Family

Having a Baby in Uruguay Follow Up: First Trimester Down!

August 5, 2009 by Brian

If you didn’t read our original blog about having a baby in Uruguay, you can find it here.

We’re happy to report that we’ve made it through the first trimester!

Everything is going well with my pregnancy and the care I’m receiving at Hospital Britanico has been great. I’ve found an obstetrician that speaks English, which has been very helpful, although I am a little nervous about the fact that not all of the labor and delivery staff will speak English.

If it were anything other than delivering a baby, I wouldn’t worry so much about the language barrier. I guess we need to brush up on Spanish medical terminology.

The latest discussion in our house is whether we’re having a baby boy or baby girl… I think we’re having a boy; Brian thinks we’re having a girl. We have another ultrasound next Thursday, so we’re hoping to find out if we’re having a boy or girl in just over a week (right before Brian embarks on a weekend journey to the States to pick up my maternity clothes and baby stuff). Of course we’ll keep you updated when we get the news.

Although I don’t think she quite understands yet, Zoë points to my belly every morning and says “baby.” I still think she’s going to be in for a bit of a shock when we bring an actual baby home in February. But she is a very loving little girl, so I think she’s adjust just fine with a little time.

I was just thinking today about how different it is going to be having baby #2. When Zoë was born, Brian was able to stay with us in the hospital.

This time around, he’ll have to stay with Zoë at night, so I’ll be at the hospital alone with the new baby. While it’ll be different and I’m sure Zoë will be wondering where mommy is, it’ll give me some private bonding time with the new baby before we bring him or her home and mommy is pulled in multiple directions.

That will have both its pros and cons. When I was still recovering after having Zoë, it was nice to have Brian there to change Zoë’s diaper (he actually changed her very first diaper) or bring her to me so I could feed her.

But, I guess the positive side is that I’ll get extra snuggle time with the new baby and can sleep knowing that Brian isn’t laying on an uncomfortable cot next to me ☺ We’ll see how I actually feel about it when the big day comes.

We’ll keep you posted on our blog in the coming months about how things are going. And of course, we’re still working on our ebook to help other expatriate families understand the process of having a baby in Uruguay.

Renting an Apartment in Uruguay

July 12, 2009 by Brian

Renting an apartment in Uruguay is a very different process than our experiences in the States. Oftentimes in the US, you deal directly with the owner. However, in Uruguay, typically both the owner and the renter have a real estate agent (inmobiliaria) representing them.

As a renter in Uruguay, it’s best to have more than one real estate agent representing you… we had four. Why? There is no MLS (multiple listing service) in Uruguay, so oftentimes only the owner’s inmobiliaria and a few of their friends know about each available apartment.

Every real estate agent will have different apartments to show you, so you don’t want to limit yourself to only what one agent has to show you. Luckily we were given that piece of advice our first week here.

We decided to spend our first week exploring Pocitos to get to know the area, and start looking at apartments our second week in Montevideo. We had our room at the Punta Trouville Apart Hotel reserved for three weeks, and we were hoping to have an apartment before the end of that three-week period.

The first apartment in Uruguay we decided to check out was one we saw on the Internet. It was a fully furnished 2-bedroom apartment listed on the Internet for U$S 600.

When we contacted the inmobiliaria, she showed us the apartment and told us the rent was U$S 650… It was also listed as being in Pocitos, but it was actually in Parque Batlle. Next inmobiliaria please.

Our next inmobiliaria showed up to our hotel in a cab and said she didn’t have enough money to pay for a cab to the property. It was a “3-bedroom house” in “the heart of Carrasco,” furnished at U$S 620 per month.

We planned on staying in Pocitos, but that is an AMAZING deal for a furnished 3-bedroom house in Carrasco. She told us it had a “nice patio and a parrilla” and it was “not to far from the beach” and it was “walking distance to everything.”

Well, it was actually in Carrasco Norte. The “3-bedroom house” was a quadra-plex and the unit was a center unit. The 3rd bedroom was off of the kitchen and led to the parrilla, and didn’t have a door… I would consider it a dining room.

It was walking distance to the Portones Shopping Mall; “They have all the stores there, you don’t need any others.” And it was a good 2-3km from the beach… LOL, at least we got to see part of Carrasco we would have not otherwise seen.

