Or At Least Make The Prices Match . . . Does Anyone In City Government Read Chinese?

It doesn’t matter if the differential pricing was really just the difference between a take-out and and eat-in, when you have the mayor publicly rebuking you, things have spun out of control:

“If nobody goes to that restaurant, then they won’t make any money and they’ll go out of business,” Bloomberg said when asked about the Daily News’ exclusive Sunday story on the Canal Seafood Restaurant.

“It’s unconscionable to use race on any of these things, in terms of what kind of service, or how you charge, or whatever,” Bloomberg said.

“Go patronize a different [restaurant.] Let capitalism work.”

. . .

The restaurant has denied the allegations, saying it has one menu for takeout and another for customers who eat in the restaurant.

Yes, It’s More Expensive, But It’s A Small Price To Pay For The Comfort In Not Knowing That The Other Menu Features Squirrel

It’s not news that Chinese restaurants everywhere have reserve suckier menus for gweilo. So it’s gratifying to learn that some are also charging such diners accordingly:

The price you pay for your beef with string beans depends entirely on whether or not you are Chinese — at least according to the menus at one restaurant in Chinatown, city officials say.

The city Human Rights Commission has filed a discrimination complaint against the Canal Seafood Restaurant for allegedly giving a different menu with lower prices to customers who are Chinese.

David Lopez, a visitor from Wisconsin, contacted the commission after eating at the restaurant with several friends last October.

He and his girlfriend knew something was wrong when a waiter told them that a serving of rice would cost them extra. They had noticed Asian customers munching on similar dishes served over a bed of rice.

“Being Hispanic, we both like rice,” said 46-year-old Lopez. “We saw other customers getting a different menu. We were told we could order from it if we spoke Chinese.”

The prices on that menu, written in Chinese, were an average of $1 cheaper per dish.

“It was very distressful to go to a place in one of the most diverse cities in the world and be discriminated against,” Lopez said.

Representatives for the restaurant have denied the existence of two different in-store menus.

But Lopez, who has worked as a discrimination investigator in Wisconsin, took both menus with him. He took the menus and his concerns to the Human Rights Commission.

After an investigation, the commission determined there was probable cause that discrimination had taken place, and referred the case to the office of Administrative Trials and Hearings for a trial.

Summons Killed Main Street But It Wasn’t Who You Expected

It’s not the interstate, the mall or even Wal-Mart that killed Main Street — it was overzealous traffic agents:

Combatting graffiti, applying for sidewalk permits, and monitoring the scourge of empty storefronts or new chain stores aren’t at the top of the priority list for the dozens of small business owners along Morris Park Ave.

Number one on their list is parking tickets.

At a meeting called on Jan. 9, over 40 store owners met with community leaders in hopes of building a unified front to tackle issues many in the area fear could lead to the commercial strip’s downfall.

“It’s totally supportive. They need it desperately,” said John Fratta, district manager for Community Board 11.

While the addition of sidewalk cafes, new clothing stores and diverse shops would be a boon, all merchants had one beef: Ticketing of their customers by parking agents.

“Morris Park is getting killed by traffic agents,” said Fratta. “They have those people out there issuing 120 tickets a day. A customer gets a ticket, that person no longer comes to Morris Park. That person will be going to the malls in Westchester, where there’s parking.”

Clothing stores, especially well-known vendors, could provide an anchor to draw shoppers to the area between Williamsbridge Road and Bronxdale Ave., Fratta said.

“Most people now come to eat or get their nails done.”

But traffic agents deter any newcomers, he said. “Cookies [a school uniform store] wanted to come here. They looked at the traffic agents and changed their minds.”

Marco Muccitelli, owner of Marco’s Salumeria Leone caterer and deli, called the ticketing “absolutely insane.”

“People don’t even have two minutes to actually get out of their cars there and pick up a sandwich. They’re getting a $115 ticket for a $6 hero.”

