Piebar
For Naomi's birthday we went to Piebar; http://www.piebar.com/ which is some newish and heavily hyped restaurant here. It is located in a former bank building, which features Jetsonian Architecture. Also for some reason there is valet parking; which I just don't get.
This is a Very Trendy restaurant, which means A) Pricey B) Dimly Lit, and C) LOUD. I have no idea why all of these qualities are thought to appeal to the Young and Trendy, unless the idea behind this is that Old people don't like it, therefore it must be Young and Trendy. Oh, ok. I guess needing to shout at your table companions to be heard over the surrounding din is Young and Trendy. I don't have anyone to impress with my Young Trendiness so I really don't care, I'd rather be comfortable.
At any rate, this seems to be one of those restaurants designed for very jaded restaurant critics, the type of person who eats out 3 meals a day 7 days a week and has seen and eaten it all too many times to count. As a result, it features the kinds of pizzas that Trey would come up with and in fact enjoyed; Duck pizza with grapes, Shrimp and grits pizza, that sort of thing.
Trey, of course, loved the Shrimp and Grits pizza- to me, it had that sour taste of food that has gone off. It, like the duck pizza, struck me as one of those unhappy marriages between two people who are perfectly good by themselves but make an absolutely wretched couple. Like Marilyn Monroe and Arthur Miller. (Didn't think I'd pull THAT analogy off, did you? HA!)
As you may be able to see, the building is circular. Everything except for the restrooms is on one level, and all the tables are at the outer walls around a huge bar. This means that all the traffic and crowd in the restaurant is crammed into a tiny space between the backs of diners and the bar. This also means that the serving staff has to pass through the tremendous crowd, and to order anything takes FOREVER. We would have had a few more beers but it took so long to get the first ones we gave up.
The decor is post modern minimalist, which might have looked cool 10 years ago, but now just looks cheap and unimaginative. If I were doing it- bear in mind my house is decorated in Things Other People Gave Away For Immediately Obvious Reasons- I would have put the tables on a spiral, like the Guggenheim, and taken advantage of the height, and decorated it with as much retro-space-agey stuff as possible. At least I would have put some colour into it; Nowadays, when appliances at Kmart come in Brushed Stainless steel, it's not really an interesting accent anymore. OK! So stop with it already.
Personally, if I had a restaurant/bar, which is something Cathy and I occasionally discuss after we've had a few- it would be brightly, or at least reasonably, well lit, because I am legally blind in several states (seriously) and do not like nasty surprises or to peer, Mr Magoo like, at my food, and it would be hushed and reverent so that you could discuss your tablemates' intimate personal affairs and everyone in the restaurant could hear you, and Alex would try to hide uner the table, or you could encourage other diners to sing Happy Birthday and they would join in, and you could sit on their laps if it were their birthday also (we did this at my last birthday) and it would serve the least innovative foods possible, but all prepared to perfection. There would be no bizarre combinations of things like foie gras and caramel pudding or parmesan cheese and horseradish. Also the drinks would be very strong. And I think it should be like those restaurants that you see in movies from the '30's up until about the '60's with singing ladies and cigarette girls. We could have Carmen Mirandas. Whatever happened to those restaurants, anyway? All of the employees would dress like flappers/in '20's clothing, and it would be decorated like the Fox in a Deco theme. Alternatively, I think it would be fun to have a restaurant that was multi-tiered and looked like a Busby Berkeley set.
This is a Very Trendy restaurant, which means A) Pricey B) Dimly Lit, and C) LOUD. I have no idea why all of these qualities are thought to appeal to the Young and Trendy, unless the idea behind this is that Old people don't like it, therefore it must be Young and Trendy. Oh, ok. I guess needing to shout at your table companions to be heard over the surrounding din is Young and Trendy. I don't have anyone to impress with my Young Trendiness so I really don't care, I'd rather be comfortable.
At any rate, this seems to be one of those restaurants designed for very jaded restaurant critics, the type of person who eats out 3 meals a day 7 days a week and has seen and eaten it all too many times to count. As a result, it features the kinds of pizzas that Trey would come up with and in fact enjoyed; Duck pizza with grapes, Shrimp and grits pizza, that sort of thing.
Trey, of course, loved the Shrimp and Grits pizza- to me, it had that sour taste of food that has gone off. It, like the duck pizza, struck me as one of those unhappy marriages between two people who are perfectly good by themselves but make an absolutely wretched couple. Like Marilyn Monroe and Arthur Miller. (Didn't think I'd pull THAT analogy off, did you? HA!)
As you may be able to see, the building is circular. Everything except for the restrooms is on one level, and all the tables are at the outer walls around a huge bar. This means that all the traffic and crowd in the restaurant is crammed into a tiny space between the backs of diners and the bar. This also means that the serving staff has to pass through the tremendous crowd, and to order anything takes FOREVER. We would have had a few more beers but it took so long to get the first ones we gave up.
The decor is post modern minimalist, which might have looked cool 10 years ago, but now just looks cheap and unimaginative. If I were doing it- bear in mind my house is decorated in Things Other People Gave Away For Immediately Obvious Reasons- I would have put the tables on a spiral, like the Guggenheim, and taken advantage of the height, and decorated it with as much retro-space-agey stuff as possible. At least I would have put some colour into it; Nowadays, when appliances at Kmart come in Brushed Stainless steel, it's not really an interesting accent anymore. OK! So stop with it already.
Personally, if I had a restaurant/bar, which is something Cathy and I occasionally discuss after we've had a few- it would be brightly, or at least reasonably, well lit, because I am legally blind in several states (seriously) and do not like nasty surprises or to peer, Mr Magoo like, at my food, and it would be hushed and reverent so that you could discuss your tablemates' intimate personal affairs and everyone in the restaurant could hear you, and Alex would try to hide uner the table, or you could encourage other diners to sing Happy Birthday and they would join in, and you could sit on their laps if it were their birthday also (we did this at my last birthday) and it would serve the least innovative foods possible, but all prepared to perfection. There would be no bizarre combinations of things like foie gras and caramel pudding or parmesan cheese and horseradish. Also the drinks would be very strong. And I think it should be like those restaurants that you see in movies from the '30's up until about the '60's with singing ladies and cigarette girls. We could have Carmen Mirandas. Whatever happened to those restaurants, anyway? All of the employees would dress like flappers/in '20's clothing, and it would be decorated like the Fox in a Deco theme. Alternatively, I think it would be fun to have a restaurant that was multi-tiered and looked like a Busby Berkeley set.
posted by SavageATL at 3:43 PM
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