the bread was good

K$ planned a trip for us to Au Bon Pain after snagging some "free $10 lunch" coupons from her department's printer. It seemed a little too good to be true: coupons that you can print from your computer - presumably an unlimited number of them - and exchange for food. Maybe I shouldn't be so pessimistic.

We hit 55th street before realizing that we had no idea where to find an Au Bon Pain. Fortunately, d@1 reader Jon was able to point us due west, with the help of the ever-popular Interweb.

We found the ABP, and, lo and behold, k$ spots a sign: they are not accepting the coupons due to the ease of fraudulent duplication. So we paid for lunch.

Before I get to the actual lunch, I should say that I used to be a big ABP fan. When I was a wee one, there was an ABP on the ground floor of my dad's office building. When he took me to his office we'd often stop there for lunch. I was proud of my sophisticated choice: smoked turkey on a croissant and an Orangina. And sometimes a chocolate croissant and milk for dessert.

My affection for ABP evaporated once I became old enough to take the bus from Boston to New York and it became my Port Authority pre-bus food of choice. ABP has expanded into a mega-chain since those smoked turkey days, and now the food is bland, often prepackaged, and always soggy.

Then, there was The Last Straw. That would be when, chomping on a wrap on a Greyhound bus en route to Boston - a wrap which was not even the one that the label said it would be - k$ noticed a dead ladybug quietly resting on a piece of lettuce.

im in ur samwich, eating ur lettuz

I chalked it up to the misery that is Port Authority, mentally wrote and revised an angry letter, and haven't been back since.

k$ and I each got a Mediterranean chicken salad and a wheat mini baguette, which we ate at one of their nice outdoor tables. The salad was small, and the chicken was laughably bad: not just moist, but beyond soggy, like it was waterlogged, or like it was severely over-processed (I wonder why it tasted like this). I can't believe they serve this to people. The rest of the salad was OK, and the bread was actually quite crusty and flavorful, probably the best I've had in midtown. I'll try it again on the sandwich tip. This lunch sent me straight into the arms of Mr. Bananaman.

Coda

After work yesterday, B-Mar gathered a bunch of legal assistants, friends, and hangers-on at Connolly's on 54th St.

Who should saunter in around 6:15 but that saucy knight, Paul McCartney.

B-Mar: "One down, three to go"

This is how we do goodbyes.

Today I got a sammy & some salad from the recently revamped Black Rock Cafe (thanks Aramark! I missed you after college). Not thrilling, but edible, and they actually lowered the prices *ahem, Digger*

Also, I knew I'd only have to make it until around 3, as today we had an "office birthday." Which can only mean one thing (and which I dutifully noted on the birthday card that gets passed around): glorious, glorious cupcakes.

fin

We had to abandon our Very Special Lunch season finale at Prime Burger due to time constraints, but, fittingly, ended up where it all began: Digby's.

The whole thing seemed pretty similar - in terms of plot, suspense, and the scads of publicity - to the last episode of the Sopranos. It was a solid lunch. Good conversation. We laughed, we cried, we found God in the arrangement of mixed greens in front of me.

In memory of the B-Mar, and due to the fact that they raised their prices, I don't think I'll be going to Digby's anymore. Today I had a Carribean chicken salad, which included some cold avocado and colder plantains. Nice idea, poor execution. That's the Digby's way!

To end things on a high note: in a particularly auspicious moment, the B-Mar spotted the Cookie Man on his way to our table. This is the guy who gives out surprisingly delicious free cookies to Digby's patrons. You know what they say: you know it's summer when the birds are chirping, the people are smiling, and the cookie man has awakened from his 8-month slumber. I had my favorite, chocolate chip with dried cherries. They sell a lot of mediocre food at Digby's, but their best item is free. This is certainly meaningful in some way.

I think I speak for everyone at d@1 when I say that we'll miss you, B-Mar. I don't know who or what food item will replace you. This may be the end, but I'd prefer to think of it as a new beginning. I can't be the only one who wants to know what Bob will be serving for lunch this summer.

