HVRW Restaurant Week - Le Provincal w. Vicki

 

Hudson Valley Restaurant week (HVRW).  It comes twice each year, and I try to have at least one fancy dinner with Vicki each time it comes by.

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As you would expect, I usually present myself as Marian when dining with Vicki.  During HVRW, I always try to dress up a little when going to nice restaurants, and I made sure that I was wearing a nice dress with stockings (actually, tights) when she picked me up.  (I rarely present as a male when with Vicki.) Tonight's dinner was at Le Provincal, a French bistro in Mamaroneck. This is one of our go-to places for French food, but one we rarely eat at because of its normal price.  HVRW makes this place affordable to us, as we would likely spend close to $200 for a meal for two.

Vicki drives differently than I do, and this is not a criticism or compliment.  Like me, she tries to drive safely, but I noticed the differences in driving style, as I was a passenger for this trip.  Arriving in Mamaroneck, Vicki moved close to the center of the street so she could slide into a parking spot both quickly and easily.  However, some woman (Vicki used another word) decided to slide in between her and the cars to her right, stealing the spot from Vicki.  I looked at the driver, and I noticed that she was likely an immigrant from a place where cutting into lines was accepted, and that there would be no gain from arguing with a person who is that inconsiderate.  Vicki wanted to block this woman from getting to the parking spot, and I wanted to get another packing spot which would likely open up near the restaurant.  Eventually, Vicki relented, and we got a spot much closer to the restaurant than the first spot was.

Dinner was excellent (as usual), but the wait staff we expected to see was off for the night.  The dinner more than made up for the loss of the parking spot.  Sadly, dinner was over too soon, and we took the long way home to chat.  (It helped that Vicki missed my exit, and took side roads back to my place.)  All in all, this was a pleasant evening.  But next time, I'll do the driving.

 

We had high expectations of a restaurant, and they failed us.

 

Hudson Valley Restaurant Week came, and we decided to have an elegant dinner at Restaurant Six.  Years ago, Vicki was married here (in the restaurant's prior incarnation), and it would be our first time back in its new incarnation.  Sadly, we were less than underwhelmed by the experience, and I found that I had to write a complaint letter before I could get to sleep.

But first....

As usual, RQS and I relaxed throughout the day until the bug took us, and we started to clean up my closet, making room for homeless accessories I own.  Several pairs of shoes found their way to a donation bag, and I gained a better organized closet.  And then we started to get ready for dinner.  

Around 5:15 pm, we left my apartment and drove to Vicki's house.  She was surprised that I was there on time (I am usually a few minutes late), and we were off to the restaurant.  I had allocated much more time than needed to reach the restaurant, as I planned to avoid taking the Taconic parkway (the most direct way) to the restaurant for safety purposes.  (I don't like driving on the stretch of road in Putnam county, as people drive at high speed on a road that has no shoulders, and has steep inclines on a curving roadbed.)  However, I decided to drive this road, as the sun was still out, and we arrived at the restaurant about an hour early.  So, we killed time by driving around for 30 minutes, and went back to the restaurant hoping to be seated early - which we were.

Instead of  repeating what I said in my complaint letter, I have to say that I wished we went somewhere else to eat, and Vicki could see that by how my conversation style differed from my usual style.  Eventually, we left the place, and I drove home on the side roads I planned to take on the way up to the restaurant.  We dropped Vicki off, and then returned home.  And that's when I decided to write my complaint letter.

Hopefully, they will fix things after reading this email.....

To the management of Restaurant Six:

This weekend, my group had the experience of dining at your establishment.  We had high expectations of your restaurant based on its reputation. Arriving early, we were seated quickly without having to wait. Although we were impressed with the ambiance and the quality of the food, we were very disappointed for the following reasons:

1. Service was very slow.
2. No napkins were on the table.  None of your staff noticed this even after bread and water were delivered to the table, and we had to ask for napkins .
3. The time lapse between the serving of the appetizers and the delivery of our main courses was over 40 minutes.  After we finished our appetizers, no one cleaned up the dirty dishes on our table until one of our party asked about what happened to our main courses - and only then were the dirty dishes taken away.  Shortly after the table was cleaned, the main courses magically appeared.
4. There was a noticeable lull in service compared to what was being received by other tables in the room.  
5. At one point during the meal, we had an interaction with one of the wait staff, and he commented: "This is my first and last day working at this place."
6. When my dessert was delivered to the table, it was not delivered with the spoon needed to consume it.  I had to ask for this.
7. No one asked whether we would want coffee or tea at the end of the meal.
8. The service was inconsistent at best.  At the beginning, the wait staff engaged readily in conversation, describing the dishes with enthusiasm.  Then, they disappeared and dropped the ball. After we asked about our main course, and it was delivered, no one bothered to apologize for the delay.

