Dinner at the Cupping Room

We made plans to hit the CuppingRoom after our ICFF walk to snarf down our favorite sandwiches: The LaPaysan.

It occurred to me the last time we were there, they had a photographer in taking ambient shots of the place. Walking out of the place, we spotted the very photo she took including us!! Naturally, I had to share my lack of sleep giddiness with someone -so I snagged the waitress during her cigarette break to drag her all the way thru the restaurant to the other side to show her this:

"You may not care, but that's okay. You see those people in the back left corner? That's us!!!"



Sure, they misspelled coffee, but I feel like Mike Wyzcowski in Monsters, Inc. when he had that barcode taped across his face on the cover of the magazine.

Check out the Polaroid photo she gave us last year.

Okay, enough narcissism for the day... er, maybe.

Why? Because It's My Birthday!

Most of my birthday's have gone on to be pretty mundane, nothing more than normal "Business As Usual" (BAUs) days.

Today... it was different. Andrew decided to treat me to one night at the Waldorf. Why? Because it's my birthday!

Our flight was smooth and uneventful and we arrived at the Waldorf only to be told that they upgraded us to a suite. Sweet! Yes, I tried to control my widening eyes as I listened carefully to the clerk reviewing our itinerary, not sure I heard correctly. The room was not ready yet, so we decided to head out for some lunch.

A Celebrity Siting... My Own?
I had been dreaming about The Cupping Room Cafe in Soho for days now and that wonderful warm La Paysan sandwich (smoked turkey with brie & apple chutney) just beakoned me. The gents at the backdoor told us to sit anywhere and being 1:30, we had almost any table choice -including the coveted corner table for 2 tucked behind the old wood stove. I thought to myself how wonderful it would be to have someone take a quiet little photo of us so that we could tuck it into our travel logs... Minutes later, a team of photographers sat up their medium format camera on tripod and went to work taking meter readings of light in our corner!! We monitored the women as they took polaroids of settings to get preliminary shots before wasting their good film. We learned that they were taking scene shots for the cafe to post near their entrances (very enticing) for years to come.

It was funny, because as I enjoyed my smoked turkey & apple, I thought of other notable artisans and their local hangouts; folks like Hemingway or Picasso being documented in some way... It's funny because I feel like I've been documented in a similar fashion. Even if I never hear from the photographer who took the medium format shots (I asked to purchase one of us together) and even if those photos never get posted within the cafe, I still have this neat vintage-like polaroid.

Upcoming Shorts:
The Waldorf
Walking the Licensing Show
We Meet w/a Londoner & get invited to Christmas Dinner
Birthday Dinner at Boom