Pat arranged for us to meet friends of ours, Pam and George, to go for Father’s Day brunch at the Local’s Restaurant.  Locals is the best restaurant in the valley and has just relocated to what was at one time the best restaurant The Old House.  This is a location right on the Courtenay River just before it flows into the bay.  The combination should be very successful the best chef with the best location although I expect the overhead is much higher

We arrived an hour early so we could park and take the walk along the river around an island and back.  It was a beautiful morning and we walked for about 45 minutes. We then went in to be seated.

Locals restaurant is noted for the owner/chef Renald St Pierre who runs the kitchen and his wife Trish who runs the front end.

When we walked in Trish saw Pam and immediately hugged her and then George.  After the greetings she said “I am sorry I did not notice this but, Pam do you have reservations as we are fully booked?”  Pam said that the reservations were made by Pat and Trish politely asked her last name.  We have been to Locals several times but apparently we are not in the In-Crowd.  Fortunately with the known people, Trish she sat us at a prime table.

It reminded me of a similar occasion back in 1984.  I was working on Mount Pleasant Avenue as a sales manager for Gulf Oil (still considered the best 4 years of my working life)  Mount Pleasant is near downtown Toronto but not near the core.  A great street with restaurants and bars and galleries with this one office building that housed the regional office of Gulf Canada.  I loved that street.  I would work out daily either in the park across the street or run through the gorgeous Mount Pleasant Cemetery which has the finest collection of trees in Ontario.

I also entertained a lot on the street and my favourite restaurant was a bistro called Biff’s .  I would take my reps there to celebrate big gains.

At the time we had great friends back in Markham Dave and Lynn Breckles.  Dave was an VP executive at an insurance company downtown and dined out at restaurants around the world.  I thought it would be nice to impress our friends to take them to a restaurant that I liked way off the beaten path.  So we booked a Friday night at Biff’s and picked them up, drove downtown not telling them the name of the restaurant.

When we walked into Biff’s the Maître De  exclaimed “Ahhh Mister Breckles, how great to see you again but  I do not see your reservation.”  Dave said, while pointing at me, it is in his name.  And the Maître De then politely said “And who are you Sir?”

I had spent a fortune at this restaurant, but it occurred to me mostly at lunch.  Dave apparently took his out of country guests to Biff’s because it was good but off the beaten track. And he made a point to be known by the Maître De.  A small but significant difference between a guy that spends money on dining and a guy that spends money wisely.  A valuable lesson in my future sales life.

Shows to go you.. that you cannot assume you are famous even if you think you are in your own mind.