It was cold and gray and the rain drizzled, but we soldiered on- determined to have a good time anyway.
The restaurant where we wanted to dine was booked, so we decided to try Spill the Wine, an attractive-sounding restaurant just down the street from the Guthrie. I look like a doorman for some bad reality show.
I was disappointed with the atmosphere. It reminded me of a deli with candles on the tables and Christmas lights hanging from the ceiling. Maybe the food will be better?
The menu didn't have much variety, and the prices were higher than Babalu's we visited near by a couple of weeks ago. The night we visited Spill the Wine, the average plate was about $30.00.
I ordered the Salmon, which came with new potatoes. I asked if they would double the vegetables instead of giving me potatoes. So, my Salmon was ordered with cooked spinach and a side of broccolini. I wasn't sure what broccolini was. It looks like baby broccoli, but it's a hybrid of broccoli and kai-lan (chinese broccoli).
The Salmon arrived wrapped in bacon, which turned out to be the best part of it. I enjoyed my meal okay, but it wasn't outstanding like we had at Babalu's the other night. In fact, it wasn't even as good as the Firecracker Tilapia I had last week at Chili's.
Becky had the beef tenderloin with new potatoes and broccolini. She was even more disappointed with her meal. The new potatoes were under cooked. She thought the broccolini tasted like a rubber tire smells, and the center of her tenderloin was a little too rare. On the other hand, she loved the bread. Both of us loved the coffee.
We left a little disappointed with Spill the Wine. The atmosphere was lacking, the prices were high and the food was mediocre. However, the service was good, and our waitress took our photo.
We decided to park in a ramp near the Guthrie. It was $8 parking for the event, and the ramp was packed. We drove up level after level and couldn't find a place to park.
We had been going up and up levels looking for a place to park; when we noticed that the cars were starting to look familiar. "Are we driving in circles?" Becky asked. Oh my god, we had circled the same level like five times. We both laughed so hard.
In our defense, we could see higher levels, it just wasn't obvious when you were supposed to stop turning left.
On the way to the elevator, Becky went to throw her gum into waste container in the corner. She took it out of her mouth, and threw it toward the can. The gum fell about a foot away in front of the can. I thought that was pretty funny. I took out my gum and tried to throw it into the can, and it landed right beside hers. Neither one of us had any wine, but you sure wouldn't know it- as goofy as we were acting.
Inside the Guthrie, we found our friends, Jane and Todd. Becky and Jane are long-time friends and co-workers. I met Todd for the first time that evening. He seems like a really nice guy. I wanted to talk more about his new bike, but the evening distracted us.
Jane took our photo beneath the LCD marquee. She had to time it so that the correct theater production was showing and people weren't walking in front of the camera.
The play was outstanding, but perhaps a little long (3.5 hours). The costumes were incredible (by Paul Tazewell). The lighting by Jane Cox was always interesting. The set design was really cool. It had a huge globe that came out of the floor and opened to reveal characters inside. The set design was by Frank Hallinan Flood. It was directed by Joe Dowling.
At intermission, we went out to the scenic over-look. It was still drizzling rain.
The play had terrific dancing and singing (by people who could actually sing well). Near the end, a cross-dressing actor named Randy Reyes stole the show. He came out in a school girl uniform that had all of us straight guys saying to ourselves, "Remember, he's a guy". He was so funny.
As we shuffled out of the theater, there was a live Jazz band playing on the lower level. I wish we would have stayed to hear them. It had a great sound, and the singer knew her way around a jazz tune.
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