idk

I've never witnessed someone actually being kicked out of a restaurant, but if it were to happen anywhere - Boston feels wildly appropriate.

Let me set the scene.

I was pretending to be some mysterious woman in town, dining alone at the bar... in mom jeans, rec volleyball tee, and the cheap Target slides (that I picked up when I made a lunch run to Target to replace the shoes that literally broke on my walk to work). I was at Picco, which was down the street from my hotel that doesn't know if it's a hip hostel or upscale business stay, nibbling on a sausage, broccoli rabe, and olive pizza for one.

This crust was fucking me up when my friend called to discuss work things, and I answered because... I had nothing better to do. At some point someone sat down one seat over from me. And then he started watching something on his phone... loudly, which I didn't register until the waiter came by to tell him to turn it down.

And then the next thing I heard was, "Get the fuck out."

Over the phone, my friend goes, "Hello? Can you hear me?"

"Uhh err mmm yeah, what are your thoughts?" I started sweating, wondering if I should end the phone call right there because it's rude to talk on the phone in a restaurant too isn't it? Looking out of the corner of my eye at the bartenders, while lowering my voice to a whisper... but like not too much of a whisper because I didn't want to seem obviously nervous.

The silver lining to this double distraction during dinner was that I had 2.5 slices of pizza leftover for lunch the next day.

Dinner at Banyan Bar was less exciting. But I was proud of myself for not ordering a drink with dinner. We've recently made a decision to seriously budget for Neapolitan house, and I feel disappointment in myself for falling into the trap of cutting small life enjoyments for the sake of padding my savings. As I said to Em, where is my generational wealth so I don't have to pretend like the habitual drink when I'm out to dinner is the reason why I can't afford a house in the second most expensive city in the country?

Instead I washed down my one cold dish and one hot dish with 1.5 carafes of water.

Spicy soba noodle salad was dressed with Xi'an style vinaigrette and chili crisp that was actually spicy enough to make me take a few deep breaths. I like this.

Cauliflower okonomiyaki which had vegan miso aioli but also bonito flakes? Who is this for? But that wasn't my complaint - my complaint was that it wasn't saucy enough, not punchy enough for okonomiyaki. I kept thinking about this calamari okonomiyaki from Viridian that I also ate alone at a bar and that also fucked me up the way okonomiyaki flavors are supposed to.

Oh man, it was so crunchy and yet the calamari so chewy, so generously covered in sauce and a pile of bonito. It was so rich, I chased my bites with the little lemon pieces that were probably more garnish than anything else.

By the way, while I'm here - Viridian has the best (mostly only?) savory cocktails I've had ever. A couple years ago, the tomato beef (el tesoro blanco tequila, basil eau de vie, tomato water, pink peppercorn, not lime) won my heart and brain and still lives rent free in my memories.

The jade a kiss (botanist gin, peas, bittermelon, lime, radish) is spring in a glass.

The aptly named umami jack (whisky, yangchon brewery chungju, shiitake mushroom, apricot, cardamara, kombu) is everything I didn't know I needed in a cocktail.