I have stated before, that somehow I became the chairman for an all year’s reunion party for my Junior High School in Detroit.  We have monthly planning meetings and we hold the meetings at different locations around the Metropolitan Detroit area, so that no one area monopolizes the meetings.  We also have the meetings at restaurants, so that we can eat and drink, while we are doing the business meeting.  These planning meetings have become a social event of their own, with an average of twenty-five people attending each session.  My criteria for these meetings, is that the restaurant should be popular priced, so as not to create a financial burden on anyone that wishes to attend, as the reunion will require as many volunteers as possible.

Our last meeting was held at Amantea Restaurant in Garden City and it is predominately an Italian in its food offerings.  There were two large rooms and I requested tables to be placed in a remote corner if possible, because of the business meeting discussions.  We usually meet at four o’clock on a Saturday afternoon.  Imagine my surprise when I walked in and the restaurant was mobbed with people and all of the tables were in full use.  Our waitress was a bit sullen that we requested separate tabs, but I guess she got over it, with that many people eating and drinking, I am sure that she did quite well.

There was a large range of different dishes that were ordered and most of the people were drinking either beer or cocktails, save one individual that ordered wine.  I was going to order an Italian dish, but then I saw as a featured item Barbeque Ribs, which is one of my favorites as we do not make this at home.  When I found out that the meat falls off of the bone, my decision was settled.  I must say that I was very happy with the quality of the food.  I wish I could say the same for the wine list, as I felt that they went out of the way to have a very undistinguished selection.  I did not make the waitress happy questioning the brands of the generic listing of wines.  After several false starts I ended up ordering a bottle of Tosti Asti wine.  The lackluster attempt by the bubbles told me that this was not the best Sparkling Wine, but since is was the lesser of all evils; it was my choice for the evening.  I was surprised when the stemware that was brought out was the old style sorbet glass, instead of a flute, so I requested to have just a generic wine glass.  I am sure that the waitress thought I was a major pain in the derriere.  The wine is made from the Moscato Bianco varietal, thankfully it was not as sweet as it could have been, and that may be from the Sparkling Wine process that was used.  All in all, the wine was fine, not what I expected, but it was drinkable and I was at the restaurant for a business meeting and not to critique the dinner, even though I have.