Dinner and a Live Show

Last night was a late one. And on a work night too! I may be getting too old to stay out until midnight on a Thursday…

The night started out at the Casa del Matador restaurant for dinner. I’ve written about the restaurant before but the one on the NW side of town. This time, Michael, Jeremy and I went to the Eastside restaurant.

It’s really delicious Mexican food. Since Jeremy can’t get Mexican food in Ireland that’s what he wanted. Fair enough, I’m always up for Mexican!

I got a glass of Sauvignon Blanc and munched on the chips and salsa.

For dinner I ordered the taco platter. Two small soft tacos with black beans and rice.

I got one taco with Carne Asada and one with shredded chicken. The chicken taco wasn’t very good. The chicken was very dry and flavorless. But the beef taco was fantastic! The meat had clearly been simmering in the sweet sauce for hours. It was delicious and tender.

I ate way too much, of course. It was kind of a good thing that the chicken taco was less than stellar because that meant I didn’t eat it.

Michael was drinking the cold beer.

After another round of drinks, we went from one Matador (a nice one) to a not so nice Matador.

The other Matador is a total dive bar on Burnside. The walls are decorated with velvet paintings of bulls and matadors. I got one more drink before calling it a night in terms of alcohol.

Michael and I played a few rounds of pool. Jeremy’s friend joined us and they played some pool too.

I pretty much suck at pool but I’m getting much better at sucking at it. 😉

Then the four of us headed 9 blocks to the Crystal Ballroom for the concert.

Jeremy got us all tickets to see Guided By Voices. The Crystal Ballroom is a fun place. It’s three levels. On the second level is Lola’s Room (that has 80’s night dancing) and the top floor is where concerts are. The unique thing about the Crystal Ballroom is the bouncy floor. Underneath the floors are old tires so the floor is soft and bouncy. It’s a pretty interesting experience!

The concert was great. The typical Portland crowd showed up. There were lots of hippies with dreads and lots of hipsters with argyle sweaters and weird Portland Facial Hair (yes that statement deserves to be capitalized).

The show went on until 11:30 or so. It was a nice, brisk walk back to the car. It was so late and Michael and I had to get up early for work. I remember the days when I could go out to clubs on a Tuesday night, stay out until 2am, get some sleep and arrive at work at 9am just fine. Those days are DEFINITELY over!

Thank god for coffee.

Snnnnoooooooooooooorrrreeee…..