Bribe your way to a table

It doesn’t take much to get a last-minute table at a good restaurant in New York, just a $20-100 a bribe. At least this is what James Beard found out in his bribing experiment in New York. I don’t know if it would work just as well in the Bay Area, but it might be worth finding out.
EPICURIOUS: GOURMET: JAMES BEARD: POCKET FULL OF DOUGH