the Lights Are Low

The lights are low and individual tea-light candles are burning on each of the eleven dinner tables that are placed strategically throughout the small room for maximum efficiency. The front of the building was facing west and the low setting sun gave what it could to light the restaurant with a rich orange color that made shadows dance in the corners and illuminated every speck of dust in the air. I was what I suspected to be the second table to arrive for the evening as an elderly couple had arrived before me and was without conversation enjoying their split entrée. Their body language suggested they could speak to each other without words, or maybe in their age and knowledge of each other there was just nothing left to say. The radio was drowning out any leftover noise from the employees moving about doing their jobs as people arrived into the restaurant. The song that most stuck out I recognized as Tony Bennett singing Chicago. The mood of the music was light and as people filled the restaurant they did so with smiles as if they expected this evening to be a good one. The Chef and his assistant moved busily throughout the kitchen anticipating each other’s moves, working in silence as if the silence was their rhythm that could not be broken. The music heard so clearly before was now suffocating beneath the heavy rumble of laughter and communication as people enjoyed themselves sitting around their tea-light candle, most with a bottle of wine. I finished my glass of wine, paid my check and was set free to leave the warm walls of this sheltered confine.

When I first entered the restaurant I felt as if I were in a movie. The lonely coffee shop lost in time amidst the busy sidewalks of a downtown area that only those searching for can find. When the door shut behind me as I entered the restaurant the air was warm and still. I felt a small comfort when I was greeted at the door by the hostess. She was polite and gracious as to make me feel at home. What she did not know was that I frequent these types of places because here I am most comfortable. Sitting in my corner of the restaurant I am able to observe, relax and enjoy all of what goes on around me. When the waiter greeted me I noticed his fingernails were a bit long and his apron needed to be bleached. He was extremely polite and well educated on the menu which made me happy. Sometimes single patrons are treated with a certain level of annoyance because the wait staff knows they will not receive the same tip they would have got if that table had been made up of four people. As bodies started filling the tables around me I could smell aromas of the kitchen drifting between the tables making my mouth water. I enjoy that no one here knows my name, where I’m from or what I do. I am reminded of living in Philadelphia. Then, I felt as if I were in my own bubble moving in and out of the foot traffic watching and trying to capture each moment as it came. Now living in my home town of Orlando where nothing seems as exciting as it should, I feel I have to search for these types of experiences and within restaurants I have found my sanctuary.

Growing up I was not exposed to restaurants outside of Denny’s or Quincy’s other than the occasional celebratory visit to the Olive Garden. My family was made up of four children, two parents and a single income. The true experience of dining out was left to my imagination until I arrived in Philadelphia at the age of twenty-five. This is where I was able to gain employment at a private club ranked within the top five of all city clubs in the United States. I was given a position running food from the kitchen to the dining room and within a month was promoted to train as a server and gain full entry to the Fine Dining room waiting on captains of Industry, the people that truly ran the city of Philadelphia. I was able to experience a culture that I had never seen and only heard about through movies. I have given service to Generals from multiple countries, numerous politicians, I assisted with a dinner presented to President George W. Bush and some of the richest people in the world. I am proud that something so exotic and frightening to me has become where I feel most comfortable. Places like this small restaurant full of professionals and people enjoying an escape from their daily routine are where I can enjoy my own escape and I’m proud of that.