Sunday, October 26, 2014

Good Every Day!

Welcome to Jay’s, an intentionally opinionated view of the restaurant world in Raleigh.
 
Friends have frequently suggested that I write a food blog as a fitting thrust for my definite opinions. Their reasons? That’s to be seen; I’m eager for responses.
 
Me? I’m Jay, a retired educator who happily did most of his work in states that paid teachers far more than North Carolina, leaving me a retirement that enables me to continue my love for dining out.
Like my avian namesake, the jay,  I can be noisy and garrulous; I tend away from the ordinary,  socialize happily even with strangers, eat with gourmand gusto after pickily refusing anything less than gourmet, fling out words  indiscriminately,  love life, delight in the hunt, and puff out my hunter’s quill extolling a great new find.
 
The blog, what’s it about?  Mostly restaurants, sometimes about food, frequently about beverage. My judgment is both experiential and intuitive i.e. I both taste and feel what makes a restaurant truly special.  My personal criteria Include:
 
Décor and Service: a place that welcomes, a room that wraps me in contentment; I realize fully that snugness defines differently, depending on occasion and frame of mind.  I prefer formal settings for my wife’s birthday or our anniversary; but far more relaxed mountings for those let-it-all-loose celebrations of another week alive.  The word “restaurant” not coined by the French until 1821 referred originally to food that restores. Great dining evokes a fantasy of senses that stirs up our youth, so long banished from our morning mirror.
 
Social: I insist on the privacy of talking to those I am with – and yet welcome the opportunity to visit at the table next door. Too much noise or music too loud diminishes this pleasure. I enjoy meeting interesting people, especially waiters who I find, as a breed (or perhaps tip driven) respond to my chatter with smiles and quirky humor.  Miguel, one of my favorite waiters in Maryland, gathered jokes from fellow staff, in order to cheer me during the weeks after my father’s death. Good restaurants quickly sift out waiter-chaff, male or female; dullards don’t last; those who remain tend toward complex, smiling individuals, cherished by the establishment, and by me. 
 
Food and drink: Unlike many restaurant bloggers, I rely less on the common denominator of recipe and presentation. I rarely stick slavishly to the menu, and far more on the full experience. Except for the occasional need for comfort food, my wife and I choose healthy over greasy, savory over sweet.  My taste in beverages ranges from craft beer to well-proportioned cocktails; my wife’s toward a good red wine.
 
Price: We’re retired; our income is fixed. We’re dedicated to finding ritzy quality on our tap water budget.
 
Sit back, these writings hopefully will tickle forth that youthful exuberance to which we all cling. Perhaps they’ll provide insight, perhaps they’ll guide judgment, but mostly I hope that they’ll evoke pleasure.

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