My friend Dinah came up for my birthday this past weekend.  She and I worked together on Capitol Hill and try to celebrate each other's birthday every year.  Dinah took me to dinner at an exquisite restaurant in my neighborhood called Dovetail, which was awarded three starts by the New York Times a few years back. They started us off with an Amushe Bouche - featuring warm corn break and a few other tasty concoctions. ﻿ Next up was White Gazpacho with fennel.  It was a cool summer treat but I'm willing to bet there was cream in there to give it volume.  Oh well, birthdays come but once a year and it was delicious. I had grilled lobster as a main course.  It was served on ratatouille and topped with lemon foam.  It's not a very photogenic dish but it sure tasted great. After dinner we went to Shakespeare in the Park.  It was the final weekend and we saw Measure for Measure.  It's not my favorite Shakepeare play but it was a wonderful production.  Particularly good was Danai Gurira in the role of Isabella. I sneaked a picture of the set.  Central Park is a magnificent setting and it is featured nicely here. It was a full house on the final weekend I know it's a blurry shot, but do you see the couple here?  She has a yellow halter and he's wearing a hat and coral-ish T-Shirt.  When Act II started they whipped out a Chinese dinner, complete with chop sticks and a very strong odor of Teryaki.  They acted as if it was the most natural thing to do in the world.  It wasn't.  I was appalled!  Just in case you're wondering - it's NOT OK to eat dinner during a show unless you're at a dinner theater - and even then you usually eat before the show starts.  We were down front and I'm sure the actors could smell the strong odors not to mention fellow audience members. But to end on a positive note:  our server at Dovetail brought a complimentary dessert along with the Happy Birthday plate above complete with candle.  I made the reservation and didn't say it was a birthday and Dinah said she didn't say anything either.  We surmised that our waitress overheard us talking about my birthday celebration.  You should consider going there for your next special dinner - I promise you won't be disappointed!
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