Last night, we went to our neighborhood tapas restaurant. It was pretty amazing. The last time I was there, we got there just after work, and it was totally dead - we were the only people in the place, and by the time we left two hours later, there were only two other tables filled. That was quite a few years ago, and it was nice, but I've never ended up going back until last night.
We were there from 10p to 11p, last night, and it was totally packed. It was unbelievable how different the restaurant was. They've built a stage/dancefloor since the last time I was there, and they had a live band playing "the music of Spain and Latin America." (they had a banner up, and I could have sworn the banner listed a website, but Google isn't turning it up.) It's interesting how much more I enjoy the music of Spain and Latin America than the Crappy music of Mexican Restaurants.
What made it really fun was that people were making good use of the dance floor. It was elevated, right in front of the band, and couldn't have been more than 150 square feet. When we came in, it looked a bit crowded with 3 couples dancing, but at one point, there must have been more than 20 people up there. Every group/couple was doing their own thing, but they were all a lot of fun to watch.
The table next to us had four women, one of whom was dressed from shoulders to hips in leather, with 4" or so heels, and two men. One of the guys was wearing a nice, black suit, black dress shoes with RHINESTONE HEELS, and a diamond stud in one earlobe; the other was wearing a somewhat gaudy black suit with grey pinstripes. They both just screamed "We are suave players. Kneel before us." The band knew them, apparently, and even called out Mr. Rhinestone Heels as a master of the dance floor. It was disturbing, and yet awesome.
I'd forgotten what it was like to eat somewhere where people are having fun being involved in each other's business. Most of the time, I select restaurants based on how little I have to interact with my fellow humans, but this was really a blast. (Then again, I didn't really interact - I just sat around like a coward who doesn't know how to dance and watched. But it was a blast to see others interacting.)