Friday, March 5, 2010

Lunching with a Lawyer at Garnett's

What's a lawyer's favorite clothing? A LAW suit. Corny but not always true. I had lunch today with a good friend who's a lawyer and he was wearing jeans, a sweater and Chuck Taylors; there was nothing lawyerly about him except his tasteful office overlooking the Lee statue on Monument Avenue (which I have to say had a magnificent view from his third floor window).

He couldn't be more pleased since Garnett's opened, given its proximity, so it was his suggestion for lunch. Still on my quest to taste every sandwich there, I was happy to oblige. We strolled over during the heart of the lunch rush, but miraculously there were two tables open and we took the one closest to the kitchen so as to admire the outbound food.

Today's soup sounded so appealing that we both had to order it. It was ham, potatoes, pepperoni, onion and garbanzo beans in a clear broth, which only made it all the more enticing. I told Mac how great I thought his soup was and he teased me with, "What did you expect?" Mac's humor and humility are two of his best qualities. He said that that recipe was a creation of his father's, which didn't surprise me in the least. Or, as my lawyer friend put it, "If it's got pepperoni in it, a man came up with it." Now that I think about it, that's probably true; men are inordinately fond of pepperoni, although I never turn it down either and I'm anything but a guy.

After such a magnificent first course, we decided to split a sandwich (which still counts toward my goal of trying them all) and agreed upon the Black Forest Ham with Gorgonzola and apple slices on toasted wheat bread. Three thick roll-ups of ham sat atop an array of sliced apples and a seriously thick layer of Gorgonzola. The varying textures, the richness of the cheese and apples, the thickness of it all made for an out-of-the-ordinary sandwich we both were impressed with.

You don't eat a half sandwich without expecting desert afterwards, so we got the chocolate cake with chocolate icing and two forks. I've had it before and I'll undoubtedly have it again. Enough said.

Walking back to my friend's office, he was telling me that his car had been in the shop for three weeks because it only intermittently played music. Completely unacceptable, we agreed. One of the most important parts of a car's function is to provide a musical soundtrack to a person's driving and he was willing to leave the car as long as it took for the problem to be solved. It came down to a software patch and he now has the full use of his vehicle again.

If he sounds like a music fanatic, he is. His smarts and humor aside, that's probably my favorite thing about him. In fact, in deference to his musical enthusiasm, I'll even forgo any more bad lawyer jokes.

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