Not being an American Football devotee, on this holy 49ers game day I opted to take the little lady out for what I hoped would be a relaxed and pleasant brunch.
Unable to get a table at Le Garage in Sausalito, I picked instead the Dipsea Café in Mill Valley. I picked it mainly for the fact that it has a terrace and in the hope of dining outside.
When we arrived, the place was packed and we were told that we would have to wait another twenty minutes to dine on the terrace. Being severely allergic to loitering, I easily convinced my mate to sit inside.
Nowadays the Dipsea Cafe is huge and unlike the intimate little place of my youth, it feels more like a cafeteria than a Sunday brunch getaway.
A hostess with a distractingly large derriere led us to an isolated table.
Then a rather uncouth waitperson plopped menus on our table and ran away.
Everything our waiter was not. Our man alas proved as congenial as a parking enforcement officer.
As I said the Dipsea Cafe is huge, and proportionally noisy. And turbulent munchkins don’t help. Personally, as a member of the Curmudgeon Society, I am willing to pay extra for the privilege of dining in a kid-free zone, but unfortunately few establishments seem willing to oblige. A pity!
For our first course, we chose to split some Calamari Fritti. The Fritti was there all right, but the Calamari itself was missing. Instead of squid we were served some rubbery pieces of under seasoned latex.
For our main dish we both chose salads. A Salade Niçoise for Tamara and a Cobb Salad for myself.
Suffice to say that I can make better salads in my sleep.
Fortunately, the hostess provided some unusual distraction and made the entire interlude almost bearable.
This place does not get my seal of approval.
Hope you had a better day with the 49ers!
Alain