Meeting a friend for lunch, I heard about a wonderful vegetable lasagna dish that I wanted to try at Tony’s in the Bluff View Art District. I had never been there.

My friend Lou and I were taken upstairs. It was lunch time and it looked as though there was room downstairs so I don’t know why we had to go up all those steps.

Once we sat down though, I was glad because the view was beautiful looking out at the blue sky with white clouds and the art sculptures that I could see. There was also a pagoda outside with strange green pods hanging down. My friend and I decided they looked like Edamame.

I knew about the Art District restaurants and that the owner grew his own herbs and quite a few garden vegetables so I was ready to really taste the flavor of the food.

I did order the vegetable lasagna and it was on special for $11.99, while Lou ordered the lobster ravioli for $12.99. Isn’t it always the way when you order first that you hear what someone else is having and you wished that you ordered that?

I knew I would like the lasagna but my mouth started watering for that ravioli. Our salads were brought and I didn’t realize salad didn’t come with the meal. Our waitress asked if we wanted a salad so I said yes, thinking it was a side item. The salads were an extra $4.99 each. We were brought bread and olive oil… that didn’t cost extra and that may be why I thought the bread tasted so good!

There were cloves of garlic inside the soft Italian bread and in the olive oil was Asiago cheese. I did enjoy my salad made of baby lettuce with balsamic dressing. There is such a difference in “fresh” when you experience the taste of the food.

I could have just made a meal on the salad alone, though I was looking forward to the lasagna with layers of grilled eggplant, Portobello mushrooms, squash, zucchini, ricotta cheese, and a house-made pasta!

It didn’t take long for our meals to arrive. Lou dug right in and just as I took my fork lifting up the layers of vegetables to see what all I was eating and then taking a few bites, I believe Lou was nearly finished! I think he liked his.

My dish was scrumptious too! There is just a difference when food is just “put together” or when it is artfully prepared by top chefs. I could taste the wonderful tomato basil sauce that I could tell was made from fresh basil out of the garden.

This meal was certainly worth the price. After lunch Lou and I strolled through the sculpture garden looking at the art. Most of my friends don’t get sculpture art and Lou didn’t seem to understand the meaning of the blue blobs (as he called them) standing out in the yard.

I think art is all about a story. The wonderful part is that the person observing is the one that gets to make up the story. I knew what story I made up in my own mind about the blue figuratives and, as we were leaving, we grabbed a brochure that told about the art we had viewed by Mark Chatterley.

The story I came up with in my mind was very, very close to what the pieces were titled. I was quite proud of myself and I felt so enriched!

Lou only complained of the humidity as if he had not even experienced someone’s story that was shared. We went back to our cars and I am sure Lou went home to take a nap like an old geezer full on his lobster ravioli.

Visit Tony’s and any other restaurant in the Bluff View area – there is more to it than just grabbing a meal, there is a wonderful experience awaiting those who open their eyes. I myself, felt as if I were young again.