Tim's 28th!

Monday night, right before I left for the Shore, we celebrated Tim's birthday at The Brindle Room in the East Village.



Jeremy, the head chef and owner (formerly one of the head chefs at Employee's Only), is a friend of Maggie's and so we basically had the restaurant all to ourselves.

Complete with a special 8-course birthday meal.



Yum fried oysters on guacamally!



Amazing steak tartare...



Even the lentils...I couldn't get enough...



Radish and Beet Salad....I could have done without...



Jenny took a break from managing the Goods Trailer to join us.



She had the Sea Bass...



Mags had the spaghetti...



And I had the head-sized pork chop....



And then there was a Red Velvet cake from Sugar Sweet Sunshine...




And singing...



Mags's brother Phil and fiancee Jen showed up near the end. (They'll be getting married this weekend and I'll be taking pickys!)



And then our Deerfield buddy Hiro showed up with fun gifts!



Happy Birthday to one of the kindest, warmest, most generous, (formerly) funnest people I know!



(I'd also say "best-looking", but we all say that a little too often and he gets embarrassed.)

See you at rehearsal dinner tomorrow Magothy!

SPECIAL BIRTHDAYS!!!!

Very special birthday wishes to SMERSHY!



Danny (tomorrow)!



And DHONG!



We will be celebrating DHong's birth all weekend long in THE HAMPTONS!

Taking off tomorrow.

First time ever! Excited!

AC's Birthday at Anchor Bar

Fresh off our epic Chicken Dinner, we headed over to Anchor Bar to celebrate AC's birthday.





We were joined by Danny and Noops and Katherine and her sister.



Nothing makes me happier than when friend circles come together!



The DJ was real good and created massive amounts of fun.








Wait...is that who I think it is?



Yes! It is a KG sighting! Rarer these days than an A-list celebrity sighting.



You should have seen how giddy AC was!



Anchor Bar. Filled with fun.










AC even crowd-surfed. Semi-successfully.




Oh my god. But then, the night ended in sadness.

On my way home, I stopped at Mario's Pizza and bought a delicious slice of Chicken Parmesan Pizza.

I took the TINIEST of TINY TINY nibblets. Walked a few steps. And then...



Literally I was in tears.

I went back to the little Sasian behind the counter and he must have seen my deep and helpless sorrow because he smiled and handed me another one.

So the night ALMOST ended in sadness.

But no, it was a great night.

NINJA! | Connie's birthday dinner

Felix always says if he was given a couple million to open a restaurant, that restaurant would be just like NINJA in TriBeCa.

Ninja is exactly what you would imagine if you were to create a ninja-themed restaurant. It is super fancy japanese-y fusion food with ninjas. All the waiters are dressed as ninjas and they jump around and pounce on you from the ceilings and threaten you with swords and shirukens and ninja fire arts and you'll be happily eating your meal one minute and the next you'll turn your head and there will be a scary man in black holding a dagger across your throat.



You enter the restaurant and you are forced to walk through "Ninja Pass" which is basically like a mini-haunted house but with ninjas that pop out and try to kill you.




Once seated at our table (all the tables are private tables in little caves or dojos) we had some delicious ninja cocktails.





And delicious ninja apps.



Lots of the courses involved fire and smokey dry ice.




And you'd be in the middle of the conversation and then all of sudden Connie's mom's life would be in danger.




The presentation of everything was SO cool.




This is the baked alaskan king krab / super wagyu steak dish. We ordered three of them because we are crazy.




NINJA ATTACK!!!!



Lots of explosions and flying ninja stars and random shrieking stuff.

I also bumped into Alicia Keys on my way to the bathroom.

Never a dull moment.




Finally Connie was presented with a magical ninja star.



It exploded in her face and almost died.



Happily, she did not.



This was the delicious chocolate bonzai pudding dessert thing. So good.



Connie wasn't the only one who got presents.



I got a pretty new Ralph Lauren sweater and shirt combo too thanks to her wonderful parents.



Happy Birthday Con-Con, you are loved by all!