an iPad wine list in early July.
"It's a very good way to stimulate bottle wine sales more than just wine by the glass," said Winfred van Workum, the hotel's food and beverage director.
The management at Bone's bought 30 iPads for $499 each, and another 20 for a sibling restaurant, then converted its own database of label descriptions and ratings into an application, said Richard T Lewis, who opened the restaurant with Ms DeRose 31 years ago. Despite the free marketing, Apple declined to provide a volume discount.
Mr Lewis said he had been pleasantly surprised that none of the iPads had been stolen or damaged by a toppled glass of water. The biggest challenge has been prying them away from customers.
"We're still concerned," he said, "about whether you can control your technology without it controlling you."
At Bone's, Atlanta's most venerable steakhouse, a clubby place of oak paneling and white tablecloths, the gold-jacketed waiters now greet diners by handing them an iPad. It is loaded with the restaurant's extensive wine list, holding detailed descriptions and ratings of 1,350 labels.
Once patrons make sense of the touch-pad links, which does not take long, they can search for wines by name, region, varietal and price, instantly educating themselves on vintner and vintage.
Since their debut six weeks ago, the gadgets have enthralled the (mostly male) customers at Bone's. And to the astonishment of the restaurant's owners, wine purchases shot up overnight -- they were nearly 11 percent higher per diner in the first two weeks compared with the previous three weeks, with no obvious alternative explanation.
Other restaurateurs who are experimenting with iPad wine lists, from Sydney to London to Central Park South, report similar results.
The devices seem to be spurring deeper interest in wine and empowering bolder, more confident selections, they say, potentially revolutionizing the psychology of dining's most intimidating passage.
"I felt like they had given me the answer sheet to the test," said Bradley D. Kendall, a Bone's regular who recently used the iPad to select a 2005 Corté Riva cabernet franc for $102, about 25 percent beyond his usual range.
Mr. Kendall, 43, described himself as a bit of a wine poseur. He has vacationed in Italy and Napa Valley and has a cellar at home, but he cannot remember a label from meal to meal. He knows just enough, or perhaps just little enough, to become suspicious whenever a waiter recommends a vineyard he does not know.
"In the back of your mind," he said, "you're always thinking: 'OK., is this some kind of used-car special? Did they just get 200 bottles of this?' "
But Mr Kendall said the ratings he found on the iPad -- by the wine writer Robert M. Parker Jr. -- carried credibility. He decided that the price of the cabernet franc was justified by Mr Parker's award of 92 points out of 100. "I found a bottle of wine that I never would have tried, and it was wonderful," he said.
Some who have used the iPads predict the gradual extinction of the leather-bound wine list, saving reams of paper each week and threatening sommeliers with superfluity.
"If they build one that can open up a bottle of wine, I'm going to be scared to death," said Fred Dame, one of the country's 105 master sommeliers and president of the Guild of Sommeliers Education Foundation. "When I saw this thing and saw the applications, I said, 'Oh, man, that's the end of the print shop.' "
Interactive wine lists began appearing at a smattering of restaurants as early as 2001, and leading wine analysts have for several years offered recommendations via smartphone applications. But Apple's introduction in April of the iPad, which approximates a conventional wine list in size, shape and weight, has substantially accelerated the trend.
Incentient, a Long Island company that makes wine-list software for the iPad, has received orders from 40 restaurants, up from 5 a few months ago, said Jennifer Martucci, the vice president for product development, sales and marketing. Celebrity restaurateurs like Gordon Ramsay and Todd English are among the pioneers. Some restaurants, including Bone's and Naples Tomato in Naples, Fla., have developed their own software.
"Selecting wine is an age-old tradition," Ms Martucci said, "but the time has come to enhance the experience in the way that we're used to getting information today."
Not everyone is so sure. One of Bone's owners, Susan DeRose, continues to nurse concerns that the iPads will preoccupy diners and depersonalize the fine-dining experience.
"I thought the men were going to be playing with it and not talk to each other," Ms DeRose said, acknowledging that her fears are as yet unfounded. "I just think it's very important for people to connect. You saw '2001: A Space Odyssey.' We do not want to develop a HAL."
Bob Reno, the wine steward on a veteran staff, said he and his co-workers had initially been cynical. "We didn't want to be replaced," he said. "We had to find a way to make it work in tandem."
But the waiters quickly came to appreciate the iPad's ability to monitor and instantly update an inventory of 20,000 bottles. They found that customers still sought reinforcing advice, particularly about pairing wines with food.
"With the information on the device, they seem more apt to experiment by buying a different varietal or going outside their price range," Mr Reno said. "It stuns me, but they seem to trust the device more than they trust me, and these are people I've waited on for 10 years."
Kevin J Burns, 49, who selected the wine for a recent business dinner at Bone's, said the 15 minutes he spent with the iPad helped him choose among several pinot noirs from the same winery.
"It's fabulous to be able to understand not just the prices but the flavors and the nose and the winemaker's comments," Mr. Burns said. "The technology allows you to do a heck of a lot more with a wine list than we ever have before."
Added Cindy A Mannes, who was seated to his right, "It doesn't make the sommelier worthless, but we all like to own our decisions."
Waiters at Bone's have seen beer and cocktail drinkers switch to expensive bottles of wine after spending time with an iPad. The same has been true at South Gate, a restaurant at the Jumeirah Essex House in New York that introduced an iPad wine list in early July.
"It's a very good way to stimulate bottle wine sales more than just wine by the glass," said Winfred van Workum, the hotel's food and beverage director.
The management at Bone's bought 30 iPads for $499 each, and another 20 for a sibling restaurant, then converted its own database of label descriptions and ratings into an application, said Richard T Lewis, who opened the restaurant with Ms DeRose 31 years ago. Despite the free marketing, Apple declined to provide a volume discount.
Mr Lewis said he had been pleasantly surprised that none of the iPads had been stolen or damaged by a toppled glass of water. The biggest challenge has been prying them away from customers.
"We're still concerned," he said, "about whether you can control your technology without it controlling you."
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