Governors Island.

Bar research with Dagfinn, trying to find a suitable location for his birthday (which I'm gonna miss this year). This takes us to Sugar Lounge in the Columbia Waterfront area of Brooklyn.





Check out Mister King of the Castle there.





A couple calls. Plans canceled. Unexpected visitors. Dumplings and chicken fingers and happy hour hefeweizen. Who said it? Whose foul mouth actually uttered aloud the words, "I don't want to take pictures of houses burning down, I want to take pictures of men fellating each other"? Guesses in the comments, please.

Can't Stop the Serenity 2007, a benefit for Equality Now.

MoCCA Art Fest 2007...



...with Spano,...



...Asgardian,...



...(l to r:) Tim Fish, Richard Ruane, Brett Hopkins,...



...a pair of bright purple sneakers,...



...and this guy.

Who said it? Out of whose mouth did arise the words, "Crisco-bottom, sloppy pig-boy"? Guesses in the comment section, please.

Under the Volcano, Murray Hill.

I still haven't forgiven John for getting me hooked on Top Chef, but what's done is done, and tonight John, Sunny, Jina and I head to Perilla, Harold Dieterle's new place in the Village. Really nice space, uncluttered and clean. Though quite a bit larger than I was lead to believe (and relatively quiet when we arrive), the place gets filled to capacity seemingly the moment we sit down.

For starters I get the duck meatballs. A raw quail egg in the center of the bowl adds untold layers of flavor and texture to the jus. It tastes so good I want to cry. John gets the raw hamachi, which is both meaty and refreshing. Very nice, indeed.



For main, I choose the grilled rack and breast of Colorado lamb, served over dandelion and cippolini onions with a parsley root mousseline which is so sweet, creamy, buttery, it's almost like caramel. The food-induced crying continues.



Some kind of fight.





We keep joking that we want a Harold sighting (John even lays it on pretty thick with the waitress with the whole we-flew-in-all-the-way-from-L.A.-crap), but by the time we get to dessert (chocolate and cardamom ice cream, which nobody likes but me, and the sticky coconut cake with basil-watermelon salad and a small scoop of frozen perilla yogurt, which we would gladly just sit and eat all night) we pretty much give up...when suddenly, out of nowhere, there he is. Pencil behind his ear, sitting at a table, chatting up some people he apparently knows, one of whom we joke looks a lot like Tom Colicchio. We look again. It IS Tom Colicchio!

Alright, so Colicchio has like five places in town, and obviously after the show the two would probably stay in touch (or at least maintain a professional interest in the other's career), but still, come on, what are the chances?



Drive-by photo of Colicchio on our way out.



Great night for all.

John, Sunny, and Jina are in town for the New York Licensing Show.



It's Sunny's birthday, too. John takes us all to Tavern On the Green.

A whole big bunch of us go to see Vampire Cowboys' revival of Living Dead in Denmark (which is awesome) at Theater Row. Afterwards a few of us end up at Anotheroom in Tribeca. All these pictures are of Christina because she's pretty and also because she hasn't yet appeared on this blog.