The Noodle Bowl

"Of all the gin joints, in all the towns, in all the world, she walks into mine." - Rick in Casablanca

A good friend of mine, whom I have not seen in quite a while, had time to go to lunch with me yesterday. She suggested the Noodle Bowl, a place I've been to before and really like. Maybe it's been open a year or two in Fort Wayne; it's not an old, established haunt, but it has wonderful character, bestowed upon it by the people there.

Even though it has an Asian theme, for some reason when I walk in there I am reminded of the movie Casablanca - the cast of mixed ethnicity and colorful, sundry characters - each one different. A waitress who appears to me to be Korean; another one perhaps more Thai. And the maitre d' or host - charming and differential, with the looks of Peter Lorre, the Hungarian-born actor who played Ugarte, the man selling exit visas from Morocco in war time.

It's so nice to get to a restaurant first and have a few minutes to chill waiting for one's companion - I am thinking of Mick Jagger and the Rolling Stones singing, "I'm not waiting on a lady; I'm just waiting on a friend." She appears quickly then, apologizing for being a minute late - it really was my pleasure.

I order eggs rolls - some of the best in Fort Wayne - very narrow rolls with a very thin fried wrapper, containing meat and shrimp; spicy and sweet sauce on the side - my mouth is watering today thinking about it even though I ate them yesterday. The cucumber and shredded cabbage salad is cold, tangy and slightly sweet - a small side, only three or four bites - just right before the meal. The house soup is good but contains a grain that doesn't work for me in it - is it Bulgar? I don't know, not bad, just a matter of personal taste.

The waitress is very attentive, thorough, enthusiastic about the specials; she seems to think each customer is special - how do they keep up that much mindfulness every day? It works for them, of course - the restaurant has a lively clientele and a good reputation because of that. She even wants to correction pronunciation of dishes. She's just trying to be helpful and educate but one must be careful or that will start to seem a little hyper or anal. Freud, what are you doing in our common vernacular, you bastard? Gotta love it. Actually, with that particular phrase, not really.

As we wait for our food, we have a great conversation, catching up, and then I notice it - the quiet of the table next to us - listening to our conversation. It's a different, breathless quiet than just the people silently eating their food. Call me paranoid (stupid Freud, go away), but I'll go to my grave saying sometimes I get a really good non-verbal read on people. For me, in times of my life, honing that particular instinct was a matter of survival.

Ok, they're listening, and lowering our voices won't do any good - they're right next to us. It's harmless, we're not talking about anything problematic. It reminds me of a group of professional people I used to go out with after work, before I had several young children at home waiting for me. We worked at a mental health center, and our way of sloughing off the craziness and angst was calling ourselves "group" - a take on group therapy. There were administrative professionals, computer systems managers, an occasional therapist. We didn't talk about work much though, we talked about anything and everything but - current news, politics, stories about childhood, whatever. But nearly to a time, wherever we would go, we enjoyed ourselves and each other so much that sometimes my hairs would go up and I'd look around the bar or restaurant and see the eyes on us - ok, one of our guys had this delightful, infectious laugh or giggle that one just couldn't help chiming in with, but I swear it wasn't about the noise we were making - it was more like "who are these people, and why are they having so much fun? And why aren't we having fun like that?" Well, I don't know why you're not. And no, we are not hitting on each other, even if it would make you happier to think so.

We split pan-fried Udon noodles with beef, stir-fried with bits of zucchini, onion, carrots and more - delicious and rich tasting - a winner. They also serve a Pad Thai noodle dish on this menu - if you've never tried Pad Thai, I beg you to sometime when you don't know what to order - as long as you are not allergic to peanuts. I'll go to a Thai place and write about this in more detail another time for you.

Noodle Bowl is lovely and relaxing. Try their marinated beef or chicken satay on skewers - another winner. Or their noodle salad, or Teriyaki, or one of their many vegetarian dishes. And be glad you are not a celebrity and can eat in relative peace. No, I mean really, be glad of that.

And be glad you're not in Morocco, a refugee, trying to purchase illicit letters of transport to escape.

- Play it again, Sam.