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Telling details: When I’m mulling wine, a server offers the option of half-glasses.

Flights are offered with three half-glasses of reds or white, though all the selections lean toward the dry end of the wine spectrum.

The waiter told us that the restaurant turned into a local’s nightclub after dinner, so we stayed in our corner, sipping from our many half-glasses of wine as the demure dining room changed over to flashing lights and techno.

Steadying himself, he carefully turned the map around and studied it through his half-glasses.

“Sir, you are asking questions that are more in the nature of analytical geometry and calculus,” he said, turning away from the blackboard to eye me over his half-glasses.