Sometimes things happen just because they should. I'm not saying this post is about a situation that one would could call providence, but maybe I'd go out on a limb and say it was fate. This happened last week on a very eventful night...
Shelby and I were invited to experience a local restaurants new dinner service. The soft opening was at Bay Local - Laskin and it happens to be one of our favorite spots to eat and drink Bloody Marys heeeyyyy! I'll put together a post about that and you can check out the 28 oz. prime ribeye I ordered.
After dinner I was supposed to meet with a publisher and writer to snap a few shots of yours truly and do a little Q & A for an article they're putting together on me. So in my head I was trying to figure out a couple of good spots to go that would have a cool vibe and decided that the light and atmosphere at Esoteric would be nice.
Devin doing his thing
After our amazing dinner (thank you again Bay Local for the invite!) we headed over to Eso - that's what the cool kids call it - to meet up with the magazine and have a lil pour. When we walked in I saw Devin and Nate were behind the bar and Mikkel Luis having a drink. Mikkel came over here from Denmark to personally deliver an extra large Klask board to Devin. Why? Because Devin won it in a contest! Pretty cool eh? Mikkel is a super nice guy too, I think that was the third night in a row I got to hang out with him. Shelby and I go to the bar to chat and grab a beer.
While I was scanning the room I hear, "GEORGE!" I spin around and see three women sitting at a hightop in low light. I walk over and see an old high school alum named Jennifer. I recently reconnected with her outside of Cobalt Grille after close to 30 years! Anyway, she wasn't the one that called me, it was her two friends Beverley and Naomi. Jen said she wasn't loud enough to yell out [edit: Jennifer said she was too embarrassed to yell because everyone knows she's loud enough!] so they did it for her. After introductions I found out that Beverley is from Ireland and Naomi is English. I said Shelby is half-Scottish and before you know it the Union Jack was hanging out in Esoteric! (Hey, all those countries are friendly together in the U.S.!)
We got our drinks in between chatting and Shelby was caught up in conversion at table "U.K.", after a bit I heard my name again and this time I was told by Shelby's new friends that she was going with the three ladies to Croc's for a nightcap. I said I don't know if that was a good idea...but then everyone else at Esoteric was heading over after closing so I said, "Sure, why not. Let's go to Croc's" Mikkel was leaving the next day and since he was heading over I could have one drink with him and see how his trip to America was going for him. Everyone heads over to Croc's.
Hi Chloe!
A little Jell-O shot to celebrate their landing at Croc's
So apparently Thursday night Croc's is a thing - I didn't know this. By the time we got there it was about 10:15ish and there was a decent crowd spread throughout the building. The dining area was cleared out to make room for a dance floor and the music was loud. It was starting to get a little tough to get to the bars but we found some space near the auxiliary bar and ordered drinks. While everyone else made their way to Croc's I saw one of the chef's, Chloe, walking around with Jell-O shots. As I was talking to Chloe one of our group said they wanted Jell-O shots and they all grabbed one, as this was happening Devin, Mikkel and the rest made their way to our spot. I asked Mikkel if he had ever done a Jell-O shot before and he said, "No!" I suspected this...I don't know why, because I have no idea what Jell-O consumption is like in Denmark but I had a hunch!
So the Eso crew grab shots and I told Chloe Mikkel had never done one before. She then proceeded to demonstrate how you do a Jell-O by taking her tongue and separating the Jell-O from the cup then knocking the whole thing back. Mikkel followed suit and did a pretty good job. I asked him if he like it. He answered, "Only in America."
While Shelby was hanging out with what we was now calling the U.N. (we had Scottish, Irish, English, Danish, and Thai [me]) I checked out the joint a bit. It was filling up fast and I happen to bump into Kal, co-owner of Croc's with his wife Laura, and he said it was a little slow but it'll pick up. If this was slow, I bet packed out would have a line out the door. I went back over to the group and a few of them decided to dance. We went over to the dance floor and it was moving. I got up on a bench and took a few photos, the woman below got my attention so I could take photos of her. She was getting into it, ended up doing a squat and lost her balance. So close to pulling it off though!
She almost pulled it off!
We hung out a little bit longer, got some pics and then determined that it would be wise to head home. G'bye's all around and we headed to the car. I saw Kal again out back and he said we should stick around because 12:30 is when the party really starts. Maybe next time!
Oh! I got a message from the magazine editor and he ended up getting stuck in another town so he never made it out. I told him it was OK, it got kinda crazy with us any way.
Mikkel, Devin, and Priscilla
Bumped into Bennett at Croc's too.