LIVE from Charlotte: Washington Democrats hold evening reception at Mac’s Speed Shop

Good evening from the City of Trees! Tonight, the Wash­ing­ton State Democ­rats are cel­e­brat­ing Labor Day and the 2012 Demo­c­ra­t­ic Nation­al Con­ven­tion with a spe­cial evening recep­tion at one of Char­lot­te’s best eater­ies… Mac’s Speed Shop, renowned in Char­lotte for its beer and barbecue.

Mac’s is ours for the night, and we’ve tak­en full advan­tage. We have live music, mul­ti­ple sets of buf­fet tables, and a pavil­ion out­side (adja­cent to the patio) to ensure that nobody who wants a seat need go with­out one.

We are din­ing on some of the most sump­tu­ous mac­a­roni and cheese, pulled pork, veg­gie burg­ers, and hick­o­ry smoked beef brisket I’ve ever tast­ed, with banana pud­ding and warm choco­late brown­ies for dessert (yum).

Now, this isn’t a food blog, but I’d like to take a moment to say a few words about the place that makes the tasty appe­tiz­ers and entrées we’ve been feast­ing on. With­out a doubt, the folks here at Mac’s put a lot of thought into run­ning a top-notch estab­lish­ment. That means excel­lent ser­vice as well as excel­lent food.

As any­one who dines out fre­quent­ly knows, great ser­vice makes great food taste even bet­ter. I’m hap­py to say that the staff here at Mac’s go out of their way to take care of their guests. The chaf­ing dish­es are looked after, so that the buf­fet nev­er runs out and the food nev­er gets cold. Emp­ty dish­es are prompt­ly removed from tables, and it’s rare that more than a few min­utes go by with­out a serv­er ask­ing us if we liked the food and if we need anything.

Of course, a lot of what I just described is what I’d expect at any restau­rant. But Mac’s gets an espe­cial­ly high grade because its staff are so friend­ly and wel­com­ing. They go the extra mile. And that’s what makes the difference.

Wash­ing­ton’s del­e­ga­tion, by the way, is incred­i­bly diverse. Every region and every con­stituen­cy in our fine state is rep­re­sent­ed here in Char­lotte, and it’s a very hap­py, mer­ry group. The del­e­ga­tion is like a big fam­i­ly whose mem­bers look after each oth­er. Infor­ma­tion and logis­tics for the del­e­ga­tion are expert­ly han­dled by the state par­ty office, led by Jax­on Ravens and Shaw­na Ousse. We have them to thank for this splen­did evening recep­tion… they thought to secure for our state this out­stand­ing estab­lish­ment and even to ensure that we have our own shut­tle bus so we can all get eas­i­ly to and from our con­ven­tion hotel.

Tomor­row promis­es to be a full and long day. There are more cau­cus and coun­cil meet­ings sched­uled for the morn­ing, and in the late after­noon, the con­ven­tion will be gaveled to order by Los Ange­les May­or Anto­nio Villaraigosa.

Dur­ing the evening pro­gram, we will hear from First Lady Michelle Oba­ma and San Anto­nio May­or Julian Cas­tro, among oth­er dis­tin­guished speakers.

We will con­tin­ue to offer live cov­er­age of the 2012 Demo­c­ra­t­ic Nation­al Con­ven­tion all day tomor­row. We invite you to tune in and fol­low along on C‑SPAN or PBS, which have the best and least-inter­rupt­ed cov­er­age of the proceedings.