A Date With The Waldorf

Stop the presses!  Major news flash!  OMG!  The days of dressing for the occasion are no longer.  Case in point:  I recently visited the Waldorf Astoria for Sunday brunch.  You know, that famous New York City landmark touted as one of New York’s premier hotels.  La crème de la crème, as they say.  Prior to my visit, I called the hotel’s restaurant, Peacock Alley, to inquire about the dress code.  I was told that  the dress code is “smart casual”.  I took that to mean casual, but neat.  Well, to my chagrin, my niece and I arrived “smartly” dressed only to encounter not one, but many patrons ‘un-smartly’ attired.  Why the chagrin?  Well, for one thing, I thought I was hallucinating when I spotted a disheveled looking woman in ill-fitted clothing wearing bedroom slippers.  No kidding, she was there for brunch.  Ugh!  And double ugh!  That wasn’t all.  There were others also shabbily dressed.  My niece and I wore our Sunday best handbag, hair smartly coiffed, shoes mirror-polished.  But, wait!  Forget all of that.   My sourpuss weakened greatly when we moseyed on over to the spot-on buffet.  Aahh!  Lobster tails for breakfast and caviar chaser.  Yummy!  The delicious food more than made up for the tacky feet that sashayed around the room without a care for their public appearance.  Let’s not forget the chocolate fondue fountain and giant succulent strawberries that capped off the morning feast.  Yum, yum, yum!