Chez Pierre

Today we celebrated an early New Year’s Eve with dinner at Chez Pierre. We had read wonderful things about this restaurant and wanted to give it a try.  It was yet another adventure. Jean made the arrangements with Pierre. The reviews, in addition to talking about the wonderful food, also said Pierre can be quite cranky.  There had been one Active Captain review that said the people were late for their reservation & were not served (they didn’t say how late!). Anyway, Pierre told Jean he would be open today but wanted to know what time we wanted to come. She also asked if he knew of anyone who could give us a ride. It is possible to get there by boat and dinghy but we didn’t want to have to move the boat just for dinner. Pierre said he would come and get us. Jean said we would be at Basil’s dock which is what other people had always called the dock we use as a dinghy dock. We waited at the end of the road to the dock and eventually saw this tiny white van go flying by. A few minutes later Jean’s phone rang. It was Pierre asking where we were.  He went to the dock at Long Island Petroleum which he said was Basil’s dock. Uh oh. Were we in trouble?  Will he be annoyed and refuse to give us a ride or cook dinner? He came back in the tiny white van and chastised us for giving the wrong location. He said we were not where we said we would be and that we will walk. As he said that he started to drive forward and then stopped. George thought he was possibly serious about making us walk - which we would not have done. He stopped and we all apologized profusely as we climbed into the van. It had just 2 seats. Jean sat in the front with Pierre. George and I sat on a cooler lid on the floor and Michael sat on the metal floor. Pierre suggested leaving the side door open, promising he would drive slowly (he did not). Fortunately, there was a metal bar across the van behind the front seats. George, Michael and I all hung on. As we drove Jean thanked Pierre for picking us up and made conversation with him. He eventually started to warm up to us. After turning off the main road we went down some extremely rocky, bumpy dirt roads. We finally came to Chez Pierre. We walked in through the unfinished basement, up the stairs into the kitchen and then into the dining room. It was very nice in a casual sort of way. The bar and water was self-serve - get your own beer from the fridge in the back of the kitchen!  He had a full menu. We ordered pizza to share as an appetizer. The reviews said it was good and it was. Three of us ordered the catch of the day, grouper with tarragon sauce. Michael ordered the shrimp scampi. Michael and I each had a salad. It was all delicious and lived up to the reputation. After a leisurely dinner Pierre drove us back to the dock.   A great meal with good friends & another adventure - a New Year’s “eve” we will remember.