点评:Estelle is a marvelous St. Paul restaurant with fabulous food; my wife Claire and I, who live 10 minutes away by car, have eaten there several times. This review, however, is less about food and more about exceptional kindness. Last spring we had invited my younger sister, 15 minutes away by car, to join us there for a dinner, as she'd never been. A reservation was made, but then had to be canceled, as Beth just then got a devastating terminal medical diagnosis. Brain surgery, chemotherapy and radiation all followed. Nine months later, with my sister now knowing that she likely had only a couple of months or so left to live, we finally took her to Estelle, and she loved it - a superb experience. (Attached photo from that evening.) Beth achieved her goal of making it through a Christmas full of joy, and, with no further treatments possible, started hospice care at home, with her best friend, Amanda, coming from England to stay with her and care for her night and day until the end, which sadly has reached an "any time now" stage. So tonight, after the three of us had spent most of the day at my dying sister's bedside, my wife wanted to give Amanda, to whom we are immensely grateful for the loving care she's provided, a special meal. Estelle doesn't generally do take-out, but Claire called and explained what she wanted to do and why, and got the restaurant to agree make a large special order to go for three people (enough food for five or six, actually) that she would send me to pick up an hour later. When I arrived at Estelle, the manager to whom she'd spoken on the phone, Megan, asked me to please wait a moment, and brought out Estelle's owner, Peter Sebastian, who completely floored me by telling me that this meal was to be on the house. Included with the boxed food was a small vase with flowers and a card of sympathy from that evening's whole staff. This was so kind, touching, and unexpected! Amanda, Claire, and I were able to enjoy, amid emotionally wrenching circumstances, a truly fantastic meal punctuated by frequent expressions of appreciation. not only for how delicious everything was, but also for how immensely kind the restaurant had been. Amanda will be going home to England soon, but Estelle now and forever has earned triply loyal appreciation from their future even more-frequent local customers Claire and Eric.
翻译:Estelle 是圣保罗一家很棒的餐厅,提供美味的食物。我和我的妻子克莱尔住在距离酒店 10 分钟车程的地方,我们已经在那里吃过几次饭了。然而,这篇评论不是关于食物,而是关于非凡的善意。去年春天,我们邀请距离酒店 15 分钟车程的妹妹来我们那里共进晚餐,她以前从未去过那里。预订了,但后来不得不取消,因为贝丝当时刚刚得到了毁灭性的晚期医疗诊断。随后进行了脑部手术、化疗和放疗。九个月后,我姐姐现在知道她可能只剩下几个月左右的生命了,我们终于带她去了埃斯特尔,她很喜欢它——这是一次很棒的经历。 (附上那天晚上的照片。)贝丝实现了她的目标,让她度过一个充满欢乐的圣诞节,并且在无法进一步治疗的情况下,开始在家中接受临终关怀,她最好的朋友阿曼达从英国来和她住在一起日日夜夜地照顾她直到最后,可悲的是,这已经到了“随时”的阶段。所以今晚,我们三个人在我垂死的妹妹床边度过了大半天之后,我的妻子想给阿曼达一顿特别的饭菜,我们非常感谢她所提供的爱心护理。埃斯特尔一般不做外卖,但克莱尔打电话解释了她想做的事情和原因,并让餐厅同意为三个人做一份大的特别订单(实际上足够五六个人吃)一小时后她会派我去接。当我到达埃斯特尔时,她在电话中与之交谈的经理梅根请我稍等一下,并带出了埃斯特尔的主人彼得·塞巴斯蒂安,他告诉我这顿饭将在在房子上。盒装食物中包括一个小花瓶,里面插着鲜花和一张当晚全体员工的慰问卡。这真是太亲切、太感人、太出乎意料了!阿曼达、克莱尔和我在情绪痛苦的情况下享受了一顿真正美妙的晚餐,期间不时表达了感激之情。不仅因为所有东西都很美味,而且还因为餐厅非常友善。阿曼达很快就要回到英国的家了,但埃斯特尔现在和永远赢得了他们未来的常客克莱尔和埃里克三倍忠诚的赞赏。