“This is our go-to special occasion place. They have excellent gooey butter cake,” I explained.
“This looks like a special occasion place.” Kai glanced around as we were led past the polished wood bar, and through a room with hardwood floors, and gleaming chandeliers, to a smaller room, with a fireplace, mirrors, fresh flowers, and crisp white linens.
“They have a private room in the wine cellar, which is great for romantic birthday dinners.” Steven winked at me.
He pulled out a chair for Kai. I pulled out the chair for him.
“I don’t even know what to order,” Kai said, a little overwhelmed, looking at the menu.
“You can’t go wrong with ribs or brisket,” Steven told them.
“Ribs?” Kai frowned as they perused the menu.
“All of their steaks are nice.” I looked over and realized Kai’s menu had no prices… and didn’t have everything on it.
They’d given Kai the omega menu. Sometimes high-end restaurants did this, though the practice was becoming less common. Most of the items were smaller portions or dainty fare. The petite filet was on there… but not the giant bone-in ribeye that was my favorite.
And apparently there weren’t any ribs either. It also seemed heavy on the luxury extras.
“If you don’t see what you want, try my menu. I know what I want.” I handed her mine. “Anddon’tworry about the prices.”
“Thank you.” Kai looked over my menu. “Why’s mine different?”
“Omega menu,” I explained.
Her eyebrows rose. “What in the Southern is that?”
“Exactly what it sounds like.” I shrugged. “Order what you want. Ribs. Bone-in pork chops. Giant steaks.”
Steven was looking at Kai’s menu. “Honestly, the filet with the lobster tail is really good. So are the loaded mashed potatoes. You can try some of my ribs–and Ashton’s giant steak.”
“Would you like to order some wine tonight?” The sommelier came over with a wine menu.
“Can we have a wine that goes well with steak and ribs?” Steven asked. “That wine we had last night was so good,” he added to me.
“I think it was a Bordeaux?” I didn’t remember, though I had told my agent it was quite nice.
“I would recommend a mature Bordeaux or perhaps a Burgundy Pinot Noir.” His eyes flickered over to Kai. “We also have a robust Blanc de Noirs if your companion prefers champagne?”
All of this meant nothing to me.
“I’m going to get the ribs, he’s going to get a giant ribeye, what are you going to get, Kai?” Steven asked.
“Honestly, the filet and lobster sounds good,” Kai replied. “I do love mashed potatoes.”
“Yeah, so why don’t you bring us a bottle of whatever goes well with all of that,” Steven told the sommelier.
“Very good, I think I have the perfect thing,” the sommelier told us and left.
That just sounded expensive.
“If you don’t like the wine, you can get whatever you want. I just thought it would be fun,” Steven said.
“It does sound fun,”Kai replied.
The server took our order. The sommelier returned with the bottle and the menu, then came to me. I guess I looked like the one paying the bill.
“Just to confirm, you’d like this one?” He indicated it on the menu. “We have some other options. Especially if the omega prefers champagne.”