B-Mar Breaks Heart, Blood Oath

I am now cool enough to know how to embed video and to have been a fan of the Human Giant guys before you were (unless you are Adam, in which case, thank you for teaching me about the Interweb and for bringing me to an Aziz show).

this is gross, but seriously, it's like this every day with the B-Mar

I originally saw this on Midtown Lunch, which I am now consulting to find a sit-down burger place for our Last Lunch tomorrow. I want to make it Special. The B-Mar deserves nothing less, if only for resurrecting d@1 at the 11th hour.

Today I was in the mood for a chicken-y Tasty Bites salad, but the chicken looked a little too refrigerated and processed. I went with the goat cheese & portabella instead, which was indeed tasty, but left me feeling predictably hungry. I picked up a 35-cent banana from the fruit guy on 55th. I think he might be my B-Mar replacement. My new friend.

Summertime, the livins easy

Will this be maintained? Did the spring lull destroy it? What will happen if Shesta and I never communicate again except through blog form?
I was out of the office yesterday, at the doc's for a physical. I am generally healthy, need to exercise more. Thanks doc!

My last day of work is Tuesday. I hope Ben and AW will want to get lunch. Camp starts a week from tomorrow, on Saturday the 16th.

Back to the 'Craft/Rehash of the New Haven trek

For the first time in a few weeks, Ben and I hit up the 'Craft. delicious, as always, and we finagled some brownies, as "payment" for the unusually long wait we had. It always surprises me when the 'wichcraft line is short and the wait is brief; the food is good enough and the atmosphere pleasant enough that I would expect the line to be around the corner....but it never is. So I was annoyed today when my expectation of popularity were met by the various young professionals from the nearby banks, firms and publishing houses, with their skirt/jacket combos or bright pastel buttondowns.
Ben had the cheddar, I had the flank steak. We were pleased.

-----


Ben and I discussed the eventual grad school challenges, including housing and its scarcity and the virtues of living on campus. A few months ago, Ben and I joined our friends Ed, Will and Nick for a couple of days in beautiful New Haven. Ed is a grad student in English at some local community college up there. I was instantly enamored with grad school life versus my current situation: Ed's job was to read and study all day (he also instructs students a bit), and write and think about the work he is passionate about, and to do it all in a gorgeous university setting. Awesome. He seemed very happy.
Anyway, it was a great weekend, and great to see three guys I rarely see (Ben, I see you not enough but more than those others). My general sequence: I did two hours of work on the Saturday morning, met Will and Ben at grand Central Station, read Will's camp brochure, arrived in New Haven, walked to Ed's house, bumped into Nick at the threshold, set our stuff down, went for burgers at a famous burger place, bought beers, sat around, played zoom schwartz, eat Ed's girlfriend's casserole, went to some Yalie party, watched the slam dunk contest, retreated til morning, crashed on Ed's roommate's fouton, awoke, said good-bye to Nick, had brunch, played hearts, threw a football around, wandered into the university common room, watched hoops, and headed our separate ways.

Midtown Monotony

I just went to 4 different places in search of lunch. It's all pretty miserable. Ended up with some cold sushi and half a pb&j that I brought from home.

Brian, pb&j is a lunch supplement, not a complete meal!*

* thanks mom

I hate you B-Mar

Confession/I'm a flirt

Starting in Jan/Feb, I started bringing peanut butter (smucker's) and jelly (expensive preserves, usually strawberry buts sometimes rasberry or cherry) to work. I kept jars of it in the 18th floor kitchen of my office, secreted away in the mostly empty cabinet that stores the extra napkins and styrofoam plates. I'd often keep some multi-grain bread and a jar of Ovaltine there, too. I'd have a cheap and easy lunch and never leave the office. I estimate weekely savings to be around 20 bucks a week form doing this instead of lunch at digby's, or about 200 bucks since I started my PB&J habit.
I am sorry, Ben, that I got so caught up in the cheap and easy, and neglected the depth of your committment.