September 17, 2025 • 49 mins
“Where should I go for my birthday this year?” It’s the dining dilemma the Infatuation team gets asked about on a near-daily basis. The stakes may be high, but we can help. In this episode of Restaurant People, Hannah and Bryan run through everything they think makes for a perfect birthday dinner. Yes to karaoke and hot pot. No to gowns and fine dining. Look within and find out what type of birthday celebrator you are, how to not make your friends hate you, and more.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
- It sucks that peopleare going to hear this,
people that know me,
but I hardly ever enjoygoing to birthday parties.
- None.
- I like being invited, it's nice.
But-- You like being invited,
but you don't want to go.
- I just, like, hardly ever want to go.
- But-- I like going
to very specific typesof birthday parties.
- Tell me about that.
Which parties do you enjoy going to?
- Parties where you get tohave fun, leave when you want,
(00:22):
and not spend a ton of money.
- I'm a birthday person for sure,
but I think my birthdaystyle has changed recently
because I got so stressed
about planning the perfect birthday
that I ended up cancelingmy 30th birthday.
- Yeah, and I was the only one there.
Yeah.- You were
the only one there genuinely
because I told everyone else not to come.
(00:43):
I think, from that experience,
I learned it's really, it's stressful.
It's intense to put so muchpressure on this one day.
And I think we need tohave this podcast episode
to discuss why it's so stressful
and also to discuss maybe ways
to make it a little less stressful.
(01:05):
- Yeah, let's figure it out.
Let's get to the bottom of this.
Let's help people plan their birthdays,
or maybe people don't need toplan their birthdays at all.
- Maybe we should justabolish birthdays, actually.
- Mm-hmm, get rid of birthday.
No more birthday parties.
- Bye, birthday.
Hi, I'm Hannah Albertine,senior editor at Infatuation,
and the best birthdayparties I've ever been to
have all been at bowling alleys.
(01:25):
- And I'm Bryan Kim, editoriallead at Infatuation NYC,
and frankly, I am notmuch of a birthday person.
- [Bryan and Hannah] Andthis is Restaurant People,
the show for people who eat
at restaurants sometimes,from Infatuation.
- Today on Restaurant People,
we're talking about birthdays.
Why does it seem like everyonewants to plan something
on their birthday, but hasthe toughest time doing it?
(01:47):
- If you were, say, planning a birthday
and got so flustered, you had to give up,
maybe it was your 30th birthday,
and it happened last year inPhiladelphia, I don't know,
this is a great episode for you.
- First, we're going to giveyou all the tools you need
to plan a great birthday,
and also, tell you where you should go.
- Finally, we're going totalk birthday etiquette
at restaurants, how to bethe least annoying person
(02:08):
in the dining room, even ifyou're having so much fun.
- Birthdays are tough toplan, but we're here for you.
With that, let's get into it.
- The question we getasked the most, I think,
is where should I go for my birthday?
And that's coming from, youknow, readers who we don't know,
but also text messages I get from friends
(02:29):
and friends of friends and aunts
and, like, friends of my aunts.
- Yeah, because, well,the stakes are so high.
That's why people have so much trouble,
you know, figuring it out.
- Yeah, and I think it does take
some expertise, some knowledge.
It also, I think, takes asort of neutral third-party
who's not, like, as personallyinvested as you are, perhaps.
(02:54):
- Right, right, right.- Which is why
The Infatuation can help.
- Yeah, and even if you knowthe restaurants in your city,
you might not know thebest birthday restaurants
in your city.
Sometimes, it's a differentbreed of restaurant.
- Bryan, I have something for you.
- Would you say it's a gift?
- No, it's not a gift.
- Okay.- Because I think gifts-
- Is it-- have to be something
that the other person's going to like.
(03:15):
- Is it expensive?
- [Hannah Albertine]No, it's not expensive.
- Okay.
- Okay, close your eyes.
- Oh, it's squishy.
- [Hannah Albertine] Yeah.
- And is that an ear?
- Um.- Tell me when I can open.
- You can open your eyes.
- Oh my gosh.
Am I going to wear this
the whole episode?- You should put it on.
I mean, I don't thinkabout the whole episode.
- Oh, okay.- But isn't it great?
(03:35):
- Perfect.- For everyone listening
at home, Bryan is currentlywearing a birthday hat
that I procured on 4thAvenue by Union Square
at the Halloween costume store.
- So, Hannah, what exactly happened
with your 30th birthday planning?
How did it get so stressful?
Why was it so difficult?
- Well, you'll probably remember
that I was getting surgery on my butt.
(03:55):
- Mm-hmm, you had butt surgery,
yes.- But I was getting
butt surgery, not like a...
- BBL, yep.
- [Hannah Albertine] Not a BBL.
- No, it was a BBL.
- Well, it was like in some ways a BBL,
but less lifting and not Brazilian.
