The most seductive lie restaurants tell is that the customer has the control: You go into a space you’ve picked, sit with people you came with, choose what you want from a variety of options, tip what you want. The control is illusory, and limited, but it’s central to the experience. “So not being the master of your own little table,” Dixler... See more

As Håkan Jönsson, an associate professor in food technology and cultural sciences at the University of Lund, in Sweden, told me, it’s “the most social thing we do, but it’s one of the most private things we do. When we are eating and drinking, our bodies are literally open to the surrounding world; we are giving ourselves up to the surrounding... See more

In American culture, there’s nothing more luxurious than space to spread out, and in dining culture, there’s nothing more fine than having every aspect of the experience tailored to you. Private tables are much newer than communal ones, but they are central to our understanding of what a restaurant, especially a nice one, is .