He started off with a pink diamond martini. I'm not sure what made it a "pink" diamond, since it was decidedly yellow and he reported a pineapple taste.
For food, he began with the ceviche. Now, ceviche is a traditional Spanish dish where the fish or seafood is "cooked" by marinating it in spiced lime juice, and typically it's served as an appetizer in a small bowl, much like a "cooked" sashimi. Leo was surprised, then, when the ceviche arrived as a large salad. He ate what he could (I got to eat the delicious French olives), but he'd only intended it as a first course, so he left most of the salad.
His main course was a shrimp fettucine with a light cream sauce. It looked okay to me, but later he complained about not feeling well; apparently, there's some Chinese folk wisdom about not mixing vodka with cream sauce (and, we all know how vodka is the National Drink of China and an old, traditional beverage).
I wasn't really that hungry, so I ordered a croque madame, which was quite disappointing. The sandwich is pretty basic, being a sliced croissant topped by shaved turkey and drenched in bechamel sauce—usually something pretty hard to mess up. Well, they managed to mess it up anyway, and this is a French bistro! I suspect that they microwaved the croissant to heat it up, but it only made the croissant tough and difficult to cut with a table knife.
To make matters worse, the waitress brought the plate without any condiments and without asking if I wanted any. If I hadn't asked the for a refill on my water, she likely would have disappeared into the kitched, never to be seen again. She came back with the water pitcher, but still no condiments; I asked for some mayonnaise for my pommes frites. What she brought me was something I don't think any self-respecting restaurant in France would recognize as mayonnaise: two packets of commercial "mayonnaise."
So, dinner wasn't quite as successful as we would have liked.
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