- Yeah.
- But it was very stressful.
And I think the birthday anxiety
was just like a compounding force.
(04:16):
I was like, I got to have this birthday.
It's got to be perfect.
It's got to be fun.
And I was not in abirthday moment in my life,
and I still was trying to push through
and have the best birthday ever
because I thought itwould lift my spirits.
And it turns out, it won't.
So I think if you're having a hard time,
if you need your butt cyst removed,
just cancel your birthday.
(04:36):
Just do it from the get-go.
You don't need to push through.
- Yeah, maybe you don'tneed a birthday every year.
- But, you know, the thingabout big milestone birthdays,
a 21st birthday, a 30thbirthday, a 50th, a 40th,
there's extra pressure on them.
And I think, for my 30th, I had been
to a couple really good 30th birthdays.
(04:59):
I'll tell you about one.
Someone we both knowhad her birthday party
in the trailer behind Diner.
- [Bryan Kim] Oh, yes, Iheard you talking about that.
- And it was so special and lovely.
Like this trailer canfit maybe 15 people max.
You were not invited.
- I didn't make the cut.
- You didn't make the cut.- I wasn't one
of the 15, Katherine.
(05:19):
- She's absolutely goingto be watching this show.
Sorry, Kathy.- Mm-hmm.
- So it was, like, 15 ofus in this Diner trailer.
No one had to make any ordering decisions
other than what do you want to drink.
It was all family-style.
Diner in Williamsburg, I think, does,
like, sort of beautiful,
like seasonal American foodvery well, very crowd pleasing.
(05:41):
And then after, we allwalked our little selves
to this place called Nightmoves,
which is right next to The Four Horsemen
and is like a place where you dance,
and the dance floor has littlelike squares that light up,
which is really makes dancing better.
- Yeah, our editor-in-chief Arden said
(06:01):
that she saw Paul Mescal there.
- He wasn't there.
Look, I would not have been able
to keep it cool if Paul was there.
Anyway, so that was areally great 30th birthday,
and so I thought, okay,so I want someone else
to think that I had a good 30th birthday,
and maybe on their ownpodcast, they'd talk about it.
- Yeah.- So I was planning something,
and I think I maybe was shootingfor the stars a little bit.
(06:25):
- Well, you can't competewith our friend Katherine,
whose job is literally, it's centered
around throwing parties.
- You look like you wantto take that hat off.
- I'll take it off.
I'm getting a little warm.
- All right, I miss it.
- I know, me, too.
In your professional-
- Yeah.
- opinion, what makes agood birthday restaurant?
(06:46):
What are the criteria?
- Well, it really depends what kind
of birthday celebratorwe're talking about.
There are different needsfor different people.
- [Bryan Kim] Right.
- But assuming you're someone
who wants to celebrate a birthday at all,
and you want to have more than,you know, five people there,
I do feel strongly that restaurants
(07:07):
with big circular tables are really great.
We actually, I believewe used to have a guide
to where to sit at a bigcircular table in New York City.
Has that been updated?- Oh, yeah.
It still exists.
It could use a little update.
- Yeah, yeah.- We'll work on that one.
But, yeah, we do have that guide.
- That was one of the, actually,I think that guide existed
before I worked at TheInfatuation, and I was like,
that is brilliant.- Really?
(07:27):
- Yeah, I'm pretty sure.- Wow, okay, so,-
- Okay, so-- big circular tables.
- There are some Cantoneserestaurants that do this so well.
One of the classics in NewYork is Wu's Wonton King,
which is in Chinatown.
It's been around for decades.
It's a BYOB, so you canbring whatever you fancy,
(07:49):
which cuts down on the cost.
They also have a couple ways
of making birthday celebrationsfeel really special,
including if you order ahead of time,
you can get this, like,really baller king crab.
It's expensive, it's like $70 a pound,
and you're probably gettinglike six or seven pounds,
so you have to be readyto spend $600 on crab.
(08:10):
But if you bring a lot ofpeople, it kind of makes it fun.
And they bring it out to you,and it's like this big show.
If you're being thoughtful about price,
you maybe want a restaurantthat has, you know, a menu
for a large party. That way,
you know exactly how muchpeople are going to spend.
I found so many examples of this.
(08:30):
So, you know, in New York,there's a place called Leo,
which is a pizzarestaurant in Williamsburg,
where they have a set menu.
It's a five-course family-stylemeal for $45 a person,
and you can do it for 8 to15 people, and it's seamless.
You get pizza, you get salad,you get dessert, it's great.
- But even if there's no set menu,
(08:51):
I think it's maybe safeto say it should maybe be
under $100 per person for 99%of these birthday scenarios.
- Yes.- So maybe big round tables
and a reasonable price point.
- Yep.- However you want to
define that.
- What else are you thinkingin terms of criteria
for what makes a goodbirthday restaurant to you?
