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In a slight bit of irony, Shobhit and I had dinner at Saffron Grill last night—after I had suggested to Ivan during his visit the weekend before last that we go to Tandoori Flame & Indian Grill just a few blocks north of home on 15th Avenue E, specifically because their prices are much more reasonable and the food just as good as Saffron Grill's, where the prices have skyrocketed, entrees between $24 and $28. The prices there have just gotten nuts.
As far as I can tell from my Google Calendar, the last time we ate there was when we went with Alexia, in February of last year. We've kind of actively avoided it since, even though it still holds a nostalgic place in our hearts, especially given we hired them to cater our wedding in 2013.
Well, a lot has changed since then. And, we discovered, some pretty significant changes have changed just since the last time we were there. The food is still just as good, to be fair, and there haven't been any further price hikes. But, Mohammed, the incredibly sweet, friendly and generous owner, retired a few years ago, leaving the restaurant to his son, also named Mohammed. Their longtime staffer (manager, maybe?), Prospero, who had taken the lead among staff on hand at our wedding, we still there when we went last year. But yesterday, we discovered, he left Saffron Grill six months ago.
I'd sure love to know the story there, if indeed there even is one.
Anyway, the dinner last night was a gathering of Shobhit and several other people involved in the staged reading of a play called
C(Y)PHER at Theater Off Jackson that Shobhit acted in back in June. There were four who made it: Rachel, the director; Harold, the writer; Prisca, the one other actor from the production to come; and Rex, who had served as narrator.
I was the only person there who had not been at all involved in the production, and I felt slightly awkward about it at first, being the only person there who was a sort of "plus-one" brought along. Rachel and Rex were clearly dating, but they were also both involved in the production—I was not. No one made me feel unwelcome, though, and although they did talk shop a lot, plenty of other things came up in conversation that allowed me to contribute (particularly questions I had about Harold's twin son and daughter, who are about to leave for a program that will have them finishing out their Junior and Senior years of high school in separate countries, albeit both in Eastern Europe).
I don't know if Shobhit suggested Saffron Grill as the location—it seems unlikely, given their prices—but Rachel had commented on how she goes there about twice a year and is clearly a favorite of hers, so maybe she had suggested it. What was clear was that Shobhit had mentioned that we know the people who run the place, and they usually bring us either a free appetizer or a free dessert.
Well, evidently those days are gone. Mohammed Sr. is retired; Mohammed Jr. was not there last night; Prospero has moved on. Not one person on staff there last night knew us, which was a little bit of a bummer. It's possible it could have been different on a different night of the week, but Prospero's departure clearly makes a big difference as well. Mohammed Jr. never had the same kind of historic connection with us—Mohammed Sr. always gave us both a big hug as soon as he saw us.
If nothing else, I guess this makes it easier for us to finally break away from them. As I said, the food is still excellent, but given that we can find food that's just as good at other restaurants, we have little reason to go out of our way to eat at Saffron Grill in Northgate anymore.
We did talk briefly to a server who had known Prospero. She told us he left about six months ago. "We miss him," she said. So do we. In all likelihood, we'll never see that guy again.
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Otherwise, though, it was a perfectly lovely evening, and the food was fantastic. Shobhit wanted to limit his Weight Watchers points, so we did not order Shahi Paneer to share like we usually do—which I was fine with, since I had just had a tasty paneer dish at the "Langar sewa" at the "Day in Punjab" cultural festival at Seattle Center on Monday. So, at my suggestion, we shared a garbanzo bean dish instead. It was also delicious, although Shobhit made the spice level three out of five stars, which I was able to handle but I did not particularly enjoy—I could only taste the spiciness and not the actual flavor.
Shobhit did convince Harold to order Shahi Paneer, however, and as everyone else ordered their own dish rather than sharing like Shobhit and I did, he was unable to finish it. When he offered some to me, I gladly accepted. God damn, that shit is good! This was how all the dishes on our side of the table got eaten fully; Rex, Rachel and Prisca all got to-go boxes.
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The dinner reservations had been at 6:30, and we finished up maybe around 8:00. Shobhit drove us back home, and I watched
Marc Maron: Panicked, the new HBO comedy special that came out last Friday. I wanted to get it finished before his podcast episode tomorrow in which Jim Gaffigan moderates a talk with him about it. Maron sure has a lot going on at the moment—the comedy special, which I think is maybe his best (I laughed a lot); he voices the snake in
The Bad Guys 2, in theaters now; and he has a supporting part in
Stick, the Apple TV series that just finished airing the week before last, and Shobhit and I have watched two episodes so far.
I then did a few final tweaks to my video project. There are several clips that were included in the last one I made, just last year, but that's okay; I think this one is still very much its own thing. I'm very satisfied with it.
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[posted 2:29pm, because I forgot to post before taking the bus down to cohost a new office tour for some office mates.]
