Every time we’re in Ottawa we go to the Fraser Cafe, usually for brunch, and I’ve heard great things about Side Door and very much look forward to going there. Ottawa has a lot of great restaurants that I really like.

I trust that your next fine dining experience will be more…fine.

Point taken!

Sir, there was no need to knock the opera. Me, I would rather attend the opera than dine (finely or otherwise).

Yours etc.

Rachelle and I have been fortunate enough to have done more than our fair share of high end dining, and I have to say that it’s something I’m enjoying less and less. The ritual of it all, the beauty and opportunity to go out and be amongst people, is always lovely, but at a certain point the thinly sliced wafers of experience that differentiate the food between the places becomes entirely meaningless. And of course, there’s a kind of obscenity to the expense, making the experience more pornographic than artistic.

I’m over-stating things here, I think, and I certainly don’t have the most sophisticated palette in the world, but for me there’s a terminal point for high level dining, and I think I’ve hit it. It just feels more like going to the opera than eating–too self-indulgent and serious-minded to be much fun.