Birthday Celebrations

I went to Eastern Standard last night with 6 friends to celebrate my birthday. We started with fried calamari which was very good and a side of mac & cheese with ham and gruyere which was delicious. I had the friday special which was Black Cod which was served over a clam stew. Very tasty but nothing amazing. Other friends enjoyed the baked rigatoni and steak frites. A pork chop sounded delicious but it arrived thin and breaded. It was good, but not what was expected. One friend ordered the glazed salmon and sent it back because it was insanely salty. For dessert we got two orders of a cherry bread pudding which was served with a cinnamon ice cream brulee. Very tasty. Service was good and they apologized for the salmon.

They had Absinthe on the menu so I had to try it. It's anise flavored and strong, so you dilute it and add sugar. There's a ritual associated with it but the waitress explained it to me incorrectly so I got it a bit wrong. It was entertaining though not at all hallucinogenic and I'm in no great rush to try it again. Same as my fugu experience in Japan.