Pierce's Place

Back in the 70's some of the folks I worked with sometimes mentioned Pierce's Plantation with a sense of awe. It was an expensive, very nice restaurant in an uppercrust neighborhood of Towson, MD. I have wanted to go there, but never had the kind of money or date with money to eat there.

My co-worker, a woman named Liz, and I were really excited when we saw the new restaurant that was about to open, so we made reservations. It turns out we were their first ever customers. The wait staff was very sharp looking in black pants and fancy white tuxedo shirts. It was all very formal, but very nice. Back then I smoked cigarettes and the minute I put an ash in the ashtray, one of the waiters would come over with a fresh ashtray and take away the dirty one. It was so funny, and Liz and I got a big kick out of it. We were having a ball watching these new waiters set the table for us. We had scads of silverware, and along the way, they kept changing it, because they didn't quite know what they were doing.

I wish I could say I remembered what I ate for lunch that day, but I know it was delicious. Too bad I didn't blog or keep a good journal back then. I will always remember being waited on hand and foot, though. It was a nice way to spend a lunch hour, with all those good looking, well dressed young men helping a poor working girl feel special. It was surprisingly affordable.

One lunch I do remember well is the time Jim Woodcock took me and Liz to The Black Pearl, an Italian restaurant at Baltimore's Inner Harbor. Wow, what a great place, and Jim only spent $27 for our lunch there, but that was back in the mid 70's. The food was great. I had a veal dish with vegetables that was excellent, followed by a huge piece of rum cake. I couldn't have asked for a better meal. Later, when I was leaving Comical Credit to work for Control Data Institute (Seedy Eye), Jim offered to take me out again, even though we had not worked together for some time. We went for dinner this time, and found ourselves at the Black Pearl, alone in a fancy dining room with a much higher priced menu. Both of us were stunned with sticker shock at the prices, so we left to go someplace more reasonable. The Black Pearl closed soon after that. I don't think they did enough business to stay open.