A New Favorite Place To Dine

I love Thai food.

We've driven past the Bangkok Star Restaurant on Padre Island, Texas, many times and each time I yearn to turn in. But Allen prefers steak, hamburgs and french fries, so we don't swing in for Thai, Chinese or even Italian very often.

But today I'm alone, and it's lunchtime, and I want Thai. So I pull in. Park. And go inside.

It's small inside. So I feel huge. Vast. Immense.

There's a petite outer room with a wisp of a bar and cash register and a small inner room with a few tables. A tiny woman, perhaps from Thailand, asks me to follow her into that inner room. I do, and I feel like Madame Maxime (for my non-Harry Potter fans, Mme Maxime is a half-giantess).

My tiny Thai seats me at a little table for two, against the wall. I place my purse on top of the table next to my plate and I'm cramped. The waitress hands me a menu and as I begin to study it, a man, a very big man, who resembles  John Goodman/Fred Flintstone, walks over to me and stands right next to my elbow.

How can I pretend he's not there? He's huge! He much be over 6 feet tall and his belly's so big, it flops over his belt. He's wearing a navy blue shirt (tucked in) and tan shorts and sneakers. His short, curly blond hair is scraggly, as is his day-old beard. What does he want?

I look up (and up) and he says, "Let me move your purse to give you more room." I half go to grab my bag because the great dichotomy between him and her screams at me. But I let it go. And he moves it across the table, to the chair on the other side.

And thus begins a perfect meal.

He's my waiter. Who knew? And he's a genuine delight. He pulls up a chair to explain the restaurant offerings and reminisces about the Pad Thai he enjoyed in California. He's serious about tending to my lunch. I tell him my favorite Thai food and he searches the menu until he finds the right fare.

I order, and soon, I'm enjoying  veggies and tofu dressed in a full-bodied peanut sauce over steamed rice.

My waiter leaves me alone to dine. And I feel not so large anymore.