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valis2I decided to split up my "Back Again" entry into a few parts to make it easier for those who don't care about shows or birthday dinners or miscellaneous babblings.
Anyway, if you're not into checking out LJ cuts and still want to know about week's events, this is my summary: Went to WI. Saw the usual motley array of humanity. The show was pretty bad. Chicago was a teensy bit stressful on one of the mornings. The eye is not feeling great; it is swollen, in fact, because I overexerted myself way too much over the last week. And I had a rather insane dual birthday dinner.
More? Click on the lj cut.
This is really long, but I felt that I had to preserve the moment somehow.
Key:
Friend=my friend
Friend's Husband=her Husband
Kid=their six year old boy
Baby=their two year old boy
My very dear friends in WI (I work for them, they're why I was there, I did the show as a rep for them) wanted to take me out for my birthday on Monday night. Fabulous! So we talked about restaurants. They suggested a place called Pacific Rim, which is a fusion restaurant. Then one of their employees mentioned a Spanish restaurant. We thought about it, and on Monday I decided, I want sangria, oh yes, so we tried looking up a Spanish restaurant online. But there aren't many. One was called Don Quijote, and my friend said she had heard of it, and that it was good. There was a review online for it that was rather unflattering, but we decided to go. Friend's Husband seemed a bit uncertain about going, though. We get in the vehicle and go.
Friend's Husband has forgotten the address, so I call en route. A woman with a thick accent answers the phone, and I ask, "Hi, what is your address?"
There is a long pause and she says, "MY address?"
"No, the address of the restaurant!"
Not very auspicious.
Anyway, we get there, and it is not in the awesome artsy downtown area, but it still looks promising, with a cute little outdoor area and everything. Then we walk in the door, to find a tiny first floor, and the Wall of Smoke hits us. We look at each other. There is one person sitting at the bar, and two empty tables, and a woman standing in the middle of the floor. They both look at us. Finally the woman asks if we want dinner. A-ha, the brainiac from the phone conversation. There is upstairs seating, apparently, and the man at the bar is actually the waiter, and he takes us upstairs to a cute loft-like space with plenty of tables. Empty tables. There is no one in the restaurant at all. Instead of pointing to a table or showing us to a table, he just stands there. He kind of looks like Greg Proops from "Whose Line is it Anyway". So we end up having to pick a table ourselves, okay, not that much of a problem, but then we end up having to move to the table next to it because of the sun. Waiter brings over a high chair for Baby and menus. Friend orders a pitcher of Sangria first thing, and we're all delighted with the skylights and the cathedral ceiling. There is a fly buzzing around my face, and I bat it away. Hey, restaurants have a fly or two, they're impossible to eliminate entirely, right?
So the waiter turns on music (very loud music) and disappears for awhile, leaving us to peruse the menus. The menus are in really nice padded leather holders, and have lovely full color pages. There are four pages, I think. Two pages with menu items, and two that describe Spain, Don Quixote, and Spanish grapes used in making wines.
The food items are listed in three sections. Typical entree/appetizer/etc. stuff, tapas calientes, and tapas frias. If you've never been to a tapas restaurant, then I will explain that tapas are a bit like appetizers. They are small dishes and are either served hot or cold. For example, there were olives and peppers in oil (cold), and goat cheese with honey walnut topping (warm). So we thought we would order entrees, and a few tapas dishes to share.
A staple of Spanish food is paella. It's a rice dish that is cooked for a long time with various ingredients. Paella varies depending upon which region of Spain it originated in. This menu listed four paella dishes: paella del mar (seafood), paella del something (beef), paella mixta (both seafood and beef), and paella vegeterian. Then there was a dish with beef tenderloin in a gorgonzola cream sauce, which sounded perfect for me. One of the last items on the menu was fodoeado catalana (sp), which was described as having noodles and a "shrimp, mussels, and salmon in"...well, it just left off at "in". So it sounded like a seafood dish, but the sauce was not described. Anyway, my friends do not eat pork, so we had questions to ask when he came back, bearing two pitchers (water and sangria). He was a little off balance because we had moved, and there were no water glasses at that table, so he had to get them from the next table over. He only brought two glasses for the sangria, which was odd, as there were three adults at the table, but oh well. So Friend pours two glasses of sangria, and the waiter stands there as if he wants to take our order. Friend asks a simple, direct question, "This sentence ends, and we'd like to know what the rest of it says."
