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February 8, 2005
A Demitasse of Cream of Celery soup, a Plate of Ahi, and Thou
Last Friday, C'pher and I celebrated our 10th anniversary by meeting friends for drinks at Shanghai 1930 (thanks to Jenny for the photo from her newest new camera), and thence to dinner at an Undisclosed Location. And no, Dick Cheney wasn't there.
C and I went on our first date on February 4, 1995. How we came to date is a tale for another time, but I'll say here we went to an early music concert that he had tickets to. I don't remember a dinner spot before or after, though I do remember not getting any "dessert" that night, if you know what I mean.
Since I was the only employed one when our first anniversary rolled around in 1996 (and I had a $75 gift certificate to a fancy restaurant), I took us out for dinner. Before dinner, C insisted he and I have a drink at a favorite neighborhood gay piano bar.
In the middle of our doe-eyed hand-holding new love glow, he excused himself to use the little grad student's room. A few minutes later, I hear the place's juke box volume go down, and the piano start up. Turning, I see him fronting a group of friends I sang in a small ensemble with. They serenaded me with "My Romance," a song we had been working on in a larger choir we all belonged to.
Naturally, I was floating. A hundred-pound lead weight would have been floating. Suddenly, my idea for a fancy French dinner out was seeming less romantic. Luckily, I was wrong.
We went to dinner at a place called Hyeholde, on the outskirts of town near the old airport. I had done a big big project at work, and museum's director gave me and the gal I worked with gift certificates to thank us.
The place turned out to be something out of a dream: it was a 1930s re-creation of a French country manor with a menu that I couldn't really appreciate fully at the time. We dined in absolute romance and luxury, and C'pher was as happy as I had ever seen him. "Buy me a shirt," he said, "and I'll wear it. Buy me a book and I'll read it. But buy me a fantastic meal, and I'll remember for the rest of my life." Score.
That started our tradition of going out on the first Saturday of Feburary for the best, most stylish and romantic dinner we could manage. We trade off years: since I planned our first anniversary, I have the odd years (3rd, 5th, etc.) and he has the evens. While we took in the mind-boggling surroundings, delicious food and excellent service at Farallon last week, we finally made a list of the places we've been. For your edification, here they are:
'96 1st Hyeholde, outside Pittsburgh, PA (K)
'97 2nd A gay-owned Italian place on Polk that's closed now, SF (C)
'98 3rd Chez Panisse*, Berkeley (K)
'99 4th Hawthorne Lane, SF (C)
'00 5th Boulevard*, SF (K)
'01 6th JohnFrank**, SF (C)
'02 7th Hyde Street Bistro***, SF (K)
'03 8th Evvia^, Palo Alto (C)
'04 9th Chez Spencer^^, SF (K)
'05 10th Farallon, SF (C)
Not a bad track record, wouldn't you say? I highly reccommend this practice. My waistline doesn't.
===
N O T E S
* Both reservations courtesy my connections at work! Thanks!
** Preceded by drinks with friends at The Orbit Room.
*** I chose this place for cheapness; turned out to be a gem.
^ After dinner, we saw the St. Olaf Choir at Stanford
^^ We didn't actually eat here; C'pher got sick, so we stayed home.
Posted by kyle at February 8, 2005 1:08 PM