I really only met Cary Lu a couple of times through John Markoff, our mutual friend. Every time I think of Cary, I think of the time he, John, myself, and a few other friends tried out a new, very upscale nouveau-California cuisine restaurant in San Francisco on Cary's recommendation (I think it was). He'd heard about it from a friend. I remember there was one particularly odd-sounding Mexican dish on the menu that particularly attracted Cary's curiosity. I don't remember the name exactly -- it was something strange like "Filet Nachos " or "Tortilla Filet" or some such thing -- but whatever it was, Cary was intrigued and ordered one. The rest of us were less given to risk-taking and were more prosaic in our ordering.
When the dish finally arrived, it turned out to be a tiny piece of filet mignon, maybe 1 inch cubed in size, sandwiched between two dry tortilla chips. Cary's mouth fell open in stupified amazement; the rest of us must have laughed for five minutes at the expression on his face. He finally joined in as well. It was a priceless moment. I didn't know him well; I'll miss him.