The best laid plans can always be felled by good grilled oysters.
On Tuesday night, I intended to have dinner with some co-workers, then check out my first party of Super Bowl week, the annual Media Party thrown by the host city. I had a great time at the bash hosted at The Exploratorium on the San Francisco waterfront last year, but it just wasn't meant to be this time around.
You know the the end of Good Will Hunting when Matt Damon leaves a note for Robin Williams asking him to tell the professor he's not taking the job before adding the simple explanation, "Sorry, I had to go see about a girl." That's what I'm like, only with fresh grilled oysters.
So, I dined with an all-star group that included Gregg Rosenthal, Matt "Money" Smith, Henry Hodgson, Colleen Wolfe and Dave Dameshek at the popular gulf coast restaurant Bernadine's. We hadn't been sitting for 10 minutes before learning of one of the city's more interesting quirks. Bernadine's is located on a sliver of land in Houston Heights designated as a "dry zone." As such, no alcohol can be served -- unless you join a "Drinking and Social Club". We freaking did that immediately.
Emboldened by my new community standing -- this was my first social club -- I proceeded to drink like a man whose membership could be revoked at any moment. With libations delivered, out came the oysters. My God, the oysters.
We ate the oysters. Plates of them. All of them. There are no more oysters in the Gulf Coast. Sorry. There were more drinks, then a fine dinner and delicious dessert. Money told a story about a night in New Orleans that involved a party bus and a coroner that I cannot share but will never forget.
Good times all around. OK, off to the Media Center and Radio Row, but I'll leave you with this ...
On the latest Around The NFL Podcast, the guys break down Media Night and ponder whether we're fated to suffer through a Super Bowl blowout on Sunday.
