It Is Balloon
God bless Lee's Tavern pizza for taking the edge off of being back in NYC. It's an analgesic by the slice. Though it's always good to be in my house with my wife and cat it's a sign that return to work is around the corner. And so here I am.
Goodbye elegant jazz brunch at Commander's Palace. Hello street cart bagel and coffee.
Then again, I may be banned for life from Commander's. Yes friends, we had a little, um, incident there.
It all started innocently enough. There are balloons tied to a centerpiece on each table for the brunch service. I decided it might be funny if someone took a picture of me with the balloon obscuring my head. You know, a jacket and dress shirt topped by a balloon head could be an amusing new "Who is" photo for this blog. Well anyway, nobody took the hint so I kept playing with the thing. Then my mother-in-law started doing the same thing with another balloon (there were three on the centerpiece). Imagine our surprise when all this commotion led to the trio of balloons escaping the grasp of the centerpiece.
Naturally, they wouldn't just float to the ceiling and hover innocently. Oh no.
You may be aware that New Orleans still has a problem with crime in many areas. Gun related crime in particular is a problem. Many police officers simply fled the city in the aftermath of Katrina. Some even took advantage of their authority to secure reasonable transport to higher ground. Of course, for several cops the definition of "reasonable transport" was a brand new Cadillac SUV. A cabbie told me they just caught a few of the ex NOPD officers living in Houston still driving around the SUV's they had "rescued" from a local dealership in the storm's aftermath. Adversity sure brings out the best in some folks eh?
As I was saying, New Orleans still suffers from high crime in some areas and folks around there can be wary. So it should come as no surprise that there was a bit of commotion when one of the balloons popped upon reaching the ceiling. It echoed through the historic dining room like, well, like a gunshot. In a flash the captain was in the room and snatched the remaining two balloons that were bobbing at the ceiling saying "Damn near gave me a heart attack!".
Do I even need to mention that they didn't give us new balloons for our centerpiece?
We finished our meal with a minimum of trouble for the waitstaff and tipped generously but I think it's too late. I suspect we're on some terrible blacklist now. Some things you just don't do. There were toddlers in the room who didn't cause any fuss with the balloons.
I can't take me anywhere, boy I'll tell you what.
Today I took advantage of the miserable weather to hit the Qwik Meal cart for lunch. Good food takes the edge off of being back. And there wasn't a balloon in sight.
Goodbye elegant jazz brunch at Commander's Palace. Hello street cart bagel and coffee.
Then again, I may be banned for life from Commander's. Yes friends, we had a little, um, incident there.
It all started innocently enough. There are balloons tied to a centerpiece on each table for the brunch service. I decided it might be funny if someone took a picture of me with the balloon obscuring my head. You know, a jacket and dress shirt topped by a balloon head could be an amusing new "Who is" photo for this blog. Well anyway, nobody took the hint so I kept playing with the thing. Then my mother-in-law started doing the same thing with another balloon (there were three on the centerpiece). Imagine our surprise when all this commotion led to the trio of balloons escaping the grasp of the centerpiece.
Naturally, they wouldn't just float to the ceiling and hover innocently. Oh no.
You may be aware that New Orleans still has a problem with crime in many areas. Gun related crime in particular is a problem. Many police officers simply fled the city in the aftermath of Katrina. Some even took advantage of their authority to secure reasonable transport to higher ground. Of course, for several cops the definition of "reasonable transport" was a brand new Cadillac SUV. A cabbie told me they just caught a few of the ex NOPD officers living in Houston still driving around the SUV's they had "rescued" from a local dealership in the storm's aftermath. Adversity sure brings out the best in some folks eh?
As I was saying, New Orleans still suffers from high crime in some areas and folks around there can be wary. So it should come as no surprise that there was a bit of commotion when one of the balloons popped upon reaching the ceiling. It echoed through the historic dining room like, well, like a gunshot. In a flash the captain was in the room and snatched the remaining two balloons that were bobbing at the ceiling saying "Damn near gave me a heart attack!".
Do I even need to mention that they didn't give us new balloons for our centerpiece?
We finished our meal with a minimum of trouble for the waitstaff and tipped generously but I think it's too late. I suspect we're on some terrible blacklist now. Some things you just don't do. There were toddlers in the room who didn't cause any fuss with the balloons.
I can't take me anywhere, boy I'll tell you what.
Today I took advantage of the miserable weather to hit the Qwik Meal cart for lunch. Good food takes the edge off of being back. And there wasn't a balloon in sight.
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