1987 Dinner with Ari
My story about Ari, It was just after I graduated college and I had did a portrait for Nick of Nicks Fish market. This was a very expensive resturant in 1987 right down town. Where an average meal in that era might be $400 to 500.
So I was 28 and did a corporate head shot of Nick and was paid in a meal for up to 4 people. I invited Ari and my girlfriend at the time I will call her Betsy
So we just sat down Ari and Betsy are both sitting in the restaurant waiting for menus and I started to notice an odd silence or weirdness in them both. Like something was wrong in the air. And it was like pulling teeth to get the conversation going . I thought what the heck is with them. Ari is the most bostrous person I had ever known. Why aren’t they talking? So it took ages before they started talking but there was some very muted talking. We ordered appetizers and were prepared to eat like kings.
The appetizers arrived and they were in fact amazing I think we got Escargo and Lobster bisque. Just amazing. I was 28 and not making a whole lot of money in advertising photography doing portraits and shooting ball bearings so this was an an unbelievable treat. So I was not going to let this opportunity pass with out eating as much food as I could possibly stand. I was gong to have great meal with my closest friend and my girlfriend if it killed me. Dam it .
So then after the apatizers we ordered some incredibly expensive main corses.
Like salmon for $150 so
SO we waited and waited since it was a super duper expensive restaurant they keep coming over to the table and rearranging the frigging salt and pepper shakers. They were not bringing food they were just moving the condiments on the table . I thought what is with that ? Do they really need to move the salt every time they come to the table ? So being that I was getting sort of my free meal and may never make enough money to ever return to a food establishment of this caliber I asked. “Hey waiter what is with salt shaker rearranging ? “ He basically said there is a special salt and pepper arranging code that signals to all the Staff what stage of food eating this particular table is
at. Such as these dudes have eating their appetizers and its been 20 minutes go over there and give em more water and ask if they want their main cause now. or they are done ask them if they want desert.
So it took forever for the main corses to appear. I realized that the 5 appatizers were so rich in calories from all the cream and butter that I was totally full after waiting an eternity from a million calories of escargot and lobster bisque and butter covered asparagus. But we had the most expensive salmon, Filet minon and whatnot coming our way and we WERE obliged to eat it no matter what. Come hell or high water. I mean I did not know if maybe this might be my last crazy expensive meal I may ever have in My poverty stricken creative carreer .
So finally the main couses were set on the table and I was already completely and utterly stuffed. SO in front of me sat very nicely displayed salmon. Ari got although I do not completely remember I am going to guess Filet minot and Betsy got some super girly girl salad thing. I guess the idea of a fancy meal in 1987 was to have something covered in the most caloric fat imbibed food imaginable. So I think the salad had a sour cream covered lettuce of the highest amount of calories possible . And we carefully and slowly ate not wanting to offend the crazy expensiveness of the entire experience. Of course nothing at that monent could possibly be appreciated since I was full and had absolutely no desire to eat another thing . And i do not remember completely but everthing tasted just BLAH. The salmon tasted like it had been sitting for an hour and was very average. I remember thinking I will have to return here just to have apatizers and then leave. And not pay $500 for a lunch I cannot eat.
Anyway I think after a very very expensive bottle of wine Ari and betsy actually started to have a semblance of a conversation. But it was still weird. I keeped elbowing Ari asking what the hell man ? Why is the most boisterous person in the world not being the most entertaining person in the world.? Dude what is the problem!!!???
It never accurred to me they had a date and Ari found betsy to be the most uninteresting girl in the universe and maybe informed her of such. So to sit at dinner together might be very uncomfortable VERY!
I had no idea they had a date before I started dating betsy, NO idea! Normally Ari shares all his crazy dates with his friend. But he never told me about this one since I started dating betsy and sort of liked her. And he did not want to tell a story of a previous date with present my girlfriend. Eventhough he was in fact thinking “Mike this girl is super catholic and you will eventually figure out … super boring and I don t want to be the one to inform of you of this at this time.”
AND thusly we have a very uncomfortalble 40 minutes before the wine arrived
Well needless to say eventhough the main courses were not terrific we ate like pigs. After the meal we all felt terribly stuffed and had to take a walk which I really have no recollection of .
So the check came and it was an eye watering $625 and I thought” holly crap”
I cannot people believe in 1987 people pay on average of over $600 for one meal. In todays dollars it would be $2200 for dinner. I asked wise and worldly Ari what hell man? who does this ? He said business people who need to impress clients bring other biz people there and discuss deals worth millions so this place has a place in the world . I thought that seemed crazy but . It was a restaurant still in business.
So I look around and say ok lets go. Ari looks at me incredulously and says “ You have to leave a tip “ I am thinking but this is my payment for a $400 headshot !
I was not a person who frequented restaurants that required a mortgage payment for dinner and I was not informed of any normal practices beside eating thai food and leeaving at most a $5 tip . You gotta leave a tip on a $600 check.
I am thinking hmm that’s like $100 gulp !. I am broke and that is like $300 in todays dollars. So I am feeling really stupid at that moment since this fact never ever ocured to me. So I leave $100 or I am guessing I probably borrowed
$20 since I only carried at most $80 with me just in case, (very embarrassing )
At 28 I was very unworldly and not competely versed in some very obvouss ways of the world. I had never worked at a job where my very existence relied up upon the kindness of a tip. So that was my meal with Ari and betsy in 1987
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