So, yesterday, I met up with my long-time fantasy football rival and former Dark Matter VFX Supervisor Lawren Bancroft-Wilson who was in town visiting family.  We got together for lunch to commiserate about the state of the t.v. industry and catch up on what’s new and exciting in our respective lives (spoiler art: not that much).

The plan was to go to Campechano Taqueria for tacos.  Being an early luncher, I demonstrated immense patience by waiting until their noon opening.  We sat down and consulted the menu, only to discover that half of their meat-based tacos were unavailable.  “We’re sold out,”our waitress informed us.  Sold out?  They had just opened!

Rather than negotiate the sparse offerings or risk the mushroom taco, we elected to go for dumplings at – where else? – The Dumpling House.  There, we were treated to lunch and a show.

We ordered up a medley of two dozen pan-fried dumplings and were halfway through our meal when we heard shouting.  At first, I assumed it was someone simply expressing themselves enthusiastically in Cantonese, but as the shouting continued, it became apparent that some guy was quite irate.  I then assumed it was a dissatisfied customer.  Imagine my surprise when I peeked around the corner and witnessed the restaurant’s owner in the open kitchen, in full display of the rest of the dining area, totally losing his shit.  I didn’t understand what he was saying, but he seemed hot about something.  Lawren informed me that a woman at another table, upon receiving her order, informed the waitress that she was vegetarian and couldn’t eat it, before sending it back.  This, apparently, had set off the old man who binned the dumplings and then embarked on a hue and cry that lasted twenty minutes at least – well past the time the offending customer had left, and well past the delivery of our second order of pan-fried dumplings which were a tad over-crisped on one side but I elected to let it go since the wait staff seemed a little edgy.  For some reason, the incident reminded me of the time we went to a dumpling restaurant in Montreal where, as the vegetarian dumplings Akemi had ordered were delivered to our table, the waitress kindly informed us: “By the way.  They have shrimp.”  Uh, okay.

Anyway, not sure if the kitchen meltdown is a part of a regular performance at The Dumpling House but in the event it is, and for those interested, the show starts at about 12:45 and runs until just after 1:00 p.m.