He seems confused, which isn't good. It isn't like there are a lot of entrees listed; there are only about eight, I think. He doesn't seem like he knows which one it is, and he has to look at the menu, and he says that it's just like paella, except with noodles instead. So then Friend asks, "Is there any chorizo or sausage or anything in this dish?"
Again, a blank look. Then he says, "The paella in Spain varies from region to region."
I almost start laughing in his face, but I restrain myself.
Since he seems to be saying that the fodoeado is just paella with noodles instead, I assume that it's the paella del mar, because it only lists seafood "in" something. So I ask, does the paella del mar have any pork in it? Again, he is confused. He doesn't know. So Friend's Husband says "If there is any pork in it, we are not ordering it." Waiter seems to finally get it and says he'll find out.
So we order three tapas, and I drink my first glass of Sangria. Friend gives me an odd look when she tastes hers. It has a few pieces of apple floating in it, and we both agree that we like sangria with orange slices better. Then I realize that it is carbonated, which I didn't expect. I try to avoid carbonated beverages. Anyway, Friend is now batting away a fly as well.
We're all starting to get Ominous Feelings of Doom. Especially Friend's Husband. Friend pours me a second glass of sangria.
Eventually Waiter returns, bearing one of the tapas (olives). He sets it down.
Friend suddenly seems quite discomfited and announces that a fly has just flown into the sangria pitcher. The pitcher, you see, is mostly ice with a little sangria, and the fly has become trapped in between the ice cubes. Friend pauses for a moment. Waiter does nothing. Friend shakes the pitcher. Waiter watches. Fly stays put. Friend shakes again, and Fly flies away finally.
Then friend moves her napkin, and finds a very large dead fly on the table, and announces its presence. Waiter stands there and stares at fly. We all sit, revolted, frozen in place, and I finally notice that a petal from the roses has fallen to the table, and I use it to pick up the dead fly. I cast about for where to discard it...throw it on the floor? And finally I gesture to Waiter, who thrusts out his tray. I place the flower-wrapped insect on the tray. We all say we will wait before ordering the entrees. Waiter leaves again.
Friend and Friend's Husband sample the olives.
I take a big drink of my second glass of sangria.
Then I notice there is a dead fly floating on the top.
"That's enough," I say, absolutely revolted, and Friend immediately says, "Let's go."
Friend's Husband decides to pay for what we have consumed (except for sangria, of course), and tries to give Waiter money after we traipse downstairs. Waiter, again, is not tracking well, and seems to agree, and goes to get menu because he has no idea what any of the prices are. Then it kind of strikes him that maybe we shouldn't pay for anything at all. So he starts saying that we shouldn't pay for anything we didn't eat, and then he starts getting into the vagaries of the olives and how they were only served and partially eaten, and I couldn't take anymore and left with Friend and Kid and Baby while Friend's Husband hashed it out.
We all pile in the vehicle, and Kid says, with the wisdom of a six-year-old, "When there are flies, waiters are supposed to say 'Let me take care of that for you'." We all laughed at that and how simple a concept it was, yet how unreachable it was for Waiter. Honestly, most other waiters would have heard someone mention a fly in the pitcher and immediately gone and grabbed a fresh pitcher.
So then we went to Pacific Rim. It looked beautiful, but I had another Ominous Feeling when we went through the door and there was a sign pasted over the hours sign that said "WE ARE OPEN TODAY".
Our waitress was completely, utterly, entirely stressed out and running around like a chicken with her head cut off. Friend's Husband ordered a sparkling water that never materialized, and we waited and waited and waited for our entrees until most of the restaurant had cleared out and the table next to us was getting their entrees despite having been seated an hour after we arrived. She finally came up and apologized and said that our ticket had been cast aside by the cooks as having been Already Filled.
The guys sitting next to us said to the waitress at one point that "This is taking too long". I said to my friends that they should try sitting at our table.
It took us two hours and fifteen minutes to get out of there. They normally weren't open on Mondays, and were just crazy and frantic trying to get everything together. Thank goodness Kid and Baby were extremely well-behaved, considering the lateness of the hour and having to be still for so long. The waitress was very apologetic and made a vague comment that she would tell her boss about our meal, but nothing was taken off the bill. Not even free dessert, unless you count my free slice of cake for it being my birthday. I'm not really a chocolate cake person, but it was good, because it had fudgy icing, and fudgy icing just can't be bad. Mmm.
