One of my favorite things to do is eat good food, (next to another favorite of mine, cooking). Here I am in a city that has every kind of food you can imagine from all over the world. Tons of restaurants opening and closing all around me and I am too shy to explore. We'll that was until Saturday.
I always was the type of girl who thought that in order to visit restaurants you had to be accompanied by a man or friend or family. I always thought that it would be pathetic to show up alone, "Surely someone would go with you?" and I was afraid that the wait staff would treat me like I was a friendless lost puppy or something or that they would announce "Party of one or it would be like Disneyland when there is an odd number of people on a ride and they seat you with some stranger. The whole prospect of enjoying a restaurant seemed impossible. It's funny though, when I was traveling in Italy on my own I ate in restaurants by myself often; when I didn't want to eat where the group was eating or just wandering alone. I never had a problem with it, I guess I figured that it was a foreign country and I didn't speak the language fluently and by the looks of things it seemed to be the norm.
As I walk down the streets of my new city I love looking at restaurant menus in the window and telling myself, "I have to go here", "that sounds good" or "I wonder how that food tastes" or "what the hell kind of food do they eat in Ethiopia?" Always hesitating and being kind of sad and angry because who would come with me? I decided one day that I should just do it my damn self and not be so embarrassed by the whole thing (for some reason I think more women have this problem than men, I know men who eat alone at restaurants.) That on top of me being inspired to take some upscale cooking classes (I want to work with food as my next day job) forced me to just take matters into my own hands.
I chose my first restaurant: The Coffee Bar in union square. It's a diner style restaurant. I took my cell phone and my journal with me. To my surprise when I said "Table for One" the hostesses didn't even give me that second look that I was dreading and took me straight to a table. I was scribbling in my notebook the whole time they must have thought I was a critic. They had the best herb fries. I found the whole experience so empowering it was great I felt so relaxed there I spent an hour, which I never thought would have happened. I'm not saying I am resolved to eat every restaurant meal alone but it has it's perks.
Top Five Things that make dining alone awesome:
1. You don't have to make awkward conversation with anyone
2. You know who is paying for the check
3. No one expects "a happy ending" quid pro quo
4. You don't need to constantly worry if the other person is disgusted with the way you eat
5. You don't have to focus on the price side of the menu
1 comment:
I love New York. You can always eat alone and no one will give you a bad time. I dream about going back there. :) I was an opera singer and I got some gigs.
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