Slowly but surely, I’m reconnecting with my former Toronto friends and/or acquaintances. The other night, for instance, I got together with my long-distance nemesis and occasional script collaborator Tara Yelland for dinner at one of my very favorite restaurants: Buca!
Since Tara was working on a production, we ended up sitting down to dinner at a little after 9:00 p.m. – so late that I’m surprised they weren’t offering breakfast specials. Okay, granted, many people eat at 9:00 p.m. EST…but they’re usually in a different time zone. For her part, Tara (who clearly keeps all sorts of crazy hours) promised that, next time, we would eat earlier so that I could take advantage of the early bird specials.
We perused the menu and Tara informed me that pig’s ears and brains were out. Also pancetta and any of the offal dishes. And all the meat dishes.
I completely forgot she was a vegetarian. No wonder we’ve never gone to dinner before!
In the end, all of the plates we ordered were meatless – and excellent – among them…
This terrific mushroom pizza that Tara liked…except for the mushrooms which she picked off and left on her plate (Come on!!!).
The dinner conversation was our first extended communication that didn’t involve email. Over the course of our two hour discussion, I found her endlessly entertaining – but, in the end, surprisingly enigmatic, like the first 50 minutes of an old episode of Murder She Wrote.
She decided to pass on dessert but I convinced her to have a taste of my tiramisu. Apparently, convinced her too well because she almost polished it off all on her own.
The tiramisu proves as hard to crack as my mysterious dining companion.
Despite the absence of meat, a very tasty meal. And terrific night overall – until, I think, I partially separated my shoulder on the walk back to my place. I’m not sure how she did it, but I do hold Tara responsible.
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