Crazy People Have To Eat, Too

So this guy comes into 27 and sits down at the bar. Looks normal enough, but you make the call:

1. While reading his RTD, he comments out loud to himself. "Hey, that's funny!" and "Would you look at that?" and "I said that would happen."

2. When his mussels arrive, he proceeds to slurp them so loudly that a couple at a nearby table actually turned around to find the source of the god-awful sound.

3. The bartender asks if he's through when she sees the bowl is empty and he waves a hand toward the bowl, so she tries to remove it. "No, no, I WANT that!" he exclaims.

4. As the bartender is cutting fruit, he decides he needs her complete attention, so he snaps his fingers at her. When she doesn't immediately look up, he actually bangs his fork on his glass.

Excuse me, what?! As one of the waiters pointed out, that's the kind of behavior that may be acceptable at Olive Garden, but not at a real restaurant. I don't know who was happier to see him go, me or the staff.

Meanwhile, I had been the recipient of a gift from the uber-talented chef, Carlos, of ravioli in a cream sauce AND gnocchi in homemade marinara...and that was before my caprese arrived, with its big, beautiful August tomatoes and creamy mozzarella. Even better for me, it wasn't terribly busy, so Carlos sat down next to me while I ate and told me what he thought of his brunch visit to the new Boathouse at Rockett's Landing, then we discussed another new chef/menu we're both planning to check out this week, and he gave me the scoop on his upcoming events (pole dancing came up, but I think he's decided against it). I couldn't have asked for a better dining companion.