Is it that hard to get a drink around here? In the dark times of the COVID, it kind of is.
Pam and I finally had a reason to secure a babysitter for the night—our sixth anniversary is Monday, but we both have work on Monday, so the Friday prior seemed as good a time as any to celebrate six years.
We drove into the city through a flood. Literally, a whole lane of 95-South was flooded out. Thunder crashed around us. Heading toward the wet city, where dining is only legally allowed outside, may not have been the brightest plan in the world, but we were determined to make it work. Even if our night turned into a six pack and Big Macs in the car, then so fucking be it. We were childless! We can do anything!
We had 6:15 reservations at Cry Baby Pasta, but maybe I didn't even need to call and confirm—there was no way we were eating rigatoni in this rain. Instead, we lucked out and found an open couple of seats at Paddy Whacks on South Street. "Lucky" only because we were under both an awning and a table umbrella, so we stayed relatively dry. "Lucky" perhaps not so much regarding the fact that we were at Paddy Whacks. I celebrated my 21st birthday here, which made sense, but not so much for a sixth anniversary.
Whatever, man. You take what you can get in the rain during a pandemic, right? We drank our overpriced drinks (plus a "$5 COVID charge") and ate some decent buffalo chicken dip. By the time the final tortilla did its scooping, the sun was threatening to come out. Cry Baby Pasta said they would need another half hour to set up, though, so we walked around a little aimlessly.
But the aimless ambling led, of course, to another bar. The Twisted Tail was still setting up, and declined our request to sit at a table for a drink, but they did have to-go cocktails, so we bought a couple and chilled in some anonymous Head House Square courtyard, drinking watermelon spritzes and assuring the MIL (who is always dialed into Weather.com) that no, we did not wash away in a Kensington flood.
At 7:20, we arrived, finally, at Cry Baby Pasta. Pam tells me this restaurant is named after a Johnny Depp movie. I've never seen it. We did our mask dance with the waitress, and otherwise enjoyed a stellar pasta meal (plus a butterscotch mousse). If you like Italian food but don't like stuffy, overpriced goomba establishments, then this is the joint for you.
Say what you will about how much of a pain in the ass dining is these days, but sitting outside on a summer night, cold beers in hand, with those whom you love, there really ain't anything better. We found summer love in these trying times.
NOTES
BEER: Summer Love
GENRE: American Blonde Ale
ABV: 5.2%
BREWED BY: Victory Brewing Company
LOCATION: Downingtown,PA
PURCHASED AT: Paddy Whacks and Cry Baby both had it on the menu
PAIRED WITH: buffalo chicken dip from Paddy Whacks, linguini from Cry Baby Pasta, and six wonderful years with Pammy
GRADE: 3 pukes out of 5
BEER COUNT: 335.5 (three Summer Loves, the watermelon spritz, and a Tucher Helles lager left over from like a month ago, drank when we got home to find the kids already in bed, woohoo!)
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