There are certain expressions that always immediately remind me of great movie lines, and one of those is from the Robert Redford and Brad Pitt movie Spy Games. The line is about a little code that that Redford and Pitt establish between themselves that starts with a hip flask gift that Pitt gets for Redford. They are hanging out in Beirut and Pitt gets his CIA support team to order the flask for Redford under the heading of Project Dinner Out. Then Redford uses the code phrase with his secretary to help him interrupt an internal CIA meeting that Redford is manipulating like the secret agent operative that he is. Finally, the phrase gets used as the mission code for a covert operation that Redford sets up to free Pitt from a dark ops Chinese prison so that Pitt can know that it was an orchestrated extraction without ever actually saying so in any traceable manner. It’s a great movie about spycraft and it has all the elements of potential reality and genuine pathos…and it has always given me a code phrase to use for my own special operations initiatives.
Our friends Gary & Oswaldo are here for the weekend. They go by code name G&O and they rank fairly high on the social butterfly meter. They come here often, so we are always in search of things to do that keep us entertained, even though we are all comfortable just hanging out and enjoying the perfect spring weather on the hilltop. Cruise Director Kim likes to set up dinner reservations for such times and I find that I fall somewhere in the middle of the dinner out syndrome. What I mean by that is that I have a friend Mike who can’t really understand why anyone would ever eat out. Mike was a Valley Guy who ended up being COO of a large discount motel chain, where routine was the guiding principle. To Mike, food at home is cheaper and you get only what you want at a quality point that suits you, at the time you like and sitting with the people you choose. What’s not to commend that program, right? Of course, I would shoot myself in the head after a week on that regime, but that’s what makes horse races. On the other end of the spectrum is our friend Joe. I consider myself a worldly sort of guy with lots of intellectual curiosity, but Joe has me beat at every turn. He is of British extraction, but of Polish origin with a very ethnic sounding surname and very down-to-earth first name. He is well-educated and a nuclear fusion scientist by training. Joe likes eating out at fine dining establishments, but is equally value conscious. He is the ultimate umbrella drink guy who likes to socialize at the bar and is a hail fellow well met with a twist of acerbic British sarcasm to taste. I find Joe’s socializing instinct energized, but tiring to the homebody side of my personality. Joe and Mike provide quite the contrast and I find that I reside somewhere between the two on the going out spectrum.
With my new more physically capable form, I am game for any and all activities these days, so when Kim said we should go to Old Town for the day, I was quick to go along. The weather was perfect, so we walked through the period venue (more or less historically tuned to 1830 Mexican-American Mission-style California), past the old and still operating Cormopolitan Hotel and Rust General Store to the Casa de Estudillo, a hacienda that is one of the original Californio-style rancho homes in the state. Kim and I are unsure of how we have missed this wonderful and free museum in all the hundreds of visits we have made to Old Town. I suspect that Kim was too busy shopping and I was too busy looking for a bench in the past. As we wandered around we wondered where we would eat (there are many choices in Old Town). As we passed a place called El Sueno (the Dream), Kim said, this is Joe’s favorite place here…so with that recommendation, we took a table on the airy patio. I texted Joe since he is preparing for his upcoming trip to test the culinary limits of Palmilla and San Jose del Cabo, and told him we were biting his style at El Sueno. His reply was that he had been there the prior week and that “it has definitely gone downhill”. I replied, “thanks for telling me” and his rejoinder was, “ask me before you go, next time.” Despite his scepticism about his own preferred establishment, we had a wonderful lunch that was both delightful in atmosphere and service and very tasty food…but it was not a light lunch. On the way home, I suggested we should rethink our dinner plans. Kim said she had booked a new place for us, a place called Collette’s on Grand Avenue.
We love Escondido, but Escondido is a working town, not a high life town and Grand Avenue is best known for the summertime Cruizin’ on Grand rather than fine dining. My point was that eating out twice in a day might be too much. The problem is that our family/friends dynamic works like this: what ever I want is viewed with squinty eyes since I’m mostly a dick, but whatever Kim wants is viewed sympathetically since she is so wonderful and loving. G&O stayed quiet on my suggestion to defer and Kim wanted not to cancel because sister-in-law Lisa was supposed to join (Lisa is still grieving the loss of Jeff). I said Lisa would likely be a no-show, but then again, remember, I’m a dick, so I was ignored. Kim also explained that Collete’s had a $25/person canciliation policy. What?!?! So it would cost us $125 to not go to dinner? Let’s not grow wheat and ask the USDA to pay us while we are at it. That breakage cost called the ball for me. Off we went to Collette’s at the appointed hour, dressed in our finery…minus Lisa, who…cancelled. I called Joe, who said he had never heard of Collette’s, which threw me for a loop since he’s my go-to guy for Escondido fine dining. He furthermore said, “Who goes out to eat twice in one day?” I rest my case.
Collette’s was small, but packed to the rafters. Grand Avenue was hopping. Who knew there was a fine dining crowd in Escondido? I queried our crowd if they thought we would get charged $25 for Lisa… Then, when the waitress came we leaned that they only had a prix fixe menu for $75 with 4 of the 8 tasting items comprised of delicacies neither Gary nor I had ever heard of or wanted to put into our mouths. The discussion of whether to stay or leave got complicated by the breakage cost consideration…stay for $300+ (with or without a $25 surcharge for missing Lisa) or leave for $125. Tough and animated squabling ensued until I slammed my palm on the table and said we should just stay and enjoy the meal and since I was paying…that was that (did I mention I’m a dick?). That’s when the waitress asked if we wanted the accompanying wine flight of paired wines for an added $34 per person. We passed on that option.
The evening went surprisingly well and we thoroughly enjoyed all the courses and the dining experience despite the unwillingness of some of us to venture out onto the culinary plank too far. We ended up saying that it was actually a nice evening and great food but we were unlikely to run back for another night soon. Good thing Collette’s is only open two nights a week for its farm-to-table extravaganza. On the way home we made one important decision. Sunday we would stay home for dinner, because, as we all know, dinner out has to be a special treat, right?