191667 Tue Jul 10 15:20:33 -0700 2001 16 18 Manhattan 0 1023364 Hello, I am doing a story for New York Metro, a soon-to-debut redesign of New York magazine's web site, about instances of couples/groups who got a little too affectionate during dinner/drinks. Any anecdotes (with details within the bounds of good taste)? Please include time, location, parties involved, etc. Thanks, Christina Nunez Tue Jul 10 15:20:33 -0700 2001 0 Christina Nunez 1 1023365 Question: does this include diners who get too affectionate for their actual food? Tue Jul 10 15:21:33 -0700 2001 1023364 0 Jim Leff 2 1023378 Really I'm talking about actual sexual acts. I realize this raises (well, lowers) the bar a bit! But our idea was to take what happened at Spa with the Freakbox scandal and add to it stories in a similar vein. Excessive affection for one's food can only go so far, can't it? But then American Pie renovated the form. Tue Jul 10 18:19:04 -0700 2001 1023365 0 Christina Nunez 3 1023391 My husband and I had sex in the mens (1x)and womens (2x) bathrooms at the Manhattan Ocean Club. I was quite openly footsying him (everywhere!)at our table and we kissed frequently. That was some meal! Our 6th anniversary. As I remember I was pretty drunk - we'd had two vodka martinis (best ones ever made for me I might add) at the bar and then a bottle of champagne and bottle of wine at the table. Plus, at the end the waiter gave us some billion year old port on the house - but that was post excursion one and two downstairs to the bathrooms so I can't blame that (maybe it was a thank you for the entertainment). Anyway - i wonder what DID people think? I mean - we both left our seats for 5-10 minutes (to defend my husbands honor - we were setting speed records for fear of being caught in the act) simultaneously THREE times in addition to our obvious table kissing,etc (although no long term kisses at the table) I guess i like to believe we were subtle enough that people didnt notice but having been drinking I question the accuracy of my opinion of the situation It was A LOT of fun. Tue Jul 10 22:38:46 -0700 2001 1023378 0 anon 4 1023416 BRAVO! Wed Jul 11 10:29:10 -0700 2001 1023391 0 Shoeman 4 1023428 Such unbridled passion after six years of marriage is surely commendable rather than contemnible! Wed Jul 11 12:23:27 -0700 2001 1023391 0 Roger Lee 3 1023396 "Excessive affection for one's food can only go so far, can't it?" In the words of the great Bugs Bunny: "She don't know me very well, do she?" Communal feelings of excessive affection for one's food has fueled a web community with tens of thousands of loyal adherents. Call it sublimation if you will; for many of us, it's more akin to transubstantiation. There's no need to shtup under the table if my date and I can experience profound bliss states from what's set upon that table. And if that buzz is not forthcoming, I'm generally too disconsolate to so much as blow a kiss. Restaurants are about eating. And my goal is to always perform that otherwise banal bodily function as beautifully, openly, and intuitively as I possibly can. ciao Wed Jul 11 00:13:51 -0700 2001 1023378 0 Jim Leff 1 1023368 I don't think there is anything wrong with it... couples kissing and hugging (including my fiance & I) are romantic and fun and thrilling. I think it is great when two people show affection for each other. In America ( I am American), I believe people hide their affection...and many are too tightly wound and uptight.Now,groping.. touching "private parts" is , to me, a bit too intimate, in fact, it can be a bit vulgar, but whatever floats your boat. We have freedoms in this country and that is what we should be thankful for every day. One evening, I was hosting a private event for a law firm (I am an event planner). My busboy came to me relaying he noticed a pair of shoes sticking out from under this large round table. I looked under the table, and there were TWO couples , ah,well, groping. I know this was not in view of the other guests, but this was a bit over the top. When I was managing restaurants, I definately noticed couples groping, their hands under the table, and yes, as Mr. Leff replied, if they are doing this and not dining, well, perhaps something should be said to them I think that if it makes other people uncomfortable to see "public displays of affection" it is really their problem.I am aware of the prople around me when I am dining, but other people and what they are doing and saying is not my focus.. the food, the wine, the service and my conversation is what I am focused on. xxxxxx Tue Jul 10 16:26:02 -0700 2001 1023364 0 nikimichalakislebouquin 2 1023375 Welllllllll -- as long as they wash their hands when the're done! Tue Jul 10 17:37:48 -0700 2001 1023368 0 Gene 1 1023370 Saw a couple kissing repeatedly at Gramercy Tavern this past Saturday night. He looked about 55; she looked about 30. The PDA was mildly bad form, but the real shocking part was the salt shaker on the table. Apparently, this couple