Far North Rambles #44: Restaurant Fish Out Of Water

Sometimes you feel like a fish out of water. Sometimes you are a fish out of water.

Shortly after we started to visit with one far north First Nation, we arranged a meeting at Queen’s Park, Toronto, between our Minister and the First Nation leadership. As a discovery meeting, it went well. The First Nation leadership explained some of the challenges they faced in one of Ontario’s more northerly communities. During the small talk, the importance to the First Nation of land-based meat diet surfaced. At the end of the meeting, Minister turned to we two Ontario staff and said “Our guests like meat. Why don’t you take them to “Restaurant X” for dinner”. Now, I did not live in Toronto and I seldom ate in restaurants, except for the food court in the bottom of the Eaton’s Centre. I had no idea what that restaurant was or where it was located. I naively agreed.

Off we went to “Restaurant X”. The cab dropped us off in front of an ornate building in the Toronto financial district. Oh Oh. We scampered up the steps and went inside. Oh Oh. In the 2 meters from the door to the desk, we were met by 3 well dressed restaurant staff. One greeted us. Two took coats. I caught a glimpse inside the bar. I saw many financial sector workers dressed in suits. Not just any suit, but 5-piece suits. Oh Oh.

Now, most far north meetings do not require a suit and tie. Conversely, for a Minister’s meeting, at Queen’s Park, it was convention to wear a suit and tie. I always dressed appropriately for the meetings I attended; however, rather than wear my “meet-the-minister” attire, I dressed in a more relaxed way to complement the casual attire worn by most of our northern guests. Looking around from the foyer of “Restaurant X”, I can state definitively we were not dressed like the financial district clientele. Oh Oh.

A 4th restaurant staff person guided the us to a table and the 5th and 6th restaurant staff assisted us with our chairs. Uncomfortable. We reviewed the menu, guessed what some of the names meant, placed our orders, and discussed the day. There was some bewilderment when, between courses, 2 table servers (7th and 8th staff) scraped the white table cloth using special knives to remove any way-word bread crumbs that had snuck off our plates. A special knife to scrape the table cloth? Interesting. The meals were delicious. The discussion was interesting, ranging from Minister’s meeting to medicine wars. The fabulous restaurant staff did not bat an eye at the group’s casual attire, including 4 baseball caps.

With full stomachs, and a bill that approximated a Toronto condo’s monthly rent, we reversed the entry ceremony, stepped outside on the sidewalk, and into a waiting taxi.

It was one of my more interesting Toronto restaurant dinners - the only one I had at that restaurant. We experienced new restaurant rituals, ate an excellent meat meal, were served by 8 professional restaurant staff, learned that a Minister’s suggestion did not supersede Government expense rules (better to learn before incurring an expense), and appreciated that it is possible to enter a high-end restaurant wearing a “casual” uniform. It did take some time for that expense item to get processed. I suspect there had been several spirited discussions between the controllership officials and the supportive Ministry Executive I reported to.

The name of the restaurant? Well, it rhymes with the word “high”. And without a doubt, it was a time that I really felt like a fish out of water, but grateful that the expense was reimbursed.

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Andy Fyon, Dec 4, 2020 (Facebook Dec 4, 2020)