Dan turns 35. We eat giant pork chops. Hooray!

A happy belated birthday to DMR! We celebrated the occasion with a big family style dinner at Two Tom's restaurant. The last time this happened, well, we all looked a lot younger.

Baked clams to start and antipasto start off the evening.






Pasta action shot. We got liguine and a cheese stuffed tubular pasta, both with a simple red sauce of tomatoes and garlic.


The pork chops arrive. They are even bigger, maybe even 4 fingers thick.


And I thought they were a bit dry this time around. Still, nothing like eating a chop the size of your face.

Belated Birthday Dinner at the Cowgirl Hall of Fame

Wednesday night I met up with my friend and former colleague, JB, at the Cowgirl Hall of Fame, which apparently is really just “Cowgirl”. It’s funny, I had never really given this place any thought and then last week my partner in deliciousness told me that she would be attending a bachelorette brunch there in a few weeks time. And THEN, when finalizing my plans with JB, she suggested we go there for dinner, even though she had just been the night before. Jeeze Cowgirl! I can honestly say, before last week this place was a complete non-entity, then suddenly it’s the only thing I know how to hear about.

This place gets crowded really early, but luckily they were able to seat us pretty much right away. Walking in I noticed that we got the last available two-top – score! Shortly after being seated, we were served some chips with their signature black-eyed pea salsa. I really liked the use of the black-eyed peas, but I tasted a hint of yellow curry, which gives me horrible acid reflux, so I ended up just eating my chips plain, occasionally balancing one or two beans atop my chip. As I spent a decent amount of the day making brunch suggestions to Youthlarge over google chat (the sausage, biscuits, gravy and eggs look pretty tasty), I was already pretty familiar with the menu. I had basically already decided to get some sort of chicken fried something, but knew that I would probably just make a game-time decision. When someone is actually standing in front of me, ready to take my order, all bets are off!

To start, JB and I shared the onion loaf and fried green tomatoes. The onion loaf was colossal. Despite its being very crispy and delicious (not at all too bready as is often the case with this type of thing), I tried not to eat too much of it in an attempt to not get too stuffed. The fried green tomatoes were really tasty too. They were fried in a nice cornmeal batter and were impressively light and not at all greasy. My only beef was that they were served with what I think was a watery ranch dressing. I would have preferred a thicker blue cheese or better still, some sort of horseradish sauce.

For her main, JB ordered the fish tacos off of the Pride Week menu and I got the chicken fried steak. I definitely made the right call. Like I alluded to earlier, chicken fried ANYthing is probably going to taste great, and it did. My skin-on mashed potatoes were delectable (I love leaving the skin on – it’s easier and more delicious!) and my chicken fried steak smothered in creamy gravy did not disappoint. Though, the steak was just a little bit tough, but I think it always sort of is when prepared this way, so I gave it a pass. Next time I think I’ll try the chicken instead. Oh, and I did end up getting way too stuffed, causing me to ask the eternal question – why is this happening to me?

The China-Latina's Birthday

Last week the CLC celebrated her 31st birthday with a dinner at Frankie's 457 in Cobble Hill, followed by drinks and bocce at Floyd. I was there for the former and this is what happened.

Frankie's does not accept reservations for the outdoor space, so I got there early to help Beth procure a table for eight. As it turned out, the part of 8 that had the table inside wanted to sit outside, so we got their table. I was totally fine with this since we were sans reservation and thought it was only fair. While waiting for the other members of our group to show up, I ordered the very refreshing vodka limeade. Beth went with a Frankie's Iced Tea, which I found overwhelmingly orangey. Soon after we were seated, we ordered two of the house antipasto plate. I've mentioned it recently, but I'll mention it again, this is a great way to start your meal. The portions are generous and the tastes are fantastic. Both orders were pretty much the same: proscuitto, sweet and hot soppressata, olives, two cheeses (Moliterno, and I forget the other. I am so bad, I really need to write my notes in a little notebook, like a certain Listmaker), and two veggies. One plate had string beans and sauteed mushrooms, the other had roasted parsnips and cauliflower. I am not a fan of cauliflower ever, but these caramelized florets were ridiculously delicious. Tender and slightly sweet, every vegetable should be cooked like this.

By this time I was on my second vodka limeade. These are so tasty! Did I mention the ingredients? Vodka, lime, mint and probably a splash a club soda. All I want to do this summer is drink these. But at $8 a pop, I should just make a batch at home. Our party of 7 (the 8th had not arrived yet due to crossed up signals) all wound up ordering one of two entrees: the homemade cavatelli with Faicco's spicy sausage and the homemade linguine with fava beans and breadcrumbs. Both are excellent choices. I was craving a little more meat, so I went with the cavatelli, but Jim let me have some bites of the linguine. The toasted breadcrumbs really held up well. When the 8th, Sean M, arrived, he ordered the polenta with sausage - another fine choice.

Instead of a birthday dessert for our meat-loving, sweets-hating honoree, either Paul or Sus had the brilliant idea to put a candle in some proscuitto.

I'd be remiss to not mention the eagle eye of the-soon-to-be-mama-and-thus-not-drinking Heather (as in Nate & Heather. I'm really just typing that because by now I had mentioned everyone but Nate in this post!). She noticed that for 5 orders of cavatelli, we had been charged $120, an overcharge of $45!!! With three limeades in me, I was slightly tips and didn't even blink at the check. We were also charged for an incorrect drink order so at the end of the night, with tax and additional tip, we nearly left about $70 more than we should have. Whew!