- Obviously nothing too formal.
(09:14):
You don't want anyone tohave to go gown shopping.
I don't know what thatwould mean in New York,
but I mean, fine dining pretty much.
Fine dining's out the window,
unless it's just you, one,two, three other people
who are very special to you,
and then you can go fine dining.
Hannah, what other criteriado you have for us?
- If you are someone whowants a momentous dessert.
(09:36):
- Oh.
- A birthday's a good timeto have a momentous dessert.
I am more, as I age, I'm less interested
in sweets, actually.
Is that something you've experienced?
- Yeah, I go to so many birthdayparties and there's cake,
and people will just keeppassing around these slices
of cake 'cause nobody really wants
to eat a whole slice ofcake at the birthday party.
But even if people secretly
(09:57):
might not actually reallywant to eat a ton of cake
at your birthday, a dessert is important.
I think there's one thingwe haven't mentioned yet
when it comes to a goodbirthday restaurant,
and it has to feel festive,
right?- Mm.
- It needs to feel more festive
than your average restaurant.
- Yeah.- I'm not saying
they need to be playing loud music,
and they don't have to havesparklers or napkin waving,
(10:21):
but there has to be somekind of festive element.
- What do you think aresome festive restaurants
in New York right now?
- So, on our guide to The Best Restaurants
For A Birthday Dinner in New York City,
we have a whole range of places.
All of them pretty much hit these criteria
that we've talked about.
We have a place like Le Veau d'Or.
(10:41):
- [Hannah Albertine] Oof.
- You've been there, right?- That is a good
birthday restaurant.
I've been there.
I'm a huge, huge fan.
Upper East Side, French, revived recently
by the Frenchette team.
- Exactly,
tiny.- I don't know what it has
on the site right now
in terms of rating, but.- Very cute.
It's actually one of our 25-
- Oh.- Best Restaurants
in New York City right now.
- I love that place.- Yeah, yeah,
it's a great place.
And it feels very festive
'cause it feels like Paris,you know, when you walk inside,
(11:03):
and the servers are alldressed very nice, and...
- But it's not too big.
It's not like giant bistro.
- Oh, it's small.- It's quite small.
Yeah.- It's tiny, yeah.
And then it's a prix fixe too,
so you know how much you'respending, which is nice.
It's not cheap, but at least you know
how much you're spending.- Yeah, I think it's $125,
something around that.- I think it's, yeah, $125,
three courses.- And you get three courses.
But it's rich food.
You know, I definitely wasn't hankering
(11:23):
for more after I eat there.
- So that is definitely afestive French restaurant.
- And they have a really good martini.
- Yeah, no, no, everythingthere is really good.
And then downtown, there'sa place called Sevilla,
also on our birthday guide,which is much less fancy.
- [Hannah Albertine] Yeah.
- I got like a $10 martini there once.
I don't know how much they are now.
- Is it a Spanish restaurant?
They're serving Spanish food.- It's Spanish.
(11:43):
- Yeah.- Yeah.
- Carlo on our team lovesthat place, I think.
- Mm-hmm, I don't know whodoesn't love that place.
- I've never been.- I mean, the food.
- I'd like to go, how's the food?
- [Bryan Kim] Not very good.
- Well, here's a question,for certain birthday people,
is it okay on your birthdayif the fun trumps the food?
- Yeah, absolutely, I would say.
But the food at Sevilla,I'm not saying is bad.
(12:04):
It's just not really thereason why you go there.
They'll have a guitarist walking around
and strumming a guitar.
I went to some party there the other day
that was an open bar, andthey cleared all the tables,
and they just like had loud music playing,
and they handed me a guitar at some point.
- They handed you a guitar?- Yeah,
and I was supposed to play
along to this music.- Did you?
- Yeah, but you couldn't really hear.
- Sorry, you played guitar
at Sevilla?- No, no, no.
(12:25):
Well, yeah, but I'm terrible at guitar, A,
and, B, nobody could hear it'cause the music was so loud,
and how am I going to,-- Aw.
- it wasn't even a song
with guitar in it.- So it was a prop, basically.
Oh, interesting.- Yeah, but it's
a fun, festive place.
- [Hannah Albertine] Was that a birthday?
- Yes, actually, it was a birthday.
- [Hannah Albertine] Oh, fun.
- It was an open barbirthday, but just no food.
- Open bar birthday is a classy move.
- Yeah, so anyway, Sevilla,opposite end of the spectrum.
(12:46):
Not very fancy, very, very festive.
It's very old-timey Spanish.
- Totally.
- Lots of sangria, lots of martinis.
- That sounds great.
I mean, there's so muchkitsch, I think, historically
associated with birthday restaurants, too.
- Oh, for sure.
- Yeah.- Kitschy places are the best
for birthdays.- Kitschier, it's nice.