After that, we had two other realtors we were working with and they were both phenomenal. We started out looking at furnished one-bedroom Uruguay apartments, thinking that Zoë could sleep in her travel crib in our room since we only planned to sign a six-month lease initially.

While it was a nice idea, we quickly realized we just wouldn’t have enough storage space for our luggage… or much privacy.

So, after seeing several very nice fully furnished one-bedroom Uruguay apartments ranging from U$S 500-900 our first week of looking, we started viewing two-bedroom apartments in our third week in Montevideo.

On Wednesday, we had a full day of apartments to see with our real estate agent. (BTW, because we did a 6-month lease with option to extend; we paid a premium. If you are willing to do a 1-year lease, you can get an even better price…)

The first two-bedroom apartment we saw was beautifully furnished, but overpriced at U$S 1200 per month (gringo discount). Then we saw a couple of Uruguay apartments in a compound type community. The whole community was gated with 24-hour security, and it even had a market and jardin (preschool) in it.

We were told there were a lot of international people and people from the US who lived there. They were reasonable priced U$S 700-850 range, however, the community was very secluded from the heart of Pocitos, where we really wanted to live. In addition to that, if we wanted to live with a bunch of people from the US, we would have stayed in the US. Zoë was tired, so we went home to rest for the day.

The next morning we were out looking at Uruguay apartments again. The first one we saw was down the coast a bit, right on the Rambla.It had amazing views (the yacht club on one side and the beach on the other, but again, it was just a bit too far from the area of Pocitos we wanted to live (at U$S 1000 per month).

The next apartment we saw was a small two-bedroom apartment overlooking the park, and a couple blocks from the water. At, U$S 850, it was perfect. We decided we would take that one…

Until we saw the next and final apartment on our tour. It was only a half of a block from the water and one block from the park. It was nicely furnished and the second bedroom was a little bigger, which was nice for Zoë.

It also had a pool, parrilla (barbeque), gym and 24-hour security. It was slightly more at U$S 900 per month, but gastos communes was less (basically like HOA fees that you as a tenant are responsible for when renting an apartment in Uruguay).

So, we went to lunch to talk about our options and decided to make an offer on the final apartment we saw. We made an offer that day, Thursday. We offered a little less than the asking price, in exchange for paying six months rent up front.

Unfortunately the owner lived in Argentina and was out of town, so we were told we’d have to wait until Monday for an answer. Monday came and we received a counter offer, which we quickly accepted.

However, on Tuesday the owner decided that since Zoë walks, she wanted to renegotiate (I guess she was afraid Zoë would break something). We decided that we weren’t interested in renting from her at that point, and made an offer to rent the other apartment we liked.

Unfortunately, that owner decided that since we did not have an Uruguayan job, he didn’t want to rent to us (even though we were paying six months rent up front plus a security deposit). At least he let us know immediately.

Our real estate agent assured us this was not common, and that it was the first time they’d ever experienced anything like this when working with families like ours to rent an apartment in Uruguay.

Luckily, there was an apartment that had just become available in the heart of Pocitos that they could show immediately.

So, Brian went down to take a look at it (Zoë was down for a nap) and it was perfect! It was bigger, less expensive than either of the other places we were looking at (U$S 700 per month) and right on 21 de Setiembre (one of the main drags in Pocitos), one block from the park and 5 ½ blocks from the water. It has a lavaropa (washing machine), drying lines on our back balcony, and we have a front balcony as well.

We immediately put in an offer on it. It was accepted; we signed the papers Wednesday and moved in on Thursday. It was a great feeling to know that we’d be out of that hotel. As much as we all love each other, we also need our own space.

So, even though it was a trying process to rent an apartment in Uruguay, we’re happy with the way things turned out. We love our apartment. Our porters are great (yes, we have porters… it’s pretty cool). Our apartment came with a parking spot, which we don’t need since we don’t own a car, and Mario (one of our porters) was able to rent it out to another tenant for $1000 Uruguayan pesos per month. So, that essentially dropped our rent to only about U$S 655 per month. We couldn’t even get an unfurnished studio for that price in San Diego, let alone a furnished apartment with porters!

We would also highly recommend the inmobiliaria who helped us our rent our apartment in Montevideo, Uruguay. They are professional, very friendly and extremely helpful. We also found that they had the most listings to offer us to look at in the Pocitos area (they cooperate with several other agents to find you the perfect apartment to rent or buy in Uruguay). You can visit their website here.

