Friday night. Three ladies and I are at an über-trendy Spanish restaurant, Euzkadi, in the East Village. We have reservations. Still, it takes almost an hour to be seated. Once seated, I notice the woman snugly edged into the tiny table next to ours. When my eyes eventually meet hers, she stares for a second too long then quickly looks away. I become somewhat entranced with this woman. “Hmmm,†I think to myself. “This is all very … peculiar.â€
First, it’s Friday and the host-guy allows her to sit her body of 1 at a table for 2 without ordering for thirty minutes until her guest arrives. This is almost unheard of in is-everyone-in-your-party-already-here-if-not-we-can’t-seat-you-or-hold-your-table-for-you-Manhattan. Next, even though we order before they do, we wait an hour for our food but they receive theirs almost immediately. Next, when her guest complains that “it’s too damn cold in here†the waiter apologizes and adjusts the restaurant’s thermostat. And, finally …
She looks familiar.
It takes a second, but I get it. I have to tell my friends! Gina is sitting across from me. The restaurant is loud, so I think that I can say it to her without causing a scene. I smile and talk discreetly through my teeth without moving my lips. “Eena,†I start. “Dah oman ittin ecsta oooh iz andra uhllick.â€
Gina stops talking to our other two friends and looks at me. “Why are you talking like that?â€
My trick isn’t working. I wiggle my finger and Gina and I both lean across the table and toward each other so that our faces are almost touching. “Gina, don’t cause a scene, but I think the woman sitting next to you is Sandra Bullock.†Gina does exactly what I’d hoped she wouldn’t: she screams and starts staring directly at the woman sitting on her left. She’s worse than I am. I quickly start speaking through my teeth again, “Op it! Eena! Eena, op it!!!â€
{…}
The rest of the weekend is a blast (… although, I’ve now seen the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island too many times to count). Hey, speaking of the weekend … by the way, hats off to Paul Tergat, Jelena Prokopcuka, the other top-finishing men and women, and the 37,316 other competitors who ran the ING New York City Marathon yesterday! Much hand-clappin’ and whoopin’ and hollerin’ to the wheelchair division and the hand cycle category finishers as well.
Oooooh! A real, honest-to-goodness star sighting! That is really cool! Sorry your friend caused a scene, but it’s still neat know know that you had dinner next to Sandra Bullock.
Too funny! At least you didn’t bust into pig Latin. Why are we so dang tickled when we see a freakin’ celebrity?
I once ran into George Clooney at a bar and told him he looked “just like George Clooney.” He laughed and told me that he’d heard that before. He was probably thinking “have another cocktail, honey.”
Hysterical story, Stolie. You crack me up!
Eeeeeeek! How exciting! So..what was she eating? How were her table manners? Details! Details!!!!!
You want star sightings?
Come to Vancouver aka Hollywood North!
I saw Sarah McLachlan yesterday, and Al Pacino last week, and even Robin Williams a couple weeks ago just walking through downtown.
They don’t tend to get harassed much up here and alot of them own houses here too.
Ohhhh..I’m the queen of closed lipped conversations. My best friend and I once saw Oprah in a little cafe by her studio and talked like that for almost 10 minutes.
Sounds like a great time Stolie.
mamachristy: I know, I was sooooooo excited!!!
deep in the heart of texas: Yay!! Another Texan reader!! (Five or six of my regular readers are Texans and I love them all.) So, you saw George Clooney?!?! I don’t think that I would have been able to keep any semblance of composure. He’s HOT!!!
tonito bandito: Just doing my part to spread joy and laughter to the People of the World. :)
hanuman: Ok, so she was eating this like crawfish dish. It actually looked pretty delicious. We were all salivating at the sight of her food because it took forever to get ours … And her table manners seemed fine, by the way. She leaned across the table to talk to the guy a lot, but that could have been because the restaurant was so loud.
mitch:“Come to Vancouver aka Hollywood North!” Mitch, you extend the invitation and I’ll be there. ;) … But, you know, if all the Americans start going to Vancouver to stalk the stars, the city will soon become as bad as Los Angeles.
mint chutney: I lived in Chicago for YEARS and I never saw Oprah. I’m still kind of devastated about that. Although, I did work out at the same gym as her designer-guy, Nate Berkus. Maybe I’ll post a story on that one tomorrow …
i spent a whole three months in your country and did not see ONE celebrity…in new york i had to hold myself back from lunging at each passing limo and pressing myself up against the tinted window to get me a glimpse…
Youy know, it’s odd, but you only see them when you don’t expect to see them.
I used to live in Los Angeles. I thought I’d see tons of famous celebrities EVERY DAY. But, I didn’t. Sure, I saw B-listers and Not-So-Well-Known-Stars (Adam Duritz, Elizabeth Berkley, Nick Nolte, Scott Bakula and others), but I never saw an A-list celebrity when I lived there.
Then, on one of my brief trips back to the city, Angelina Jolie sat down just 2 tables over from me at a restaurant in Santa Monica.
I don’t see any major celebrities, just local ones and boy do some of them think they’re God!
I think *many* celebrities think they’re Gods. :)
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