You know, you referenced theNew York City birthday guide,
but all of our cities haveso many birthday guides,
(13:07):
and you can find them just by clicking
on the header of any city website.
If you hit PERFECT FOR,
you can find the PERFECT FOR birthday tag,
and it'll lead you to all the goods.
- So I feel like birthdaycelebrations are different
in every city.
Every city has its own birthday culture.
And I know you work witha lot of other cities
around the country, a lotof Infatuation writers
(13:30):
in other cities around the country.
So I would love for you to tell me
about how people arecelebrating their birthdays
outside of New YorkCity around the country.
- There's a lot of raucousbirthday happenings.
You know, in a city like Chicago,
I heard from our editor Nick
that people go to thisrestaurant called Maple & Ash,
(13:51):
which he describes as "a hornysteakhouse in Gold Coast.
They go for their birthday,
and they get a personalized menu,
and it says happy birthday,Wallace, or whatever.
It's tacky, but people stilldo it all the time," sure.
In London, there's a Pakistani restaurant
called Royal Mahal,which got an 8.0 rating
(14:11):
from our writer there named Sinéad.
And they have their own,like, birthday song remix.
They come out and sing it to you.
There are often congalines at this restaurant,
and there are sparklers,
like the whole nine yards,which is really fun.
It's on our guide to "Whereto Celebrate Your Birthday
When It's All About You" for London.
So that is very much like unabashed.
(14:32):
- Wow, we need that guy in New York.
- Yeah, you do, when it's all about you.
It's kind of your nightmare, actually.
- Mm-hmm, it is my nightmare.
- But you like attention.
- No, I hate attention.
No.- Yeah, you hate,
you hate attention.
Say that to the camera.- I hate it.
I hate attention.
- In Atlanta, oh, I thinkthis is a good birthday hack.
So the team in Atlanta is really excited
about this restaurant called Miller Union,
(14:52):
which is an American Southern restaurant
that they added to their "Best25 Restaurants in Atlanta".
And if you give Miller Union a heads up
within 48 hours that it's your birthday,
they'll make you a cake.
A whole cake, isn't that nice?- Wow, that's nice.
- I love that.
I was surprised to learnthat our Miami team,
which we think of Miamias like clubstaurant city.
(15:16):
- [Bryan Kim] For sure.
- Party, party, party.
Our writers, they are recommending
this place called Lagniappe more often
than any other place for birthdays.
It's a, like, wine bar where,it sounds very up your alley,
you can go and mill about andorder at the bar yourself.
Get whatever you want, stayfor as long as you want.
Very like low-key birthday.
(15:37):
- That sounds nice.
- Yeah, the Miami team,
they're constantly recommendingcasual walk-in wine bars
where you pay at the counter
because they think that splittingthe check is a nightmare.
And it is a nightmare.- Oh, 100%.
I need to move to Miami.
- Yeah.- Hang out with them.
- There's also this place called Magie,
which is good for this situation too.
- Okay.- So maybe our Miami writers
are, like, too partied out,
so then now they're justlike, go to a chill wine bar
(15:59):
for your birthday.- They're definitely
anti-clubstaurants.
- They're anti-clubstaurant.
So, we've talked about
what makes a good birthday restaurant,
but we still need to define the types
of different birthday celebrators
'cause I think that'slike the number one factor
in terms of finding a greatspot for your birthday.
- Yeah, before you can plan your birthday,
you really need to figure out
what kind of birthday person are you.
(16:21):
- And that takes self-awarenessand introspection.
- Oh, yeah.
- Maybe therapy.
- [Bryan Kim] Maybe therapy.
- But we could also tell people, I think,
what kind of birthday person they are,
or we could at least lay out some options.
- Yeah, so let's talkabout the different kinds
of birthday celebrators.
- I think you're a Shy Guy.
- I'm a Shy Guy,
100%.- You barely want
to acknowledge that your birthday exists.
- Mm-hmm.- In fact,
(16:41):
you're only going to acknowledge
that your birthday exists if forced to.
- Yeah, I'm very modest,don't love attention.
- I think I'm a Secret Birthday Diva.
- You are borderline BirthdayDiva, Secret Birthday Diva.
What is the distinction-- I'm changing.
- there?- I'm growing up.
- Okay, so a Secret BirthdayDiva, what is that exactly?
- You are a birthday diva,
(17:03):
which is to say youwant a birthday weekend,
you want a birthday week,
you might even want a birthday month.
- [Bryan Kim] Mm-hmm.
- I've never celebrated a birthday month,
I want to make that very clear.
When I was in my 20s, I did birthday week,
and I'd do it again, frankly.
- Okay, so Secret BirthdayDiva secretly wants-
- You secretly want that.
(17:23):
- Okay.- And you might not even be,
like, forthright about it.
You might be a little like, eh, it's okay.
Oh, what are we going to dothis year for my birthday?
Even though inside,
you're like, oh my God,what am I going to do?
