By
now, I pretty much know all the restaurants within a 15-minute radius of my
parent’s house. But every time we plan
to go out for dinner, it takes forever to decide. Especially when three people are involved, as
they are tonight.
“I hate the atmosphere there.”
“June went the other night and it was awful.”
“All they have is pizza, and I’m not in the mood
for that.”
“They aren’t open for dinner.”
“I don’t want Chinese food. Besides, that place is in a strip mall.”
“It feels
too sterile there.”
“The parking there is impossible.”
“Last time we were there the food was
terrible. I’ll never go back.”
“There’s always a long wait. Jean was there last week and left after an
hour.”
“We were just there. It’s good, but I don’t want to go there again
tonight.”
“All their food is fried.”
“It’s always freezing there.”
“No one goes there anymore.”
Exhausted
by the process of picking a restaurant, we don’t.
It’s
only five pm. My mom is hungry and my
sister and I are restless. It’s been a
cloudy day, most of it spent visiting my dad.
We decide to go to Mashpee Commons and decide where to eat later.
We
arrive and my mom surprises Jean and I and says, “Let’s see if we can get into
Blue.” Blue is one of my favorite
restaurants. And I am not qualifying my
preference by adding the words, on the Cape. We
see two groups of people walking out.
They say to us, “I hope you have a reservation. They have nothing until 8:30.”
We
are not deterred. The very-nice maître d’
inside confirms that the restaurant is totally booked until much later. He offers us a table outside but it it’s
about 59°. My sister and mom leave but I
linger. Suddenly the maître d’ says, “Go
grab your friends.” I do. He tells us that he can seat us if we can be
out by eight. It’s only a little after
six. We tell him we can and he seats us.
Dinner
is extraordinary. I have never had a
better duck anywhere, ever. We all enjoy our meals, as well as the
company. It is rare that the three of us
are out together. As spectacular as the
food is, it’s the company that makes the night special.