my year in food

Champagne and foie gras at Mistral, to celebrate endings and beginnings.

Tiny empanadas and muchos mojitos with the girls at Chez Henri on the bar menu. Bouillabaisse and oysters with The Man at Chez Henri in the dining room.

Dirty martinis with blue cheese-stuffed olives and grilled flatbreads at the Charles Hotel to console after a break-up.

Pad thai and sour coconut soup in your pajamas on your couch, comfort food delivery from 9 Tastes during the cold, the sad, the depressed, after the arrest. Cinderella’s for pizza and fettucini alfredo when you don’t leave your house for days.

Salty fried bacalao and curls of prosciutto at Café Portugal after the courthouse, when we try to pretend it will all be okay.

Memphis pork ribs, Texas beef ribs, Georgia pulled pork, cornbread, candied yams, and gooey mac&cheese at Redbones when you want to stop caring that you’re the only single person (more food for you).

Enormous burgers with sweet potato fries at Mr & Mrs Bartley Burger Cottage when the rain is cold and unending.

Endless baskets of tortilla chips and Coronas (extra lime) at Border Café, when thing are still new and awkward in the way that only margaritas can fix.

Oaky chardonnay, a plate of fresh hummus and pita, and heavenly French fries (not on the menu) at Casablanca on Thursday nights, when Paul keeps the bar open late for us.

Cheese fondue at Grendel’s during half-priced-food-happy-hour when you’ll be lost in conversation catching up with a friend. Cheese fondue at Temple Bar when you don’t want just a vat o’ melted cheese.

Asian Chicken salad at b. good when you’re down to ninety-five pounds and want to be with other girls who feel safest in baggy dresses, cracked hands, when they know calorie counts, when nothing is left up to chance.

Risotto and fried calamari in honor of the unexpected, dinner at Temple Bar. Too-expensive bottles of wine at Temple Bar at 2am with boys whose names you can’t keep straight.

Fried brie at Shay’s, with “the cheapest Chardonnay that’s chilled” until the bartender takes pity and upgrades you, no charge.

Squid in black ink linguine at No Name Restaurant, where the waiter asks on the eve of a Noreaster: are you going home to be snowed in together?

A cheese tasting, a wine tasting, a kiss at Butcher Shop.

Fruity cocktails at Red Line, to dance and flirt and forget. Tequila shots at Tommy Doyle’s when the cocktails aren’t strong enough.