Happy Birthday Jason!

I made plans to see my friend, Jason, on Saturday. Before meeting up with him, I remembered that his birthday is someday this week, but couldn't remember the exact date. I asked him what day it is, and he wouldn't tell me, which led to me asking him as casually as possible just about every five minutes. For example, he was telling me about a friend from college that has the same birthday, and I said, "Oh really? What day is that again?" Later, I was talking about my recently purchased JM tickets, and my disappointment that he won't be performing on my birthday again this year, and I slipped in, "What are you doing for your birthday, Jason, and when is that again?" He didn't fall for my tricks, though. So the next tactic was to try to wrestle him to the ground and get his wallet out to take a peek at his driver's license. We decided not to do it, since we happened to be sitting in a very crowded part of Central Park and it might be a little conspicuous. But that did not stop me from continually grabbing his rear to make him think that I was going for the wallet. My next brilliant idea was to send a text to Julia in Utah asking her the date. Her response? "I'm not allowed to tell you." WHAT?? How did she know??

We decided to take him to dinner, anyway. Since Kathy had to make a stop at H&M and it was Saturday in New York City in the beginning of the spring tourist season, naturally we went downtown, but not too far downtown. This put us in Chelsea, which put us near Hill Country, a restaurant I've been wanting to try (as reported in a previous entry). When Kathy suggested it, I acted all casual, like, "Yeah, Hill Country, that's a place I've been wanting to try. That sounds cool. But since it's your birthday, Jason, you should pick. What day is your birthday again?" He still didn't bite, but agreed that BBQ sounded good and I thought "Yes! I win again!"

So, we sat at our table and were given our "Meal tickets." This means you have to go stand in line to get your food. I ordered the brisket and was handed some meat in a piece of butcher paper and a sticker for my meal ticket. Then I got in the next line for side orders, which came in a paper cup. We all got something from the side order stand to share, so we had to scoop it out onto our butcher paper. I, of course, got the mac 'n cheese for my side. And I'm here to report that it is quite good, but not eatery good or Hudson Cafe good, or even Chat 'n Chew good. But better than Virgil's. And all the barbequed meat was great. We all agreed that we don't like the gimmicky meal tickets, however, and would prefer to have a regular dining experience of ordering our pounds and pounds of meat and carbs and eating off of plates like civilized people.

It was a good night, even though I still don't know when Jason's birthday is.