Hells yes I was gonna be there.
We pulled up at 11:30 for a noon lunch. The crowd was already starting to form.
This is the unfortunately named Chinese place next door. It's pretty much the best thing in the episode.
The owner Giuseppi came out to say hi to the crowd and joke around. He was very cool.
The guys in the suits in thebackground? They're from the Italian Commerce Board or something. They presented Giuseppi with a plaque for his achievements. That's nice but when I tried to make small talk with them they came off very Legitimate Bussinessman's Social Club. Nice suits though.
The guy in orange was beyond obnoxious. He showed up with resumes and was trying to pass them out to PAs. He talked Gordon's ear off for ten minutes.
Still talking.
Even so, Gordon took a picture with the guy's family and even played with the kids. Came off very approachable. In fact, Gordon made sure to shake hand and greet everyone in the restaurant. He took photos and signed autographs for a good 20 minutes. That was pretty cool. A lot bigger than I expected him to be too.
When Gordon was greeting this table woman produced a photo and said something that stopped Gordon cold. Then he smiled and said "That's brilliant!" or "That's smashing!" or some such British idiom. Apparently the woman knew his mother.
Eating with a camera in your face is an odd experience and slightly disconcerting. They hit our table like 5 times and we walked through a shot on the way to our table. So hopefully on July 21 I'll be able to freeze-frame the TV and shout "There! That's my elbow!
Beyond that, the stuffed pork chops (the ones featured in the episode) were amazing, the shrimp parmesan was really good and the fettucine carbonara was meh. The tiramisu was Gordon's own recipe and it was good but personally I think my own is better.
