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Eats Shoots & Leaves
Citizen
Username: Mfpark
Post Number: 2709
Registered: 9-2001
| | Posted on Tuesday, December 13, 2005 - 2:12 pm: |     |
I wanted comfort food Sunday night, and a glass of wine, and to be surrounded by a lot of people after spending a long weekend lugging boxes up three flights of stairs into my new place. I was so sore that my sore spots were sore, and so tired that I actually fell down the stairs a few times. The thought of being in a bar eating some french fries and a hot sandwich seemed just right--but I wanted something a little more dining roomish also. And so I wandered over to the Gaslight.
And, I gotta admit, after not having been there for about 6 months, I was curious to see it again after reading all those threads on MOL.
The place was packed with--families with kids. There were kids crying, kids laughing, toddlers toddling between tables with parents scooting after them, parents hoisting kids in their arms and going "wheee!!" There were neighbors calling across the restaurant to say goodbye to a little friend, and there were forks and knives and glasses bouncing all over the floor like a culinary hail storm. From the bar there were loud male eruptions every time the Giants scored or blew it in the blue zone, at which time the dads and granddads would run out of the dining room and into the bar to see what they had missed.
And surveying this cacophony of families stood--the dreaded child hating hat loathing gray bearded owner! He never ventured into the dining area, preferring to stand guard over the podium near the bar, neither smiling nor frowning, just taking it all in and giving nothing back.
Then, in front of me, a recently cleared table was settled by a young family, two little girls, mom, and dad--wearing a baseball hat! I am thinking, this must be a social experiment, someone is testing the resiliency of the Gaslight. Maybe I had inadvertently wandered into a "family sit in" that some had darkly hinted at on MOL. I think back to the time when my friend, M____, was asked to bare his head in this very dining room. I am looking at all the signs saying "no cell phones"--so many that they speak more to a mania than a polite restaurant policy. And right in front of this family stands that mean little, child hating, hat loathing bearded man with pointy black eyes, leaning over the podium staring at that hat.
I held my breath waiting for his next move.
Suddenly, he turns to answer the phone, and the family orders dinner, and the hush that I thought had descended on the room abruptly lifted and the place was again joyously loud with the sound of children and parents and men bawling about the Giants. There was no problem with the kids, no trouble with hats, just another normal night in a not always normal bar in a slightly abnormal town.
Too bad the sandwich was not that great--the chipotle bread was tepid, the turkey not hand carved even if the dressing was pretty good. But the service was fine, the cottage fries well done, the wine drinkable, and, at least on this night, the ambience was family friendly in the extreme.
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Pippi
Supporter
Username: Pippi
Post Number: 1519
Registered: 8-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, December 13, 2005 - 2:37 pm: | |
Are you sure it wasn't Toro Loco?
You sure your were in the Gaslight??
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susan1014
Supporter
Username: Susan1014
Post Number: 1160
Registered: 3-2002
| | Posted on Tuesday, December 13, 2005 - 3:08 pm: | |
Thanks for the report. |
drewdix
Citizen
Username: Drewdix
Post Number: 1064
Registered: 7-2001
| | Posted on Tuesday, December 13, 2005 - 3:58 pm: | |
Nice to hear a promising word about the attitude. |
LibraryLady(ncjanow)
Supporter
Username: Librarylady
Post Number: 2873
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Tuesday, December 13, 2005 - 7:16 pm: | |
MAybe all our posts finally had the desired effect and the guy decided to chill. |
monster
Supporter
Username: Monster
Post Number: 1731
Registered: 7-2002
| | Posted on Tuesday, December 13, 2005 - 9:36 pm: | |
A couple of weeks ago I was in the Gaslight all liquored up, and asked the owner (while clapping him heartily on the shoulder ) where his highchairs were, my wife and kids were on there way in from the parking lot.
I think he just walked away with a deadpan face, saying nothing...
Though this was after the MEAD!, I think that is what happened.... |
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