Ham Sandwich Indicted!

It started out simply enough: a group of friends with a standing Thursday night date at Buffalo Wild Wings for boneless chicken wings, a few beers, maybe some trivia. Over the course of the year, significant others came and went, but the core group--the Killa B, Big Country, and the H.S. remained. As the summer progressed, the group expanded to a few more regulars (V.Z., Doc Vince, Eddie-O, E.N.), and at the same time the group decided (ok, fine, yours truly, the restaurant geek, decided) that while the discounted boneless wings at BW3s were great and all, it was time to branch out. And with that, the Thursday Night Drinking/Dinner Club (TNDC) was born. Initial forays into other ports-of-call were simple, and stayed close to the sports bar/pub food genre: Brazenhead, King Avenue 5, Grandview Cafe. As the only female of the group for some period of time, and taking into consideration the Killa B's profound affection for BW3s Terriaki sauce, I had to work slowly. It became clear,...

Dear Nopa , Hi. So, it's been just over a week since we last met, and I'm still thinking about you. In fact, I think about you almost daily. I realize that we've only had our one date, but I really think we (well, you) have something special. I knew that our relationship was off to a good start when I called and made reservations a couple of weeks before our date. Your hostess was incredibly nice when we spoke on the phone--I didn't get that "oh, you're not from around here" attitude that you sometimes get from fancy restaurants when they realize you have a non-local phone number and are not famous/powerful/a restaurant critic. She even said she'd do what she could to get us in at the Chef's Table--four seats right there in front of the kitchen, in the middle of the action. When D and I arrived for our date, Nopa, it was immediately clear that you were the coolest kid on the block; your suitors were literally coming out the door. Never mind that, h...