Bring bread with you to 606 RD

I went to 606 R&D with the hubs last night for a drink and a bite. We ended up having an experience so bizarre that it should be the opening episode of Brooklyndia.

The decor at R&D is nice - clean and modern -- and I appreciate that as someone who loves good-quality modern design. The portions are very small given the prices. But this, too, I can live with. We ordered a glass of wine each and two appetizers. Mine was a dandelion green-ish salad (if you can call it a salad). More like a nicely trimmed pile of greens, said on the menu to be served with hard boiled egg, but actually dusted with hard boiled egg crumblets. So be it. Neither this or my husband's dish came with any kind of bread accompaniment. We were brought a tiny bowl of raw radish spears next to a smear of sea salt-coated butter, though.

I ask the waitress if I could have some bread to go with my salad. We don't have any, she tells us. Really? I asked, how can you not have something bread-like? A flatbread, a cracker, a breadstick - something? I've ordered a salad here before and received (when requested) a small slice of bread. Nope, she says, we don't have any.

She does offer at that point to bring me some oyster crackers. Okay, I say, I guess I'll take them.

Just before she brings us the two bags of pre-packaged oyster crackers,hubs recalls that there is a cheese plate on the menu. When she returns, I ask her (and a colleague who comes out with her, because I guess this bread request qualifies us to be troublesome customers or something) what do people get to eat with the cheese when they order the cheese plate? Waitress #2 says "we don't have bread," with a strange smile. Doesn't directly answer the question. But definitely with a period at the end of that statement.

Okaaaay....hubs and I make the best of it, trying to enjoy our glasses of one-note red "draft" wine, which comes cold and tastes like a super-young beaujolais nouveau.

When we are on our way out of the restaurant later hubs calls me back to peek into the open kitchen, where a chef is preparing food. Say, what is that on the counter?

An enormous loaf of crusty bread -- one they couldn't possibly use up by the end of the night (we left at 8:30PM).

R&D owners - this left us with a bad taste in our mouths (one a nice piece of bread might have taken care of). We live nearby and I come from time to time. But this was a most unpleasant experience - the opposite of a Danny Meyer-esque welcome that I would think an upscale little place like yours would strive for.

You should tell your staff to err on the side of gracious generosity rather than miserly stinginess. But it's too late for us. We won't be coming back.