happy-mouth

A few days ago, the members of Happy Mouth (and guests Julie & Terry) met to dine at Holly’s pick, Apsara, an Asian-fusion restaurant. We found that they had very nice sushi and a lobster soup that Wendy loved, and a nice curry. The rest of the food was very good as well (despite strong rumors to the contrary — inside joke).

There were a couple missteps, though. First, in a large (mostly-empty) restaurant, the management seated our large party (12-14) next to another large party in an otherwise-empty dining room. The noise was staggering, but even worse was that one lone server (with a lovely mullet) was serving both of our tables, which meant that service was slow and uneven.

But worst of all was when I noticed that my sushi order was a bit light — I hadn’t received everything I’d ordered. The server realized that he’d set my sushi plate down at the end of the table, and their sushi order was set before me. Both of us had started eating, but the server simply grabbed the plates and swapped them. Now, I’m no prude, and the folks that had their fingers in my food are friends, but that still counted as a giant mistake in my book. <sarcasm>Fortunately, the server went deaf just before I started complaining.</sarcasm> Otherwise, the food and experience was fun.

Another successful Happy Mouth!

This month’s selection, by Ted, of the outing for HAPPY MOUTH SUPPER CLUB came as an accidental surprise. Apparently, when Ted was seeking a place for us to go, someone mentioned Maribelle’s CAKERY, which Ted misunderstood as Maribelle’s TAVERN, which he picked as our destination.

A happy accident it was, too… Situated near the river on the east side of town, this small neighborhood place offered good upscale-bar-type food and beverages at reasonable prices. Everything was plenty tasty! A few mis-steps here and there (some of our party had overcooked food and heavy seasoning on a few items). Accidental or not, it was a good pick, Ted!

For this month’s outing, a bit of a change-up… The members of HAPPY MOUTH SUPPER CLUB met for brunch at Lavomatic, one of the Jean-Robert French Restaurant Group’s newest places. It’s a favorite of mine for their fresh, local, organic ingredients and whimsical preparations, plus the executive chef is a good friend of mine (hi Joanne!).

This month, because Kristi was busy with other things, we all decided to meet-and-eat anyway at Buca di Beppo for their “red-sauce Italian” fare. We noisily occupied a semi-private dining room and proceeded to eat and drink darned near everything on their menu while Angel drooled over a soccer team that was in the restaurant as well. While it didn’t pan out for Angel, the food, drink, and company was awesome.

This month was Jay’s month to select and he picked Burbank’s Real Bar-B-Q, which we’d overlooked as a club until Jay thought of it. Boy, was it good! Smoky Bar-B-Q and lots of libations made this a great time. And long-lost Chef Doug (and his girlfriend) showed up! A great time was had by all.

This month’s selection for the HAPPY MOUTH SUPPER CLUB was the modestly-priced-but-expensive (more on that in a moment) Cleves Drive-In Restaurant, which was selected by Tracy. The fare was really good, and the desserts were especially delicious.

The reason this moderately-priced place was expensive (at least for Jay, Ron, and myself) was that we three got pulled over for blowing through a stop sign by Cleves’ finest. The officer was very nice and couldn’t have been more patient (and funny) as he hit all three of us with a $100 fine. Each. YOUCH!

Still, a great Happy Mouth!