9 years of amazing amour

This one's from Scott! Last night for our nine year wedding anniversary we stumbled upon this amazing new restaurant, THE CHAT, an incredible house of haute cuisine!

THE CHAT, I later learned, wasn't named after Boo the cat, but rather was short for "the Chit Chat". Either way, it's off the beaten path and a unique find in the hills of the East Bay where "foodie" culture has overrun the restaurant scene.


I soon found the menu to be prix fixe, quaintly hand remarked with original art by the waiter himself. THIS is a rarity, even amongst the fine dining establishments we've run across in our travels. I found the menu to be quite agreeable for this evening of romance. With it being our anniversary of nine years, the waiter went above and beyond to make sure things were "just right". He spoke with an English accent, though, which kind of threw me. ON top of that, it was seemingly a French restaurant serving Italian fare. Mysterious...then, it hit me. Ah! Fusion dining, played to perfection.

However, we were seated near this incredibly unruly young man, dining alone. It was one of those restaurants with one big table, where there's that "community seating" thing going on, so there was no ditching this guy. Something about his beverage, then a problem with the menu...seriously, there's no pleasing some people.


The chef was the real surprise! My date for the evening was doing double duty, training the restaurant staff and slaving in the kitchen to make sure our orders turned out OK. We hate sending things back, so this was perfect.


The other oddity was the addition of the waiter at our table. He apparently was hungry as well, and it was his break or something. So he ate with us. It all turned out fine in the end, as he could continue to serve our drinks and bread, and was instantly available to bus the table and bring dessert.

Then, the REAL surprise! FLOORSHOW! And our unruly dinner guest was the star, performing a hilarious dance routine with the waiter of all people! It didn't seemed as choreographed as it could have been, but somehow it was the perfect capper to the meal. The performance was over before it began, so catching photos of the routine proved impossible. Still, the performers agreed to pose for a couple of quick shots.



I highly recommend THE CHAT if you ever find yourself in the East Bay. It was the perfect way to celebrate 9 years of wedded bliss to the most wonderful woman in the entire world. I only hope that some day I can open an establishment as enjoyable as THE CHAT and treat my lovely wife to a night as memorable.