It was Calabria night at Marco Polo!

So we were stuck in the store on Wednesday night before the holiday because it was pissing down rain. We did a bunch of work but we also cranked up the ipod and put on some disco from back in the day and took periodic dance breaks. We were dancing to the Bee Gees and people were looking pressed onto the glass and wanted to come in but we shooed them away.

Since it was too late to cook we decided to go across the street to Marco Polo for a cocktail and some appetizers. Well Lisa had a cocktail and I had cranberry juice. As we are sitting at the bar we notice that there are a bunch of regulars sitting at the tables and Joe the owner is about to make a speech. Our friend Nancy comes over to tell us that it is the annual "Calabria" dinner where they promote the products of Calabria like pasta and olive oil and what not. It is a free dinner paid for by the promotion board of Calabria and they invite a bunch of the regular customers for free food and drink. We had one question:

"WHY THE FUCK WEREN'T WE INVITED?"

Of course it was an oversite on their part and definitely not intentional. We have been very irregular patrons lately and they just forgot. Joe and Marco were very embarrassed. So they came over and loaded us up with free stuff to make up for it. Pasta, crositinit's, crackers, olive oil and something I never heard of:

Donkey chocolate. That's right chocolate made from donkey milk. Eat one piece and make an ass out of yourself!

Joe sent over this great dessert of fig ice cream in a waffle cone that was out of this world.

You can see all the business men from Calabria talking with Joe in the background about how the night went. What was really great about this dessert beside the ice cream was the candied fig that they stuck in it. That was superb.

Check out all of the booty behind the fat guy in the neon Hawaiian shirt with the alligators in it.

I was one happy fella!

End of summer calls for cocktails

We went for some cocktails the other day after a long meeting on our day off. It was empty at Marco Polo at 5pm. Well not really empty. There was a big table of people having a meeting so we sat off in the corner in the window.

We ordered cocktails before dinner as usual. Then Demi the waiter brought us over  a "Spiked" ice which is one of your old fashioned ices spiked with liquor. This one had Campari and vodka. It was pretty damn good.

We just had appetizers. Some hot stuff like mushrooms and eggplant. And of course the mozzarella special. Just right.

Hey I don't want to go all crazy eyes on you!

But you know what you have to do. Mind the store and keep the home fires burning tomorrow. Remember we will be right back. Not like CBS on Time Warner.

Like A Roid on the Yankees.

We are never going away. Never.

Time for cocktails....again

I didn't think we were going out last night but we got so busy and we were so tired I couldn't face cooking so we just went across the street for a quick bite.

It's funny how the waiter's fight over our custom. We have taken to sitting at the bar on Wednesday since that is more comfortable for us. I can stretch out my legs and not be all cramped. Tony the bartender takes good care of us and sometimes we have interesting conversations with other people at the bar.

Now that freaks out Jay the waiter because we always sit with him and he wants his tip. It is fine on Wednesday because he goes home early but on a Friday he wants us to sit with him. Some of the other waiters come by to kiss our ass because they want us to sit in their section. Which is fine as far as it goes but we always order off the menu so they have to have the pull with the kitchen to get us what we want. Jay is often left as the manager when the bosses are away so he can get us whatever we want. Which is what you want.

But we started off slow with our basic favorite cocktails. A Cosmo for the wife and a caipirinha for me. Oh and some bruschetta.

Cocktails at Via Brazil

So we spent the day fabric shopping in the Garment district today. We found some stuff but we couldn't close the deal because the owners weren't there so we have to go back tomorrow. It was a pain in the ass and a bunch of rolls of fabric fell on me but what are you gonna do.

Then we went to a fancy hair salon where the wife got a really expensive haircut that she really didn't like. It was a change for her and like most people they don't like change. So she was pretty upset.

To salvage the night we went to the restaurant I took her to on our first date. Via Brazil a Brazilian joint on W46th Street that used to be one of my haunts back in the 1980's. Of course nobody working there would remember us so it was no big deal. But the food is pretty good and the cocktails are great. I had my favorite capirinha's  and the wife had a nice tasty Malbac.

We had to turn it around.

I mean I am not about to go rent a dog to walk to get out of the house you know what I mean.

It gets weird

So we are enjoying our cocktails at high table near the bar and notice something weird. There was a family of albino's sitting in every seat at the bar. I mean they weren't all albino's but five or six of them were. Every other seat with the bleached out kids who want you to go into the cornfield.

Jay the waiter comes up to me to ask how we are doing and I go "I don't know I feel pretty fucked up."

"Why's that?"

"Because I walked into the middle of the "Da Vinci Code" that's why. What the fuck?"

Time for a cocktail at Marco Polo

So we had another busy day on Saturday and I was too tired to cook at 10pm so we went over to Marco Polo to eat.

We had some great cocktails to start the night off.

I had a dirty Martini and the wife had a Blueberry Pimmcup which sounded like Blueberry piss cup but thankfully was not. It was just weird but not as weird as the night would get.

Wednesday night cocktails!

Wednesday night cocktails at Marco Polo!

We had two days off and I was not into cooking tonight. So we went to Marco Polo to have cocktails. Today with was a Strawberry Gimlet. It was much too sweet so we had to switch to something else after the first one.

The joint was deserted again. I guess Wednesday is not a big day for them. They had a big catering job tonight at the Brooklyn Bar Association so most of the regulars were out of the store. So they didn't lose money wise but it was still very quiet.

Off for Cocktails.

Off for Cocktails at Marco Polo.