Cabana

so ASW and i met up for a belated birthday dinner last wkd, which was really good b/c i haven't really seen her since her wedding in Vegas. we went to Carne Vale in Alphabet City since ASW was in the mood for meat and this place is a rodizio, where you have buffet apps and when you've had enough you give the waiters the green light and they start bringing various cuts of meat to your table until you tell them to stop.

the setting is pretty romantic, dim lighting and candlelight and all that and in the summer they open the patio doors and since we got seats near the patio it was pretty cool to watch the crowds outside passing. if you're a guy, you would definitely love this place b/c around 9:30 pm they have a very scantily dressed woman-and when i say scantily i mean thong and bra top-come out and dance to, what i assume is, Brazilian music. pretty entertaining. the food was good, but the service was pretty slow. the waiters weren't as vigilant as they should be bringing around the skewered meat and serving us and ASW and i actually had to leave before we could get dessert b/c we were meeting ppl and it was getting late. i recommend coming to this place early (tho you'll miss the belly dancer) b/c i suspect the service is a lot better b/c the place is less crowded. i'm definitely gonna give this place another try tho b/c $35 prixe-fix for app buffet, all the meat you can eat and dessert is just too good a deal to just write off.

afterwards, we were going to meet FDR at One, which i'd never been to. ok, so i feel like i know the city pretty well by now, give or take a few spots. turns out Little West 12th is one of those spots that i don't know. it took me and ASW a while to find the place and even then we eventually had to ask somebody for directions. we finally found ASW a prime parking spot, but once we got to One, ASW took one look at the line and decided it wasn't worth and went back home to Jersey.

i continued on to Cabana to meet Oppa and Tina for Meegs' birthday party. i almost gave up tho when i saw how long the line for this place was. it actually wrapped around the corner onto 17th street. i prob would've left except i had already told Egg and Oni to meet me there so i just trucked it out in line and it was timed almost perfectly so that when i got to the front, Oni arrived in a cab. we had a good time but didn't really hang w/Tina/Meegs and Oppa had already left before we'd gotten in. either way, had a good time w/my BLS buddies and it was all worth it when Oni told me i looked skinny.