Best Dinner EVER!

It was a little after 5pm at work, and as usual my mind starts to drift toward wrapping up the day and heading home. I get an email from Tyson asking me if I have left work yet. I know then that he wants me to get into some shenanigans. Apparently he wanted me to go with him for dinner at Takashi. We are always well taken care of when we go there, and the food gives me goosebumps so of course I agree to go.

We get there and immediately get sake and an appetizer. A feeling of joy overwhelmed me as the slight spice of the gyoza hit my taste buds. As we typically do at Takashi, the food comes in waves. Next, the maguro nigiri came and we had our first taste of sushi, in its rawest form.

We finally decide on the rolls that we will get for the evening and they arrive. Every time I go to Takashi I have to get the Tiger roll. It incorporates two of my favorite things: tempura shrimp and unagi. Seriously if you have never tried the eel, I would get some unagi nigiri as soon as possible. I digress. We also got a Spider roll which gets its name from the soft shell crab legs that protrude out of the side of it, and a Mexican roll that I assume gets its name from the peppers in it (one of which almost took Tyson’s tongue off).

As the rolls arrived, Tyson and I ordered the final “wave”. We have a tradition at Takashi and always order the filet mignon to share with the table. It is not a traditional filet, but rather arrives already sliced into strips, sautéed with portobello mushrooms, and covered in saffron. Many feel it is sacrilege to get something like filet at a sushi restaurant, but it is the best way to cap off the meal. As Tyson said as he was picking up little strings of saffron by themselves, “I can taste the money.” Just after the filet arrives and we were pouring our last shot of sake, another bottle of sake arrived courtesy of one of our friends that went to high school with us. Apparently he didn’t want us to get thirsty. Aahhhhhh…. Somehow the sake that we had during the course of the night never materialized on the bill, and the bill was taken care of as well. It is nice to have a best friend who is a concierge… and leaves the tip.

At one point during the course of the night, Tyson jokes that we should go to the Oyster Bar for crab legs after Takashi. We laughed… that was until our friend Wade came in to Takashi, having just left the Oyster Bar. He was just in for some sake and oyster shooters before heading to the strip club, but it made us think.

As we entered the Oyster Bar, our memberships of course taken care of, Tyson and I giggle like school girls. We stretch, our bellies already full with sushi, but there is always room for crab legs. We order our king crab legs as our server asks us if that is all we want. We explain that we have already had dinner, and we just have the craving for crab legs. She complements us on our choice saying, “That’s a great idea! Crab legs are all protein so they are perfect at the end of the night.” Amen sister. As I eat the crab meat dripping with butter (and an unfortunate lemon juice display by Tyson), I go into a trance like state, whirling as I am overcome with satisfaction. The homo waiters dance to the Janet Jackson song playing in the background.

After we are done, the waitress offers us dessert. I of course decline, as Tyson requests cheesecake to go, replacing the strawberry sauce with raspberry. Apparently this was for eating in bed when he gets home. I told him that if he fell asleep in bed with a half eaten slice of cheesecake I would tease him endlessly. We both know he would never tell me anyway because of this very fact. Although it did make me think of myself slowly crawling into my own bed; the crisp cold sheets sliding across my skin; my body warming a place for itself.

As we head home, and through the course of the night in fact, I think about how lucky I am. I make more that this point than I did when I first graduated from college, but I am far from being a rich person. However, all my life what I have lacked in funds, I have made up for in ingenuity. Somehow me and my friends have always found a way to enjoy some of the finer things in life. The fact that all of this occurs in Salt Lake City, Utah adds another layer. We have a thriving little urban scene here if only you attempt to partake. Bottom line, when it comes down to it, my life is hard, but someone’s got to live it.