For our fourth wedding anniversary this past week, we went to L’Espalier to celebrate, and I’ve come to the conclusion that I hate dressing up to go to dinner.  Fancy dinners, yes, I like very much because I like to eat well and eating is something I do well.  But here on the east coast, there’s this expectation that if you go out for a “fine dining experience,” you are also expected to dress well, whereas in California, Joe and I could pop into a 1-or-2-star Michelin restaurant and I could wear nice trouser jeans, a cute top and heels, and that was the extent of “dress up:” clothes I normally own and will normally wear. The problem with “dressing up,” is that it feels exactly like that - like you’re supposed to rise to the occasion sartorially because you’re not normally an “up” person, although class-and-status-wise I’ve never felt like a ”down” person at fancy restaurants, but only begin to feel that way when forced to dress “up.” 

Behavior-wise, you can always tell who goes to nice restaurants on a regular basis and who doesn’t.  The people who eat at nice restaurants regularly behave like their normal selves, talk to the servers like normal people, ask normal questions about foods they’ve never heard before or wines they’ve never tasted.  People who don’t go to restaurants like this regularly - people who have to “dress up” - put on their “best manners” and get all quiet when reading the menu and are weirdly overly polite.  This is what happens to me when I have to “dress up” - I am wearing panty-hose and all of a sudden, I remember some arcane rule about not putting your elbows on the table because it’s rude, and then I feel like I can’t put my elbows on the table anymore and that, in the end, does take away from the eating experience. 

The other issue is that I have no preggo “dress up” clothes.  I tried to squeeze into a stretchy black wrap dress that night, and after 4 courses, felt like a sausage in a casing that was going to burst. 

The sartorial issue aside, the food was pretty good, and I was particularly happy with the juice pairings they offered me instead of wine pairings.  Now I am going to have to recreate the cherry-lime rickey they served so I can make it at home with my Top Ramen and mac n’ cheese.