quick post while i'm thinking about it. andy and i went to number 9 park last week. the time before that was the best time i'd ever been there. i had the corn and black truffle "terrine" dish which turned out to be this interesting small rectangular plate with three or so gelatinous long rectangles ("prisms" would prob. be the nerdy correct geometrical term) spread out down the plate, drizzled with black truffle oil and shavings with some bits of real corn thrown in. tasty and one of the more entertaining dishes i've had in a while. i also had a very nice tortelloni with pea shoots and morels. mmm. andy had the lobster gnocchi. for dessert we had the rosewater creme brulee. note to self: avoid food with flowers in them. i always get them thinking they'll be kind of fun, and i just end up feeling like i've just accidentally swallowed a bottle of foot lotion from the body shop or something. this time around i got fries (haha) and olives (what can i say? i felt like having it MY way). the olives were good, although they were drenched in olive oil which i know most people prob. like but which, as i told andy, i see as being like putting peanuts on a peanut butter sandwich or topping your doritos with cheese whiz. i like my olives unadorned. naked, if you will. haha. anyway, the fetuccini with chanterelles was disappointing. andy was also not so thrilled with his skate with lemon aioli (the special). speaking of the aioli, i also had lemon ailoi with my fries which is generally not a bad thing except this was like lemon FROSTING, which was not appetizing. and it took forever (as in i was more than 1/2way done eating my fries) for the waiter to bring me some ketchup. grr. so all in all this gives number 9 park a batting average of about 1 in 4 for me, although andy points out that we've been sitting in the front, and next time we should try harder to sit at the bar so we can get both the dinner and the bar menus. although something that i still can't understand is why you can't have both menus wherever you sit. maybe winnie can explain this to me. and one more observation: the last two waiters we've had at number 9 park have both been extremely chirpy. is this the effect that they're consciously striving for? do they have pep talks before every evening, where they all stand in a circle and chant, "PEP! PEP! PEP! yeeeeeeaaaaaah, PEP!" i can only imagine. i know i'm not alone in having the firm belief that a good waiter should be able to pick up in the first minute of interaction whether or not his clientele want him to make annoying chit-chat. i = a misanthrope, so let me eat in peace, please. it wouldn't be so bad if they were more attentive, but i've found that as in most places there is no correlation between #9 park's waiters' annoyingness and their attentiveness. ah well.