By Lanny Morgnanesi
On a social media site, I tried making fun of a Korean pop group clearly imitating an American style. In what may have been a bad attempt at satire, I pretended I was unfamiliar with the group and didn’t even know its name. A short-tempered person offered a retort, telling me it was time to get out of my “bubble.”
So today, following his suggestion, I did. My wife and I went to a rather hip restaurant on Rittenhouse Square in Philadelphia called Parc. Aside from a woman who looked like a nun from Calcutta, we were the oldest people in the place. And, it seemed to me, we had the inglorious distinction of being the only patrons without tattoos (the nun had a small cross).
At Parc, the atmosphere is deliberately noisy and crowded. It adds energy and excitement. Some tables are very close together, and I couldn’t help noticing the young couple sitting next to us. There was something noticeable about both the man and the woman. Noticeable about the man what a large, heavy, solid gold chain resting on his black T-shirt. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a necklace that heavy. So much gold. I was surprised it didn’t require a back brace. For me, the necklace signaled danger ahead and screamed: “Rob me!”
The noticeable thing about the woman was her SKIMS Ultimate Pushup Bra with Raised Nipples. (I’ve been out of the bubble enough to know such a thing exists). From her appearance, she obviously wanted to be noticed. It just happen to be me doing the noticing and not someone more worthy.
But at Parc, the real attraction is the bread. No matter what you order, each table gets a basket of freshly baked walnut-cranberry, dark sourdough, and baguette slices. If I’m eating breakfast at Parc, I eat the bread. If I’m eating lunch, like on this day, I don’t eat the bread. I eat my sandwich and take the bread home.
As I was finishing my Smoked Salmon Tartine with egg, capers, onions, and caviar, a bus boy passed and I asked him to wrap up the bread. He took the basket and walked off. A fair amount of time passed, and a slow-walking waitress paused at our table. She had a basket of bread in her hand.
“Is that ours?” my wife asked.
“Do you want it?” the waitress asked.
“Yes.”
She put it down on our table and moved on.
Seconds later, the bus boy returned with the first basket all nicely bagged up.
My wife and I looked at each other as if we had won the lottery. We even laughed and felt slightly criminal. That’s how good the bread is at Parc.
The unexpected bounty made our day. It beat the tits off the SKIMS Ultimate Pushup Bra with Raised Nipples.
We’ll have to get out of The Bubble more often.
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