Magical Dining

Otherwise known as... A Friday Night Fashion Faux Pas...

September is Orlando Magical Dining Month, where chi chi restaurants in all corners of the Biggish City Near My Small Town offer prix fixe menus for us groundlings.  For $30, magical diners feast on an appetizer, main course, and dessert, and soak up as much ambiance as humanly possible.

I love September.

Since GDA and I broke up, Joe has been my standard Friday night dining partner.  We go out, discuss the week's events, and enjoy a bit of nightlife.  We have the best conversations, and I look forward to our Friday night outings.  This week, we partook of the Magical Dining scene with a reservation at The Vines Grille and Bar, which is located on Restaurant Row.

I wore my favorite black dress; when I arrived at Joe's place he was in... cargo pants.  I tried to be cool.  I tried to convince myself, It's okay that he's in cargo pants and I'm in my favorite sexy dress.  

I didn't do a very good job.

As Joe leaned over to put his shoes on, I couldn't contain myself.  Joe, you're wearing cargo pants.

Yeah?  What's wrong?  I LOVE these pants!

He was so happy... I really hated taking away his fun.  I really did.  Ummm.... they don't go with my dress.

I know, I know, I totally cannonballed off the high-maintenance diving board.   But they were cargo pants!!!!  You would've done it too!

Joe totally took it in stride.  You want me to change?  No problem, Jen.  I'm horrible with fashion anyway.

I had thought about texting him to let him know I was getting a bit gussied up but I let it roll, since it was Friday night, and we were going to the Vines.  Joe would know.

Joe... didn't. 

But he changed, and life goes on.  I kept saying how awful I felt and he totally put me at ease.

(But I know what you're thinking.)

When we arrived at the restaurant, we were shown to our table and Johnny and Vinny (I'm not kidding-- that was their names) introduced themselves to us as our servers for the evening.  They were quite attentive-- my water glass, was never less than half-full.  Joe ordered a bottle of wine for us to share, and one the servers always came around when I'd taken a couple of sips to fill the glass back up.

We were told, The table is yours for the evening,  Take your time.

Joe and I both dined on Caesar salad, roasted salmon (ginormous pieces of roasted salmon!), and key lime pie.  There were three selections for each course, but we both ended up choosing the same dishes.  What we lacked in culinary variety, we made up for in topics of conversation... as is always the case whenever I spend time with Joe.

We stayed for two hours.  By the time we were getting ready to leave, the singer of the live jazz band playing in the bar was crooning his way through the dining room.

 The Vines has everything-- great food, great atmosphere, loud enough to not be self-conscious, and soft enough to speak in a normal tone of voice.  So if you're in the mood to spend a few dollars and have a great Friday night out, the Vines is your place.

Just don't wear cargo pants.