First Friday at the Crossroads


Stella and I shipped the kids off to the grandparents for the weekend so we could do some painting and other work around the house. But, Friday night was going out night. We went out for a nice dinner at McCormick & Schmicks, I had the Gulf of Mexico grouper with a nice cajun glaze and Stella had the sea scallops. There really is nothing bad on the Schmicks menu except maybe the hamburger (I'm sure it tastes fine, but what kind of douche orders a burger at Schmicks). After dinner we came home to prep for painting and watch the Indians game (Fausto and the bugs). I had to open a beer, I was so nervous for the Tribe, luckily Joba doesn't handle the bugs so well.

After all that mess we decided to get out to the Crossroads and got to the Cashew. As we approached the exit off 35, you could see all the cars and people down 20th street. You never see that kind of crowd anywhere near downtown. As someone who works downtown, I'm happy to see people in the area. We made our way up to the Cashew and I was able to park in virtually the same spot I did earlier in the week. A nice bonus since there were about 10,000 more people in the area than earlier this week. The Cashew was bustling, we got the last empty table in the place, our seats were still warm from the previous occupants. Stella needed a drink menu and I needed a Schlafly, it was hot, I had been working hard prepping for the paint job. Our waitress finally got us a drink menu after we had sat there about 5 minutes, apparently drink menus are in short supply at the Cashew. Stella ordered the Sangria Slammer, she's a big fan of sangria. I downed my Schlafly, a much better pour than I had earlier in the week, in a Wes Port minute and was ready for my next drink. I was going to have to have a martini of some sort. Looking over the menu and doing color combos in my head to make sure I didn't get a pink drink, I settled on the Hollywood, Ketel One, Chambord and pineapple juice. Our curvy in all the right places waitress said it wasn't a good drink, people send it back all the time. Have you ever sent back a drink? I haven't, I didn't even know it was an option. She recommended the Razzatini, Cherry Limeade or the Flirtini. I honestly don't think I could order anything called a flirtini. It sounds good and I may mix one up at home, but I'm certainly not going to order one in full view of all these people. I stuck with the Hollywood and Stella got a Flirtini. The Hollywood was good, I really enjoy pineapple juice, but it wasn't very strong, I believe I got a short pour of Ketel One. Stella said the same about the Flirtini, not much alcohol.

While we sat there sipping on our cocktails, I noticed that Lois was in the house. Paddy O'Quigleys is just across the street donchaknow. She didn't turn around after I saw so Stella didn't get to see what a resemblance she has to Lois. I would have asked her to come over and say hi, but she's not my biggest fan. She doesn't like that I publicize her doppelganger. I did text Wes to tell him, but he's in San Diego or whale's vagina, and he didn't care. Stella stole my phone and texted him something too, I'm pretty sure it was dirty because she wouldn't tell me what it was.

We then tried to decided between JP Wine Bar, the Martini Loft or the Bulldog for our next drink. Stella wanted another martini and I knew the Bulldog has some rockin' cocktails, the Martini Loft I'm not sure about and I've never been to JP Wine Bar. We decided on the Bulldog. I was able to park in the Bulldog's smaller than Pluto parking lot, which was nice. We sat down at a pub table that was terribly uncomfortable so we switched to the barstools at the bar. The Bulldog has a classic cocktail drink menu, manhattans, daiquiris, grasshoppers etc. Basically if you want a top 20 cocktail, the Bulldog has it in their menu, with very few, if any, original cocktails. Stella got a bellini, I ordered a daiquiri (bonus material on our MySpace blog with my thoughts about daiquiris). I watched our tatted up bartender squeeze the limes from the garnish tray to get the lime juice. I'm not sure how I feel about that, I think they should use different limes, but I don't know why, they're not exactly getting 40 daiquiri orders in an evening. Nonetheless, it just kind of gives me the heebies. But, no short pour at the Bulldog, tatted up bartender really supplied the rum. When she brought it over I took a quick drink and I got instant satisfaction, the daiquiri is the balls of the cocktail community. I love a real daiquiri and the Bulldog's daiquiris are pretty fabulous. Stella was quite impressed with her bellini also.

We watched the Red Sox playing the Angels on the tv and had some nice conversation about the bartender that looks like a friend of mine from college, Vlad daddy and sundry other items. Overall a nice atmosphere for a good time with my wife.

I really recommend cocktails at the Bulldog and beer at the Cashew. But mostly I recommend you get out to the Crossroads on some evening other than First Friday.

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