SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP

Alma and I tried a new Indian restaurant in Highland Park today called Curry Hut. This might normally be a Frugal Gourmand entry but I don't really have that much to say about the food itself - it was good but it was also pretty standard. What was most memorable about the evening was that we were one of two tables in the place, and the other table was two late-middle-aged couples and a guy who seemed like a college-aged son of one of them.

Within seconds of walking in, it was obvious that one of the women at the table was a complete know-it-all who absolutely would not stop talking. She was presenting herself as this high arbiter of Indian food, as though she had spent two years backpacking through India or something and knew the country inside and out. She just went on and on, discussing her favorite preparations (tikka masala seemed to be a particular hit), recommending dishes, talking about her first experience with Indian food (apparently it was in London some years ago), and on and on. Eventually the rest of the table had to increase their pretension just to keep up with her.

The worst part was she was obviously a wannabe know-it-all who had been to a few Indian restaurants and considered herself an expert, probably at least partially because she thought her dinner companions knew markedly less and would not be able to call her on it. Two lines of hers in particular stood out as being hilarious for being delivered so authoritatively and yet being so obviously stupid.

(a) "'Tikka' means that it was cooked in the oven."
Alma to me: "Yeah, I read the menu too!"

(b) "You can just tell that these spices are freshly ground."
Me to Alma: "Bullshit."

Maybe it was one of those things where you just had to be there. But it was pretty hilarious. This table spent so much time talking that we were in and out before they had even finished, even though they had clearly been there for a little while when we came in. Sad.