TGIF, Even Though its Saturday

My wife and I usually go out to lunch on Saturdays after my day of backbreaking physical labor at the peds clinic. This Saturday we decided to break up the routine and hit TGIF's instead of our usual pretentious meals at pseudo upscale Mediterranean places, or taking a jaunt out Belmont Shores (because we wouldn't be caught at a regular OC eatery). I suppose we should've taken the hint when we walked and were greeted with a warning.

As soon as we passed the double doors we are greeted by "welcome to TGIF, we only have 2 servers today so its gonna take a while." My wife and I exchanged a puzzled glance and the hostess follow up with "but the bar has a full menu and regular waiters", so against better judgement we went and sat down. The bar is like any contemporary Restaurant Americana, granite counter tops, art deco stools, the quasi-nostalgic sports memorabilia on the walls, mixed in with black and white celebrity pics of the 50's, 60's, and 70's. And of course the multiple flat panel TV's adorning all the empty spaces, spewing mind numbing emptiness (Nascar and snowboarding), all of this blasted out by the 90's pop/rock sound track, which actually turned out to be the hi-light of my day.

Our server slash bartender did an amazing job of ignoring us, really amazing considering we sat right at the bar with only one other couple there to obscure her vision. She greeted us with a strained smile, and I placed our drink order while my wife whispered to me if I thought she was an old looking young woman, or a young looking older woman. I was just fascinated by her red bouffant lending her the look of a poodle with her hair dyed red. Unfortunately for my wife and her bouts of hypoglycemia the service was as slow as promised, giving plenty of time for one of our favorite pass times of people watching.

The other folks in the bar represented a slice out the American Melting Pot. We had the baseball cap wearing, beer swilling, tank top wearing, Nascar loving rednecks, complete with bad hair and a very mannish woman. Several groups of young people sporting faux-hawks, big jewelry, big buckles and dates with big hair. Our favorite was an intense looking woman sporting a porno style silk scarf and her equally intense husband with beautifully manicured eyebrows. They did everything with zeal, from the thorough reading of the menu prior to ordering, lest the miss an important detail, to the rapid and businesslike interaction with the poodle/server. Even when their meal arrived the act of eating was intense and purposeful, looking straight ahead without conversation. Stab the meat with the fork, slice with the knife, in the mouth and chew 32 times before swallowing and repeat. Fascinating, like synchronized swimmers in designer clothes hitting the poses perfectly. The only moment of levity was when our male lead signed for his check after flourishing his Mont Blanc pen three or four times and then almost strutted out without it, the porno scarf lady gave a little forced chortle and sent him back for it post haste. He still manged a marvelous impression of a rooster as he strutted past us on the way out. I told my wife "quick hand me my Mont Blanc that looked so fun".

The food was OK, the company was excellent, and the entertainment was spectacular. Thank you TGIF for a great Saturday.