Colon Blow

Happy Birthday to me!

Yesterday, September 18th was my birthday!

I did not do too much to celebrate on my actual birthday, but this past Saturday my wife and I went to a very expensive restaurant that I have been wanting to try for quite awhile. It is located in Highland Park, a suburb that is about 30 minutes north of Chicago. The name of the restaurant is Carlos'.

Carlos' is one of those restaurants in which the portions are small, the presentation of the food is spectacular and the quality of the food is superb. What distinguishes Carlos' from other high end restaurants is their unique service . While the service is as attentive as any other restaurant in that price range, the staff was very personable, friendly and at times very entertaining. Carlos himself is very involved in the service throughout the dinner and even participated in singing Happy Birthday to me with our waiter.

After dinner, we walked a couple of doors down to another restaurant called Miramar for an after dinner cocktail. While Carlos' offers contemporary French cuisine, Miramar sells itself as a French bistro. Miramar is very busy, loud and casual.

We found a place to sit at the bar and after a few minutes I got up to look for the restroom. A man in about his late twenties or early thirties sitting next to my wife noticed I was looking where to go and pointed me in the right direction. After I walked away from them the following conversation took place between Mrs Colon Blow and who I found out soon later was named Bartholomew:

Bartholomew: "He's a lion".

Mrs. CB: "Actually, his birthday is this Monday, so he is a Virgo".

Bartholomew: "No, I don't believe in any of that astrological crap. What I mean is I can tell by the way he walks, his strut, that he is a lion. You are lucky to have him."

Mrs. CB: "No, he is lucky to have me!"

It should be no surprise to any of you reading this that Bartholomew was already somewhat drunk by the time we encountered him. As most drunks you meet in a bar, he was somewhat obnoxious. However, I sometimes find that some drunks I meet in bars, although obnoxious, can be entertaining if handled the right way. After all, if you don't mind doing the work ( listening and agreeing to inane statements) they can be quite entertaining. Also, after experiencing a very civilized, cultured dining experience, it was like going from class to crass in 60 seconds flat...what an existential rush!

Bartholomew insisted that I have a shot with him. He really did not seem to care about buying my wife a drink or did he seem interested in talking to her...another charming and interesting feature about his personality! He bought me a drink that I never had before, a Jager Bomb. A Jager Bomb is a basically a shot of Jagermeister dropped into a glass of Red Bull. Quite a difference from the $80 bottle of wine we were drinking at dinner about an hour earlier. Anyway, after a few more stories from Bartholomew and after buying him a drink, we left Miramar and made our way home.

All in all, it was a great night way to celebrate my birthday. I got to experience fine dining, meet an interesting personality, went home with the best looking woman in the bar ( my wife made me write that) and learned how to rid myself of that half empty bottle of Jagermeister sitting in my freezer... all in one night! What more could a guy ask for?

posted by Colon Blow @ 6:04 PM