Misc. Eating from Sunday

First of all, mazel tov to Youthlarge for making it through such an epic day of eating and only ejecting mere bits of creamed spinach from her little body! If I had been in her shoes, everywhere I went would have magically transformed into a vomitorium!

Post-AIDS Walk Brunch
Schiller's Liquor Bar (Rivington and Norfolk, LES, NYC) with Lauren, Adrienne, Cram and Mike W. As far as Keith McNally joints go, this is one of my least favorites. Balthazar and Pravda are excellent if you're feeling especially solvent, while Lucky Strike consistently churns out reliable, well-priced fare. Schiller's and Pastis however, remind me of your annoying second cousins who go to Surrey for a week and a half and then suddenly have annoying affectations and fake British accents upon returning stateside. Yes - annoying. I also got into a little bit of trouble at brunch. I noticed a little pair of baby hands on the booth behind me and I was like 'oh, a baby'. The Filipina mother shifted a bit so I could see the little tyke and I was shocked to discover that he was not only incredibly oversized, but he was WHITE as well! I swear, I'm not being mean, but the kid attached to those little baby hands looked like a 13 year old manchild! And with the biggest head I ever did see. Like, I'm talking Easter Island type proportions. So I said to myself, 'that's not what I expected you to look like, baby'. However, much to my dismay, it has since come to my attention that I did not in fact say it to myself, but rather out loud, directly to the mother and 'baby'. WTF is the matter with me? Sometimes I seriously question whether or not I should be allowed to go outside. Anyway, here's what I ate:

1 overpriced Bloody - 10 bucks for one stupid bloody at BRUNCH time. Man, get the lube out!
Steak & Eggs - Perfectly medium rare (correct doneness is something you can always rely on, even in the shittiest of Frenchie brasserie type places), scrambled eggs were nice and fluffy (I usually get over easy with my S&E, but made a last minute switch to scrambled for no apparent reason) and the homefries were perfectly seasoned. The tastiness of the S&E partially made up for the anal rape that was the overpriced bloody.

I'm sorry that ended up being so scatelogical. I won't let it happen again.

Newell's Birthday Dinner
We went to Perbacco (East 4th between and A and B, East Ville, NYC) to celebrate Newell's 30th birthday. It's so weird though, Newell turned 30 last year too. Hmmmmm, I wonder... Anyway, the people in attendance were Nate, Jen Anderson, Sus, Paul Sullivan, someone named Stephanie or Lisa, Aaron Olivo, Newell, Ted and Barb. Betten and Robo (usually referred to as Mike W.) showed up later just for drinks. I thought this place was ok for the most part, but not worth going back to. My entree happened to be quite good, but Sus' gnocchi was really undercooked and practically inedible. We shared a bunch of appetizers (see below), some of which were rather yummy (RY), others were just whatever (W).

Appetizers
Fried rice balls stuffed with mixed Italian cheese and herbs - RY - best app we ordered.
Flash fried calamari with a side of tartar (nicht marinara, odd) - W
Little meatballs cooked in fresh tomato and basil sauce - RY
Fried large green olives stuffed with a blend of minced meat - Totally RY
Crabmeat rolled in tuna carpaccio - RY, but also sort of W
Lamb skewers - W

Entree
Organic chicken breast with sage and Parma prosciutto (succulent), potato croquette (mezza mezza) and a salad with carrot, arugula and apple (So delicious. The dressing was just a perfectly simple olive oil and subtle salt concoction. Surprisingly, the salad made a kick ass combo-bite with the chicken. I have always enjoyed mixing temperatures and textures in food though. That's why I love Vietnamese so much.)

After sorting out the bill for like 20 minutes with the assistance of my trusty calculator watch, most of us headed back to Chinatown: the Apartment for drinks.