Tuesday, May 02, 2006

duplex

I'm still feeling really childish, silly and angry so I'm tempted to do some really stupid rhyming, Duplex? More like Poo-plex! There got that out of my system. Now, I can tell you more calmly about what brought on that episode, other than another spoke in my menstral cycle.
I had been rooting for duplex from the moment I heard about it. A friend of a friend of mine said he knew the people that owned Pandora's Cup. And I'd liked the coffee shop. I stopped going a couple of years ago, after the area teenagers found it. But, I always had a soft spot for the place 'cause I practically knew the people. Well, I knew someone who saw them once at a bar. Anyway, these owners are young and ambious. It's an independent business, which I'm always happy to support. When it changed, I did drag my feet about going. It seemed odd to me to think that the house could have the layout for a comfortable restaurant. And the menu posted outside the door never sounded all that appealing.
Then the reviews came out. The Star Tribune called it basically the perfect restaurant. City Pages swooned! I had to go check it out with my dynamitc duo: Eric & Stacy. We got a reservation on a Wednesday night and all actually arrived on time. You have no idea what an accomplishment that was.
We waited.. and waited and um... hey look at the flyer on the wall yeah that's that thing... Hmmm hmm... waited. Finally someone came and retrieved us from the stairwell only to lead us to a table behind the red sheet we were standing next to. It was loud. Really, really loud. Worse, there was this table full of surburbanite-types and this one guy in a rugby shirt was talking REALLY LOUDLY, which made the volume of the whole room worse.
Stacy had done her homework and already knew exactly what she wanted to order. We started with the sweet potato soup. We were all embarassed that we had to ask for salt, but it was so bad! I mean bland! Yeah, and bad. That too. Yuck. Even after the salt, it wasn't that great. Nothing we had was very good. Everything was bland and disappointing.
I think mine was the worst, though. I got a plate of fettecini pasta that was so oily I had to wipe my tongue off with my napkin. It was terrible!
And I feel bad. Because I really, really wanted to like this place. But I don't. It could not be much worse.
Please don't tell them I told you so.