What am I going to do?- Right,
a Secret Birthday Diva might talk
about her last birthday on a podcast,
and then leave out half the celebration,
like not say that it was a whole weekend,
just talk about the bathhouse,
maybe.- Yeah, for sure.
(17:44):
- Okay.- Which, oh my god,
if you're in the Philly area,
please go to the Southampton Spa.
- Southampton Spa.
- It has the lighting of an ASPCA.
Does that sell it to you?
- Yeah, I think so.
- It's so nice.
- So we got the Secret Birthday Diva,
and then we have, Iassume, the Birthday Diva.
- Birthday Diva, certified Birthday Diva.
(18:05):
- Who just transparentlywants to celebrate themselves.
- And good for them.
- Yeah, absolutely.
- Very fond of birthdays.
- Probably good for them,maybe good for them.
- Your birthdays, itprobably is expensive, too,-
- [Bryan Kim] Yeah.
- to be honest.
And, you know, as long asyou communicate your needs,
and everybody's down,
sure.- How does one know
if one is a Birthday Diva?
What do you think their favorite movie is?
(18:27):
- If you're a Birthday Diva,your favorite movie came out
between 1991 and 2005.
- It might be "Step Brothers,"
maybe?- Oh, yeah.
- Right, so Birthday Diva,just they're not necessarily,
we're not calling you a narcissist,
Birthday Divas.- No.
- We're just saying thatyou like to celebrate.
You like to celebrate yourself.
- Which is maybe healthy.
(18:48):
- [Bryan Kim] I think it is probably
the healthiest.- I think it's the healthiest.
- [Bryan Kim] I think it's the healthiest.
- Shy Guys, I think, needto figure out why they don't
want to celebrate their birthday.- Oh, for sure.
They need some more therapy.
- Yeah, and we're saying guy,but we mean all genders here,
and that applies to the next category,
which I'm calling Dad.
- Dad, tell me about what a Dad is in-
- If you're a birthday Dad, itmeans no matter who you are,
(19:09):
if you have children,whatever, however you identify,
you want to gather your family for dinner.
You require everyone's presence.
You want a nice dinner with your family.
I'm not sure, you mightpay for the dinner,
or someone else might pay for you.
And it's not a big deal,but if you're not there,
you're going to get a lot of for it.
- Right, right, right, right, right.
Okay, so Dad just requires thebare minimum, your presence
(19:32):
and a dinner, and that's it.
And there are all kinds of Dads.
- My mom's a Dad.
- [Bryan Kim] Okay.
- Like, we have a nicedinner for her birthday,
and everybody has to be there.
And like the significant others come,
and the dogs are not allowed to be
in the dining room, and whatever.
- My mom
is a Shy Guy.- Is your mom a Dad?
Aw.
That's nice.- We're both Shy Guys.
- [Hannah Albertine]Is your stepdad a Dad?
- My stepdad's a Dad,
yeah.- Nice, that's good.
(19:53):
- The next category I wouldsay is the Party Animal.
Hannah, what can you tell me about
the Party Animal?- Puh, puh, puh,
puh, Party Animal.
- Party.
- A Party Animal can beBirthday Diva overlapping,
but I actually think the PartyAnimal is really just looking
for an excuse for everyone to get wasted.
They don't care who's coming,
how many people are showing up.
It's probably at a bar,might be at a club.
(20:15):
They're just like, comeon, we're going out.
We don't do this anymore, everyone.
We got to, come on out for my birthday.
- Right, right, right.
- Party animal.- Halfway through the night,
they forget it's their birthday.
- Yeah.- And chances are,
the night before, theydid the exact same thing
even though it wasn't their birthday.
- 100%.
- Okay.- They don't really care
that it's their birthday.
They're just like, this is agood excuse to like go out.
Really fun.- Yeah.
- It's nice to have someParty Animals in your life.
(20:35):
- I've probably done that once or twice.
- Yeah?- I would say early 20s,
I might've been Party Animal.
- You were a Party Animal?
- I don't know.
- That's sweet.- I'll have to think about it.
- Okay, the last one, Ithink, is the most obscure.
- Okay, what do we got?
- Birthday Retiree.
- Oh, Birthday Retiree.
- You used to be a Party Animal
or a Birthday Diva, not anymore.
- Oh, dang,
I might be like-- Not anymore.
- Shy Guy/Birthday Retiree, actually.
- [Hannah Albertine] Yeah.
(20:56):
- Just like, you used to care about it,
but now, when you're gettingolder, maybe a birthday's less
and less of a thing to celebrate.
- You're pre-Dad.
- Pre-Dad, sorry.
- Pre-Dad.- I thought you said pre-dead.
That was sounding...
- Well, we're all pre-dead.
- We are, we're all pre-dead.
- That'd be crazy if you weren't.
