5 and Diamond

Day 14 of the T-90 Project:

We celebrated my final Fat Tuesday Dinner Club appearance this month, and as a sort of tribute to moi, TheDude picked a spot up in Canada by my apartment. I cannot stress this enough -- if you live on the upper west side (or anywhere above 59th Street) and are looking for a hidden gem, go to 5 and Diamond. I adored it, as did everyone in my dinner club. My girl Gael loved it too.

It was a sad day thinking about my final dinner club with these three wonderful friends I've made. So much has changed since we started the group over two years ago. TheDude was getting married Friday. Fashionista had pretty much just finished moving in with her boyfriend JerseyBoy. I'm moving to Los Angeles to be with MaineMan. LoveLight, one of the original members, is now engaged. And TheRookie, not so much the rookie after his varsity performance on Fashionista's birthday bus, is still plugging away at screenplays and girls.

We were the poster kids for single-ready-to-mingle professionals in Manhattan. TheDude would have about three dates lined up in a week with women of all varying ethnicities and ages; Fashionista and I would take turns meeting hot randoms at bars and figure out a few weeks after hanging out with them (if they in fact did call as promised) that they were lame; while LoveLight was just moving to New York from San Diego -- he was the young whippersnapper whose first restaurant pick for dinner club was Ninja.

I am thrilled to announce the next in line to replace me at FTDC. Hopefully this will make Page Six and all chefs and maitre-d's will know her by name. LittleMissSunshine will take a seat with the others in July and I don't doubt that she will be a great addition to the crew. In the meantime, I'm brainstorming who might make a fun dinner club in Los Angeles, though it will and could never be the same.

Fashionista and I stumbled into each other on the street a half hour before dinner. We were planning on meeting for a cocktail beforehand but she wandered off in search of coffee when I wasn't by the subway station as promised. We proceeded to walk east on 110th Street only to realize about 10 minutes in that we were walking in the opposite direction. Good ol' Google maps. Leave it to the local to have no idea where Frederick Douglas Boulevard was.

When we finally found it -- no thanks to my sense of direction -- we cozied up next to the bartender and watched him whip up his artsy concoctions, a la Smith and Mills or Tailor. Our initial reaction was, "How cute is this place?" The cocktail list rivals both downtown hot spots. They had these spicy homemade potato chips at the bar and Fashionista and I were in love with them. I didn't want to be seated at our table because I didn't want them to go uneaten.

We mulled wine or cocktails, cocktails or wine and the consensus was cocktails. It seems to be the club's new favorite thing to do. Forget the vino, we have more fun on the hard stuff!

The first thing we knew we had to get was the mac and cheese. A girl was eating it at the bar and it looked delicious. It came smothered in cheese and breadcrumbs. I don't know what my problem is but mac and cheeses I've had of late are just not cheesy enough for me. Same goes for the dish here. It looked incredible, but it didn't pack that much punch as far as the cheese goes.

TheDude, in standard fashion, ordered the pork loin. This was the juiciest, best thing on the table (the carnivores concurred). It came with cavatelli underneath and I had fun describing to TheDude what they exactly were and how to pronounce it as an Italian would: gah-bah-DEEL.

I am obsessed with striped bass (and cod) these days so I went with 5 and Diamond's bass entree. Look at the beautiful skin -- it looks like a mesh net. The tender fish was served over a bed of edamame and red quinoa. I licked my plate.

We were totally stuffed, but it seemed only right to finish my run of dinner club with a round of dessert for the table. TheDude ordered these fried balls of goodness which were a sort of cross between a bomboloni (minus the cream-filled center) and a beignet. They came with a custard-like dipping sauce on the side and we scooped them up in a flash. They were soft and warm inside with a slight crisp to the edges (I think I just described myself).


I walked home that night with a smiley face on one shoulder and a pouty pace on the other. I was sad to say goodbye, but I'm happy for the bright futures we have ahead of us. I spent the last two years of my life looking forward to our monthly rendez-vous, picking the spots, drinking to stories and laughter and trying to one-up each other with the most outrageous dating stories. TheRookie, your story from Kuma Inn (your first FTDC), paired with TheDude's engagement announcement at Sfoglia, definitely take the cake. If the tales we shared don't make for a great screenplay someday, I don't know what will.

TheDude once told me over a drunken tete-a-tete at the New York Athletic Club that the man for me was probably not in New York. I didn't know what to make of this observation, but I decided it was a compliment. I was never going to be a lifer in New York City and I'm not sure if I could have dated someone who did see 10023 as his permanent zip code. As luck would have it, TheDude was 100 percent correct and here I am off to Los Angeles to be with the man of my dreams. Funny how life works out that way.

2072 Frederick Douglass Blvd. near 112th St.
646-684-4662