After staying in and reading three books during the last few weeks, I finally decided to end my hibernation and head out to celebrate the birthdays of good friends, Dill & Taimur, and the return of Sami (that dirty mo*fo wabbit from Paris)! The night started out with an incredible meal in honor of Dill at Cantina, the Latin-tapas hot spot in the East Village owned by the infamous Jason Swamy of Le Souk and Movida. Cantina's cozy vibe is reminiscent of Old Havana with a decor that New York Mag calls, "Alphabet City yard sale meets the Buena Vista Social Club." Jason (that's what we laughingly called him while in restaurateur mode) treated us to an immaculate sampling of the menu which was developed by consulting chef Jason Neroni (Porchetta, 71 Clinton). I know my foodie friends love to hear the details so here's what we had: warm Spanish olives; warm sheep's milk cheese with mint, piquillo peppers and green olives; radichio salad with manchego and pickle and oliver relish; papas bravas with a pickled jalapeño aioli; beef and pork meatballs with green beans, hard boiled eggs and almonds; pork shoulder dulce le leche; shrimp in salsa verde with potato; curry ice cream with guava and cream cheese pasteles and churros with saffron chocolate. Ummm, yum! Major kudos to Swamy for what he's done with Cantina. I will definitely be going back soon! Here's the website for those who are interested: www.CantinaNYC.com.
After dinner we grabbed cabs to Sullivan Room to hear Dill and DJ Heather, but not before I walked to Houston Street to buy a 1 gallon jar of kosher dills for Mr. Pickle himself. Last time I went pickle shopping all it took was a little Arabic and a smile to get them for a good price (for more background on the pickles...). This time around, I had to use my Spanish and brave a GHETTO bodega between Avenues B and C. The place was full of SKETCHY characters, almost none of which were actually buying anything. The only guy at the counter was buying beer (of course), only had one eye open and at most four teeth. I could feel his one eye and everyone else's weighing on me so I got out of dodge real quick. Despite the circumstances, I maintained my composure long enough to negotiate down the retail price. I'm 2 for 2! Looks like that MBA is really starting to pay dividends.
Ok, now back the story... in the cab and off to Sullivan Room where we were kindly greeted by doorman, AK, before marching down to the basement with the big 'ole jar of pickles in hand. I stormed the booth to celebrate with Dill and then joined Karen on the dance floor to dance around our pickle offering to the gods. Dill dropped some fun thumpity thumpin house music before handing the controls over to Heather who played her vintage style. I stuck around bs-ing with friends until around 2:30am when I had to depart for Bar 13. Before I left I instructed Dill to make sure there was "no pickle left behind" but somehow I got a late night text indicating that there had been POWs. So if anyone has any information on the whereabouts of jar #2, please send me a message asap! Thanks to Mike & Begona for a fun night!
Next stop...Blk Market Membership at Bar 13! When I got there, Ryan Elliot was droppin some techno lovin so I made my way directly to the sweaty center of the room. After some searching, I finally found Sami (sans-floppy-french-fro) holding court and greeted him wabbit style. After that I went search of the Taimur's birthday buns - what's a party without a visit from the pimp hand? Sometime around 4am I walked home with Sami in an effort to be well-rested for a big Sunday (damn, I'm so lame these days!) which included brunch, the dentist, a baby shower, a visit to a pregnant friend and The L Word with the girls in Brooklyn. Jeez! I might be headed back to hibernation after this one!
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