The Restaurant at the End of the Piata

There is a dove outside my window this very minute, you know. It's been a few days since I've interacted with them. Maybe I should leave some bread. They could be planning something.

They may like one of the pretzels we bought yesterday at a little walk-by shop in the piata. We weren't thinking of the doves when we bought them, though. We were thinking about the 3-cent street pretzels we saw in the travel books two years ago. They aren't 3 cents anymore. We did the math. They're 10 cents now, and climbing. Anyone who wants to see Old World Bucharest had better hurry. Things are changing fast. If the European Union doesn't like them, the little piatas may not last. That's my worry. They're not something that would be allowed in the U.S., being a little haphazard and random and probably not visited by Inspector No. 9. It's a bit like Anakin Skywalker's hometown, minus the desert and the slavery.

Inside our little piata is a little restaurant called Mini-Mi. I was not prepared for that, let me tell you. “Mini Me??” I exclaimed gleefully, turning the heads of a few of the customers. It has a terrace, and an inside that doesn't really look like an “inside” at all, as the walls are made of clear plastic. Hard plastic, not plastic wrap. It has red-and-white checkerboard tablecloths and looks like a cross between a little diner and a Renaissance Faire teahouse. The sun comes through the wall fairly cheerfully and they have wine.

They also have a no-smoking section, consisting of a table behind a hanging blanket. I think it will have to become a haunt of mine. My only complaint is the severe lack of dry red wines on the menu. That sunny little room would be such a wonderful place to sit with a glass of wine. I used to do that on the terrace at the Pizza Joint whenever I managed to escape work early on a Wednesday afternoon. At Mini-Mi, though, everything is either sweet or semi-sweet. People like to pour gassy water into their sweet red wine and make spritzers. I try not to think about it.