A regular patron left a $2,000 tip on a $93 bill at a D.C. restaurant this week with the note, "Thank you for the gumbo!"
Christofer Nardelli, owner of Blue 44, said the customer dined on fried chicken, gumbo, and his favorite Old Chub Scotch Ale with a
friend Monday evening, according to The Washington Post.
Just before closing, long after the pair left, bartender Laura Dally picked up the check holder and saw the massive $2,000 tip.
At the bottom, the customer had instructed how he wanted the gratuity divvied up: $1,000 for chef James Turner, and $500 each for Dally and Nardelli.
“I was in utter shock,” Dally told The Post. “I was completely speechless. I had to do a double take.”
While Nardelli did not share the customer’s name in order to protect his privacy, he told The Post he “didn’t know what to say.”
“This is the kind of stuff you see in the restaurant business that happens to some guy in the Midwest or the West Coast,” he said. “You think, who are these people who give these extraordinarily generous tips that just made a server or bartender’s day? And then sure enough, it happened to us.”
According to USA Today, the staff often asks the customer his advice on what menu items should be offered, including types of beer.
The chef even once emailed the patron, asking when he would be in next so he could make his favorite gumbo, The Post reported.
The patron made good on his promise to be in on Monday, entering with chants of “Gumbo! Gumbo! Gumbo!”
When leaving, the customer asked for some gumbo to go, and Turner provided him with two quarts – free of charge – to thank the man for coming to the restaurant.
Nardelli sent the patron an email the next day, thanking him for his generosity.
“He said he’s very happy with what we’ve built and that he’s proud to be a customer,” Nardelli told The Post. The patron also wrote, “I’m very happy to express my gratitude in that way.”
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