As promised here are pictures of our new apartment in Uruguay:

Front Balcony

Living Room

Kitchen

Guest Bathroom (small shower behind door)

Master Bathroom

Zoë’s Bedroom

Master Bedroom

Back Balcony

We’re Having a Baby In Uruguay!

July 3, 2009 by Brian

Yep, we’re having a baby in Uruguay! Zoë is no longer going to be an only child… she’s going to make such a great big sister.

We officially got word from the doctor today that everything looks good and our little one is expected around February 6, 2010. That means I’m nine weeks along. We couldn’t be happier. We definitely planned on having another baby in the future, but it looks like the future is coming faster than expected.

So after we told our families, there was a common question among them… “Are you going to come back to San Diego to have your baby?”

Our answer: “Why would we do that? Uruguay has great hospitals and wonderful medical care. We live here… Uruguay is our home for now, so we plan to have our baby here.”

After talking with some friends that had a baby in Uruguay, we’ve decided to look into having it at Hospital Británico (the British Hospital in Uruguay). The technology and service level is top notch, and we’ve been referred to a Doctor that speaks excellent English.

We’ve found that there isn’t much information available online about what to expect when having a baby in Uruguay. We were looking at into buying into a Uruguayan Hospital’s Insurance Plan. We still are… but being pregnant is considered a pre-existing condition. That means we’ll be paying all pregnancy related expenses from doctor’s visits to tests to the delivery out of pocket.

We’ll also be journaling about our experiences with pregnancy and having a baby in Uruguay. How that benefits you is… After our little one is born, we’ll be putting everything into an eBook that will hopefully make it easier for other expatriate families to navigate the process of having a baby in Uruguay. And of course, we’ll have updates here on our Uruguay blog!

Brian, Chrystal & Zoë

What Type of Stroller Works Best for Life in Montevideo?

June 12, 2009 by Brian

This is a question we asked ourselves when we made the decision to move to Uruguay. We had a Graco Quattro (that was part of our travel system), which was bulky and just wouldn’t work for city life. So, I started researching different strollers to find one that would be ideal for life in Montevideo.

After a lot of research and chatting with friends we found 2 modes of transportation for Zoë that would work best while living in Uruguay. One is our stroller and the other is our backpack carrier.

Kelty TC 3.0 Transit Child Carrier
Review: As I mentioned in our first post about our travels to Uruguay, the Kelty Carrier has been a lifesaver. It’s a backpack that allows Zoë to ride in it. Sometimes we just don’t want to haul the stroller around, or there just isn’t room to navigate it (like at the market). Zoë loves sitting up high where she can see everything and it must be comfortable because she has fallen asleep in it several times, head flopping and all. Brian says it’s comfortable to wear (after he figured out how to adjust it). The Kelty Carrier has made our life in Uruguay so much easier than if we only had a stroller.

Baby Jogger City Mini
Review: As far as our stroller goes, we decided on the Baby Jogger City Mini because it is lightweight, sturdy, easy to maneuver, reasonably priced and customizable. It also had a very large sun cover, which seemed to be hard to find on strollers in the same class. And, the one hand fold was something even I could handle on my own. I highly recommend watching the video review on Amazon.com (click link above and scroll down… it’s the first review listed). It gives an excellent overview of the stroller’s functionality and I always find visuals very helpful.

We initially bought just the City Mini stroller, but quickly decided that we’d need to add a few accessories before moving to Uruguay:

Baby Jogger Child’s Tray
Review: It has a holder for a sippy cup and room on the tray for snacks or a toy. It also snaps right out on one side to make it easier to get Zoë out.

Baby Jogger Parent Console
Review: It has one spot for a drink and two small cooler sections. Works great.

Baby Jogger City Mini Single Stroller Rain Canopy
Review: This thing is awesome. It fits nicely over the stroller and keeps Zoë dry and warm when it rains here. We’ve used it several times already and it works perfectly… absolutely essential in Uruguay.

Mommy Hooks
Review: Another great investment… we have two. We were actually out shopping while still in San Diego and I said that I wished there was some sort of hook you could get to put on your stroller to hang your shopping bags so you didn’t have to try to carry them and push the stroller at the same time. So, I went home, got on the Internet and discovered the Mommy Hook. We have one on each side of the stroller and it’s perfect for a trip to the Punta Carretas shopping center or grocery store (we usually take the Kelty Carrier to the market). You can load them up pretty full and the stroller still handles well, even on the uneven sidewalks here in Montevideo.

