Sunlight Makes Me Paranoid

So it was a friend's birthday but I got to choose the place to celebrate.

Bistro Bobette is one of my friend's favorite restaurants, so while I decided on it, he happily complied.

I was coming straight from doing an interview at Plant Zero, so he was already ensconced at a table when I breezed in late into lunchtime.

We did some quick catch-up.

He's just over the crud that's been going around, had a getaway to a snow-covered cabin in West Virginia recently and bragged about an overseas record find.

A Neil Young concert recorded in the Netherlands and unearthed in a Dublin record store.

Nice, very nice.

Since he'd already decided on the triple cut burger on bricohe (although, sadly, he wanted no cheese on it) and frites, I wasted no time in making up my mind.

With our cow base covered, I went for the sauteed rainbow trout in almond butter with shallot-sauteed haricot verts.

Since we were doing a day-late celebration of his birthday, he ordered a bottle of 2009 Chateau Valcombe, a supple and rich Cote du Rhone ideal for a gray day.

It matched the Pink Martini station playing in the background, lulling us into relaxed long lunch mode.

We shared off of each other's plates, including a bacon "orphan" off his burger that he generously handed me, while the conversation ran the gamut from the pleasures of pig at Publican in Chicago to U-shaped raw bars to the latest Dylan album.

When our server noticed we'd given up on eating, he asked tentatively about dessert.

Since part of the motivation in ordering the Cotes du Rhone had been for the pleasure of having it with chocolate, he got an enthusiastic "bien sur" in response.

The chocolate crousillant with its layers of cake, mousse and crushed hazelnut made both the birthday boy and his guest very happy.

As we finished it up, we heard a woman tell a man behind us, "Just don't tell your wife," a warning that inspired wonder about the circumstances of the conversation.

But ours was not to judge.

All at once a woman came around the divider, exclaiming when she saw me, "Look who's here in the daylight!"

I could say the same about her since it's almost always night time when we run into each other.

A conversation about the newest restaurants ensued as we compared notes about the places we've both been lately.

We got so caught up in it we even made plans to meet up for dinner soon to check out a place she hasn't been.

I have, but I'm willing to give the place a second try for her sake. Anything for a friend.

The birthday boy and I had stayed so long that eventually the chef came out and joined our discussion, telling us which new places he'd tried and what he thought of them.

He was curious about Godfrey's drag brunch, wanting the scoop there.

As far as I'm concerned, they're the original Grace Street pioneers.

Walking out, my friend observed that the roundtable with the chef had been the perfect ending to his delicious birthday lunch.

Some of us sure know how to pick 'em, if I do say so myself.

And I do.