Vinegar Hill House Sour Grapes

A storm blew the 08-09 Please Everyone Tour off course, creating an unexpected opportunity last night for a dinner in Brooklyn with family and friends. One of our party was keen to try Vinegar Hill House, and the rest of us agreed it sounded pretty good. A call to ascertain seating availability went to an answering machine, and advised communicating with the restaurant via email. Space-age to be sure, but not so useful for day of. We wondered if the restaurant was closed, but the website indicated that they were open, except for a couple of specific dates around Christmas, and not including last night. So we trekked over to the Navy Yard. People there seemed to be having a good time, but we were informed that we were looking at a 90+ minute wait, and a wait which would have involved hudding outside in a remote corner of Brooklyn, or do-si-do-ing with the waitstaff.
I'm glad that VHH is doing well, and the folks who were seated seemed to be enjoying themselves. However, if you open a small restaurant in an out of the way neighborhood, with no other restaurants as alternatives, or bars to wait out a wait, especially during the winter months, it seems that some sort of device that would allow prospective patrons to communicate with you in real time about the availability of seating might be useful. If you want to push the Olde Newe Yorke vibe, one could point out that the folks at Delmonico's had one of the devices pictured above back in Prohibition.