Outside of the privacy of my office and bedroom I am generally hostile to technology, cell phones in particular and cells phones in restaurants particularly in particular. So the last place I expected to fall in love with technology was in a restaurant, but that is exactly what happened last night. I was dining in one of my favorite neighborhood eateries, The Red Cat [1]. If you don't know it, good. Stay away. It's too popular already. And as my BFF and I were still sipping our cocktails, that one thing happened that any and every New Yorker dreads more than anything else imaginable: a family with a young child claimed the adjacent table. The high chair was presented. A 12-to-18-month-old bundle of screaming horror was installed, casting a nightmarish shadow on my table setting. I thanked God this wasn't happening on a plane and then settled in for a ruined dinner.
But then magic happened. Mommy reached into her Chelsea Market tote and placed a portable DVD player in front of the little creature. Barney popped up, silently, and the entire evening was enjoyed sans even the slightest cry or whimper, jettisoned mashed potatoes or gravity-defying fluids.
This is a development in technology and New York City fine dining that may very well please me as much as DVR. I queried the manager who informed me that this is not the first time he's seen this. Parents who think an absence of discipline, manners and seen-but-not-heard in restaurants and other public places is cute have discovered the portable DVD player and at long last returned to the world of civilized behavior.
My mother would have loved this; her solution back in the day was a crumb of Valium. DVD Barney is much healthier for a young infant.
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