Ladies Who Lunch at Chez Foushee

Sometimes girls simply must put on their pearls and lunch like grown-ups.

Okay, so I don't wear jewelry (much less own pearls) and my friend had no idea where we were going, so hers were at home, but Chez Foushee definitely has the ambiance of a place where those types can be found mid-day.

And, just for the record, I saw three women in pearls there today.

All of my male friends who have eaten at Chez Foushee have essentially said the same thing about it: the chairs and portions are inadequate for their needs.

Having an X chromosome, however, neither of those things have ever been an issue for me.

And it's not like there aren't plenty of businessmen types there on an given day, so clearly some men are able to satisfy their appetites and posteriors there.

I may have fulfilled a stereotype by being one of those women who order a quiche or salad for lunch, but I couldn't resist the Asian Pot Sticker Salad (steamed pork and shrimp pot stickers over mixed greens with Asian dressing, peanuts, red peppers, carrots and crispy noodles).

My pearl-less friend got the grilled salmon with capellini, zucchini and squash matchsticks in a Putenesca sauce with unusually good iced tea.

Unlike the real ladies who lunch, we are not old money, nor do we plan charity events.

What we do after a delicious girls' lunch out is order dessert, in this case the bourbon chocolate pecan pie with Chantilly cream.

We also aren't Southerners, but a little bourbon on the palate after lunch sits awfully well with both of us.

Despite neither of us having actually been there, we imagine the Miller & Rhodes Tea Room must have been a lot like Chez Foushee feels today.

We'll call it nouveau southern fem.

Good iced tea, appealing girl food and bourbon-soaked dessert.

Pearls not required.