Thanks to a recent domain transaction, G-flex and I rolled out to Grill 23 to blow it all on an all-out, celebratory dinner. And that’s exactly what happened. Our goal was to blow up to $500 on the meal, and we nearly did. It ruled.
From the raw bar, we rocked the oysters and shrimp cocktail while he got a Tanqueray 10 martini and I had a couple of “Elite” (read: $20) martinis from the list. Then the appetizers came out, which were steak tartare and calamari, both of which are the best I’ve ever had. We were truly on pace to have an unbelievable dinner.
For the entrees, homes got the steak au poivre and I hit up the 10 oz Kobe. It’s hard to tell if my steak could’ve been any better, but I’m going to go ahead and say no. I got the truffled tater tots, which is possibly the greatest side dish ever invented. Dude studiously wolfed his down as well, and we were onto the drinks.
One of our menus said there was Laphroaig 30 on hand, but alas, the people at Grill 23 are filthy liars, and they didn’t actually have any. So G$ settled for the Laphroaig 10, while I maintained a steady path towards Johnnie Walker Blue Label. After we gulped those, we agreed that it was a meal worthy of all praise and exaltation. The service was prime, the room was swank. Grill 23 came through.
June 4th, 2006 - This night was full of my favorites. “Paranoid…”, “Idioteque”, “How To…”, and “Street Spirit” made the show for me. The ol’ standby “There, There” & “2+2=5″ combo to start things off was nice but predictable. “Lucky” has seemed to wear itself out, especially Ed’s backing wailing. I hate to say it, but the new songs didn’t do much for me, as I don’t like to hear Radiohead songs for the first time live. I’m sure they’ll rock me once the album drops. Either way, two big, fat encores with some serious hard-hitters like “Airbag” and “Karma Police” wrapped it up very nicely. Highly satisfying.
June 5th, 2006 - I was hoping for less repeats and more of the old stuff. I got half my wish. Despite playing most of the new ones and a couple others again, we were treated to a bevy of The Bends and OK Computer-era songs, dultimately finishing with a one-song 2nd chorus of “The Tourist”. I wasn’t too thrilled with the way it started out, though, with “Climbing…”, “Bangers & Mash”, “15 Step”, and “Morning Bell”. They felt subdued and unfamiliar, and out of the first dozen songs, I only really got into “Fake Plastic Trees” and “Knives Out”. That, combined, with the lack of “Let Down” deflated me a little bit, and left yearning for more rare stuff and most importantly, less. new. songs.