Baby Jogger Carry Bag
Review: This was great for traveling to Uruguay with the stroller. Before we got on the plane, we just popped the stroller in the bag and gate checked it. That way, we knew it would be protected from damage.

Baby Jogger Adjustable Belly Bar
Review: If you don’t want the full child tray, the belly bar is great because it gives your child something to hold onto. And, you can adjust the height, which is nice (the child tray obstructs Zoë’s view and there’s no way to adjust the height). Either way, you need to have either the belly bar or tray for folding the stroller up and having it stay in place (nice little feature for the smaller apartment size in Montevideo).

These are a few other accessories that look interesting, but we don’t own:

Baby Jogger Foot Muff
Review: I’ve thought about adding this one since the weather in Uruguay in cooling down for winter, but we probably won’t purchase this. What we tend to do now is just cover Zoë up with one of her blankets, the only downside to that is she likes to kick them off. One thing that we do when it’s on the cooler side is, we put the Rain Canopy on her stroller, which traps the warm air in and keeps her warm… and if she decides to kick her blanket off or throw a toy, it traps them as well.

Baby Jogger Umbrella Holder and Baby Jogger Umbrella
Review: I almost bought these until I read they’re specifically for protection from the sun (not rain). It may be something we look at in the future, but right now we’re looking for a good rain umbrella attachment since Uruguay has rainy winters. The one good thing about the handle on the stroller is that it is rounded, so it makes it a lot easier to navigate with one hand and hold an umbrella than the square handled strollers.

Baby Jogger Cooler Bag
Review: This cooler holds a six-pack and will come in handy this summer for trips to Pocitos beach. We are definitely purchasing this in the next coming months.

Baby Jogger City Mini Single Stroller Bug Canopy
Review: We thought about purchasing this since we were coming to South America. If we had purchased it, we would not have used it to this point. But it is winter here. Depending on how many creepy crawlies come out when it starts warming up will be a big factor in determining if we purchase this or not.

The “city terrain” in Montevideo, Uruguay is a little rougher than in some other areas of the world. The sidewalks are made of tiles that are laid individually, by hand (you’ll see workers out laying new tiles pretty much every day). We have yet to see a level sidewalk, or one that doesn’t have a least a few missing tiles. We’ll probably have to replace the wheels once a year just from the wear and tear the sidewalks put on them. But other than that, the stroller is holding up great. Overall, I would say the Baby Jogger City Mini has been ideal for living in Montevideo, Uruguay.

Baby/ Toddler Items to Bring When Moving to Uruguay

June 9, 2009 by Brian

We got a lot of advice about baby items from other Uruguay blogs and websites. Most of it was very helpful, but there are a few things that, in hindsight, I wish we would have known to bring that would help greatly with Zoë in Uruguay.

You can find most baby items here in Uruguay, but many of them are priced much higher than the equivalent item in the US.

For example, we were in Petit Baby and they had the exact same “potty” that Zoë had in the US, the Safety 1st Comfy Cushy 3-in-1 Potty.

She loved sitting on her potty and would use it several times a day. It’s listed for $18.95 on Amazon.com. At Petit Baby, a baby store down the street from us in Montevideo, it was U$S 49.99! So, we ended up buying a less expensive one at Violetas, another baby store down the street. Zoë refuses to sit on it (it’s not so comfy and cushy), so it may have been a waste of money.

You can find most any baby item you could want here in Uruguay (there’s a baby store on almost every block in Montevideo and I’ve seen a few secondhand stores as well). It just depends on how much you want to pay… pretty much everything seems to cost about 50-100% more than it would in the United States.

These are a few of the items we should have picked up before traveling to Uruguay:

High Chair/Booster Seat
This is one baby item that is extremely costly in Uruguay. They’re double to triple the price that they are in the US. We’ve been looking around for a few weeks now and we’ve only seen one of the booster seat types. It was nothing fancy and it was $86! The same one is listed for $27.81 on amazon.com. So, we are having this one shipped down here.

