… or how the best of dining intentions can go horribly astray. Cases in point:
Leesburg, Virginia: This historic and vibrant bedroom community of the D.C. area has a chic restaurant area, with many housed in old buildings. Fireworks Pizza was no exception. My friend Ben and I shared a tasty lamb sausage pizza with a craft beer and went back to his place. It had been a long day and I was ready to crash at 9 p.m. Instead, many hours later, after good conversation accompanied by a few sips of a rye whiskey from a local distillery, we drove to the local Safeway where we got two bags of potato chips. Malt and vinegar at Ben’s insistence, and jalapeño at mine - with a block of sharp cheddar. Not just your workaday sharp, mind you, but something called “Seriously Sharp.” We spent the rest of the night noshing and watching old Johnny Carson monologues on YouTube.
Alexandria, Virginia: Here I met two friends for dinner at the Tokyo Japanese Steakhouse, overlooking the Potomac. We each opted for a combo, in my case steak and scallops with fried rice. The chef was talented and entertaining; the meal satisfying. Back at their place, after a couple of spirited chess matches (with that familiar ol’ devil, this time brandy), Jake was hungry and decided to grill a sandwich. He carefully layered deli ham and turkey, a slice of cheese, roasted red peppers, and I decided it needed a fried egg. I demurred and said it’s all yours, Jake. But while he was eating the one half, the other half was just sitting there, and I … well, you know how that ended.
Baltimore, Maryland: I met my cousin Fran in historic Greektown, which is now multi-ethnic but still with plenty of the Greek character and culture.
I had remembered the Acropolis Restaurant from a previous visit, not so much for the Greek food, but for the crabcakes. On that first occasion, I didn’t order off the menu, but was served a plate with an unfamiliar mound nearly the size of the Acropolis itself. Being of an eat-first, ask-questions-later persuasion, I took a bite. It was the most tender and delicious crabcake I’d ever eaten, broiled not fried.
On my return trip with my cousin, I had to have another one of those puppies, along with traditional Greek specialities like stuffed grape leaves, pastitsio, and green beans fasolakia. The restaurant was not crowded, and Fran knew the proprietors, so they really took care of us. I was so stuffed from this lunch that I didn’t have another bite the rest of the day – not dinner, not a snack, not even a potato chip. Nothing until three states later.
Brooklyn, New York: I had arranged to meet a French journalist, now based in New York, who wants to do a story about a case I did twelve years ago. Michigan is the only state in the U.S. that has a law against weight discrimination, and this journalist and her partner in Paris are very interested in raising awareness about this important topic back in France.
It was perhaps ironic to talk about my case while stuffing my face with an amazing almond-chocolate croissant. “Caprices by Sophie” is such an unassuming patisserie that I passed it before finding it, but the pastries are exquisite in appearance as well as taste. It was fascinating to hear the proprietress and journalist chatting away in French, while all I could say was “ooh, la la!” How wonderful it must be to live in New York and have such an array of genuine ethnic and cultural choices for refreshment.
Vacation is definitely a time for indulgence. Good food and drink help make life fun. I’m quite certain that upon my return, I will go back to eating raw kale and drinking wheat grass juice. In the meantime, I’m going to enjoy myself as much as I can.
————————
Nick Roumel is a principal with Nacht, Roumel, Salvatore, Blanchard, and Walker PC, a firm in Ann Arbor specializing in employment and civil rights litigation. He also has many years of varied restaurant and catering experience, has taught Greek cooking classes, and writes a food/restaurant column for “Current” magazine in Ann Arbor. He occasionally updates his blog at http://mayitpleasethepalate.blogspot.com/.
