 |
 |
Saloon
Montreal, Quebec |
Curly’s Vegetarian Lunch
New York, NY |
Dish
Charlotte, NC |
Casimir
New York, NY |
Chai
Brooklyn, NY |
Peasant
New York, NY |
Pat’s King of Steaks
Philadelphia, PA |
The Abbey Food and Bar
West Hollywood, CA |
Bar 89
New York, NY |
Restaurant Globe
Montreal, Canada |
8 Minute Dating
New York, NY |
Hamburger Mary's
San Diego, CA |
|
|
|
 |
| Curly’s Vegetarian Lunch |
328 East 14th Street
New York, NY
212.598.9998 |
|
 Readers of my earlier scene-making reviews know that I'd much rather goad the person I'm dating into making an ugly public scene than make one myself. And of course the smaller the restaurant, the sooner I can achieve my goal, saving valuable time which can then be used for meeting somebody far less irritating.
The person in question is Alex, a guy I've been dating for all of two weeks, yet who's already getting on my nerves so bad you'd think we'd been dating for four years. Alex is a neurotic wonk who gets wound up awfully easily about whatever topic is at hand, and pushing him over the edge turned out to be far easier than I would have imagined.
I told him the reason we were trying Curly's for dinner was because it was in the neighborhood. Of course the real reasons we were trying Curly's for dinner were because it's a small place and the acoustics seemed right, and because Alex is annoyed by the idea of vegetarian food.
We were seated at one of the small tables, of which there are less than a dozen. I liked the staff so I decided to keep this less of a disruptive scene and try for more of a short but embarrassing moment, which I got. We both ordered the Sloppy Joe ($6.95) with fries. The food came surprisingly quickly, which was convenient because I wanted to get a chance to eat before we were done, and the food really was good. I don't know what the hell it was but it sure tasted like real meat in a tangy sloppy joe sauce, in a generous portion, on a great roll. The fries were of the curly variety, salt and peppered, and also really tasty.
By the time we were at the stage of picking over the never-ending mountain of curly fries, I'd found our topic. He was annoyed that I'd watched Battlestar Galactica, without him… perfect. It's a great show, don't get me wrong, but it's the kind of show that's kind of a guilty pleasure, only because it's not as fashionable to rave about it in public as, say Desperate Housewives.
 The scene was short and sweet, one sentence really. I pushed his buttons lightly as he insisted on re-expressing bewilderment over how I could have watched my DVR'd episode when he assumed we'd watch it together. Small nudges here and there… I feign naïveté over the nature of the problem, I can't quite grasp what's bothering him… bingo: he blurts out, not shouting but still way too loud for the room, "I can't believe you watched Battlestar Galactica without me!"
It doesn't take much to silence an already low-key room of about sixteen people eating dinner, and heads don't have to turn that far to see the source of an exclamation in a room this size. Needless to say, he had everyone's attention for a moment just long enough to satisfy my needs for the evening. He briefly turned the color of Curly's Red Wine Sangria (glass $4, 1/2 pitcher $7, pitcher $15), and the discussion was over.
We didn't see each other again after that. We didn't exactly break up, I think the unpleasantness of the moment made him not want to call me in the same way I didn't really want to call him. Thanks, Curly's! |
|
| chumwater |
| June 11, 2005 |
|
|
|