Post-dead, I'm post-dead, what's up,
birthday ghost.- Yeah, okay.
- Okay.- So Birthday Retiree,
(21:17):
no longer in the game, but respects it.
- Respects it, yeah.
And I think that's probablyall of them in the world.
Everyone can be divided into these types.
- Sure, sure, sure.
- What kind of birthdaycelebrator are you?
Let us know in the comments.
- So we already figured out what types
(21:38):
of birthday celebrators there are.
- Yeah.
- But before we can reallyplan the proper birthday,
before you can plan a proper birthday,
there are some more factorsthat you need to consider,
some more key factors, starting off
with, I would say, party intensity.
Is this going to be more teaparty or more frat party?
- Mm, yep.
(21:59):
- Yeah, what else?- Yeah, what kind of party
do you want to have, basically.
The next one is guest demographic.
Are there going to be kids there?
Who is going to be at your party?
- Know your audiencebefore you plan your party.
That is super important.
- Yes.- Another factor,
a big one, money.
- Money.
- Not just how much do you want to spend,
how much do the people comingto your party want to spend?
(22:19):
You really got to thinkabout that, be considerate.
- Money makes this asensitive topic for people.
I think that's part of the pressure.
- Definitely.- They're like I don't want
to put anyone out, butalso, I want it to be fun.
- [Bryan Kim] Mm-hmm.
- [Hannah Albertine] It's hard, stressful.
- It's a big one to consider.
Lots of complaints about money
when it comes to birthdays.
- For sure.
And then there arealways extra wild cards.
You know, something comesup, someone has an allergy,
(22:40):
someone just started datingthis really boring person,
and now that person iscoming to the party.
- Mm-hmm, wild cards.
- Wild cards.
With these factors in mind,
I think we can actuallyfind the perfect formula.
No matter what the factors are, there's
still going to be a goodbirthday restaurant for you.
- You just need to figure out the factors
(23:01):
that you are working withand then narrow it down,
and we can help you find the right place.
- So you don't have to.
- [Bryan Kim] Yeah.
- That's so generous.
- We're very generous.
- We're generous.- We're so nice.
- You're humble, and you're generous.
- I'm humble, and I'm generous.
- And you-- And Infatuation
is such a useful resource when it comes
to figuring out whereto have your birthday.
- The birthday guides in all
of our Infatuation citiesare constantly being updated.
(23:24):
I mean, just in New York,
there are probably, you know, five or six.
Which birthday guides can you remember
off the top of your head?
- We have so many specific guides
to just different scenarios
that maybe you never knewyou would find yourself in.
Whatever scenario you need to plan for,
we have a guide for that.
Where to plan your 30th birthday,
like we were just talking about.
Where to not spend $100.
(23:45):
Unique dining experiences, even.
We have a guide to uniquedining experiences.
That can work for your birthday.
We have BYOB restaurants.
That can work
for your birthday, we have-- Most fun.
- Most fun restaurants, exactly.
That's pretty much a birthday guide
and any celebration.- See & Be Seen,
I would argue, isbasically a birthday guide-
- See & Be Seen,
any of those restaurants.- for a certain kind
of birthday celebrator.
- Yeah, they work for birthdays.
"Bars Where You Can BringYour Own Food," so specific.
- Oh, I love that.
(24:07):
- You're not going tofind many lists of that,
but you will find alist on The Infatuation.
"Bars Where You Can Bring Your Own Food."
Those are my favoritekind of birthday places.
- Let's put these variablesto the test, shall we?
- Yeah, let's do it.
- Let's see what randombirthday scenarios we can plan
based on what we're going tocall 'em, Birthday Mad Libs.
- Mm-hmm, I think we'll getsome really good recommendations
for all of these scenarios.
(24:27):
- And maybe help youlearn how to plan a party.
- Mm-hmm.
- [Hannah Albertine] Ifyou like this episode,
make sure to like andsubscribe to Restaurant People
on YouTube and all of yourpreferred podcast platforms.
- All right, everybody, right now,
we're going to play a gamecalled Birthday Mad Libs.
How does the game work?
Well, in front of us we have four bags.
(24:47):
We're going to draw one variablefrom each of these bags.
The bags are labeled money,guest demographic, wild cards,
and the last one is.
- Party intensity.
- Party intensity.
After we draw these variables,
we're then going to helpyou find the best place
to celebrate your hypothetical birthday.
(25:07):
We have no idea whatscenarios are in these bags,
but no matter what wedraw, we are 100% confident
that we will find the proper location
to have that birthday party.
- 100% confident?
- 101%
confident.- Wow.
Remember goodie bags?
- No.- You don't?
You don't remember?- Okay, I remember them.
I was lying.- Yeah, they would,
I don't even, like chocolates,
and like, I don't know.
(25:28):
What else would you-- I was dropping-
- get in it?- those goodie bags.
I don't know, I think just chocolate.
