Friday, June 20, 2008

Ryan Kropp Pleads Guilty

UPDATE, August 13, 2008: Ryan Kropp Sentenced to Six Months, Probation
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It's the hair, stupid.

As a rule, restaurant customers don't expect to find some sort of human hair embedded in their steaks.

Remember Ryan Kropp?

Recall the former West Bend Texas Roadhouse cook's steak preparation techniques: Here and here.

He pleaded guilty yesterday to a felony charge of food-tampering.

WEST BEND, Wis. (AP) -- A former restaurant cook has pleaded guilty to a food-tampering charge alleging he inserted hairs in a steak before giving it to a dissatisfied customer.

Twenty-four-year-old Ryan Kropp of West Bend, Wis. was fired along with another cook after the incident Feb. 23 at the Texas Roadhouse restaurant.

Kropp was charged in Washington County Circuit Court with a felony of placing foreign objects in edibles, carrying up to 3 1/2 years in prison.

After his guilty plea today, his sentencing was scheduled Aug. 12.

I think it would be fitting for Kropp to go to prison for a while. He could be fed an extra special diet.

No, that would be cruel and unusual punishment; but it might wake him up to the seriousness of what he did.

4 comments:

J. Gravelle said...

In fairness, "fillet, medium rare" can sound an awful lot like "fill the meat with your hair".

Nonetheless, the punishment is only "cruel" if it's worse than the crime, and it's only "unusual" if we don't do it enough.

I'd gladly donate the bumper crop on my shoulder blades toward making Mr. Kropp a lovely angel-hair pasta dish. Enjoy your breakfast, ev'body...


-jjg
DailyScoff.com

Mary said...

Gravelle, I haven't had lunch yet.

Anonymous said...

It's because of this behavior that I have a very high threshhold for sending food away. As far as temp is concerned, I always order my steaks rare, and I don't send it back unless it's medium well or well. However, when I send food back to the kitchen, because it's only and always an extreme case, I advise the captain not to have the dish replaced, but to eliminate the course and the rest of the meal and get me my check now. Because I have gotten this kind of treatment (or been clucked at by thw waiter).

If a restaurant triggers my rejection response, then frankly I don't want to see what comes out of the kitchen, and I certainly will not return to the establishment.

Mary said...

I think that's wise.