Scene of the crime (of course I returned!)

Do you recognize this? Yeah, I didn’t either.

That’s because the last time I was at the Diamond Restaurant, I didn’t even get to the part where a menu was handed to me. Instead, I decided to entertain the restaurant with my lovely fainting episode which landed me in the hospital for three days.

That was in March, and I’ve gotta admit – even though it had absolutely nothing to do with the restaurant itself, I was a little scared to return. Simply because I was worried that the feeling of being back there might dredge up some deja vu that would lead to another fainting incident. How embarassing would that be – to faint at the same restaurant twice? (For the record, I haven’t been back to PF Chang’s since fainting there either, but I don’t consider that a huge loss – I like PF Chang’s ok, but let’s face it, it’s just another chain restaurant when it comes down to it …) But the Diamond was different. If you know Charlotte, I don’t have to explain this to you. If you don’t know Charlotte, in a nutshell there was a super famous restaurant called the Penguin and everyone loved it but the owners wanted to change it so the cooks from the Penguin quit and bought the Diamond, a restaurant that hadn’t been open in decades. They renovated and reopened and now it’s the place to go. There are news articles all about it online if you google them …

But the bottom line is, it’s an awesome atmosphere and I heard the menu was awesome too. And I wanted to find out even though I was more than a little nervous about going back.

So finally, a month ago, I gave it a try. Even texted Susan to come meet us (she was there the original night, so why not?). Armed with my prescription medication in my system and a healthy attitude about it, I went back in. Jeff was with me and I’m certain he was being extra cautious as well.

So, here we were at the Diamond. A lovely place, don’t you think?

The first thing I noticed was the bench that I’d originally sat on when I was feeling faint. The second thing I noticed was just how super close the parking block was to where my face had probably landed. I asked Jeff to show me where exactly I was. And he did. Gulp.

The other thing I noted was that at the time, I’d thought there was a huge empty field to the left of the restaurant. Turns out it was a side street. Wow, the things no oxygen in your brain can do to your memory …

—

So, we made it inside and I beelined for the bar. Did not want to wait to be seated, not even for one minute. We sat at the corner of the bar, and I made sure I was aware of the location of the bathroom and the exit. So far so good.

The menu came, and I realized my major issue this time around was not going to be avoiding fainting, but was going to be how the heck to not order everything on the menu. Man, I’d missed out the first time around!

Ended up ordering a pimento cheese grilled sandwich with macaroni and cheese. And not only survived the meal but loved every bite of it. I gotta tell you, if it wasn’t so unhealthy, I’d be going there once a week!

On the way out, Jeff made me sit and pose for a photo:

And this time, I didn’t faint after I stood up.