PocketBear’s Table Talks Series by Robert Moulthrop

A word from Robert Moulthrop, writer of PocketBear's Table Talks series:

Restaurants…

In the past, we would sometimes eat away from home. This was an activity you could do by yourself, or with another person, or even a group. There were many different kinds of places to do this. We called them Restaurants. There were other sorts of places for meeting outside the home. Bars served mostly liquor and beer, but some of them served food, too. Cafés were another. And there were also places, especially in New York City, called “Diners” or “Coffee Shops.” These were less formal. You would sit at a table (or at a counter, on a stool), and a server would bring you a large ~ and lengthy ~ menu of many, many laminated plastic pages. One could choose what to eat, ask for it, and the server—or waiter, or waitress—would tell the cook in the kitchen what you wanted to eat. The kitchen workers would make, and then the server would bring it to your table. If you were with a person or persons, you might talk to him or her or them, or listen to them talk, while you were waiting for your food, or maybe having a slice of bread with butter, or a roll, while you drank your wine or soda. Then the food would come, and you would eat it, together if you were with someone, or alone, if you were by yourself. If you were by yourself, you could sit quietly, eating with small bites, not making noise, keeping as still as you could. While you listened to the people at the next table. And quietly took notes.

Robert Moulthrop / Playwright / New York City, December 2020