At the Top of My List

As dates go, this one ran the gamut from Cream to Bon Iver, a range not all can swing.

And while the music has changed, this whole dating thing takes me back to high school, although at least now it's legal for me to drink on dates.

Dinamo was quiet when we arrived, with only a single at the bar and a two-top busily eating and talking.

Exactly what we'd come to do.

We started with a bottle of Masciarelli Montepulciano and crostini with chopped liver and red onions, which, as far as I'm concerned, almost guarantees that a date is going to go well.

Whether or not liver leads to love is a whole different issue, but it did lead to a story about a place he knew that does tableside preparation of chopped liver, right down to asking how much schmaltz to add.

My kind of place.

The music was full-on old school to start, with Led Zeppelin the soundtrack to our next course of caponata, one of my favorite ways to eat eggplant for its sweet and sour contrast, and frisee with duck confit, because a little bitter greens are the ideal accompaniment to fat-cooked anything.

My date scored big with humor and had me choking with laughter after a crack about him being  a late and unexpected addition to his family.

As opposed to me, an early and unexpected addition to my family.

If chicken liver starts a date on the right foot, convulsive laughter ensures that it is progressing well.

We finished up with a meaty rockfish filet, not because it was my first choice (they were out of branzino), but because fish sounded good at that point...and it was.

By that time, we'd outlasted everyone but the staff (and inexplicably, now the music had jumped 40 years to the Shins) but weren't quite done talking to each other, so we went to Secco for flight night.

The featured flight was from northwest Spain and the music far more current despite discussion of it being hip hop Monday.

The Terra Do Castelo Godello, a new grape to me, tasted like the perfect white to sip on a sunny balcony in Spain, the fragrant Guimaro Ribeiro Mencia would have been lovely with the caponata we'd just had, but it was the big Carthago Lui Tempranillo Toro, with its hints of black fruit and smokiness, that we both ordered full glasses of.

And here's where I give my date credit.

It would have been so easy to end things there, after a satisfying meal and a lovely Spanish dessert.

Instead, I was invited up to see his etchings hear his new stereo and what music-loving woman is going to say no to that?

From Modern Lovers to XTC to Luther Vandross to Bon Iver, it was a decade-spanning musical journey on a newer system and through far better speakers than I have.

Just two people on a date, sitting on a couch, listening to music very loud and talking about it. Honestly, it was just like how I spent many dates with guys in high school.

For some of us, listening to music together is one of the fastest ways to weed out the chaff. Ditto eating together.

When it comes to schmaltz, I can onlyhope he agrees with me and Luther. Never too much.