For Valentine’s Day, we decided to make it a trio and head to lunch at L’Albatros. We had such a fabulous meal and all around enjoyable evening there a few weeks ago, heading back for lunch was an easy choice. Plus, I’ve never been a fan of going out to dinner the night of V Day anyway.
We take our new daughter, Natalie, everywhere with us. She enjoys reading the paper while sipping a green tea at Starbucks, shopping at Banana Republic and Target, picking up something for dinner at Heinen’s or Miles Market, visiting friends and family, taking Stella for a walk, going for a much needed pedicure, and of course – going out to eat.
So far, she’s been to Touch, Yours Truly, Shinano, Pacific East, Bravo (not my choice but Jamie loves it), Luchita’s, American Tavern, Lucky’s, Peppermint, Vito’s and most recently, lunch at L’Albatros for her first Valentine’s Day.
Everywhere Natalie has been, she’s been the perfect little diner. She just sleeps! But just in case she decides she’s ready for a change of scenery, we always ask for the check as soon as we order in case we have to make a fast getaway (which we’ve yet to do). Plus, we are very conscientious of when we go out to eat, mostly during the week and before 6 p.m.
L’Albatros was her first big girl restaurant. We played it safe and went early and right after she ate and was ready for her afternoon nap. As expected, she slept the entire time. She didn’t even budge when I oohed and ahhed over my rich and creamy mushroom bisque with truffle oil, croutons and shaved parm, or from hearing me ask (beg) several times for one more bite of Jamie’s sinfully good croque monsieur.
Nonetheless, when we walked in, we received plenty of dirty looks (and lowered jaws) from patrons. I knew exactly what they were thinking – oh great, there goes our nice afternoon lunch, coupled with, this is no place to bring a baby.
I can’t say I blame them, they don’t know her or us. I wanted to walk up to every table and assure them Natalie would be the perfect little patron, no need to fret.
When I used to be a server, I would cringe when little Johnny and Susie would get sat in my section – mostly because the parents would let them throw/spill food and draw all over the tables and chairs leaving an extra big mess for me to clean up, while they laughed. I never blamed the kids, just their parents. You wouldn’t let them act like this at home (well, I assume you wouldn’t) so why do it out?
But Natalie is different and we’re not those parents. I’m sure as she gets older, it won’t always be this easy and we’ll leave her home more with a sitter. But for now, we are in baby bliss and like bringing her along and introducing her to our world.
So if you see an unbelievably cute baby girl being sat next to you (FYI – next up for her is Lolita and Momocho; she’s craving guacamole and a burger), you have nothing to worry about. But just in case she should fuss, we’ll be gone in seconds flat. Our goal is to enjoy every minute with her and expose her to as many things as possible, not ruin your night out in the process.
As for our lunch at L’Albatros, it was as expected, simply great. And while the patrons may have not been overly thrilled by our presence, I will say our server was just great and didn’t seem to mind one bit.
Love this last comment - great story!
Meg: No HH specials that I've heard of. As for the lunch menu, it's pretty similiar to the dinner. Of course, the dinner had more options, but a lot of the same items cross over. You can see both on their site. I would definitely recommend for lunch or dinner.
Dave: congrats to you! Your life will never be the same and it will change in more ways then you could possibly imagine - and it's the best thing ever!
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