Simmer Down

Big Dipper all had Web sites boasting the best evening entertainment Boston had to offer. Eclipse’s site showed a calendar of guest DJs, theme nights, and drink specials, and a link to the menu, which had wings, potato skins, and nachos: bar food and nothing else. I knew from Josh that food like that was all purchased frozen and in bulk, tossed in a Frialator or oven, and plated to serve. Nothing challenging here for a chef, that was for sure, and I could see why Barry might have the itch to do something more creative. Lunar’s food was slightly more upscale and pricey than Eclipse’s. Its Web site showed pictures of young, drunk women with overly waxed eyebrows and spray tans hovering above elaborate appetizers and clutching colorful cocktails in their French-manicured hands. Yawn. This place was a meat market for the young and wealthy. I was ashamed to remember that in the days before Josh and Owen, I’d been in Lunar a few times with Adrianna and that we’d gone there to toss ourselves into the singles scene. Worse, I had to admit to myself that I’d had a pretty good time knocking back grapefruit cosmopolitans and Long Island iced teas. Would I go there for dinner? No. But for a good time with friends? Maybe. But I realized that I’d love to go poke around Full Moon’s so-called restaurants with Josh to check out the employees and see whether they knew anything about Hannah the Horrible. But I’d never get Josh into one of these places. And I didn’t think he’d be overly supportive of my desire to prove his ex-girlfriend guilty of murder. Maybe I could get Adrianna to go with me.
    I checked my e-mail, deleted four messages suggesting that I enlarge my penis, and shut down the computer. It was already eleven. I couldn’t believe how much time I’d spent reading about Ken. I wanted to see Josh at Simmer before I met Adrianna at Moving On. I threw on my coat and was locking the door to the office when Naomi’s voice rang down the corridor.
    “I’m back! Just leave it open,” she called breathlessly. “Sorry I took so long. I wanted to catch you before you left for Moving On. I’m really proud of you for spending the afternoon there. I know you’ll do great work today!” I had a feeling she was going to lean in for a hug, so I busied myself with the buttons on my coat. Naomi was the most touchy-feely person I’d ever known. She attributed the need to hug all the time to the emotional heaviness of our work. She was forever spouting positive messages of empowerment (“We are strong enough to give ourselves to others!” and “Reach beyond your self-imposed limits!”) while gripping me in a tight embrace. Although I really did like Naomi and was learning a lot from her, there were only so many times a day I wanted her arms flung around me.
    “I’ll call you later,” I promised her as I headed off to Simmer.
    One smelly T ride later, I exited the subway at Newbury Street. Outside Simmer, a man on a ladder was putting the finishing touches on a glass panel with the restaurant’s name etched through the opaque sign. I walked through an area with a low wrought-iron fence—the outdoor patio for use in warm weather—and entered through the unlocked front door. When I’d been here two weeks earlier, I’d been alarmed to see the unfinished state of the restaurant. The unpainted drywall, the cords dangling from the ceiling, and the concrete floors had worried me. On New Year’s Eve, would the customers be eating off paper plates while perching on folding chairs? Now I could finally see what the finished Simmer would look like. For a start, there was an actual floor. Better yet, it was beautifully tiled in rich browns with thick grout lines between each tile. The grout would be hard to clean, but the rustic style gave the restaurant a homey feel. The plaster walls had been textured using brushes swept vertically and horizontally to suggest linen, then painted a Warm beige and framed with dark wood molding. Wall vases, paintings, and mosaic panels decorated the large room. As I watched, a man was installing dramatic, ultramodern light fixtures. Except for calculating that the expensive remodeling was contributing to Josh’s low salary, I felt relieved to see that Simmer was coming together. Josh had told me that Gavin wanted the restaurant to have a “worldly” feel in its decor and its food rather than to have a single ethnic theme.
    Gavin was clear that he wanted the menu to reflect many