Totally Unauthorized

Gail, Lorene and Joyce

Lorene Lamb had a birthday party tonight–she took us out to dinner, along with Dick and  Joyce Hart.

Lots of people have birthdays, but not many of us will have 87 of them, as Lorene has.  Yep, that tiny birdlike woman flitting rapidly around the Oakland bridge games bossing us all around is Eighty Seven Years Old.  She was born in Alameda, lived just one year in San Leandro, and has spent all the rest of her life right here in Oakland.  She lives downtown, in the heart of the renaissance, and walks almost everywhere–which probably explains her phenomenal condition.

We went to Hibiscus, another of the new, hot, hip, trendy restaurants opening in Oakland.   Open for about 6 months, it is doing excellent business just across the street from the Ice Rink, at 1745 San Pablo.

The cuisine here is described as Caribbean-Creole.  I started with the Spicy lamb with Grits, which I enjoyed completely although the lamb wasn’t even a little spicy, even for a noted spice sissy like me.  Gail had the Romaine Salad, which was really just a Ceasar, but that’s fine with her.  Dick and Joyce shared the Phoulourie, split pea fritters.  I didn’t see any leftovers I could spear, darn it.

On to the entrées:

Gail and Joyce both tucking into a plate of Fried Chicken--there was plenty for both of them.

You’d expect Fried Chicken to be a standard at this place, and you’d be right.  Both Joyce and Lorene ordered it, and they both took more than half of it home.  The portions are enormous.  The Chicken was great; their dinners also came with a fingerling potato salad that did absolutely nothing for me.  Not particularly tasty, and with a strong coating of lemon juice which is just, well, wrong.

That's a big honkin' slab of pork chop.

I had the maple syrup brined Pork Chop.  Nobody will ever leave this restaurant hungry, it was about the biggest chunk of pork I’ve ever seen on a plate.  And I enjoyed every bite.

Gail had the Amerindian Pepperppot, (oxtail, pigs feet, short rib,

Tri-tip, onion rings, fries. What more could you ask for?

Dick scarfed the Tri-tip.  I didn’t even get ONE of his onion rings.  Picture me pouting.

Dessert was bread pudding, what else?  I noticed that Lorene didn’t even have a single bite–she doesn’t do sweets at all.  If that’s the key to longevity, it’s a miracle I survived past 22.

So that was Lorene’s birthday party–a few friends, good food, a pleasant evening. With luck, she’ll do it another 87 times.  Happy Birthday, Lorene.