Bedrail
We thought we would use Zoë’s travel crib for her to sleep in when she isn’t sleeping with us, but the apartment we’re renting in Pocitos has a twin size bed that isn’t too high off the ground. So, we decided to buy a bedrail and let her sleep there (she really likes her “big girl bed”). However, we paid about $20 more for it than we would’ve paid in the States (U$S 45). So, you can weigh your options when packing for Uruguay.

Child Safety Locks/ Latches
When we moved into our new apartment, there were several cabinets that needed to be secured from Zoë’s reach. Although we did find what we needed at an Uruguayan baby store, it would’ve made life easier if we brought some cabinet slide locks and cabinet/drawer locks with us.

Unscented Laundry Detergent
They love their heavy fragrances in Uruguay. Unfortunately, Zoë has eczema and very sensitive skin. So, she had a little trouble with the linens at the hotel. We had heard before traveling to Uruguay that you couldn’t find fragrance free laundry detergent, but neglected to bring any with us. For now, our search will continue. In hindsight, we should have brought some with us.

These are items we brought that have been tremendously helpful with Zoë so far:

BabyBjörn Travel Crib Light
Review: Although Zoë is sleeping in a twin bed now, this Travel Crib has come in handy. We used it for naps while we were still staying in the hotel and we plan on taking several weekend trips to visit other parts of Uruguay, so we’ll use it then. It packs down much smaller than the Graco Pack N Play we had. We were able to fit it in a suitcase and fill the other half up with other items (the Pack N Play would’ve had to go on its own and take up a full piece of our luggage allowance). If I had known about this travel crib earlier, I would’ve purchased it instead of the Pack N Play.

BabyBjörn Travel Crib Light Fitted Sheet
Review: We did not invest in the special sheet for the bed, but there is one available. We are using a standard crib mattress pad and sheet. They don’t fit perfectly, but they do the job.

Portable Changing Pad
Review: If you don’t already have one, get one before you come. In the States, you can almost always be sure that there will be a changing table in the ladies restroom (at least in San Diego). I have yet to see one in Montevideo, Uruguay. For being such a baby-friendly country, that has been a surprise. So, I just bring along the changing pad and change her on the bathroom counter or floor… whatever is available.

Summer Infant Video Baby Monitor
Review: Zoë’s room is on the opposite side of the apartment from the living room. This video monitor allows us to check on her without going into her room. Also, living in an apartment building in Montevideo can be quite noisy. It’s nice being able to see on the monitor if the noise was Zoë getting out of bed, or just one of the neighbors in the building.

Angel Baby Products
Review: We only use Angel Baby products on Zoë since she has such sensitive skin. We brought a stash of Angel Baby lotion, shampoo/ body wash, and bottom balm. But, we’re starting to run low. I’ll have to order more from amazon.com because I haven’t seen anything similar in Uruguay.

Eddie Bauer Harness Buddy
Review: This cute little backpack came in handy during our layover in Panama City. When Zoë needed to burn up some energy, we just put her little backpack on her and went for a walk. If she was running around she had no problem wearing it, but did not want to wear it if we were just sitting around. Another great thing about it is that when she’s a little older, we can detach the leash and she can use it as a small backpack to carry her sippy cup or favorite toy.

Huggies Diapers
Review: We’d heard that the diapers in Uruguay weren’t great, so we brought enough diapers to last us about the first month. I’ve seen diapers several places including Huggies, Pampers and Baby Sec brands. I’ve tried the Huggies and they are different from the US version (long and skinny), but seem to work fine. We’ve also tried the Baby Sec diapers because they are a little wider, but don’t seem to be as absorbent. We’ll probably stick with the Huggies.

Huggies Wipes
Review: We brought enough wipes to last the first 3 weeks or so. We picked up some Huggies Unscented wipes… they’re awful. They leave lint behind and they’ve given Zoë a slight rash (luckily the Boudreaux Butt Paste cleared it up). I bought some active fresh scented ones and they seem to be working a little better on her (not so much lint and no rash so far). But they still aren’t as thick as the ones from the US.

Portable DVD Player with iPod Docking Station
Review: This was great for distracting Zoë during our long wait and layover at the airport. We could either pop in her favorite DVD, or dock one of our iPods in it and select a movie from there.

Sony Children’s Headphones
Review: Although Zoë wasn’t very happy about keeping these on her head for very long, they’re great because the sound is kept much lower so it won’t damage her hearing.

