Romeo Lunch 11-28-12
The Romeo gang met for lunch today at the Brutole
Restauarant in Danvers, MA. See the
website ….. Go
to www.brutolerestaurant.com for more information. There were
8 Romeos in attendance: Larry Weathers, Jim Terlizzi, Steve Winter, Paul
Girard, Mark Ryan, Ed DeSchuytner, Joe Lapiana, and Joe Pignatiello.
We were seated
in a separate dining room near the front window. Our waiter took drink orders
which consisted of beers, margaritas, martinis, manhattans and soda. We then got our menus while bread and
seasoned olive oil for dipping was placed around the table.
After the drinks
were served we made a toast to one of our Romeo family that passed away
suddenly (Mike Zapantis). Jim Terlizzi then read a prayer that brother Tim had
sent. We then all reminisced on our
association with Mike. We will all miss
a good friend. Jim also said that Mike’s
wife Diane said that she is still interested in helping make the wine that Jim,
Mike and Bob had planned to do this year. It was what Mike wanted.
We then ordered
appetizers and entrees. The appetizers consisted
of calamari, mussels and onion rings to share around the table and were
seasoned just right. Our entrees
consisted of seafood fettuccini , chicken masala, chicken-broccoli-ziti and Caesar
salad with chicken.
After devouring
the appetizers, the entrees were served quickly and were very tasty. Although the entrees were delish, they had a
great cream sauce that added mega calories to my diet. The Romeo lunches are
always great but are a diet killer. You can see a photo and graph below that
shows how my diet changed just a “wee bit” over the last week.
The conversation bounced around the table with talk about
sports, the lottery, and the weather. We all had purchased our Power Ball tickets
with a prize of over $600 million. What would we do with such an enormous
amount? We all speculated : trips,
yachts, charity, children, trust funds.
Larry Weathers surprized us today with a visit. Although
he has officially retired, he has been doing part time work as K8 Coordinator
for Arlington. A lot of systems are doing away with administrative positions to
save money. Some are even combining positions that were once separate jobs. Now
there may be the Director of Math, Science and Technology or English, Social
Studies and Fine Arts. It looks good on paper, but hard to do a good job when
wearing too many hats.
Larry also said that he has a family shell fish license
in Ipswich and with his daughters collected over 150 oysters the day after Thanksgiving.
His family had a great time devouring the fresh seafood feast.
Paul then talked about his iPhone and all the things that
it does. Larry added that he also has an iPhone and uses the Siri (voice)
feature a lot. I then showed my new
hotspot gadget that makes my iPod Touch work just like an iPhone. It is a
device called “Internet On The Go” from Sprint and is sold through Walmarts. No
contract and you by minutes as needed.
We then talked about where to go for lunch next time.
Several places were suggested in Salem, Somerville and Peabody. We finally
decided on The Red Kitchen Tavern for December 19. Jim will send out emails to let everyone know
the exact details.
Lastly, I need to rate the restaurant and give it an overall 7 out 10. Although the Food, Service, and Decor, were good, the prices were too high. The cost for lunch was $43 each. That includes the drinks and tip. For that price you would expect shooting stars and fireworks. Of course, this is all just my opinion.
You can see some photos of the group at the Picasa Web
Site at the link below ……..
https://picasaweb.google.com/108806068200291783388/RomeoLunch112812?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCMeLts6Sh6STkAE&feat=directlink
