I thought we’d make a short trip

Posted by Bill O’Neal, written by Brian Hill…

So, whenever it would get slow at the shop, I would go to the nOg (picking up a sandwich at Tina’s or Chiarellos) and have a few to wet the whistle. This one time I went into the pub and Billy said to me…”do you want to go to lunch?” well… not one to turn down a free meal… “Sure!” Says I.  We got into the white van [we all remember the white van] and headed off to our lunch I called Lin and said I would be a bit late getting home ( I was expected at 4pm) and I set off with Billy. After a bit of small talk I realized we were on the turnpike and I said “were we going?”…then there’s that twinkle, “do you remember the place in the New York Times we read about a few weeks ago? You remember, the (Grand Central) Oyster Bar? I thought we could go there”. Well, there was no way I was going to get home by 4. We parked in a lot or parking garage and made our way inside sitting in the middle of this beautiful establishment. Stunning arch tile ceilings with elegant architectural lines, and quaint red and white checkerboard tablecloths, it was magnificent. The waiter came over to take our order and Billy said “where are your oysters from?” he starts in the U.S. and begins naming everywhere we could think of…but he misses one place…Billy says, “what about Galway Bay?” The waiter replied ‘yes, Galway Bay’ we each ordered 18, 6 from Galway, 6 from Chincoteague Island, and 6 from Frobisher Bay. I looked at the prices and Billy said “you get the tip”…6 from Washington State, 6 from New Orleans, 6 from Kymoto. 6 from Galway again, Chesapeake Bay Blue Points , and 6 from Malpeque…they never stopped, I think it was about 10 dozen total. Each tray brought another beer and when we were finished we just laughed and laughed, my God we felt like little kids. Billy could do that to you in an instant. Then he said to the waiter “Do you make good oyster stew?” ‘yes’ “we’ll each have one”. Now I am thinking about doing the Roman thing. Where the hell am I going to put oyster stew? But it found a place and it was delicious. It was the first time of many where I watched as Billy licked the plate clean. He looked up at the bar and noticed the bottle on the shelf of the bar. “Did you ever have Macallan single Malt?”, ‘no’ Billy, “we’ll have two shots in big glass” It was delicious. Lunch was $375.00. I left a big tip. Holy cow! I couldn’t wait to tell Lin.

We leave and head north! Now where? “well I thought we’d make a short trip to a bar up in the Bronx to see Black 47 play. Until that moment it did not hit me that I was on a bona fide full blown adventure with Briggs. I had heard about them, seen what the cat dragged in after them, but never been part of it, until now. I needed to pace myself, I began to drink water, it did not help. We arrived at this bar, I have no idea where… it was dark. Grabbed some boxes out of the back and went inside. He introduced me to so many people I could not remember who they were. For years after that people would come up to me and say hello, they met me in the Bronx…I definitely do not remember anything specific about this part of the night other than a really good time… a grand old time. Got laughed at many times for the water in between the Guinness, but it was a stellar night. At three we headed back to Trenton (man was I in deep, good thing I called from Grand Central). I think I passed out sometime after that and remember Billy saying, “Man I was drunk and threw up, good thing you drove back” we laughed hard and he said “good night Bro”

 

Good night Billy…

Santa Bob

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