So that was my dual-dinner Birthday experience. Crazy, huh?
Anyway, if you're not into checking out LJ cuts and still want to know about week's events, this is my summary: Went to WI. Saw the usual motley array of humanity. The show was pretty bad. Chicago was a teensy bit stressful on one of the mornings. The eye is not feeling great; it is swollen, in fact, because I overexerted myself way too much over the last week. And I had a rather insane dual birthday dinner.
More? Click on the lj cut.
This is really long, but I felt that I had to preserve the moment somehow.
Key:
Friend=my friend
Friend's Husband=her Husband
Kid=their six year old boy
Baby=their two year old boy
My very dear friends in WI (I work for them, they're why I was there, I did the show as a rep for them) wanted to take me out for my birthday on Monday night. Fabulous! So we talked about restaurants. They suggested a place called Pacific Rim, which is a fusion restaurant. Then one of their employees mentioned a Spanish restaurant. We thought about it, and on Monday I decided, I want sangria, oh yes, so we tried looking up a Spanish restaurant online. But there aren't many. One was called Don Quijote, and my friend said she had heard of it, and that it was good. There was a review online for it that was rather unflattering, but we decided to go. Friend's Husband seemed a bit uncertain about going, though. We get in the vehicle and go.
Friend's Husband has forgotten the address, so I call en route. A woman with a thick accent answers the phone, and I ask, "Hi, what is your address?"
There is a long pause and she says, "MY address?"
"No, the address of the restaurant!"
Not very auspicious.
Anyway, we get there, and it is not in the awesome artsy downtown area, but it still looks promising, with a cute little outdoor area and everything. Then we walk in the door, to find a tiny first floor, and the Wall of Smoke hits us. We look at each other. There is one person sitting at the bar, and two empty tables, and a woman standing in the middle of the floor. They both look at us. Finally the woman asks if we want dinner. A-ha, the brainiac from the phone conversation. There is upstairs seating, apparently, and the man at the bar is actually the waiter, and he takes us upstairs to a cute loft-like space with plenty of tables. Empty tables. There is no one in the restaurant at all. Instead of pointing to a table or showing us to a table, he just stands there. He kind of looks like Greg Proops from "Whose Line is it Anyway". So we end up having to pick a table ourselves, okay, not that much of a problem, but then we end up having to move to the table next to it because of the sun. Waiter brings over a high chair for Baby and menus. Friend orders a pitcher of Sangria first thing, and we're all delighted with the skylights and the cathedral ceiling. There is a fly buzzing around my face, and I bat it away. Hey, restaurants have a fly or two, they're impossible to eliminate entirely, right?
So the waiter turns on music (very loud music) and disappears for awhile, leaving us to peruse the menus. The menus are in really nice padded leather holders, and have lovely full color pages. There are four pages, I think. Two pages with menu items, and two that describe Spain, Don Quixote, and Spanish grapes used in making wines.
The food items are listed in three sections. Typical entree/appetizer/etc. stuff, tapas calientes, and tapas frias. If you've never been to a tapas restaurant, then I will explain that tapas are a bit like appetizers. They are small dishes and are either served hot or cold. For example, there were olives and peppers in oil (cold), and goat cheese with honey walnut topping (warm). So we thought we would order entrees, and a few tapas dishes to share.
A staple of Spanish food is paella. It's a rice dish that is cooked for a long time with various ingredients. Paella varies depending upon which region of Spain it originated in. This menu listed four paella dishes: paella del mar (seafood), paella del something (beef), paella mixta (both seafood and beef), and paella vegeterian. Then there was a dish with beef tenderloin in a gorgonzola cream sauce, which sounded perfect for me. One of the last items on the menu was fodoeado catalana (sp), which was described as having noodles and a "shrimp, mussels, and salmon in"...well, it just left off at "in". So it sounded like a seafood dish, but the sauce was not described. Anyway, my friends do not eat pork, so we had questions to ask when he came back, bearing two pitchers (water and sangria). He was a little off balance because we had moved, and there were no water glasses at that table, so he had to get them from the next table over. He only brought two glasses for the sangria, which was odd, as there were three adults at the table, but oh well. So Friend pours two glasses of sangria, and the waiter stands there as if he wants to take our order. Friend asks a simple, direct question, "This sentence ends, and we'd like to know what the rest of it says."
