Last night was supposed to be the vegetarian meal to end all vegetarian meals. The Millenium Restaurant (www.millenniumrestaurant.com), has long been ranked one of San Francisco's top vegetarian dining experiences; in fact, first started in 1994, the restaurant has been completely vegan for the last 10 or 11 years.

The menu was so diverse and interesting, it was becoming really hard to pick just one appetizer and entree; it was the "once in a lifetime" dinner, so what to choose? Well, trying to get the best of all worlds, we chose the chef's tasting menu, where we could get smaller portions of more items - big grins all around! While we were at it, we ordered a single wine pairing as well, very small amounts of different wine with each course.

The appetizers, soups and first entree were absolutely fabulous - very creative and unique, I could see how Millenium had earned it's reputation. Then things became, er, interesting. After the first *very* small glass of wine, I started to feel quite lightheaded; I'm hardly a big drinker, but that was surprising. And I gradually became more and more woozy until I looked at Elizabeth and one point, and re-iterated "man, am I feeling buzzed" - then promptly passed out on the dining room table...

Next I knew, Elizabeth was shouting my name at my side, and after a few moments of confusion I remembered what was going on. A stranger appeared at my side, suggested I have some fruit sorbet that was being served when I fainted. I had a bit, felt better, then started feeling warm and sweaty. I felt like I was about to pass out again, and the stranger (who said he was a doctor from Boston) had me lie down. Felt immediately better, but by that time 911 emergency had already been called. By the time they showed up I felt fully recovered, but they still did a couple blood pressure and blood sugar tests, and all was well. Regardless, after pressure from everyone there, against my desires, we went to the closest hospital just to make sure I was fine. But not before I scooped another few spoons of desert from our table.

As predicted, the physician at the hospital said it was an episode of Vasovagal Syncope (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasovagal_syncope), almost certainly caused from dehydration in combination with the wine. Sure enough, despite all our morning activities in the Muir Woods, big meal at Cafe Gratitude and long walk around the Botanical Gardens, I had drank almost no water. So silly of me - for all the care I take to dehydrate when running, I dismiss walking as any form of activity; and combined with the alternating warm/cool weather, I deceptively never felt thirsty all day.

So to put an end to the story - the Millenium Restaurant serves fantastic food, and I would surely go back, if they would have me! For now I'm just really bummed that by not hydrating during the day we were unable to have our second entree and desert; but it will certainly make for a dinner that we'll never forget...

04/23/07 by visitEarth
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