vicarious thrills

Nina went out to lunch in NYC today. All week long she was writing about it, and today was finally the day.

Well, I couldn't go to bed without checking her blog: "I wonder if Nina has posted about her lunch today?" Of course she did!

And of course it gets my own mind churning...

My kids are young but quite angelic (in public, anyway), and we do go out to eat fairly often. But mostly to family-type restaurants – I am seeking out independent restaurants and making them our favorites. We are surrounded with chain restaurants here, and they can be fine, it’s true, but really, I want something better than that. The kids are tolerant of their weird mom and don’t mind as long as the food is good.

Generally the food is good, sometimes it's really good; Flancer's is just outstanding. But it's not sublime; I don't think a pizza and sandwich joint can reach sublime (that may be a failure in my own imagination). Flancer's doesn't try to be sublime, anyway -- they try to be fantastic (even super fantastic) and they are, but they aren't the ne plus ultra. Well, maybe they are in the sandwich and pizza world, that I won't dispute. But sandwiches and pizza simply cannot hold their own against shrimp with a phyllo crust in an herbal broth, or that perfect little chocolate souffle with the three different ice creams. That's just a different level of reality.

I know that level of reality, I used to visit it often. In my single and early married lives I was a "foodie"; one of my old college friends and I used to routinely go out for meals that cost in the hundreds of dollars. Now, of course, money like that is reserved for college savings accounts except for very special occasions. I confess, I miss it. Sometimes I miss it a lot – but I know that world is still there and I can still visit it from time to time…

Now I am tasked with picking a restaurant for next weekend’s Mother’s Day. Yikes. We’ll go someplace nice on Saturday and avoid the dreadful brunch crowds, but I do think for lunch we’ll go to Flancer's, where they make all their own bread and concoct the most delightful things. It won’t be Bouley’s, could anything be like that? But it will be delicious and fun… and I’ll tell my kids stories about the fabulous food Nina got to eat and start honing their appreciation early. DS1 has the most sensitive taste buds, I swear he will grow up to be a chef some day. (Ssshhhh -- don't tell the Parenting Police that I held out Tony Bourdain as a role model to him, when he was much younger and very, very fussy about what he eats!)

The last time I had a meal even close to the one Nina enjoyed today was at Kai at the Sheraton Wild Horse Pass Resort; it was phenomenal but well over a year ago. Perhaps it's time to get a baby sitter and revisit the stratosphere.