Maybe some of those, like,-- PLAYMOBILs.
Oh, yo-yos, perhaps.- things, I don't know, yeah.
- Yeah, really good.- Definitely was Silly Putty.
- All right, should we start?
- Let's do it.
- Okay, Bryan, here's money.
- Okay, first off, money.
- Be gentle.
(25:51):
- This is the money variable.
- Yeah, what do we got?
- Split whole meal evenly,
including birthday person,-- Okay, oh.
Huh.- except for the sober.
- Okay.- So if you're not drinking,
then you don't have to splitthe meal with everybody.
- But the birthday person
is also being included in the split?
- Birthday person's splitting the meal.
If you're not drinking,you don't have to pay
for the alcohol of everybody else.
(26:12):
- That seems like a reallyreasonable egalitarian.
- This is a good reasonable,-
- [Hannah Albertine] Process.
- yeah, scenario.- All right.
Okay, let's do party intensity.
We got
someone's throwing up.
- Someone's throwing up, perfect.
- That's like max levelof party intensity,
I think.- Mm, yeah, I think so.
- Okay, so someone's throwing up,
(26:33):
but we're extremely reasonable egalitarian
party planners.- Mm-hmm, splitting the check,
but someone's throwing up.
The guest demographic is 10 people, nice.
- Okay.
- All a mix of friendswho don't know each other,
and the only connection isme, the birthday celebrator.
- All right, so we still have wild card.
This could really throw things for a loop.
(26:54):
It's a 21st birthday party.
- 21st birthday.
- Wow, okay, so we needto find the right kind
of location for a 21st birthday party
where there are 10 people,
a mix of friends whodon't know each other.
The only connection isthe birthday celebrator.
The meal is going to be split evenly,
(27:16):
including the birthday person,
except for people who aren't drinking,
and the party needs to get sowild that someone throws up.
- [Bryan Kim] Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
- What do you think, Bryan?
What kind of place would be good for this?
- My first thought isDallas BBQ Times Square.
- Okay.- But I can come up
with some others.
- Well, why, let's start there.
What makes you think of that?
(27:38):
- Well, DBBQ is popularwith the 21-year-olds.
They've probably been drinking there
with their fake IDs already.
- Yeah.- They have Henny Coladas.
They're about this big.
- Whew, that would make me throw up,
and I'd be happy about it.- It's not too expensive.
So, you know, when youhave to split the check,
and the birthday person has to pay
for their own meal, then,you know, it's fine.
And also, 21-year-olds are justgoing to find it hilarious,
(27:59):
or maybe they're not old enough to find
Dallas BBQ hilarious.- Yeah, I was going to say,
maybe they don't realize thatit's funny to do that yet.
Like, maybe they wantsomething a little bit more
partying in earnest.- Maybe they're too, yeah.
Mm-hmm, okay, so do you haveany partying in earnest?
- Yeah, let's think about this.
Well, actually, I want to see,
based on our guide in LA,maybe I can find a spot.
(28:20):
Okay, so I'm going toThe Infatuation LA site,
and I clicked on thePERFECT FOR tag birthday,
and the first guide thatcame up was the guide
for "The Best LA RestaurantsFor A Birthday Dinner."
And it looks like, Ihaven't been to this place,
but I actually remember helping Sylvio,
(28:42):
one of our writers, with the review.
This is a restaurant called Descanso.
It has a 7.4, which iskind of the right zone
in terms of rating fora 21st birthday party
with a lot of people, andsomeone's going to throw up.
Like, that's totally correct.
You want a place where the food
is not necessarily going tobe the number one priority.
(29:04):
And this place, Descanso,
has margarita flights, tacos,
but also a teppanyaki, so like an area
where there's a chefsort of grilling for you.
They have quesadilla platters,
they have Puerto Nuevo-style lobster,
they got hibiscus margaritas,
huge booths for large groups.
(29:26):
It's sort of like you couldbook the private teppanyaki
for a private-ish dinner,but you don't have to.
So that seems like maybe an option in LA.
Did you find somethingelse in a different city?
- So I just used our guideto the most fun restaurants
in New York City to find a restaurant,
and I think I found onethat's perfect for this.
- Hit me.
- It's called Sammy's Roumanian.
(29:46):
- [Hannah Albertine] Classic.
- Sammy's is now in its second iteration.
It closed and then itreopened, and it's back.
And I feel like everybodywho goes there goes
to celebrate a birthday.
- [Hannah Albertine] Yes.
- They get these bottlesof vodka encased in ice,
so if you want to throw up, that is
very doable.- It's perfect.
Doable for throwing up.
- [Bryan Kim] Yeah, and-
- And, you know, like astoried birthday place.
(30:08):
- Yeah, it's just likea kitschy party place
with food that you, like,actually want to eat,
you know, steak and stuff.
