Dining partners

“I almost threw up just then,” my dining partner told me one night at Red Square Restaurant & Caviar Bar in Rehoboth Beach.

Oh my. Now, that’s something you don’t ever want to hear in a restaurant.

Was there a hair in the smoked salmon? Did he slurp a bad oyster? Or bite down on red, raw poultry?

None of the above.

It was the blini I had just smothered with osetra caviar and handed to him.

While I happily munched away on pricey fish eggs and sipped champagne - which were both icy cold and excellent - his face turned into an ashy, Grinchy grimace. He couldn’t swallow water fast enough to get rid of the lingering nutty, briny taste that I adore. (Frankly, I was a little surprised at his reaction - this is a guy usually game for almost any kind of food. But taste is, after all, subjective.)

“It’ll get better,” I promised and scooped up sevruga caviar.

He gave me a look like I just tried to hand him chopped up tarantulas on toast.

Done. Over. Out.

Not everyone is a suited partner for the dining reviews I write for The News Journal and its sister publication Brandywine Signature magazine.

And finding the right dining partners can be harder than you'd imagine.

I’ve taken people along only to find out that they weren’t at all interested in sharing bites of their meal. Others haven’t been so happy to discover that, no, sorry, they could NOT get the same dish as someone else at the table or make special orders. And still others just wouldn’t stop talking, loudly, about REVIEWING the restaurant.

There’s no three strikes and you’re out as my dining partner in crime.

Nope, on my end, it’s one strike and you’re gone.

Dining out is a job. A fun one much of the time, but, albeit, a job just the same that I take very seriously. I have to order a wide variety of food and I need people along who can go with the flow.

Luckily, I’ve developed a posse of eaters who know the rules.

Two of my favorite partners are a pair I like to call The Picky McPickersons, a very well-traveled couple who appreciate all kinds of food. They have great palates and will ask all kinds of questions that I sometimes don't think to ask. They treat my dollar (actually The News Journal's) like their own.

The couple, who aren't professional eaters, are like many restaurant patrons. Faced with an off night or shabby performance by the kitchen or staff, chances are pretty good they won't be returning for any redemption dinners.

They can dine with me anytime.