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Cynthetiq · 08-18-2005, 08:15 AM

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August 17, 2005, 6:27 PM EDT

not Allenhurst. bas2cnbas

LOCH ARBOUR, N.J. (AP) _ The bill was a shocker, and not because of the amount.

After eating in a Jersey shore restaurant, Elliott Stein, 23, and his girlfriend were handed a bill that said "Jew Couple" near the bottom.

Stein, of New York, accompanied by Jennifer Cassin, had sushi and drinks at Parkhill's Waterfront Grill on July 8. When the $36.75 bill came, the slur appeared on it as a table identifier. It also turned up on Stein's credit card bill statement, which came weeks later.

Stein, a regular at the restaurant, was shocked.

"My grandfather went through all that in old-school Europe," Stein told the New York Post. "But that happened more than 50 years ago. You don't expect it to happen in 2005, especially when a lot of their money comes from our community."

The state Attorney General's Office said Wednesday afternoon that it was investigating the matter through its Division on Civil Rights.

"The Attorney General finds this report extremely troubling, and we are beginning to look at the matter with an eye toward determining whether the facts suggest there has been a violation of the law. If there has been, we will take action," said Lee Moore, a spokesman for the Attorney General.

Stein could not be reached for comment Wednesday. He did not return two telephone messages left at his office.

The server, identified on the check as someone named Karina, is no longer working at the restaurant, general manager Malia Wells said Wednesday. Wells wouldn't say if it was because of the incident.

"We don't run our establishment like that," Wells said. "It was definitely poor judgment on her part."

Stephen Reid, a spokesman for the restaurant, said it had been the waitstaff's practice to use descriptions of diners to identify them on checks, instead of using the number of their table, as many establishments do.

"Let's say you came in in a blue shirt and I wore a blue cap with `USA' on it. So they say the guy with the blue shirt and blue cap is table two. I guess she thought it was a funny thing to put down. I think she understands now it wasn't, as does the owner."

He said racial slurs were never used to describe diners. The restaurant, which is eight years old, is owned by Michael Parkhill.

"The idea that a restaurant or any establishment is labeling customers by race and then printing it on their bill is unbelievable," said Etzion Neuer, director of the New Jersey Anti-Defamation League. "It doesn't even say `Jew-ish,"' he said. "It's indefensible."

First a cable bill comes addressed to the customer as Bitch Dog, and then diners labeled as "Jew Couple"

While I don't see it as inherently derogatory, it's definitely inflammatory given the context of the how the word "jew" has been used in the past. People wonder why things get uptight and not so loose, well you give people room to make their own judgement and sometimes it's not what you would expect it to be.