I went out to eat at a new restaurant in town. It's one that's run by aliens. Not like aliens from another country, aliens from another world. The Slognik planet. Not sure where that one is. Somewhere in space. That narrows it down. Anywhoo, the owner is a guy named Fliirk. Or at least that's what I think he said. Not sure how it's spelled since it's more of a squall than an actual word. So I'm over there and got a reservation. Was met by the hostess, who was just a human. Nice gal. A touch on the heavy side, but friendly. So she sits me down at a booth with these hoverchairs. They're super comfortable, but a bit unnerving. Still, you get used to them. The waitress was a Slognik. You know them, they're the ones with the beak and the tentacles. So she's the owner's wife. Turns out the owner has like 5 wives, and she's one of the mid-level wives as far as I can tell. Not sure how all that works, but I didn't pry much. I didn't know what to order, and the holo-menu was all in Slognik, so I asked her what was good. She suggested the boiled groiks were the house specialty, so I got that with a side of niak sauce. Got a drink of brill on the rocks. They also gave complimentary horvan chips, which I think are some type of fried alien fish eggs. They were chewy and very spicy. The wait for the boiled groik wasn't too long, but I did spend some time admiring the decor while I waited. A lot of pictures of the owner on trips throughout the universe. A pic of fishing trip on Vaggat over there and a safari on Capoll IX over there. Neat stuff. Anyway, the groik arrived and it was a large bowl of squirming tendrils. I guess boiling doesn't actually kill them, but it does enhance the flavor. If I had to describe it, I'd say it tastes similar to oysters, but more wiggly in the belly. The niak sauce tastes for all the world like ranch dressing. When I was done the waitress asked if I wanted desert, and I asked what they had. They had ice cream and tapioca. I suppose not everything had to be alien, but tapioca seemed like a better fit for the meal than ice-cream, so I got that. Then the bill came and it turns out they don't take cash. No credit cards either. They just wanted gold-pressed latinum. I said, "This is totally not Star Trek, so I don't have much of that." Since I couldn't settle up I ended up spending the rest of the night washing dishes. But, I got to know the cook, and he's a good guy. At least I think he's a guy.
