Food of Love

Probably one of the most challenging nights to book a reservation at a top New York City restaurant is on Valentine's Day. Much like the churches that are only filled on Christmas and Easter, the prime eateries are packed to capacity.

The big name restaurants usually have a specific date and time at which they commence accepting reservations for Valentine's night. The date varies from place to place but a month in advance is about average.

Individuals savvy about this process normally call the establishment well in advance to determine this critical piece of information. Thus, at the magic moment, the restaurant is inundated with an onslaught of phone calls.

Like a frenzied swarm of salmon impelled to locate a specific mating site, throngs of otherwise uninspired men are driven to book that special table.

And for the record, allow me to say that you once-a-year romantics are a thorn-in-the-side for us hopeless romantics who regularly share romantic dinners with our beloved, and must now overcome nearly insurmountable competition to do so.

Having lived and worked in NJ all my life, I have numerous contacts that could assure me a table in the Garden State. But this year my sweetheart and I decided to spend Valentine's in the city.

Thus, I headed upstream with the masses in an effort to procure that elusive, heavily vied for, and proverbial table for two.

Being a quite determined individual, my plan was to slip into the river ahead of the first wave and improve my odds. Ha!

Five weeks before the big day, every place I called was either completely booked or not taking reservations until a later date. My first choice, which fell into the latter category, was the infamous Gramercy Tavern, Chef Tom Colicchio's four-star paradise in the Gramercy/Flat Iron district.

Saturday morning, January 17th, 9:30am was go-time. 9:27am I made my first call only to encounter a busy signal. Apparently I wasn't the only fish endeavoring to get a jump on the pack.

I then spent the next two and a half hours repeatedly hitting the redial button, finally getting through at noon, only to discover that they had completely booked by 10am AND had a sizeable waiting list as well. Damn once-a-yearers.

And then the real nightmare started. Confident that I would have booked the Gramercy Tavern, here I was less than 30 days from Valentines with no dinner reservations. Yikes!

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