Reverse Commute

This weekend I did the unthinkable. No, I'm not talking about the poker game that I actually was the first one eliminated from. I fought, I twisted arms, I slyly coerced my friends from Manhattan into coming to the Bronx - three of them!

The strategy was three fold: First, Melissa and I offered an evening of poker on her new set. Obviously everyone was angling to get their money back that I easily swept from them a fortnight ago, so it wasn't much of a stretch. Then, we offered to make them dinner. Dinner and poker? Who could resist? Finally, we pulled a bait and switch and offered an olive branch in the form of olive oil - we would take them to the irreverable (sp.? thesaurus?), infamous Little Italy - in the Bronx! It worked like a charm, they were sold! To add a cherry on top, they even coerced D into driving us up from midtown so that we didn't have to take the subway on a chilly evening!

And the night was splendid. Well, the meal was anyway - poker was a disaster for me. After a plethora of research, we decided to hit up Roberto's on Crescent Avenue. We went for an early dinner because the last time I went, the area was packed and the waits were long. Roberto's didn't let us down - it was packed with an "older" crowd - most likely from further uptown in the suburbs - while most other restaurants were empty. But, my oh my was it worth the wait. Fabulous food, a greeting from Roberto himself (the chef), and comments from the Manhattanites like "wow, this is probably one of the best Italian meals, best surprises that I've had in a long long time". That's right, that's how we role in the Bronx - legit fo' sho'!

Today as I was waiting at the back of the train platform for a subway to arrive - forever - I remembered the first time that Paul and left our safety zone soon after I arrived in New York and - shocker - rode in the VERY LAST CAR of the train all the way to Brooklyn. Talk about being sheltered! Now, it's the ONLY place I go ;o).

J. Riley, I have restarted my Spanish lessons in preparation for February!