I get loads of requests for restaurant recommendations, but here was a first:

“I have a ‘bony butt’ which means it’s painful to sit on chair with little or no padding. I carry a cushion in my car so that if I end up in a place with hard chairs I can use it. However, I don’t want to carry my chair pad into a restaurant with my colleagues.”

(Not to mention the prospective job candidate she was seeking to impress.)

“I was hoping you could suggest a few restaurants that have excellent food, are not too loud, and have comfortable, somewhat cushy seating. I know I am not the only one with this issue; it might make a good post!”

Indeed. As I stopped to reflect, however, I realized that this was not going to be an easy question to answer. I had recently dined at Terra Plata, which has hard wood chairs, and Altura, in which my seat was hard as a church pew (indeed, it probably had once been a church pew)—but neither bothered me overmuch, owing probably to a posterior which I’m fairly sure has no bones at all.

I reflected on a few super pillowy places—-the Moroccan belly-dancing haunt Kasbah; the lay-down-if-you-want-to Thai joint in Madrona, Naam neither belly dancing nor full-body reclining seemed particularly right for a client dinner. A few casual places have struck me as comfortable over the years; namely Madison Valley’s casual French bistro Luc; Fisher Plaza’s TV-and-burger emporium Sport; and the sceney, singlesy Sip downtown. All are ‘third places’ of a sort, encouraging the kind of lubricated lingering my friend wasn’t talking about. The Herbfarm in Woodinville also has notably cushiony chairs; but then they’d better have when dinner comes in nine courses over four hours.

What she was talking about was a place like the elegant and comfortable Book Bindery, whose lightly cushiony chairs I remembered as very comfortable. Or RN74 downtown, whose booths and chairs both allow a nice friendly sink.

In fact she chose the latter, and had a wonderful time.

If your derriere has any favorite restaurants, won’t you please invite it to share them here?