Carson Goes to His Favorite Restaurant!

Ah, happy day!  We ended up at Piatti for lunch with my parents.

 Carson, of course, had no objection.  After being ignored and passed over for a table at the host stand (I'll admit, this NEVER happens, usually very good service), we are seated and Carson notes the fire blazing, "How comfy this feels!"  He peruses the kid's menu and decides to try something new, "Umm," he drags his finger up and down the choices, "I'll have this."  The chicken fingers.  We are all surprised!  We ask him if he's decided not to have the calamari.  "Oh!  Of course!  I'll have the calamari!"

The server comes to take our drink order and kneels down to Carson for him to give his order.  "Cranberry juice, please.  With two straws."  The server conceals a grin and asks Carson if he would like a lemon or a lime in his cranberry juice and said he preferred lemon in his.  "Oh, me too!" says Carson.  When the juice comes, Mimi teaches Carson the art of taking the seeds out before squeezing the lemon.  Carson is entranced.  "I have much more flavor in my juice with this lemon!"

The bread and dipping sauce is brought and Carson advises us to "break the bread in half before you dip, you see."  Mimi acknowledges this is the polite thing to do.
The server comes back to take our food order and Carson says, "Calamari, please."  The server notes "that's not even on the kid's menu!"  After a few more bread bites, the calamari arrives.  Need I say more?

Now, we are all waiting for our food so we are treated to a dialog about calamari and its properties.

"Do you know what calamari is?"
""This octopus is dead.  Squid?  Then this SQUID is dead."
"An octopus has chemicals under it's skin to shoot it's ink."
"This circle means I'm eating it's body."
"These are the little itty bitty legs!" (said in a high, squeaky voice)

Then. . . . .disappointment!
"This calamari is chewy!"  I take a sample bite.  The thing is, he's right!  Over-cooked.  I don't blame him for not eating the whole thing.  "Mommy, may I still have dessert?"  Luckily, his palate was soothed with some cupcake gelato.

Carson Lunches at New Saigon

"Let's go somewhere new for lunch.  It's good to try new places, right?"  says Carson.  He is in the backseat peering out of the window as we drive north on Federal. We pull in to New Saigon and pop out of the car.  "This is a NEW restaurant, isn't it?"  Well, new to Carson, which I suppose IS new. 

As we are sitting down, Carson immediately grabs the red chili sauce and smells it, closing his eyes, "Yum, you want to smell it, Mommy?"  Chopsticks catch his attention next and he demonstrates how they work, "You see, I need THREE chopsticks to pick up my noodles!"  He has ordered the pork and egg roll noodle bowl, #5N. "Really?" says the server, in surprise. We nod, having had this conversation before. No chicken nuggets for this little foodie. The server brings the fish sauce for our noodle bowls and Carson immediately puts his nose in the bowl for a good smell.  "This smells sficy (spicy)!"  Grandpa teaches him how to dunk his fork in to get a little taste of the sauce.  "Yum!  Some people like sficy sauce for their noodles!"   He proceeds to dunk his fork in about ten more times until Grandpa has had enough of seeing the sauce drip all over the table. 

The server brings our bowls, beef, shrimp, egg rolls,. and pork for Mom and me, just beef for Grandpa, and pork and egg rolls for Carson.  "Wow!  This is all for me.  What are you going to eat first, Mommy?"  The shrimp, of course.  He tucks in, having abandoned the chopsticks for a fork.  Better to twirl the noodles with. 

He twirls the noodles expertly and returns to the bowl for an egg roll.  "These are very crispy!  Is there meat in them?  Did you know people have meat in them?"  No comment.  Noodles seem to be a hit.

He grudgingly gives up a few of his egg rolls to Mimi and Grandpa before he's ready for a to-go box.  "Are we taking this home to have later?"  I ask if he will eat the leftovers at home.  "Oh yes, sometimes they are better leftover!"

Carson- The only food critic you'll ever need

Let me introduce Carson.  He is a 4 and a half year old who has been dining in restaurants since he was 3 days old with his parents and both sets of grandparents.  He has always had champagne tastes and isn't afraid to say so.  If you ask him what his favorite restaurant is, he will respond:  "The calamari restaurant."  He means Piatti in Denver.  Piatti- if you also like calamari. . .  Carson recommends it.  He also likes that you can draw on the table, the olive oil, garlic, red pepper dipping sauce for bread, and the cupcake gelato ("the sprinkles kind").  The runner knows Carson by name and treats him to a conversation entirely in Spanish.  Carson gets the drift.  Occasionally the servers, thrown off that Carson wants the calamari for his dinner, try to ply him with offerings such as ravioli or pizza.  This rarely works.  "Calamari, please, and with a melon (lemon)."  When the steaming plate is set before him, his eyes widen with pleasure and anticipation.  After the first mouthwatering crunch, he declares, "This taste is GOOD!"