Retirement Home for Assassins

When I was in law school, Wendy talked me into joining a book club. Seemed like a bit of a mistake, I mean, I barely had time to read all the cases I was assigned. But a book a month on top of that? It wound up being a great thing for me. Aside from enforced interaction with non-lawyers (just plain good for the soul), it also introduced me to two of my favorite books - The Life of Pi and The Red Tent.

Anyway, we used to meet close to Union Square. I haven't spent too much time in that area since book club. But on Saturday night, Wendy and I headed into Union Square to see The Matador - it's limited release and it's only playing at two theaters in Manhattan right now. The film was soldout for the time that we planned on, so we opted to have some dinner and catch a later showing.

After hemming and hawing over what type of food we wanted, we finally headed towards Friend of a Farmer on Irving Place. FoF is a little country type of restaurant, which I had been told years ago by Willis served a great brunch. Unfortunately, the line for the brunch is always out the door and down the block. I lack that kind of patience, so I've never eaten there.

Dinner, as it turns out, is also a pleasant meal to partake at FoF. Wendy got her steak, and I had a nice piece of salmon, off the specials. And to Wendy's delight, they had apple cider. I, naturally, had some wine.

The decor is cute - the Times called it precious, and not in a complimentary sort of way. But fuck the Times. I swear, we can't all eat at Per Se or Le Bernardin every damn day. Anyway, the decor is like a little country home. And as long as the food is solid, what's so bad about that?

Wendy: The decor here looks good for you.
Me: Are you suggesting that I look better in very dim lighting?
Wendy: Yes.
Me: Thanks.
Wendy: Also, the rose wallpaper goes well with your coloring.

I think I speak for both of us when I say that the highlight was dessert. We both ordered the warm fudge brownie, but I had mine a la mode. Wendy does not approve of a la mode - she feels it compromises the integrity of the chocolate. I like a little vanilla to cut the sweetness of the chocolate. Anyway, the brownies were ginormous, warm, and had big chocolate chunks in them. Delicious.

After dinner, we headed down to the movie theater and saw The Matador, which stars Pierce Brosnan (Wendy's boyfriend if he were twenty years younger) and Greg Kinnear. The premise is that Pierce is an aging assassin who suffers from panic attacks and Greg is a down-on-his-luck businessman. The two strike up a conversation at a bar and it goes from there. It was funny and quirky and I'm giving it a thumbs up. It's nice to see Pierce send up his James Bond persona. And there are a few priceless lines. As Pierce says at one point, "I look like a Bangkok hooker on a Sunday morning after the navy's left town." Well, I hope I never have to use that line personally, because all the dim lighting in Friend of a Farmer probably couldn't cover that up.

Wendy and I haven't spent time together in New York in quite awhile, so it was fun to get outside the confines of Jersey with her. Not that I have any desire to replace The Village Coffee Shop, but it's fun to try new things. Especially when the new thing involves a large chocolatey brownie.