Birthday greetings from all directions

Yesterday was my birthday. Friends RJ and The Texan took me out to a small, but (locally) celebrated local upmarket steakhouse, Laurelhurst Market. The service was good, once we reminded the host that we needed to be served (the waitress was, if anything, too sycophantic in apologies). Really excellent meal, starting with a charcuterie plate (of which the best of a tasty selection was a homemade mortadella with pistachios) and a plate of "bacon and eggs" -- deviled eggs with a little sombrero of crisp bacon on top, with a pesto sauce dripped on the side.

(My mussels with fries, photo from RJ's cellphone)

I had Moule Frites with a white wine sauce; The Texan a 12-hour smoked brisket with "Mom's Baked Beans" on the side (footnoted on the menu as, The beans your mom would have made for you if she loved you).  RJ, the most adventurous of us all, ordered veal sweetbreads, and a marrow bone.

(Sweetbreads on the left, marrow on the right. Truly a meat-lover's 

restaurant. Or an eco-sensitive person who will eat the whole animal.)

And best of all, even though we were completely stuffed by the end of all that, we were given a complimentary dessert (for having had to wait, ignored, for 30 minutes at our table as everyone around us was being served) -- a dolce de leches cheesecake which none of us would have ordered but which will be the first thing we order next time we go, and a strawberry shortcake (admittedly the shortcake was grainy and they skimped on the berries, but the whipped cream was just what I needed to complete my fat intake for the year).

I have a niece in the midwest and a nephew in the mountains who both celebrate their birthdays today. Neither of them would have eaten a thing at this restaurant, but I hope they find their own niches to fill.