When I first started going out for dinner and drinks on dates as a teenager, I used to try places that were off the beaten track.  One of the reasons was that I figured there would be fewer problems about being asked for proof of age.  I knew that I was a scofflaw, but it was fun and I figured the worse case scenario would be that I would have to drink a Coke with dinner.

By the time I went to the Blue Danube Restaurant and Tavern in Windsor, Ontario I was already in college, so I may have been of age or not, as I cannot quite remember the year that I was there.  This was a Hungarian restaurant that was getting some good reviews even in Detroit, and I was acquainted with some of the Eastern European dishes from growing up in my old neighborhood.  This was a place to get Chicken Paprikash and dishes of this type, nothing fancy, but the food would sate a young man with a voracious appetite.

As for the wine, I remember getting a carafe of red wine.  Nowadays this would be a warning signal to me, but then I was not as sophisticated, if I ever really got sophisticated.  Now I would think that a carafe is a way to dispense jug wine and it probably was then as well, but I can not pass judgment at this time.  For those of you, who have no idea was a carafe is, it is a large open mouth glass decanter that held about a Liter of wine and it would be accompanied usually with two small all purpose wine glasses.  A carafe was a very common site in restaurants at the time.  The wine is not identified, and I was too naive to inquire, as it was wine and I was being served.   I still remember that this was a rather common way to get “wine” years ago, but I am thankful that it is not the norm today.