It was all a terrible mistake. We were misunderstood. That is the story being told by the management of La Scala, a Beverly Hills restaurant that has been caught hawking a discreet speakeasy-style dining experience on New Year’s Eve. The invitation, which went out to regulars and their “friends,” flouts Los Angeles’s ban on dining, which was recently expanded to include outdoor cafes.
Fox News reports that the restaurant is claiming that “the invitation was mishandled by ‘the person that wrote it,’ but also misinterpreted by anyone who was offended by it.”
What is there to misinterpret? The invitation, written in plain English, makes reference to the era of “Prohibition” and asks recipients to keep the event “discreet.”
In a lengthy statement on its website, La Scala shares a revised version of the invite, which reads in part:
With the dining ban set to expire on Dec. 28, we are hopeful of resuming some sort of table service and we are considering taking reservations for New Year’s Eve. If this is something you would be interested in, please let us know. If allowed, and if there is enough interest, we’ll contact you directly.
Yeah, I’m fooled. How about you?
