Three Latest and Best: What a Weekend Edition!

Birthdays are always the best excuse to do all your favorite things, and mine was no different. It couldn't have been more perfect -- and many, many thanks to the great friends who made it all happen.

Friday Night: Had a simple and lovely dinner with a gal pal downtown. We treated ourselves to meat -- for me, a huge slab of falling-off-the-bone baby back ribs from Mo's, A Place for Steaks.

Saturday: The annual summer Indy Pub Crawl! Organizers do a great job getting 200 or so folks through roughly 15 stops on a schedule. Folks start crawling at 11:00 a.m. and work their way through downtown's favorite bars. The rule is one beer/one bar which generally works. I picked up the Mass Ave stops, Front Page, Old Point Tavern, and Das Rat, and had a chance to catch up with some old friends.

Saturday Night: When one of your best food and wine friends offers to organize your birthday dinner, take him up on it! I only provided a date and a restaurant preference, L'explorateur. What a menu -- incredible. Neal served us tasting courses from 8 p.m. until well after midnight. We started with oysters, moved through fresh antipastos, hamachi carpaccio, more seafood, sweetbreads, pork jowls!, and a slab of foie gras au torchon on brioche with a birthday candle. I can't think of a better way to celebrate than with such an amazing group of people. Bravo!