Normally i actually like to make a big deal for my birthday, but this year it just didn’t feel right. It was the opposite of the perfect storm, that this year it was my 32nd birthday (big whoop), it fell on a wednesday, and the trip back to Thailand was recently booked. Although I didn’t have a big party I did find a way to get together with friends and family all week long.
The Saturday before last I went out to dinner with my parents at Roy’s in Newport Beach. Since my sister was traveling to New York for her birthday my mom had to fly up to San Francisco to dog sit, so we had the dinner early. I chose Roy’s because it always seems the right balance between fancy and comfortable. Their happy hour specials are worth it enough, and for $5 the Roy€™s Original Hawaiian Martini is well worth it. Although though i was disappointed in my steak i enjoyed the rest of the night.
My actual birthday dinner Joy took me to Gjelina on Abbot Kinney with Ben and Tiffany. This is a restaurant that i’ve had on my list for quite a while, but never quite found a reason or could get a reservation to eat here. The dinner couldn’t have been better, we got seated outside next to the fire pit (loud interior) and all the food was awesome. We tend to order a lot with the Manichans and i was happy with everything we ordered. Between the Arugula, Shaved Sweet Corn salad, Ravioli in brown butter, Squash Blossom pizza, and Grilled Asparagus with fried egg the meal did not miss a point.
Saturday night was a night traveling south to Boiling Crab in Garden Grove for a big bag of peel and eat shrimp, oysters, corn and fried catfish with Tbang, and Shane. Between the four of us we could not finish 4lbs of shrimp but cleared off everything else. Afterwards Jonathan met up with us for drinks at Gaynor’s Lounge which we thought would be some Asian run bar, but when we walked in, it was like we were in a Wyoming truck stop. After a shot and a drink we were out of there.
Overall the week was great, and i’m looking forward to my future birthday gift of the new Kindle Fire … unless i find something else to get.
