{"id":2650,"date":"2015-11-15T17:59:15","date_gmt":"2015-11-15T22:59:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ordinarylegacy.com\/word\/?p=2650"},"modified":"2015-11-15T17:59:15","modified_gmt":"2015-11-15T22:59:15","slug":"the-art-of-dining-alone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ordinarylegacy.com\/word\/2015\/11\/15\/the-art-of-dining-alone\/","title":{"rendered":"The Art of Dining Alone"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"dining<\/a><\/p>\n

There have been several articles on the subject of dining alone lately and I couldn\u2019t help but think, what\u2019s the big deal? I\u2019ve been dining out alone for years, decades maybe, and I\u2019ve enjoyed it immensely. Perhaps it\u2019s not for everyone but practice can bring you closer to others and out of your room, or apartment, or office and into the enjoyable experience I\u2019ve come to know.<\/p>\n

\"dining<\/a><\/p>\n

You can begin on a small scale by being one among others. Sociologist Ray Oldenburg named this the \u201cthird place\u201d where one goes by choice to be alone among others. It\u2019s what you can do easily at Starbucks or Panera. Many restaurants have recognized the advantage of communal dining, bench seating, and family style service. They are beefing up their bar areas to make it more enticing for solo diners and alleviating the angst over a single eating at a table for two. Street food served in the vicinity of picnic tables and benches are a good way to ease into dining alone also.<\/p>\n

\"Ehmer's<\/a><\/p>\n

Making a reservation whenever dining out is usually a good idea. Open Table, online restaurant reservationists, are reporting tables for one have gone up 62 percent over the past two years. Caroline Potter, Open Table spokesperson, states \u201cSolo dining is about treating yourself to a delicious experience and savoring every bite. From communal and counter seating to doting table service, restaurants are welcoming parties of one with open arms.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"dining<\/a><\/p>\n

If you can\u2019t make a reservation, take a seat at the ultimate counter seating, the bar. Ripe for conversation with the bartender and other transient guests waiting for their tables the bar is at once inclusive and private. The food is delivered more quickly at the bar in my experience and if you\u2019re in a new town the best local info comes from behind the bar, always.<\/p>\n

When you arrive, connect with your host, when you are seated connect with your server. DO NOT dive right into your devices. Don\u2019t make your server interrupt you. I get that technology makes you feel less awkward and more comfortable but have a conversation with your server, they are there to make your experience memorable. Find out their name and use it same as you would meeting anyone for the first time. Ask them about the signature dish, what\u2019s their favorite thing on the menu.<\/p>\n

\"dining<\/a><\/p>\n

Order something new, different, and original to the area. Enjoy your food, act as if you\u2019re a restaurant critic. Savor each bite. If you dine alone in different areas make at least one meal a \u201cbest of\u201d meal. I try to have a cheeseburger prepared in the style of every city I visit. Houston is winning so far\u2026it\u2019s beef country after all. When I\u2019m on the Cape I try the lobster roll every chance I get,\u00a0Wild Goose Tavern has my vote hands down.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re going to drag out a device, take an image of what you\u2019re enjoying and share on social media. Let your server know that you\u2019re sharing your good experience. On the other hand, if you\u2019re not satisfied with your meal let the management know, they want to know from you and they want to make it right, Yelp doesn\u2019t give them that opportunity.<\/p>\n

\"dining<\/a><\/p>\n

Another way to avoid your devices and engage is to people watch. People watching on your own can be amusing, heartwarming, nostalgic, and very entertaining. And then there\u2019s eavesdropping. I know, but sometimes it can\u2019t be helped and it can be downright hysterical. Try your best NOT to laugh out loud like I did recently, it actually turned out fine and I made a couple of new acquaintances. They actually knew they were \u201cthose people\u201d.<\/p>\n

At the close of your meal, thank your server BY NAME. I had a wonderful meal on the Cape recently and Raluka made all the difference. I was happy to tell her so and she couldn\u2019t thank me enough for actually remembering and calling her by name. That is a legacy moment.<\/p>\n

\"dining<\/a><\/p>\n

There is nothing that brings me more happiness than enjoying a meal with friends I love but I\u2019ve come to love dining alone nearly as much. I\u2019ve met some interesting people and enjoyed some delicious meals that never would have been available from room service in my hotel room. The best conversation starter is the audible swoon over something incredibly delicious.<\/p>\n

Venture out on your own, enjoy your surroundings, and experience all the exceptional food that\u2019s out there. These are the moments in time that you\u2019ll remember as the best of your vacation, business week or just plain Tuesday night.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There have been several articles on the subject of dining alone lately and I couldn\u2019t help but think, what\u2019s the big deal? I\u2019ve been dining out alone for years, decades maybe, and I\u2019ve enjoyed it immensely. Perhaps it\u2019s not for … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[466,6],"tags":[186,663,664,665],"class_list":["post-2650","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-its-a-legacy-thing","category-pause-points","tag-cape-cod","tag-dining-alone","tag-engage","tag-enjoy-your-food"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p27hQ5-GK","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ordinarylegacy.com\/word\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2650","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ordinarylegacy.com\/word\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ordinarylegacy.com\/word\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ordinarylegacy.com\/word\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ordinarylegacy.com\/word\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2650"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.ordinarylegacy.com\/word\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2650\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2652,"href":"https:\/\/www.ordinarylegacy.com\/word\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2650\/revisions\/2652"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ordinarylegacy.com\/word\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2650"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ordinarylegacy.com\/word\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2650"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ordinarylegacy.com\/word\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2650"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}