Shushybye DVD
Review: This is Zoë’s absolute favorite show. She sings and dances and squeals with joy every time it comes on. We had the BabyFirst TV channel back in the States and this is one of the shows featured on the channel. We knew we wouldn’t get it on Uruguay television… luckily it’s available on DVD!

Miscellaneous

The next two clothing sizes up, stored in Space Bags (we packed all of our clothes in space bags)
The next size or two up in shoes
Sippy Cups
Extra Binkies (if you use them)
Snacks (to last the first couple weeks until you get the lay of the land)
Cheerios (I haven’t seen them here yet)

A side note:
If you’re planning to buy or rent a car in Uruguay, bring your child’s car seat. But, don’t expect to use it other than that. The only law in Uruguay is that children must be in the back seat, so it’s not unusual to see kids standing up in the back seat.

Also, the taxis here are much smaller than in the States, so if you have a bulky car seat, it may not even fit in the back seat (if you can even access the seat belt). Just another reason to enjoy walking everywhere!

Our stroller and child carrier have both been absolutely essential in Uruguay. I’ll review them in another post because there are so many options that go into the stroller and this post has already run so long.

I’ve been to many of the baby stores in Uruguay, so if you have a question about the cost or availability of anything specific, please post a comment and I’ll be happy to help if I can.

The Most Baby-Friendly Place On Earth

May 18, 2009 by Brian

When you take your infant or child to a restaurant in the US, what is expected of you from other diners? What does the restaurant expect from you as a parent? What does everyone expect your child to do?

They expect your child to sit in their high chair or your lap throughout the meal and for you keep your child quiet. You wouldn’t want to disturb the other diners, right?

Well, the culture in Uruguay is completely the opposite of that in the US when it comes to babies. Our first day in Uruguay, the relocation guy took us to a nice steak house in Carrasco for lunch. They brought over a high chair for Zoë, which she happily sat in while she snacked on bread sticks and chorizo.

If you have kids, you know they can only sit still for so long. Being only one-year old, Zoë has a short attention span. She started to fuss so I pulled her out of the high chair so she could sit with me for a while… the standard action I would take in the US.

Immediately, we were instructed to put her on the floor and let her run around… What?

I must have had quite a look of confusion on my face as I insisted that she was fine with me. After all, we were at a white tablecloth restaurant in the most exclusive community in Montevideo.

It would be like letting her run around Donovan’s or Fleming’s in La Jolla. Surely, he couldn’t be serious. He again insisted that I put her down. “Let her be a child… put her on the floor, she’ll be fine.”

So, reluctantly, I stood her up on the floor and she took off running across the room. Before I could jump up and chase after her, we were told, “Leave her.” It was explained it is customary for children to be allowed to roam around the restaurant in Uruguay when they are finished eating.

The wait staff keeps an eye on them while you enjoy your meal and makes sure they don’t run out the door or anything (or if you’re out shopping, the store’s staff will keep an eye on them so you can shop). Don’t get me wrong, we keep an eagle eye on her, it’s nice knowing that others are watching out for her too.

While letting Zoë run around and enjoy herself in restaurants was a foreign concept to Brian and I (hey we are in a foreign country) we had both agreed when moving to Uruguay that we would fully embrace the culture.

So, as uncomfortable as it made us, we let her run around and enjoy herself. We were equally surprised when all of the other diners were smiling and waving at her, and happily chatting away to her. No one was annoyed that a baby was running around the restaurant singing away.

It was at that moment Zoë discovered she is a rock star in Uruguay. Everyone loves to come up and talk to her and fawn over her. Her head might grow to be as big as her daddy’s if we’re not careful ☺

Wow, what a breath of fresh air. I think it’ll be nice living in a country where babies are seen as beautiful blessings that should be allowed to enjoy themselves and their childhood.

By the way, for lunch we had:
Chorizo and grilled provolone
A green salad
Pumpkin
3 normal Uruguayan portions of prime rib (15-18oz cuts)
Potatoes with rosemary
3 bottles of very fine wine
3-4 bottles of mineral water
Coffee
Dessert (a massive fruit cup and flan)

We were there for 2 ½ to 3 hours. Our bill came out (with tip) to less than U$S 100. Again, this was a Donovan’s / Fleming’s style white tablecloth restaurant.