The latest food walk destination was to a restaurant so new, my roommate and I didn’t even know its name, genre, dress code nor operating hours. Nonetheless, it was a good walking distance, past many other restaurants and the weather was fabulous.
My roommate walked in like she owned the place, wearing exercise leggings, and a bright T-shirt. I was dressed marginally better: cords with a T-shirt. Despite our raggedly looks, we were warmly greeted and directed to the host’s station, who greeted us with a similar reception.
The host sat us prominently in the middle of the restaurant where there was no hiding us. He handed us menus so new, the thick pages were still stiff.
We planned our order, so we wouldn’t walk back home with leftovers. We both got chocolate martinis since who doesn’t want to start with dessert first? Then we both got a small soup and an entree.
I absolutely loved the chocotini, wonton soup and spicy banana leaf salmon with brown rice. Throughout dinner, we speculated about the significance of the year 1618. After all, it was significant enough to name the restaurant, so it had to be something huge.
First thing that popped into my mind was Marco Polo’s travels to the Far East. On second thought, I remembered he’d lived way before that, which I confirmed on my phone after dinner.
Yet my post-dinner research had just begun. I could have simply asked the server about why that date was so important to Asian culture, but where’s the fun in that? My roommate speculated that it was the year before the first slaves were brought to the American colonies, but I shot that down, saying that that phenomenon wouldn’t have been significant to Asian countries.
Then we discussed the significance of numbers. We knew that in Asian culture 8 was an auspicious number and 4 was unlucky, but neither one of us knew anything about 16 and 18.
Soon it was time to leave and I suggested that we leave out the door where the parking lot was since I wanted to see how to access it when I drove to the restaurant. My roommate noted the restaurant’s name on the side of the building and commented, “Wouldn’t it be funny if 1618 was the address?”
We took about three steps to the right when we saw the adjacent business was numbered 1620. We lost it. She doubled over laughing, whereas I stood in stunned silence. After all the intellectual debate involving history and numerology, turns out we’d overthought the whole thing.
“One point for Yale!” She screamed, having figured out the mystery before I had. Well, I’ve made my alma maters proud on many other occasions, just not that one. “I’m mailing my degrees back to Carolina and DU!” I declared.
Of course, the only thing I’m going to do is recommend 1618 to anyone looking for a mid-range Asian fusion place.