February 2004

That’s Dinnertainment

Eating and entertaining goes well beyond dinner and a movie at home

by Patrick Evans-Hylton

Throughout the course of history, we’ve loved to be entertained during a meal. Romans and Greeks routinely had live musical accompaniment during their festive meals. In the finest restaurants during the previous two centuries, tableside preparation of food has been quite a show: a tuxedoed maitre d’ would come to the table and skillfully press anchovies and raw eggs into a wooden bowl, toss in olive oil and romaine lettuce, and magically produce a perfect Caesar salad. Or he might ignite a skillet of cherries, sugar and brandy with circus-style showmanship, spooning the Jubilee over vanilla ice cream for each guest at the table.

Our parents in the ’50s fancied neighborhood versions of some Tennessee Williams or Arthur Miller production while chowing down on tomato aspic, salmon croquettes and baked Alaska.

Homegrown dinner and entertainment—dinnertainment if you will—also came about in the ’50s with the advent of Swanson frozen meals. Even the average Joe and Jane could afford to eat fried chicken from a searing hot aluminum pan while watching I Love Lucy.

Times have changed, but not our desire to make something more of a plate of food than just a meal.

In our region, there are plenty of opportunities to be entertained while taking supper—from the frugal to the extravagant. Some are more conventional methods, such as tableside service or dinner theater. Some are more modern takes on setting up a tray in front of the telly, like having a four-course meal while watching a movie on the big screen. Others are simple, but fun, like observing the jets taking off at the airport, or taking in a baseball game.

For the rest of this story, you can order the February 2004 issue of Hampton Roads Magazine.