An Immediate Crush Over Mashed Potatoes

The cardboard cup of mashed potatoes Gustavo Chagas Lopes handed Luke John Robinson III on Oct. 11, 2021, was not meant to be an aphrodisiac. However for Mr. Robinson, one thing in the way in which Mr. Lopes, then the supervisor of the Brooklyn restaurant Sally Roots, had handed them off was spellbinding.
“Gustavo is simply so putting,” Mr. Robinson stated. “He’s such a lovely, lovely man that when he reached throughout the bar to present me my order, I struggled to say, ‘My title is Luke and I’m right here for a pickup.’”
That battle was compounded by the rationale he had ordered the grown-up equal of child meals within the first place: His mouth was killing him. On his method residence from knowledge tooth surgical procedure, “I used to be in a hell of a number of ache,” he stated. “And I used to be ravenous.”
Even so, the person who had captivated him with a cup of consolation meals lingered in his ideas. “I knew I needed to know him extra,” he stated. “I knew it was future.”
Mr. Robinson, 28, of Ridgewood, Queens, is a gross sales consultant on the pharmaceutical firm Astellas. Mr. Lopes, 34, of Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, is now a bartender at Yours Sincerely in Bushwick; he’s additionally a contract photographer. After the takeout trade on the now-closed Sally Roots, Mr. Robinson discovered Mr. Lopes on Hinge, then adopted him on Instagram. At first of November, after a flurry of messages, they met for pizza at Ops in Bushwick.
Of their messages, Mr. Robinson hadn’t talked about the mashed potatoes encounter. When he introduced it up at Ops, although, he was happy to search out that he wasn’t the one one who remembered. “In fact I bear in mind you,” Mr. Lopes advised him. He didn’t elaborate on the time on his first impression, which wasn’t as favorable as Mr. Robinson’s. “My first thought after I noticed he had ordered simply mashed potatoes was, ‘Who is that this weirdo?’”
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Mr. Lopes grew up in Vitoria, Brazil. He graduated with a bachelor’s diploma in journalism and communications from Faculdades Integradas São Pedro. He visited New York for the primary time in 2015 for 10 days, and, two years later, when he was residing in São Paulo, decided he was meant to be a New Yorker.
“I offered all the pieces in my condominium and acquired a aircraft ticket,” he stated. “For me, there was this very acquainted feeling about New York.”
Mr. Robinson grew up in Philadelphia, the place he earned a bachelor’s diploma in political science from Temple College. After commencement, he moved to Queens for his job.
Regardless of Mr. Robinson’s instantaneous crush, six months of courting handed earlier than they turned a pair. “I believe we each appreciated attending to know one another earlier than getting hooked up,” Mr. Lopes stated.
However when Mr. Robinson flew to Istanbul for a good friend’s marriage ceremony in April 2022, the tempo of their romance picked up. “It took me abruptly, how a lot I missed him,” Mr. Lopes stated. The night time of Mr. Robinson’s return, Mr. Lopes rushed to his condominium. “I felt the urge to say, ‘I’m in love with you.’”
They’d been a dedicated couple for greater than a yr when Mr. Robinson broached the thought of getting married over dinner at Margot, a restaurant in Fort Greene, Brooklyn.
At first, Mr. Lopes wasn’t positive marriage was one thing he needed. However his timing, when he determined to suggest to Mr. Robinson on Sept. 23, 2023, turned significant.
“It had been an evolving dialogue when Gustavo shocked me with a hoop,” Mr. Robinson stated. His older sister, Ashley Robinson, was the primary particular person they referred to as with the information. “She was over the moon for us.”
However the next day, Ms. Robinson, 32, of Philadelphia, died of an unintentional drug overdose. The couple had deliberate to marry in December, however “it was so tragic and so unhappy,” Mr. Lopes stated. “Luke wanted time to undergo the motions of grieving together with his household.”
On Feb. 24, Mr. Lopes and Mr. Robinson have been married earlier than 70 friends on the Annex in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Their good friend Rebecca Gonzalez, a minister ordained via American Marriage Ministries, officiated. “Ashley was there in our hearts,” Mr. Robinson stated. Their flower woman was her 6-year-old daughter.
Earlier than friends left the Annex, they handed a desk set with Brazilian marriage ceremony cookies. The title of the cookies in Portuguese, Bem Casado, interprets to “fortunately married.”
Mashed potatoes may need been simply as auspicious, Mr. Robinson stated. However “we put them on the dinner menu.”