Now Tell Me, Honestly, Girls! Is It Worth Spending Close To $300 On A Dinner For Two, Just To Have A Chocolate Brooklyn Bridge, For Desert????????????

                               This may end up being my longest blog headline, yet, but it is important.  With October speeding away faster than I can keep up with, and November, my birthday month, approaching, plans have to be made.  Like what are we going to do, and where are we going to dine.

                                Over the past several years, we have done Chadwick's, in Brooklyn, as there is no question we will have an excellent dining experience.  But, as my birthday falls fairly close to Thanksgiving, we are usually back there, within a week, for their Thanksgiving Special.

                                 So, this year we have decided to do something different, but finding a venue is something of a problem.  The old standby of my youth, save La Grenouille, are gone, and even there men do not have to wear ties anymore.  Just jackets.  They must be desperate for clientele.  Still, it is a possibility.

                                  When I saw the above desert, I was all psyched for The River Café, which features it, and is in Brooklyn.  But when I saw the $130 price, I balked.  Just to have this stunning looking desert?  No way!  I know prices have risen since my haute dining days, but, honestly!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                  I have always wanted to dine at Harry Cipriani. The one in the Sherry Netherland, in the East Fifties.  That is a distinct possibility, because Italian cuisine suits me.

                                  Little Italy is gone.  All the  places I loved have vanished, and those left are low class, if not lower tier.  Did you know that SPQR has closed?  I just found it out, yesterday.

                                    So, it is anyone's guess where I end up for my birthday.  Not some dive, like that cheap White Rose!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                      The same problem surrounds how to celebrate the day.  The tradition always has been to see a Broadway show.  Last year I subjected poor David to "Heisenberg," because I wanted to experience the technical magic of Mary-Louise Parker.  She and Denis Arndt were brilliant, but Stephen Simon did not write much of a play--more of an actors workshop.  Great for theater folk, such as I, but not for David.

                                      And, of course, I would like to see a musical.  There are plenty out there I have not seen--"Aladdin," "Kinky Boots," "School Of Rock"--but why spend moolah on something I am not particularly drawn to?

                                        Any suggestions?  You tell me!  I have a feeling this birthday will be a distinctly different and unusual one!  Stay tuned, for more!

                                         Don't light those candles, yet!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!