Table for four

 Table for four 

It was a rainy December evening in Napa, as we pulled into a small parking lot of “French Laundry”, the only three Michelin star restaurant in the entire country. Every foodie’s dream is to score a table at this esteemed restaurant run by the famous Thomas Keller. So, we were naturally very excited at the opportunity of dining at this place especially since we were able to score a last minute reservation at this most coveted restaurant, a table for four!

Let me go around the table to introduce everyone. We come from the same hometown in south India, Shimoga and all four of us attended a girls high school run by nuns in the same town. But what’s interesting is I barely knew two of them until about ten years ago whereas I have always been besties with the third person in the group. We all now live in different parts of America and the single most thing that has brought us close is the trips we take together every year!

Another profound thing that connects us is the language that we speak. It’s by far the most cherished aspect of our relationship for me comprising of unique slangs, anecdotes, idioms, those silly references that only we can understand, nick names we had for teachers and other fellow students and so on has given us so much laughter and those old jokes never really get old. That’s why those childhood friendships are worth its weight in gold.

The love for food we share has evolved over the last few years of our travel! Our first ever trip was to Miami and one of the restaurants we visited “Bazaar” still makes an appearance in our conversations even after all these years. I actually remember the exact location of our table for four even today! That trip was the start of many memorable trips, and memorable tables we shared as the years passed by.

I found myself saying yes to my first girls trip abroad, to Spain. Up until then, my travel was predominantly with my family and I almost felt guilty to see a new country without them! But that quickly became a distant memory, when we all arrived in Madrid. Our first night of the trip we stayed up until 2:00 am having churros and laughing our heart out around a table at a cafe. That memory still makes me smile.

As the trip went along, we shared many long breakfasts filled with rich discussions, some ending in tears, some with fights and some with loud carefree laughter. We often  went hunting for that perfect spot for dinner and it quickly became obvious that the harder it was to get a table, the more we wanted to go there. Navigating a new city was definitely not one of our strengths and still isn’t! We have legendary stories of getting lost on every trip and my favorite is getting lost in Barcelona in the middle of the night and not remembering the name of our hotel! 

In most places our table for four caught a lot of attention, mostly because we are always the loudest and also because people couldn’t tell where we were from. We talk over each other in Kannada and mix with enough high decibel English curse words to make it entertaining for the other guests! Another favorite of my memory goes something like this ; we were having a leisurely outdoor lunch in one of the small villages of Spain and the server was having a hard time understanding our order. One of the patrons from the next table came over and told us “if you all speak at the same time, your waiter won’t be able to understand especially when he doesn’t speak much English”! Well, that habit still hasn’t changed much.

Since that first girls trip abroad, we have traveled to many countries together, sat around  many tables for those long breakfasts, leisurely lunches and at those hard to get dinner spots. At these tables, we have shared stories about heart breaks, loss of loved ones, struggle with businesses, parenting issues, stories about in-laws and much more. Personally, this table is the one that brings me joy, safety, a judgment free zone, unparalleled sisterhood and a warm hug. Of course we have our quarrels, eye rolls and plenty of disagreements. In fact I think we are a bunch who definitely don’t believe in being pleasant to each other!! But there is something special about sharing 30 plus years of history with these girls, knowing not just their parents and siblings but all of those shared connections from the small town, truly feels like a big family!

Most of all when I am with them I feel strong, powerful and loved. They remind me of where I come from so I can be real without any need of trying to be someone else, pretend to know more or be more!   

As our travels continued we became or let’s say some of us became very discerning foodies with a taste for Michelin star restaurants, fine wines and staying away from “mass production” type of places:). This is exactly the reason we ended up at French Laundry on our trip to Napa.

Some meals we shared were overlooking the beach in Puerto Rico, on a beautiful terrace by the water in Croatia, an outstanding restaurant in Zagreb, dinner on the cruise boat looking at the beautiful city of Budapest (we still complain about the subpar food and champagne here) impromptu lunch at a sidewalk cafe with a view of cathedral in Milan, an outdoor terrace with a backdrop of snow capped Atlas Mountains in Morocco, perched up on a hill with a picturesque view of beach bordered with pebbles in Puglia and an unexpected fun dinner and dance in Rome just to name a few. Most of our trips are remembered around a dish we shared or a restaurant we discovered after much arguments and discussions among the four of us. As I recall these wonderful “table for four” we have shared, as beautiful as the locations were, it’s the experience that we shared together, that feeling of comfort by being with each other is what I cherish the most. Let’s be honest, it takes a particular kind of group to be able to go on a trip for 10 days and still come back without killing each other. I am glad to have found this group of girls to share these amazing destinations and be around those wonderful tables for four !!

Let’s go back to our table at French Laundry in Napa. I guess this was one of the most controversial dinners we had, since the majority did not like this legendary restaurant. The criticism went on for days and now that’s pretty much what I remember about our Napa trip! But what I cherished about this particular table for four was we all celebrated our milestone birthday and blew our birthday candles on top of a chocolate pastry prepared by a world renowned Michelin star chef! Now that’s a memory that’s hard to beat!

 I couldn't help but wonder where in this whole wide world will we stumble upon a charming little restaurant in a distant town, where a corner table for four is waiting just for us. I can almost see four of us chatting, laughing, complaining how we have been eating the entire trip and then proceed to order a full meal accompanied with some delicious single vineyard wine:).