As much as I would love to come back because of the ambiance and the food, I am soured on the idea of returning due to the spotty service your staff provided.  My dining partners share the same opinion, and were very disappointed because there are many fine dining establishments in the Hudson Valley, and we expected to add this place to our list.

Dinners with Vicki & TCL

Last night, Vicki and I went to a dinner at a restaurant holding a HVRW (Hudson Valley Restaurant Week) promotion. As usual, when I see Vicki, I presented as female. It was nice to be able to go out to a nice place and be treated as a lady.  

But I digress....

Every year, Vicki and I try to go out to at least one restaurant participating in the HVRW promotion.  This year, most of our favorite places which participated in the past were not on the HVRW list.  So we decided to and try out a new place, Lenny's in Larchmont, NY.  

Lenny's is housed in an old building on the Post Road, and it is not easy to find the entrance to its parking lot in the dark. There was a car in front of me that couldn't find the parking lot, and blocked me while waiting to turn off the Post Road.  Once on the side street, I went around the block with an idea towards entering the parking lot in the one area where I could expect a driveway cut - right next to the tent that covered the bulk of their parking area.  (There was parking at the bank across the street, but we didn't know it at the time.)  It was nice to know that we entered the restaurant while the other car was trying to park.

Once in the restaurant, we proceeded to look at the menu.  There wasn't that much that was interesting on the Prix-fixe menu, but we found two dishes we liked.  However, not much other than our appetizer jumped out and said "come here again". (3 Oysters and 3 clams on the half shell served over ice - Yum!) Vicki said that there was something missing from her fish dish, and I was only satisfied by my chicken dish.  Please note that both of our taste buds may have been off, as Vicki had just gotten over a cold, and I had other issues that could have affected my taste buds.  So I won't knock this place for how their dishes tasted until I have given the place a second chance.

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Tonight, I went to see TCL.  It's been months since we've gotten together, and we wanted to go back to one of our old standby places.  So, after taking care of some things around the house, it was off to New Jersey in Mario mode.

I was a little concerned about a noise my car made when driving from Walmart's parking lot.  After a few miles, I realized that I had the transmission in D3 mode - and corrected it right away.  But this spooked me enough to avoid taking the Bear Mountain Bridge and cross the river in Tarrytown.  This added extra time to my trip, but I was able to make it to TCL's on time for dinner.

Luckily, Justin's (in Hawthorne, NJ) had an early bird Prix-fixe special, and we both had a good meal.  I had a veal dish, while TCL had chicken. Both of us were satisfied, and I felt as if tonight's meal was better than the meal I had the night before.  Unfortunately, the wine affected me a little, so I had to wait a while (enjoying a cup of coffee) for my body to catch up in processing what I fed it.  By the time we made it back to TCL's place, I was OK and ready for my drive home.

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While with TCL, Vicki called me.  Her hubby was unexpectedly going to be away on the day of her colonoscopy, and she wanted to take me up on my offer of being a chauffeur.  Of course, I said "Sure!" as I knew she'd do the same for me if I asked.  Shortly afterwards, my brother called and asked about my schedule - he wanted to schedule a visit to the lawyer to discuss issues we have regarding the house we own together.  So that'll be another day booked in my calendar.  I think TCL may start to understand why I try to book things way in advance - life has a habit of filling one's calendar while one wants to make other plans.

Half and Half - It's not just a dairy product

Long before my most recent cruise, I scheduled both lunch as Marian and a Co-Op board meeting as Mario.  This was going to be a busy day, as I had to prepare myself to go out as Marian, then change into Mario - all before 5:00 pm.  However, things changed when I received a message from my lunch date that she couldn't make it today - she had a basement flood to take care of, and would be waiting for her plumber to come during the day.

So I was now free until 5:00 pm.  What should I do?

Yesterday, I started cleaning out some of the clutter in my bedroom.  Since my cleaning lady is expected to be here on Thursday, I figured that I'd stay in Mario Mode for the day.  (I'd have rather gone out for lunch as Marian, but one has to adapt to changing times.) So I cleaned up a little more of the mess I had in my bedroom during the afternoon.

Around 4:00, I started to get ready for my co-op board meeting.  This was an event that I always attend as Mario.  (I'll admit, that if we were to call a second meeting for the month for reasons I won't go into here, I'd have mentioned that I'd consider attending as Marian.  That would have shut down the calls for a second meeting.)  Luckily, there was only good news to report - all was well with our financial status, and we're in much better shape than I thought we'd be in about a year ago. (I can't go into any more detail than that.)  Just before the meeting ended, HWV said for me to call her after she got home.  HWV wanted to see what my availability was for Hudson Valley Restaurant Week, and suggested that we go for dinner.

Later on, I finally got the chance to talk with GFJ.  She's home after a long weekend in North Carolina, and she's getting back to the daily grind again....