Life Goes On Bra!

The great thing about the brassiere trade is that women will always have breasts, and in many cases, up to two of them:

For generations of New York women, one destination has loomed large when it comes to finding The Perfect Bra.

At Town Shop, the venerable Upper West Side institution, thousands of lacy, silky unmentionables are kept in boxes near a fitting area marked “Ladies Only.” Famous for saleswomen who measure with their eyes, and sometimes their hands, the store is a rite of passage for many girls on their way to womanhood, and the store, on Broadway and West 81st Street, boasts a legion of faithful customers. Before her death in 2003, the store’s beloved proprietor, Selma Koch, became something of a local celebrity after appearing on television to discuss the lost art — not science — of fitting a brassiere.

But competition is heating up for the famous store, and with the recent opening of Bra Smyth on Broadway and West 77th Street, there is a veritable bra war brewing on the Upper West Side. So far, both sides have shied away from discrediting the other. On a recent afternoon, Town Shop heir and a grandson of Mrs. Koch, Danny Koch, answered a reporter’s query about neighborhood rivalries with a coy remark. “Are there?” he said.

. . .

Among Town Shop’s loyal customer base, few believe another store can compare. Diana Berrent, 32, said she bought her first training bra there when she was 11 years old and recently returned for a nursing bra. “I’m a true devotee and I’ve referred many friends,” she said.

Not too long ago, Mrs. Berrent and a friend visited Bra Smyth and walked out with nothing. “At the end of the day, I want a bra that fits,” she said, acknowledging, however, that Bra Smyth’s new location is a “bold” move.

Maybe bra shops will cluster on the Upper West Side — a store in the neighborhood specializing in nursing supplies calls itself the Upper Breast Side — the same way that, say, lighting stores cluster along the Bowery and theaters are on Broadway near Times Square.

Post To Big Apple Eateries: “Keep The Change”

One day after a Post exclusive uncovers evidence of the automatic tip, the Post gets all sanctimoniously third person about it and reveals further infractions:

Here’s a tip for Big Apple eateries — stop fleecing clueless tourists and New Yorkers who know better with illegal gratuities on their checks.

A day after The Post reported that SoHo restaurant Aquagrill tacked the tip on a French-born New Yorker’s check because “foreigners don’t tip,” more steaming customers recounted similar tales of horror.

Jill Davis, 43, is as American as a double Whopper, but that didn’t stop one Hell’s Kitchen pub from “gratting” her — the industry term for slapping a gratuity onto the bill.

Davis stopped at Smith’s Bar for a quick burger this past summer, and was stuck with a 15 percent gratuity on her $10 bill.

“I said, what the hell is this?” she recalled. “[The waiter] said, ‘Well, we have to make up for all of the Europeans that don’t tip.'”

. . .

[Department of Consumer Affairs] rules state that restaurants can only add a 15 percent tip to parties of eight if it’s clearly explained on the menu.

In fact, most restaurants — where it’s routine for parties of six or more to be charged 18 percent gratuity — seemed unaware of the rule.

“I’m going to change [our policy] to what Consumer Affairs says,” said Mitchell Rosen, the manager of City Crab.

Currently, the eatery charges 20 percent gratuity to parties of five or more — but he said those days are over after he read The Post’s article Tuesday.

One Times Square restaurant manager admitted that she’s stuck the tip on some hapless tourists’ table for two.

“I would only do it if I knew for certain that they weren’t from here,” said the proprietress.

“You never know if you’re going to make money,” said Ana Reisner, a bartender at Tracy J’s in Gramercy Park, but doesn’t add gratuities onto parties even if they’re easy marks.

Waitress Beate Keiser, 24, said she’s adept at spotting non-natives. “I’m just trying to pay my rent,” the Union Square Heartland Brewery server said.

“If I see someone who can barely speak English and has maps all over the table, I’ll add the tip.”

Also: for your edification, courtesy the waiter.