I have for a number of years been a member of a group of six people who have dubbed themselves The Dynamic Diners. We dine out weekly together – though not everyone makes it every week – and we do this because we like to dine out, we want to support local restaurants, and we like each other’s company. This isn’t a restaurant blog, but I will occasionally feature reports on one of our nights of Dining Dynamically if there is something noteworthy about it.

So – a while back all six Diners had a generally excellent evening out at Chaucer’s, a pub that has operated here in town for as long as I can remember. (Indeed, since the night I am writing about here, the Freeps featured a story (link) on the restaurant celebrating its 50^th anniversary.) It shares a kitchen and menu with The Marienbad Restaurant next door, but we like the pub side, largely because of the cozy fireplace. On this night the pub was hopping, probably because there was an event on at the JLC just a block away. The place appeared to have been taken a bit by surprise by this, as there was only one server to handle the entire mostly occupied room while we were there. None the less, that one server was gracious, fun and highly competent, which easily compensated for the slight delays in service.

The kitchen here puts out hearty East European fare – schnitzels, goulash, roast pork and the like, and they do it well. All but one Diner was very pleased with what they ordered. However, in my view the best thing about our evening occurred to me about halfway through dinner. All six Diners were present, seated at a rectangular table, with myself and J across from one another at one end, I and G across from one another in the middle, and M and Mu across from one another at the other end. When the Diners are out, we are not a quiet table; many things are discussed, sometimes stridently, and often more than one topic is on the table – so to speak – at once. What I realized eventually was that I could be and often was part of the conversation going on between M and Mu at the other end of our table.

When one dines out a lot, as we do, you get used to (if not happy about) the fact that in many restaurants it can be impossible to carry on a conversation with fellow Diners even when they are sitting across from you. But here I was conversing easily with people at the farthest end of the table. The reason for this being possible at Chaucer’s is apparent if you look around. The walls are mostly wood, while the floor is carpeted. This contrasts with the more frequently encountered style of restaurant décor consisting almost exclusively of hard, echo-producing surfaces. Add to that many restauranteurs’ insistence on piping music into their already loud rooms, and you have a recipe for ending the evening hoarse and headachy. Indeed, the Diners no longer go to AnnDining precisely because our last visit to that particularly egregious example of LOUDness had exactly that effect on us.

Not at Chaucer’s. If there was any piped in music, I couldn’t hear it. Just the sound of my fellow Diners’ voices, arguing and laughing about all sorts of interesting things. It was wonderful, and added much to our enjoyment of the evening. And, keep in mind that the room was nearly full of other diners. Didn’t matter, we at our table of six could all talk to one another. A gift, to be sure, and an all-too rare one. It will bring us back to Chaucer’s again in the future.