Monday, May 17, 2010

An Omnivorous Mother's Day

If you haven't figured it out yet, my parents eat meat.  As do my brother and his girlfriend.  So when it came to making Mother's Day reservations, we were all more concerned about my mom's tastebuds than the number of entrees from which I could choose.  Don't get me wrong, my parents always try to pick a restaurant where I can find something palatable on the menu, but this was my mom's day and so she was the priority.

We went to a local restaurant that had changed names and menus a couple of times but always remained a good choice.  It is well known for the selection of meats and fish because almost everything is smoked in the on-site smokehouse and, from what I have heard, very well.  Recently they added a "create-your-own pasta" entree to the menu which I thought I'd try.  Cavatappi with mushrooms, broccoli, and aglio olio sauce.  Pardon me if my spelling and Italian grammar is off.

When it came out, it smelled wonderful and I was about to taste a bite when, just before the waiter walked away I asked, "Is that cheese?"  Sprinkled and melted all over the top was shredded Parmesan cheese.  The waiter was very apologetic when I said "that wasn't on the menu" and took it back to get me a new one.  All I could think was how a restaurant shouldn't put something like dairy on a dish without writing it on the menu first.  What if somebody has a dairy allergy?  Menus should be explicit!  Then it occurred to me how demanding I was, even if I was just talking to myself in my head.  If I was still eating dairy, I would never have noticed that the cheese wasn't on the menu.  If somebody had pointed it out, I would have said something like, "Well if you have a special dietary need, then it's up to you to point that out to the waiter."  I'm becoming a hypocrite.

The manager came out with the fresh bowl of pasta and was extremely apologetic.  In fact he came back and stuck around a little too much to make sure we were all enjoying our Mother's Day.  He even told me a recipe he found once on how to make an ice cream-like concoction out of frozen bananas.  He's not vegan, but I was the only vegan he'd come across since he read about it. He was a very nice guy and I was very appreciative of the service--not everybody is so understanding.

By the time I dug in, everyone else was finished.  My parents had thoroughly enjoyed their whitefish (I think it was whitefish? Some sort of fish) while my brother ate brisket and his girlfriend nibbled some ribs.

Then my parents, brother, and brother's girlfriend shared a molten lava cake while I sipped some delicious decaf coffee (my mom always has to remind me about the decaf part at dinner time.)

Overall I'd say it was a good day.  Now on to Father's Day...