Down and Out in Denver

This weekend was a wild one for the DOD boys, both of us in San Francisco to see friends and my Gentleman Friend, and to celebrate the wonders of Gay Pride.  Alastair did more of the latter; I go more for “Gay Acceptance” than “Pride.”  It’s not like I had anything to do with it, after all.  As my brother is fond of saying, nature or nurture, it’s on my parents either way.  So, on to the weekend…

We started off with a Thursday night trip with gal pals of Alastair’s to Tubesteak Connection (vile name, huh?), the weekly party at Aunt Charlie’s Lounge in the Tenderloin.  The space is tiny and crowded with hipsters.  The drinks are strong and the disco tunes kept coming. Aunt Charlie also forbids the use of cell phones (even for texting!); Blake approves.  Your DOD boys danced the night away and then headed somewhere-or-other (memory gets fuzzy at this point) for an after-party.  Way to start the weekend off with a bang!

Chow on Church below Market

The next day started with a little recovery.  Alastair and I brunched at Chow, just below the corner of Church and Market.  We began with a couple salads; Alastair had his perennial Chow favorite, the Shrimp Louie, and I went for the iceberg wedge.  Mine wasn’t so great.  They throw in just about everything imaginable: carrots, cucumbers, radishes, olives, even a beet!  (Alastair’s was served with the same accompaniments, though he didn’t seem to mind as much).  We finished things off with a smaller portion of the fusilli with sausage and mushrooms (me) and a cheese pizza with arugula (Alastair).  Deelish!  But even more tasty from Alastair’s point of view was that we were served by DJ Jason Kendig.  Cause that’s the way things are in San Francisco: your afternoon waiter will be spinning at that night’s club.  The afternoon was a lazy preparation for a friend’s party that night: running in Golden Gate Park (lovely for a jog if it’s not too windy) and a little happy hour cocktailing at DOD favorite Blackbird.

The rest of the weekend was a blur of cocktails and recovery (I was heavier on the latter than the former).  Alastair, of course, attended the Goldfrapp concert in Oakland on Saturday night as well as Juanita Moore’s Pride Party on Sunday afternoon and evening.  I admit it: I skipped the Pink Party on Saturday night, where a good chunk of Market and Castro is closed off for pedestrians (probably for the best as I also avoided the tragic  shooting death), and I skipped the parade on Sunday.  Bad gay!  I did, however, dine with my Gentleman Friend at Memphis Minnie’s, a barbecue joint on Haight Street (their phone number is 415.864.PORK; they’re serious about their meat).  We split the Minnie’s Taster: any three meats and two sides for $17.95. Combine that with an order of their very tasty BBQ-dusted shoestring fries and I was totally stuffed.

On Monday we regrouped, stopped at Bean There at Steiner and Waller for a coffee, and headed downtown for a little shopping. I picked up a discounted blazer at H&M that will be perfect for a summer wedding I’ll be attending in August.  Alas, and despite all the sales, Alastair’s shopping ambitions were somehow stymied and he returned to Denver empty-handed.  We then had a gossipy lunch with some of Alastair’s gal pals at Stacks in Hayes Valley.  Their slogan is “Comfortable Food.”  Really.  It’s basically a diner with enormous (and very dusty) fake flower arrangements in gigantic urns, but in a very nice location right at the corner of Hayes and Octavia.

All in all, a very fun weekend was had by both of your DOD boys!