1 post tagged “opaque”

Last night was my dinner at Opaque with Jupitre. Even with taking the day off, I was still 20 or 30 min late to her house - and, thanks to LA traffic, we were an hour late for our reservation.

Dinner was an interesting experience. I don't know that it was $254 (for 2) interesting... but definitely worth checking out. You order in the lobby then are escorted, single file with arms on shoulders, into the dining room. Their "new level of darkness" statement? Totally dead on!! All you can see is total blackness & more total blackness. Jupitre insisted that she saw grey-tones for awhile, saw me move once, and saw a quick flash of light - but the host said that's all imagination.

Eating is funny. I started out pretty civilized - primarily using my fork - but that quickly decended to using fingers on my left hand to hold stuff still while scooping it up with the fork. At times, I was using fingers and nothing else.

I know we're told that the waiters are blind but I'm second guessing that. Our waiter, Micheal, made comments like, "I see that you're done with your plate." I would have thought it a figure of speech except that he knew Jupitre had lined up her glasses and water bottle so that they touched (so she only had to find one to find them all), making a little wall, while I had spread my items throughout the table. The combo makes me wonder if he was actually sighted and using night-vision goggles. I commented, several times, that making night-vision videos of diners - and selling them after their meal - would be another great source of revenue. I would have loved to have that as a souvenir!!

The food was good - and too much for me. My salad ("baby field mixed greens" with apples, candied walnut, and blue cheese) was delicious. The chicken dinners were good - but we both agreed "MORE mac & cheese!!" There was some kind of apple-based sauce on the plate, that seemed to be everywhere it didn't belong (like under the mac & cheese, instead of on the chicken) which became highly annoying. I recall slicing a broccoli floret into a manageable piece, picking it up with my fork, putting it in my mouth, and discovering I had a huge piece of chicken instead. This was probably another point that my fingers became highly involved in the meal! They brought finger bowls after the entree but, frankly, that seems kind of dumb because my fingers were right back in my dessert!

The convo was fun and easy and Juptire pointed out that we appeared to be having a lot more fun than the other tables that were within earshot. They all seemed to be having normal dinner conversation - not swapping stories about what retarded move they had just made... or stretching their arms out in an attempt to determine the dimensions of the room and quickly realizing that, being seated, could result in a surprise "bonus" for the waiter if he returned at that moment!

I hadn't bothered to read the details of my dessert choice, "lemon cloud", and was surprised when it was gooey, then cakey, then mouse-y... and thrilled every time I found a berry on the plate. Jupitre had a chocolate dessert and was concerned she might have chocolate in her hair because she was, apparently, eating with her face very close to her plate in order to avoid spilling. Did I mention wishing for a video?!?

After dinner, we crossed Sunset Blvd to a small cigar shop and Jupitre was appauled at the price of cigarettes. I noted that it would be an easy place to score a date as we were the only chicks in there and the guys were definitely giving us the once over thrice. It didn't hurt that Jupitre is totally cute. Again, that makes me cute-by-association... and I'll take it.

Being that we were in West Hollywood, we then headed over to the gay bars for the one and only 18+ club that I could find. Unfortunately, it was "Game Boi" night and about 1000% young asian guys. Nothing against asian guys - but they don't do anything for either me or Jupitre.

Cezar, my wild coworker from last fall, met us at the bar and - as I expected - provided plenty of entertainment. It's his style. We moved to a darker area of the dance floor in order to sneak drinks to Jupitre. She, very wisely, slipped her armband from her left arm (18-20 yr old) to her right arm (21+). Hello... what bar doesn't think to use different colored armbands?!? Obviously, they don't really care who drinks (more money for them!).

We danced awhile, till I begged Jupitre to need a smoke so we could get some air (it was roughly 12,000 degrees F on the dance floor). Cezar suggested we check out another 18+ bar down the street - which we knew would probably be more fun. Unfortunately, they don't go 18+ till 2am... it was only 1am and I was already hitting my energy "wall". I still have a hard time realizing that although I feel okay, I'm not back to 100% and can't do all the stuff I did before the sickness.

So... the 3 of us talked outside for awhile longer. I saw Scott Thompson (Kids in the Hall & The Larry Sanders Show) walk by, apparently also out clubbing for the night, and yelled some hello/greeting. Cezar begged us to stay longer but I refused. He walked us back to my car, went back to the bars, and I took Jupitre home.

Except for being exhausted (still am - and still surprised by that), I had a really good time. Jupitre was great company and entertained me with many stories of her adventures with her friends. It was strange knowing that I'm older than her mother (ouch!), that her "back in highschool" was so recent compared to my own, to relate to her friend/dating dramas while also seeing aspects of them which she'll outgrow in time, and to fluidly transition back and forth from feeling old to young to old to young again. I really enjoyed it a lot.

I wish I had known more/better 18+ stuff to do but that's just too far back in my experience to recall (plus, I didn't do anything but see films at 18). I hope she had a reasonably good time too - but won't be insulted if she didn't (it's a lot easier for me to relate to an 18 yr old than for her to relate to a 43 yr old!). If she didn't, then Jupitre will just have to teach me her idea of fun when I finally manage a vacation to Puerto Rico!