Muni Diaries

Photo: The New York Times

New Yorkers have changed their minds and decided that their trains are clean enough to eat in. A crew of pop-up restauranteurs staged a dining car aboard the L train a few days ago: “For one half-hour luncheon, a car on the L train was transformed into a traveling bistro, complete with tables, linens, silverware and a bow-tied maître d’hôtel,” according to a story in The New York Times.

Within moments, a car of the waiting train was transformed into a traveling bistro, complete with tables, linens, fine silverware and a bow-tied maître d’hôtel. “Is this your first time dining on the second car of the L train?” he asked, as guests filed in.

They had been lured by the promise of a clandestine dining experience. (“Please go to the North East Corner of 8th Ave and 14th St,” read the instructions e-mailed early that morning. “There will be a tall slender woman there with jet black hair who is holding an umbrella. Please just go up and introduce yourself. Her name is Michele and she is quite lovely, but no matter how hard you press she won’t tell you about the adventure you are going on.”)

In case you’ve filled up on your pay wall limit for the month, let me just tell you that diners noshed on caviar, foie, and chocolate panna cotta (“dusted with gold leaf”). Read more about the dinner party on the L, including how they rigged the tables on the train, staged dry runs for the dining experience, and the terse response from the MTA.