Violeta’s field notes from Jacksonville, Florida. Restaurants, bars, hidden rooms, cocktails and places worth getting dressed for.
THE VOLSTEAD (speakeasy)
Jacksonville, Florida • Monday Night
The room: dark, sexy, vampire friendly
The drink: Margaritas
The food: None available
The date test: with the tasty lawyer. Sexy night. Spent most of it rubbing on him with my hands, breasts, and standing in front of him while he stood behind me.
Would I return: absolutely, looking forward to taking Wounded Boy
The story: I should have taken him to the spacious bathroom and had my way with him.
Update: (Wednesday night) I once wrote that I should have taken Wounded Boy into the spacious bathroom and had my way with him. On the return visit, I corrected the oversight. The bar was nearly empty, which made discretion mostly impossible. We misbehaved anyway, finished our drinks, and went home to finish what the bathroom started.
BB‘s (restaurant and bar)
Jacksonville, Florida • Wednesday Night
The room: intimate, but cramped. I hated sitting directly across from each other, and the tables were close enough that I felt like I had been involuntarily added to the conversation next to us.
The drink: Water. We were saving the drinking for the speakeasy afterward.
The food: Stuffed salmon, Caesar salad, and white chocolate raspberry cake for me. Airplane chicken, house salad, and bread pudding for him. Both entrées were specials.
The date test: The food, music, and atmosphere are absolutely date ready. The seating is not. Too close to strangers, too little privacy for secret touching, stolen kisses, or the kind of dinner conversation that requires nobody else hearing it. Better for girlfriends, family, or a date where behaving yourself is actually part of the plan.
Would I return: I wanted Wounded Boy to try the food because it really was delicious. What I failed to consider was that I also intended to be dessert, and BB’s gave me nowhere convenient to serve myself.
RUSTIC 21 (brazilian restaurant)
Jacksonville, Florida • Sunday Lunch
The room: Cute, small restaurant. Not much in the way of cozy secret corners, but the dark wood, sunflower cloth napkins, and pop songs reworked into jazz gave it a cool, easy lunch vibe.
The drink: Caipiroskas. Lemon and lime for me. Rapadura with cane sugar, lemon, and strawberry for him. Delicious.
The food: We shared feijoada, a rich bean stew with beef, sausage, and pork ribs, served with rice, fried banana, fried yuca, yuca dust, chicharrón, collard green salad, and pico de gallo.
The date test: He chose the place, which was a pleasant surprise. Unfortunately, it had been three days since I had sex and I was not particularly interested in getting full and bloated before our playdate. He arrived with flowers that somehow matched the yellow throughout the restaurant, which was annoyingly cute.
The waiter kept cutting his eyes at me. Later, he asked if we knew each other.
I said no.
I quietly hoped Wounded Boy would not be offended.
He wasn’t.
Would I return: Absolutely. Preferably without Wounded Boy, because I would like to finish the conversation with the cute waiter. He did not seem especially discouraged by the fact that I was sitting there with another man.
The Story: The food was good, the flowers were pretty, Wounded Boy behaved himself, and the waiter flirted anyway.
Everybody understood the assignment.
