The incident at Southwark

Friday, a group of five of us went to Southwark at 4^th & Bainbridge. This is a favorite bar and restaurant of a few of my friends. The bar serves up old fashion traditional cocktails along with a nice beer and wine selection. The interior was very clean and dark. The menu was short and simple.

Our server told us about the specials and I got excited by the sweetbreads. I was surprised that some of my friends got excited by the sweetbreads until they found out what they really are. I ordered them and enjoyed them and only one brave friend tried them and seemed to like them. We also enjoyed a farmhouse cheese plate that had a wonderful Pate. I really wanted to order the grilled peach salad but went for the lamb.

Our entrees came and we all happily tucked in. I enjoyed my lamb but then it happened. Two people at our table ordered that Salmon. One of those was to enjoy fish for the second time in their life. And that fish was carrying a friend. Eating away, a worm was found in the fish. The worm was placed on a plate and even in the low lighting; we could all see that his worm was moving. The warm was thin, pale, and an inch or two long and squirmy. I have a strong stomach but it was a bit much even for me.

The waiter came by and we told him the situation. He took the worm into the kitchen and came back to say that yes, it was a worm and he would take it off the bill. The dinner who encountered the worm was asked if he wanted anything else but declined as appetite was all gone. He who finds the worm will never eat fish again. We were left wondering if the fish was undercooked for the worm to have survived but I joked that fish cooks at 150 degrees and worm at 190 degrees. The low lighting made it hard to discern the color of the fish.

We were all left feeling awkward, disgusted, and quite. There were other dinners around and we were trying to keep quite but a part of me wanted to scream, “There is a worm in the fish”. Every staff member who walked by our table must have been thinking, “that is the worm table”. Suddenly everything was worms like that scene in Lost Boys. I couldn’t wait to get out of their.

It had been a wonderful day and a nice meal until that worm came along. It really ruined the meal and was an unpleasant end to the night. Everyone felt bad about what happened and we didn’t know how to recover. One gross turn deserves another so we watched Female Trouble on the Jumbotron.