Pete Wells writes about the pleasures of bar dining in Diner's Journal, and I welcome him to the fan club. In traveling extensively on business over the last years, I've become a connoisseur of bar dining, and in fact I've come to actually prefer bar dining in most cases, even with a companion.
The bar dining experience always seems to just turn into a really enjoyable time. When alone, you might make a new friend or learn something you didn't know (Charlton Heston was not Demille's first choice in The Ten Commandments, opportunities abound in Simi Valley real estate). You might make friends with a bartender who will help you navigate the menu, steering you away from the duck confit (bland and over-rated) to the pepper-crusted meatballs (crack). You might end up in a Marriott Courtyard with a long-legged pharmaceutical sales rep from Spokane named Mary (I think). How better to engage with the world than through food and drink?
Even when dining with a companion, the bar experience reigns supreme. As Pete says, "When you’re sitting across the table from somebody, it feels like an interview, even if you’re with your wife of 30 years." The bar is a liberator from the those dinners that turn into skin-deep therapy sessions or Hannity and Colmes point-counterpoint, only because staring at someone for an hour and a half unleashes a deep-seated human need to "fill space" with talk talk talk. The bar chills, relaxes - hell, your stool may even swivel. And while you can't easily play footsie with your date, you can definitely pull out the time-tested stretch/yawn/arm-over-the-shoulder moneyshot.
There's a reason Cheers was set in Cheers, not the restaurant upstairs (Melville's, if you're scoring at home). Bar dining is the people's champion - try it this weekend.
1 comment:
I agree, though I will temper the enthusiasm behind bar dining. I think that bar dining is great at these small nyc restaurants where there's only 4-6 seats at the bar and it's first come first served. You definitely get a better experience and interaction with other bar diners and the bartender.
But if I were to pick the perfect dining locale within a restaurant, I would pick a booth. Face-to-face dining with 2 people, I agree, is sort of like an interview. that's why you need to dine with more people. The semi-circle booth at the front of Blue Ribbon Brasserie is my ideal setting to eat. Seats 8, comfortable, intimate and not near anyone else.
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