He seems confused, which isn't good. It isn't like there are a lot of entrees listed; there are only about eight, I think. He doesn't seem like he knows which one it is, and he has to look at the menu, and he says that it's just like paella, except with noodles instead. So then Friend asks, "Is there any chorizo or sausage or anything in this dish?"
Again, a blank look. Then he says, "The paella in Spain varies from region to region."
I almost start laughing in his face, but I restrain myself.
Since he seems to be saying that the fodoeado is just paella with noodles instead, I assume that it's the paella del mar, because it only lists seafood "in" something. So I ask, does the paella del mar have any pork in it? Again, he is confused. He doesn't know. So Friend's Husband says "If there is any pork in it, we are not ordering it." Waiter seems to finally get it and says he'll find out.
So we order three tapas, and I drink my first glass of Sangria. Friend gives me an odd look when she tastes hers. It has a few pieces of apple floating in it, and we both agree that we like sangria with orange slices better. Then I realize that it is carbonated, which I didn't expect. I try to avoid carbonated beverages. Anyway, Friend is now batting away a fly as well.
We're all starting to get Ominous Feelings of Doom. Especially Friend's Husband. Friend pours me a second glass of sangria.
Eventually Waiter returns, bearing one of the tapas (olives). He sets it down.
Friend suddenly seems quite discomfited and announces that a fly has just flown into the sangria pitcher. The pitcher, you see, is mostly ice with a little sangria, and the fly has become trapped in between the ice cubes. Friend pauses for a moment. Waiter does nothing. Friend shakes the pitcher. Waiter watches. Fly stays put. Friend shakes again, and Fly flies away finally.
Then friend moves her napkin, and finds a very large dead fly on the table, and announces its presence. Waiter stands there and stares at fly. We all sit, revolted, frozen in place, and I finally notice that a petal from the roses has fallen to the table, and I use it to pick up the dead fly. I cast about for where to discard it...throw it on the floor? And finally I gesture to Waiter, who thrusts out his tray. I place the flower-wrapped insect on the tray. We all say we will wait before ordering the entrees. Waiter leaves again.
Friend and Friend's Husband sample the olives.
I take a big drink of my second glass of sangria.
Then I notice there is a dead fly floating on the top.
"That's enough," I say, absolutely revolted, and Friend immediately says, "Let's go."
Friend's Husband decides to pay for what we have consumed (except for sangria, of course), and tries to give Waiter money after we traipse downstairs. Waiter, again, is not tracking well, and seems to agree, and goes to get menu because he has no idea what any of the prices are. Then it kind of strikes him that maybe we shouldn't pay for anything at all. So he starts saying that we shouldn't pay for anything we didn't eat, and then he starts getting into the vagaries of the olives and how they were only served and partially eaten, and I couldn't take anymore and left with Friend and Kid and Baby while Friend's Husband hashed it out.
We all pile in the vehicle, and Kid says, with the wisdom of a six-year-old, "When there are flies, waiters are supposed to say 'Let me take care of that for you'." We all laughed at that and how simple a concept it was, yet how unreachable it was for Waiter. Honestly, most other waiters would have heard someone mention a fly in the pitcher and immediately gone and grabbed a fresh pitcher.
So then we went to Pacific Rim. It looked beautiful, but I had another Ominous Feeling when we went through the door and there was a sign pasted over the hours sign that said "WE ARE OPEN TODAY".
Our waitress was completely, utterly, entirely stressed out and running around like a chicken with her head cut off. Friend's Husband ordered a sparkling water that never materialized, and we waited and waited and waited for our entrees until most of the restaurant had cleared out and the table next to us was getting their entrees despite having been seated an hour after we arrived. She finally came up and apologized and said that our ticket had been cast aside by the cooks as having been Already Filled.
The guys sitting next to us said to the waitress at one point that "This is taking too long". I said to my friends that they should try sitting at our table.
It took us two hours and fifteen minutes to get out of there. They normally weren't open on Mondays, and were just crazy and frantic trying to get everything together. Thank goodness Kid and Baby were extremely well-behaved, considering the lateness of the hour and having to be still for so long. The waitress was very apologetic and made a vague comment that she would tell her boss about our meal, but nothing was taken off the bill. Not even free dessert, unless you count my free slice of cake for it being my birthday. I'm not really a chocolate cake person, but it was good, because it had fudgy icing, and fudgy icing just can't be bad. Mmm.
So that was my dual-dinner Birthday experience. Crazy, huh?
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Date: 2005-09-01 10:47 pm (UTC);)