Another Restaurant Experience

I had to trade my Thursday evening Boston Symphony ticket for Friday afternoon because there was a meeting on Thursday of the Task Force Against Discrimination. I already had a ticket for Opera Boston's production of Fidelio for Friday evening. The symphony concert was due to get out shortly before 4:00 and the opera to start at 7:30, with a preview talk at 6:30. It didn't seem to make a lot of sense to dash home and dash back into Boston, so I made a reservation for 5:00 at a fairly new place called Petit Robert Central.

So what to do in the hour between the end of the concert and my dinner reservation? Well it so happens that the restaurant is in the building across the street from the Franciscans' shrine where I used to go to Mass when I worked in Boston. So I decided to drop in there and pray for a while. They have priests hearing confessions (Sacrament of Reconciliation, for you young'uns) all day, and at some point it dawned on me that I could avail myself of the opportunity to be shriven (be absolved of my sins). So that's what I did. As always, the priest was very kind and encouraging. (In 60 years of going to confession, I don't think I've ever had a priest yell at me.) He basically said I should remember and think about all the good things I have been doing, the things that make God very happy with me.

On to the restaurant. I got there about five minutes before 5:00. There were a few people in the bar area and maybe one couple in the dining area. The reason I chose this restaurant is that their menu includes a number of items you don't find very often, especially on the dinner portion. Tripe, tongues, and sweetbreads are all things I like, but rarely find. The waiter said I was getting the last of the sweetbreads, and it seems that they've just published a new menu which doesn't have the lamb tongues on it either.

As I was waiting for my drink, I noticed a tall guy delivering food to a nearby table, and I wished I had him for a waiter. Well, it turns out they all cooperate on bringing things to the table, and he served my appetizer and main course.

Another person noticed the cover picture on the book I was reading, touching the holy, by Robert Wicks. It shows a pair of hands holding three rounded rocks, one on top of the other. (You can see the picture if you go to amazon.com and search for the title.) It reminded her of something she had seen on a visit to the Peace Pagoda. People would balance rocks on top of each other, and apparently the more you could balance, the more peaceful your soul (or something similar). She had a photo that she showed me. She wanted to know about the book, and I told her the title and author, which she wrote down, and I gave a very brief description of what the book is about. For all his interest in knowing what I was reading, I don't think Seth the Waiter at Scollay Square was ever that interested in any of my books.

When I had paid the check and stood up to leave the tall busboy passed by (perfectly timed) and wished me a good evening. As I thought about it later I was reminded of the scene in "Maurice" where Alec Scudder, the assistant gamekeeper, passes the gentlemen out for an evening stroll on the estate and says, "Good night, sir" to Maurice, whom he had seen for the first time earlier that day. No doubt I'm reading way too much into the encounter.

If you want to hear about the musical performances you can go to this post on my music blog.