He sat down at a table alone and observed the other patrons as he waited for a member of the wait staff to come over and serve him.
The place was brand new and he wanted to try it out for himself.
He noticed someone that looked familiar just before a cheery waitress appeared and handed him a menu.
“Is that Bear Grylls?” he said pointing the man across the way.
“Oh yeah,” the waitress said. “He’s in my section too.”
“Our specials tonight are a Broiled Sea-Bass, Ratatouille, and Tomato Soup. Bear ordered the soup. She said with a wink.”
“I’ll take one of whatever you or the chef recommends. I’m a Critic.” He said, also with a wink.
“Oh” She said. Her posture was ridged and defensive now. “I’ll ask him.”
The critic hadn’t meant for the wink it to come off as if he was making fun of her. It was something he always did. He felt it put people at ease, but now it seemed like it did nothing but make it worse. Oh well, what’s done was done.
He waited for the waitress to come back and continued to people-watch. He had to make a conscious effort not to look at Bear Grylls too often.
“He suggests the Mushroom Risotto.” She said as she sidled up next to the critic and poured him a glass of wine. “The wine” she said, with an exaggerated wink, was “on the house.”
“I’ll take the risotto then.” The critic said.
The waitress disappeared again and minutes later she returned with a steaming plate of mushrooms and rice.
“Bon Appitet.” She said as she sat it in front of him.
The critic took out a small Molskine notepad and pen and started to jot down notes as he tasted the dish. Before long, his plate and wine cup were empty.
“How was everything?” The waitress asked. “Oh,” she caught herself. “I guess I’ll find out soon enough, won’t I?”
“Yes,” The critic said. “thank you for your hospitality. I will send the restaurant a copy of my review as a courtesy. It should go live tomorrow by 5 o’ clock.”
The next day the restaurant would receive an email with a hyperlink attached. The hyperlink would lead them to Bryan Door’s personal Facebook page.
It would read that Bryan Door was an assistant manager at Baskin Robbins. His hobbies included Fishing, Making a Good Cup of Coffee, and Reviewing New Restaurants.
His latest post was a review of the restaurant. It read. “Went to this new place last night. The food was pretty good. The service was pretty good too. They even gave me some free wine, which was cool. The best part was that I saw Bear Grylls. You never know who you’re going to run into in this city.”
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