I hope the powers that be will let me keep this as a standalone thread here on the NJ board.
Day three of birthday celebration and mom wanted to take Justin and I out. We go to Portuguese Manor in Perth Amboy. It is my favorite restaurant (and very special to my late father and our family) and I’ve waited longer than a year to finally go again.
Well, we get there and it’s new owners, a new menu, and new staff. The food is not even Portuguese anymore. I don’t know what it is. But it’s virtually destroyed. It was unrecognizable and not fitting of what the establishment once was. Fettuccine Alfredo and Mozzarella sticks??? Is mofongo Portuguese?
The charm is gone and I was devastated. Devastated. My night was ruined. Nostalgia and all those memories gone. And so we did the unthinkable walked out, another part of my life and childhood gone. I literally wanted to cry. So we head to nearby Costa Verde and sit in the bar area. No one came over for a half hour, so we get up again and move to the dining room.
Lo and behold our waiter tonight IS OUR OLD WAITER FROM PORTUGUESE MANOR. This man served us every single visit there for 20 years! I cannot tell you how happy seeing this guy made me. I needed a picture. Every special occasion dinner for my life, he was there. After my dad passed, he talked with my mom and I for a half hour about what a great guy he was. Just this moment alone makes my birthday complete. This was surreal! It was like the universe handed me a gift. I saw him walking to our table and my brain could not comprehend it.
Obligatory dinner pics: I had chicken in garlic sauce (usually I would get a steak but had one the other night and was not in the mood for red meat), Justin had broiled shrimp, mom had red snapper. Appetizer was garlic shrimp.
Midway through our evening, Justin said he was getting up to go to the bathroom. Instead, he secretly went to our waiter to tell him it was my birthday. The waiter said he already knew and had a dessert picked out (tartufo, which we always ordered at Portuguese Manor). So after an embarrassing “Happy Birthday!” blasting over the loudspeaker, the evening was complete. I could have killed him!
The night went from absolutely ruined to seeing this guy’s face and all of a sudden everything was fine and I was “home”. Words cannot describe.
Thank you for indulging in this story if you’ve made it this far.