Strange Places Strange Faces

For my birthday, we went to this restaurant Dad and I built a couple years ago. We know the owner very well and the food is widely regarded as the best in Cleveland. It's always fun, because the kitchen is open, I know everyone who works there (because I frequent the place), our friend (the owner) is a real stitch and the beat goes on...

Anyway, tonight the restaurant was unusually noisy. There were a few large parties and I was sitting with my parents at a comfortable corner table. The restaurant is quite small, seating about 90 people in our section. It was packed tonight. Anyway, the fun started when I saw this "cute" older couple being shown to their table right next to ours. They were obviously on a date, which is both cool and curious to observe when it involves the "elderly". Their dates are definitely different than ours.... sometimes noble; other times humorous; still other times shocking. You just never know what you are going to see and hear.

Anyway, it was obvious by the way they perused the menu the couple had never been to the restaurant before. The man was definitely annoyed by the din. The woman was seemingly happy to be at this restaurant in his company. She, too, though complained about the noise.

The restaurant is famous for many dishes, not the least of which is a side dish called "pomme frites". Pomme frites are french fries that are freshly cut shoestring potatoes that have been properly seasoned. No grease here. A plate that is stacked so high it almost touches the ceiling. You have to have a table of at least six (honestly) to finish this baby. So, my Mom and Dad ordered it with their dinner, and the lady next to us remarked on how many there were and how good they looked.

My mom asked, "would you like to try some?"

The woman never hesitated. "Yes, if you don't mind."

"No," my mom said. "Go ahead, give me a plate. Here have some."

This thing was getting cuter by the minute. The woman dug in, and nodded her head in approval. Now, the man grabbed some, too. He obviously enjoyed them as well. It was almost as if the magical pomme frites made all the noise in the restaurant go away, as our two tables seemingly merged in to one. The next thing you know, the couple had pilfered our fries (we didn't care), and were devouring them.

Later, they joined my parents in singing Happy Birthday, then returned to the frites, which they ended up taking home!

My mom subsequently unsuccessfully had a conversation stalking (when you start trying to find out stuff from a complete stranger) with the man about his favorite restaurants. I had to assure him she was harmless. However, she did manage to find out the smartly dressed man was 93. His lady friend was much younger. The man didn't really want to say much else, probably because he realized my Mom had eavesdropped on his entire dinner conversation.

But, I have to say, this couple -- strangers to me -- made my Birthday more interesting. I did feel like I had extra people out with me for my special celebration. And, they sang a mean Happy Birthday!

So, how do complete strangers end up in each other's conversations -- especially when sitting next to each other at a restaurant? Are we all that nosy? Or is it that we are all trying to be social and friendly?

Posted by Ike on Thursday, July 27, 2006 at 11:37 PM | Permalink