“Are you between the ages of twenty and twenty-two? Check. Do you have big breasts? Check.”
I'm sitting in an area dubbed “the Captain's Quarters” at one of the newest restaurants in Louisville, the Tilted Kilt. As of this writing the restaurant has been in service for two weeks.
And what a restaurant it is, folks.
Take the pub atmosphere of The Pub restaurant in Fourth Street Live! Add a sports bar's worth of widescreen/big screen TVs. Give it a “Hooters”-feel with girls in tartan mini-skirts, one-inch wedge shoes and cleavage that puts Hooters to shame and you've got Tilted Kilt. Oh yeah, and there's even Valet parking.
“Captain's Quarters.” It's an oblong table that stretches across the room, located between the bar area and the tables. The guy sitting across from me is Daniel who came to the place around five with a group of friends who left. He decided to stick around.
“Yeah, it got so dead and here that there were five girls surrounding my table,” he says with pride, leaning back in his chair. He's in his thirties with gelled black hair, white polo shirt, Blackberry phone and trendy designer sunglasses. I make a comment that he'd win the Jeffrey Donovan look-a-like contest (the guy who plays Michael Weston on “Burn Notice”) He laughs and says that he gets that a lot.
Jesse, a trainee with long, blond hair, plops in the chair beside him. She's learning the ropes from Amber who becomes my waitress. Both are in their early twenties. Amber ask me if I want to order and says there are thirty-six different beers. I ask for BBC Amber but they're out and opt for a BBC Stout instead.
Continuing to hang out with others congregating in the section, Jesse gets a backrub from Daniel. A short time after a group of guys walk in and take the seats to my right. They've been coming to the restaurant since it first opened, getting “VIP” seating the first night. The guy who sits to my right is named “Flash.” Small head, big body, and wears glasses. He's wearing one of those weekend t-shirts you pick out because you're doing chores on a Saturday and don't care what fitness club or sports team's logo is on the front.
“When you get off the plane in Philly you know what you smell? That.”
Daniel makes the comment because I tell him I ordered the cheese steak. He and Amber talk for a bit where Amber gives him her number and they chit-chat about where they live. He gets up to leave and says he's heading for Molly Malone's off Shelbyville.
“Just one more!”
Someone rings the bell and the tradition, if you can call it that, is to yell “Just one more!” any time it happens, Amber explains. I'm talking more with Flash who tells me he's an undercover cop. He shows off his two tattoos: one on his left shoulder that says Iowa Football and the other on his right that signifies that he was a military medic. I tell him a little about my regular job and that I do writing and photography.
Looking around I notice a few of the girls playing pool at one of the tables. Amber sits across from me and tells me how embarrassed she feels when she sees her old high school teacher from Oldham County come in. I make a note at how Tilted Kilt succeeds in a way that Hooters fails: the waitresses engage conversation with you. They come to where you're sitting, talk with you, play around, whatnot as opposed to taking your order and coming back around just to see what you thought of the meal and if you want something else (though they do that, too). They'll also let you take pictures with them.
Some jokes with a few of the guys, two beers, and a meal later and I'm heading home. Flash tells me to come hang out with him and his friends again. I hope the Tilted Kilt does well and stays around at least long enough for my next birthday.
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