Monday, December 01, 2008

Restaurant Nostalgia

So one of the contestants on Top Chef this season is the current executive chef from Absinthe in San Francisco, Jaime Lauren. Since I'd eaten there before, I wondered if she was the executive chef then (she wasn't; Ross Brown was), which sent me on a trip down nostalgia lane.

Elliott and I went there on our second date. I ordered the cassoulet (which doesn't seem to be on the menu anymore). I wore a black, silk BCBG dress with side cut-outs and a tiny pearl necklace from a boutique on College Avenue. It was the most expensive dress I'd ever bought at the time; I had to call my friend Emily from the dressing room to justify the purchase. I remember being flushed from all the wine and going to the bathroom to powder my nose, something that Elliott commented on when I got back to the table. We went to the symphony afterward, but I don't remember what we heard though I still have the program somewhere. What I do remember is getting the heel of one of my shoes stuck in a sidewalk grate and having to hop back to get it. I remember walking hand-in-hand with Elliott over the wet pavement of the U.N. Plaza. And I remember the salty richness of the cassoulet.

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