We went to AuthoriThai (aka Aurathai) last night for dinner. We got there early so we decided to sit at the bar and have a glass of wine while we waited for our friends and a table. The owners did a great job with the build out and it has a nice atmosphere. We've been there for lunch on many occassions and consistently have problems with the service such as...forgetting to put in my order of food, forgetting what it was that I ordered, serving the entire party one by one in 10 minute intervals etc etc. However, the food is so good we don't care what happened by the time we leave.
Our friends arrived and joined us at the bar for the long wait. Shortly afterward we were swarmed by a whorde of Avondaleness. We only had our backs to the door for 2 minutes when they appeared out of nowhere demanding tables for 10 and a wine list. "Is your coconut milk fresh?" one of them cried.
I quickly realized we were now surrounded by the Kip and Kiki contingent of Avondale. Here's the breakdown- Kip is usually on the unattractive tip or is an outright beast yet he is married to Kiki who is attractive, fashionable and is so up to date on the area schools she can offer an authoritative opinion of any teacher within a 10 mile radius. They always travel in packs and rarely mingle with anyone whose child doesn't attend the same private school or soccer field.
True to form, the Kips began talking about something mundane while the Kiki's began drinking. Heavily. You can almost always count on the Kiki's for some heavy drinking. It is doubtful that Kip minds, because let's face it- it's to his advantage. Most of the Kiki's are closet smokers and will put a knife to the throat of anyone who might expose them. But you just know they have a pack on top of their kitchen cabinets next to the vodka bottle and vicodin. Remember, the Kiki's are the ones home all day listening to the kids scream. But they have a big home and a Porsche Cayenne in the driveway so that helps to drown the kids out.
I am fortunate enough to have a friend with some inside knowledge of the group so she fills me in on them. The restaurant is small so when it gets filled up with a waiting list, you're just going to have to rub elbows until you get your table. After a few glasses of wine I couldn't help but notice one of the Kiki's was talking smack rather loudly about something. I looked over and asked my insider friend "Who's the girl with the drunk hair and smokey makeup? Is she newly divorced? She looks like she'd be fun to hang out with..." My friend rolled her eyes and responded "No. She's just loud. If you think loud is fun, then she's for you." Drat.
The restaurant was clearing out which meant they began seating again. As we took to our table, I noticed that the Kip's were all clustered at one end of the table and the Kiki's were clustered on the opposite. I don't blame the Kiki's, I would rather slit open an artery than listen to Kip and Kip dish about golf clubs. But it was weird nonetheless.
Mind you, it's not that I hate the Kip's and the Kiki's or find them annoying or bear any ill will. It's just not my world. I actually find them fascinating. For me, watching them is the same as if I was in a foreign land like Qatar, sitting in a cafe watching people. I wouldn't understand a word of what was being said around me but I could sit and stare for hours.
Once our waiter arrived (eventually) and my attention was diverted to food (after finally getting a menu) we settled into dinner and of course it was delicious start to finish. Fresh spring rolls, calamari, soft shell crab in a chile sauce and so on. And as usual, dinner was so good it didn't even matter that they served each of us our entrees in five minute intervals (down from ten). So in summary, the food is wonderful and the service is getting better and better. Or maybe it was the wine.
i heart this story..as you already know....thought i would read it again and laugh a little more. if only i would have been there. then again, it could have turned ugly.
Posted by: JennShady | July 30, 2006 at 01:57 AM