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A toast to wine, women and food
By JANET K. KEELER, Times Staff Writer AT THE TABLE WITH: The Dining Divas * * *
CLEARWATER -- The sun is dropping behind the high rises on Clearwater Beach, and we've got a perfect vantage point from a window table at the Island Way Grill. "Here's to the sunset," someone shouts. Wine, soda and water glasses rise into the air. Clink, clink. Clink, clink. Solemn reverence for the sky show passes quickly, and the noise level jumps again. After all, this is the third Thursday of the month, and the Dining Divas are gathered for their monthly dinner meeting. The Divas are nothing if not a little rowdy. "Meeting" is probably the wrong word to describe the regular outing. "Meeting" implies there is an agenda, or maybe even work to be done. The Dining Divas, a group of about 25 women from Pinellas and Hillsborough counties, get together for the sole purpose of experiencing the Tampa Bay area's upscale restaurants. Tonight they eat in Pinellas, next month it's Hillsborough. Food is not the only focus, though there are lots of oohs and aahs as sushi and steaks and simmering soups are brought to the table. The camaraderie that comes easily to most women, even those who don't know each other well, is the other main event. The Divas talk about anything and occasionally all at the same time. An article earlier this year in Working Mother magazine reported that women discuss an average of 40 topics when they get together for a typical night out. The Divas are proof of that. At just one end of the long table, seven or so of the Divas talk about: Enron, ethics in bookkeeping, babies sleeping through the night, exercise, biceps definition, the Clearwater roundabout, how Americans don't know how to drive roundabouts, birthdays, loving cooking, hating cooking, next month's restaurant choice, what each person ordered, the quickest ways to drive from St. Petersburg to the Island Way Grill (there really aren't any), wedding planning, how many pictures are left on the camera, men who don't respect women at work, a Diva Web site, sushi vs. sashimi, the Diva logo designed by a member, a telephoto lens and its resemblance to something else, husbands who like doggie bags, men taking care of babies, red hats on older ladies, red thongs and so on. The chatting never ends, which is what makes it all so fun. The club is the brainchild of Linda Mullins, who started the Divas with a friend 2-1/2 years ago when she lived in Atlanta. Mullins' best friend, Maria Walker, liked the idea and began a group in the Tampa Bay area, and Mullins joined when she returned to Florida. The first dinner was at Ruth's Chris Steak House in Tampa in April 2001. Four women attended. The members are in their 30s, 40s and 50s, and many of them work in the medical profession. Walker is a medical software saleswoman, and Mullins is a national recruiter for Southeast Toyota. Among the others members area real estate agent, a hair stylist, a few business owners and a business manager for a company that builds yachts. They are married and single, mothers and grandmothers. And they love all kinds of food. The Divas don't raise money for charity, nor are they driven by the get-ahead networking ideals of the big '80s and '90s. There are no officers, and members take turns planning the monthly dinners. Tonight's planner is Noelle Norvell, business manager for MarineMax in Clearwater. She picked the Island Way Grill, a sister restaurant of Frank Chivas' Salt Rock Grill in Indian Rocks Beach, and made sure that the restaurant could handle a large party. A large party that wants to pay by separate checks. Tonight that would be about 15. One restaurant refused to write separate checks, and the Divas, even the bookkeepers among them, had a heck of a time figuring out who owed what on a $600 bill. Now they ask in advance and won't go to a restaurant that can't at least give checks for groups of four. Norvell also wanted to be assured a nice table. Island Way cooperated, and the Divas are at the best table in the house. When the sun goes down, the twinkling lights of Memorial Causeway entertain us. The sommelier sends over three bottles of champagne to celebrate the engagement of one of the women. We toast him and the bubbly with the bubbly. Mullins wonders if the group is getting too big and admits it's lucky that most months only about 15 women attend. When the group gets too large, restaurants want the women to pick from a set menu of three or so entrees, which defeats the purpose of the outing. Norvell raises her glass and gives the first toast of the evening, this one to good company and good food. She wears a paper tiara that says "Happy Birthday," something all members do at the dinner that falls in their birthday month. She puts it on, then takes it off a few times. What diva wears a paper tiara? Mullins and Walker and a couple of other women are in sparkly, velvety black dresses. How appropriate, since they arrived in a limo, a true diva chariot. The evening ends three hours after it started with another toast, a few kisses and a lot of hugs. Next month's restaurant is undetermined, but the Divas will definitely dine again.
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