Sunday, December 16, 2018
Nap. Accompanied Patrick via UberX to his beard trim appointment at Refinery Grooming Club. We rode UberX from the Mission to the Castro. Along the way we passed the Tom and Jerry Goldstein house which was lavishly adorned with giant Christmas decor. We wanted to hang out in a coffee shop, but Philz was too crowded. We went instead to Castro Tarts where we easily found seats and ordered cold pork spring rolls and dipping sauce, cafe au lait for Patrick, mint tisane for me. We left because the front door was kept open and the cold bothered us. We walked to Cafe Flore which was warmer. Spiced cider for Patrick, peppermint hot chocolate for me. My drink tasted slightly sour, but I couldn't tell for certain and Patrick couldn't either. I drank only half of it. We weren't helped for about 20 minutes after sitting. A server later explained that he didn't realize that we had just sat. After some time I realized that there were several leaks in the ceiling. Water dripped on a bench and onto the floor a few inches from my chair. The staff did not seem to notice or care. Weird. We had planned to dine at Hi Tops, but it was too crowded. After some walking around, we decided to eat at Poesia. Sparkling water and happy hour negroni and eggplant parm for Patrick, tap water and pollo al limone with sauteed potatoes and kale for me. Service was great at the start and then slow and occasionally incorrect thereafter. (A staff member whom we think might be new to the restaurant delivered clean tableware that was intended for another table before later removing it and delivering it to the right table.) $62.93 before a $10 tip. Afterwards we attended Laugh Your Gays Off, a new comedy night at Midnight Sun. Stephen G met us at the bar. The event saw mixed results. Some of the comedians were among the worst standup comedy I have ever seen, but others were great. At times there were microphone feedback problems, which some performers resolved by stepping down from the stage. After the host's intro and two comedians half of the people who arrived for the event had left. We stuck it out til the end, and it did get better despite no indication that it would. Rode UberX home.