James Spader is a regular, the host informs us as we walk to our table. Oh, and Will Ferrell sat right there with his family just yesterday. All lovely people; great tippers. My friend and I slide into the modern red wing chairs in Los Angeles’ Ray’s & Stark Bar and ask for the water menu. We’re here to drink flights of water. Yes, like wine, but with water. That you pay 12 bucks for.

Ray’s & Stark has a new water menu with more than 20 “varietals of water from around the world.” You can get three-ounce pulls of three different ones for $12. Yes, $12 for nine-ounces of water.

When I ask the waiter for a water menu, he’s confused but returns a few minutes later with a leather-bound, 45-page water bible featuring waters familiar (Fiji, Perrier) and unknown (Vichy Catalan, Beverly Hills 90H20) (For real).

We’re informed by a manager that the water flights are actually sold out — they’ve had major interest since the L.A. Times piece — but that they would pull together a special tasting for us. It’s nice of them to let us know about the stand-ins for tonight’s performance, because they could’ve easily served us water from three different toilets and we wouldn’t have been the wiser.