had asked for salt, thus undoubtedly ruining their perfectly prepared meals. I asked the waiter if he had thought about evicting them for their obscene behavior -- he claimed not to know what I was talking about. Tue Jul 10 16:36:59 -0700 2001 1023364 0 JGS 2 1023405 PDA means what? Wed Jul 11 04:44:54 -0700 2001 1023370 0 eva 3 1023409 Public Display of Affection Wed Jul 11 06:39:56 -0700 2001 1023405 0 rjka 1 1023386 Funny you should mention this. I happened to be in Rock Center this morning to visit a client, and I was early so I stopped at the Starbucks in the underground plaza to have some coffee. I sat in one of the two little nooks that Starbucks provides, maybe four tables, each with three or four chairs and a banquette. There was a couple at another table, deeply immersed in each other, obviously smitten. I noticed them, was pleasantly amused for a moment, then began to read my paper as I sipped the coffee. Then I was interrupted by the sounds of smooching. These were not soft kissing sounds, they were loud enough to distract me, perhaps 10 or 15 feet away. Sounded kind of like someone who sucks his teeth after a meal, not all that pleasant. Either they were new to kissing or they just didn't give a damn. Mind you, this was around 8:15 AM in Rockefeller Center! They kept it up, too, as I finished my coffee and left. I thought the couple I encountered this morning was a little too affectionate in public for my taste, especially with the loud sounds. But they weren't hurting anyone (as far as I could tell), and it was better than listening to them argue. Second anecdote involves a meal my wife and I had recently at Al Di La in Park Slope. We were seated at a deuce, with a gay couple seated at the next deuce. During dinner, one of the men at the next table slipped his shoe off and put his foot in his partner's crotch. I'm pretty sure I was the only one who really could see the whole thing, and I'm very sure neither of them cared whether I watched or not. They seemed to me to be far more interested in what they were doing than in the food. This, too, was distracting, but not really all that bothersome, at least to me. My final anecdote involves a round of golf (rather than dinner) some years ago. As we (four males) approached the tee on one of the holes we noticed a couple in the woods to the side of the fairway, maybe fifty yards away from the tee, right smack dab in the middle of getting it on. Didn't quite know what to do. Didn't seem right to yell "Fore!" and play thru, so we decided to wait, as we didn't want to take the chance of hitting them with an errant ball. Finally had to get on with the game and just went ahead and teed off. We walked right past them as they continued without interruption (what stamina!). We were more amused than anything else. My guess is that people playing sex games in restaurants is not all that uncommon. Sex and food are linked in so many ways, and a lot of people have exhibitionist tendencies. So I guess I feel about public displays of affection like I do about art: I don't really know what I think is OK until I see it or until I see something that crosses the line, wherever the line is. Tue Jul 10 21:25:52 -0700 2001 1023364 0 George Lynch 2 1023423 Following some of the latest behavior-oriented threads, I'm experiencing some cognitive dissonance here--people getting into each other (literally) at the next table is fine, but kids sitting quietly nearby enjoying their food is not? If I'm going out to -eat- I'd rather hear people slurping their food than each other. Yuck. Wed Jul 11 11:48:59 -0700 2001 1023386 0 Loeb 1 1023411 Can't help but compare this thread to the recent one about loud talkers on the General Topics board. Seems like chowhounds have far more patience for public displays of affection and may even find them entertaining. I just finished Joe Queenan's new book, "Balsamic Dreams," where he takes boomers to task for abandoning '60s values. He might be pleased to see evidence that a variation of one of them shows signs of life, at least among chowhounds. Make love, not noise? :) Wed Jul 11 07:33:54 -0700 2001 1023364 0 Dee Gustay 1 1023421 This was a while ago, (earlier this year) but it attracted so many stares, including from the wait staff, that I'm sure they remember.. At Divine Bar on E. 51st St., a couple was sitting next to us, their hands/arms intertwined throughout their meal. Nothing so wrong about that.. but at the end of the meal the girl got up to her (boyfriend? fiance? husband? other)'s side of the table, kicked up one fishnet-stockinged leg and straddled him like a horse. They stayed like that for the rest of their (and our) meal. Wed Jul 11 11:35:30 -0700 2001 1023364 0 smoochie 1 1023624 What I find amusing is the recent trend of restaurants where patrons eat on beds instead of tables (there was an article about it in the NYT a couple of months ago)--I personally think that sounds a little too silly. Sat Jul 14 21:34:20 -0700 2001 1023364 0 Jennifer