Spidey

I am never on time. My schedule is perpetually 15 minutes behind anywhere I need to be. Everyone who knows and loves me has already figured out that no matter where they invite me, I will be 15 minutes late. So imagine my surprise when I show up to the bar at 6:59. A minute EARLY to my 7:00 cup!!!

I call his phone to see if he's there yet, but no answer. I perch myself on a stone bench outside and happily call back the girlfriend I was chatting to earlier, trying to pass the time. The whole conversation, I'm eyeing up a man who could be my date. He looks like a much cuter version of the man in the pictures. Taller than I imagined. Definitely better dressed. Nice smile. And I find myself hoping that it's him. So I hang up with my girlfriend and try his number one more time. The man I'm oogling over reaches into his pocket but does not take out a phone. That's when I see a shorter, more balding version of the cute guy coming up 31st pulling out his cell, then spotting me. Dammit, I coulda made a break for it!!!

Ah well, we're here now and at least he picked a nice place. A chocolate bar in midtown known for their martinis served with a Jacques Torres truffle on the side. Definitely promising. I don't know enough places in the city to have suggested anything nearly this nice. All the bars I know are fairly commercial. The maitre'd asks if we're having dinner or drinks. My date says "just drinks." We are seated at the bar. My date asks for a table. He is told "I'm sorry sir but all our tables are reserved for those eating dinner." I start to feel badly for him but insist that sitting at the bar is fine. It's nice ambiance. So we perch in our high backed bar chairs and look at the menu. I have to tell you, it's impressive. There are very few places I have been where I'd eat just about everything on the menu. This is one of them. And it all sounds amazing.

We both order chocolate martinis. He gets raspberry and I get Frangelico with almonds. Exquisite. And there besides each of them is a Jacques Torres truffle on its own little serving dish. I'm in heaven! There's a tiny platter of bar nuts and sesame sticks. Three kinds of bread with olive tapenade. We decide to split two appetizers. Wild mushroom pita with goat cheese and herbs (divine) and artichoke dip with pita chips and hummus (fantastic). The bartender asks if we'd like another round of drinks and as I'm enjoying the place so much, I tell him "I will if you will." I get the peppermint chocolate martini, he orders original and there comes another set of truffles!!!

I realize at this point that I am enjoying the atmosphere more than the conversation. Let me recap that portion for you:

He said the word "awesome" in the range of 30 - 40 times. And I only started counting after I noticed how often he used the word (every single sentence).

He mentioned finding this restaurant, amongst others, based on their close proximity to his favorite comic book stores. Plural.

He showed me his SpiderMan watch.

And he talked about his Darth Vader piggy bank which has a moving light saber that lights up and makes noise every time you put in a quarter. He enjoys it so much, he's started saving quarters just to put in it. He cracked Darth open to pay for tonight's date.

Lesson learned: even the dorkiest of boys are tolerable when you are drinking a delicious chocolate martini!!!