Tenacious Eats

Let's return to that crazy fun week that I'm still not finished telling you about!

It's E's birthday (sorry I forgot to post on my blog!  Here's a belated post for you!)...

...and I had just found out about the strangest thing I've done in a long time.  It's a movie-and-dining program called Tenacious Eats, and it's a little hard to explain coherently. It's described on the website as "full contact eating," but that's not quite right.

This is my clearest and most cogent explanation of it: it's a five-course tasting menu with cocktails, and those are themed around the movie of choice for the evening.  That evening, it was The Princess Bride (no, that website is not a joke).  Seating began at 7:00, but upon my arrival about an hour earlier (at Meyer's Grove in the Grove, just so you're prepared if you choose to go), imagine my surprise to find two people dressed as Wesley and Buttercup rubbing elbows with the early-arriving patrons in the bar.  And there were wooden swords if you felt the need to pseudo-stab someone.  And also medieval dancing.

Eventually we were seated, and boy was it cozy.  They really could use a larger venue.  Or better yet, sell fewer tickets.  You'll keep demand high, and your guests will be much more comfortable.  Oh, another thing to be prepared for: there's a good chance you'll be at a table with people you don't know, so come prepared to chat.

Before the movie started, we met our emcee.  Actually, he was the guy in charge of the seating, so we had met him before, but not in that capacity.  He was certainly amusing, but you have to be able to laugh at a gay guy making mostly inappropriate jokes or you'll want to hide under your very small table.

But then the movie starts.  And the food.  Creative and delicious!  Here's what we had:

There's an intermission mid-movie to allow them to reset the tables and give everyone a bathroom break, and on we went with the show.  At the end was the audience participation section.  It was amusing to view, but I would have died if I had been on stage.  I won't even tell you what they had their four contestants competing to do.  We we at a gay bar.  There were wooden swords.  Use your imagination.

All in all, a very strange and memorable experience.  There's a pretty good chance I'll go back for another one.  Anyone interested?