catching you up.

last week we saw ray la montagne at the uptown. he was amazingly vulnerable and raw...while very tight and together. make sense? i didn't think so either. he and his band didn't stray from the way the songs play on the albums...but he did bring in a pedal-steel player, which was a nice touch. either way, i could have listened to him play for days.

last night, b and i finally made it to room 39 for his belated birthday celebration. and, honestly, i was underwhelmed. we started with sweetbreads. they weren't bad and were nicely accompanied with a few onion rings and some pickled vegetables. we also ordered a house-smoked trout salad...that was small and mostly bland. b's cod was overpowered by some thick "sauce" that sort of looked like vomit...but my ribeye was amazing. i'll give them that. the service was very good and they were apologetic that they had to make us move tables when we first sat down and gave us a "gift" of beet risotto. we finished the meal with creme brulee, which was good but small. anyway, when i pay over $100 for dinner, i expect just a little bit more um, how can i say this...FLAVOR.

maybe they were just having an off night.