- And also, you'll beon the Lower East Side,
which is the land of 21-year-olds
that are happy to be drinking.
- Definitely, you're surrounded
by your peers, mm-hmm.- So I think that's perfect.
Great, I feel like that was too easy.
- Yeah, that one made a lot of sense.
- All right, let's do another.
You want to start?
- Birthday number two, startingwith guest demographic.
(30:31):
I pulled eight people.
- [Hannah Albertine] Okay.
- Mix of family and family friend couples
who should really be divorced.
Okay.
All right.- Okay.
- This could get uncomfortable.
- Sure, all right, let's do money next.
So okay, $50 or under per person.
(30:51):
- Wow, 50 or under
- All right, so we don't want to
spend a lot of money with our family
and family friends whoshould get divorced.
And frankly, the people
who should get divorcedshould save their money
'cause they're going tohave a lot of legal fees.
- No, they're going tolose it in the divorce.
You got to spend it.
- Oh, spend it now.
- It depends on, like, howthe divorce is going to go,
but.- Right, maybe it'll be
amicable, probably not.
- All right, the wild card
(31:11):
for this birthday is everyone's a foodie,
so people are going-- Ooh.
- to take nonstop pics.
- Huh.
- Okay.
- Okay, so it needs
to be maybe something
that a person could puton their social media.
- Maybe like slightly gimmicky food
that people will want to take pictures of.
- Or like, oh, that's ahot spot I want to go to.
(31:31):
- Mm-hmm, but remember,can't spend more than
$50 per person.- Yeah.
All right, that's tricky.
Okay, the last one is party intensity.
This is a weird one, in bed by 9:00 PM.
- Oh, oy.
This sounds, it doesn't sound
like a good birthday.- This is a really,
really bad birthday.
- But we don't judge.
- Well, we're just here-- We're just going to help-
- to help.- plan this birthday.
- All right, so let'shear it from the top.
(31:52):
What are the categories?
- The number of people is eight.
It's a mix of family andfamily friend couples
who should really be divorced.
The wild card is everyone's a foodie,
so people are going to take nonstop pics.
- But also, we need to keepthings $50 or under per person,
and everyone needs to be in bed by nine.
- Everyone's in bed
(32:12):
by 9:00 PM.- Or at least in bed by nine
so that you can fight with your spouse
before you get divorced.
- Exactly.- Like the fighting might last
like an hour and a half.
- Mm-hmm, fighting in bed.
Okay, all right, let's plan it.
- Okay, I'm going to think
about a place in Philly.
I'm thinking maybe
(32:33):
it's an afternoon experience.
- Okay, hey, however youwant to interpret it.
- [Hannah Albertine] Or lunch.
- Okay.- Both for cost reasons,
but also, you know, being in bed by nine.
- [Bryan Kim] Sure.
- And I don't want to seedivorced people at night.
- Well, divorced peoplecan do whatever they want.
They're people, too.- No, wait.
Let me say that again.
I don't want to see-
(32:54):
- Your parents are divorced,
by the way.- No, no, no, I love
divorced people.
That's not what I meant.
- My parents are divorced too.
- Divorce is incredible.
I don't want to see people whoshould be divorced at night.
- All right.- I want to see them
in the light of day.
They need to figuretheir **** out at night,
okay, don't involve me.- Okay, okay.
- [Hannah Albertine] Don't involve me.
(33:14):
- Don't involve me in Hannah's opinion,
okay?- Ugh, too late.
You're already doing
this podcast with me.- I know.
- So I'm going to look
for like a really funlunch spot in Philly.
What's your strategy
here?
- This one has a Philly location.
You probably know what I'm going to say.
- [Hannah Albertine] What is it?
- It's called Laser Wolf.
- [Hannah Albertine] Oh, that's lunch.
- It's on-- Oh, no, do they do dinner
in New York?
- [Bryan Kim] They do dinner.
- Okay.- Yeah, it's a set meal,
isn't it, no, no, it's not a set meal.
(33:35):
But you get an entree, andit comes with, you know,
a bunch of sides.- Oh, sure, sure, sure, yeah.
- So you don't necessarilyhave to spend a ton of money
unless you're drinking.
It's got a nice view, soyou don't have to talk
to your spouse if you don't want to.
You can space out.
You can look at the Manhattan skyline.
And you see celebrities there sometimes.
A nice distraction from yourlife if you hate your life
and the person you're married to.
(33:57):
But you still love this person
you're married to on some level.
You just don't want to-
- Oh, huh.- be with them anymore.
And so it's kind of nice
that there are celebritiesthere to distract you.
Like Chuck Schumer, I saw him
last time, pretty random.- Oh, yeah?
What was Chucky eating?
- I don't know what Chuckles was eating.
He was across, he was across the way.
Laser Wolf, though, aMediterranean restaurant
on a rooftop in Williamsburgwith a very nice view.
(34:19):
- [Hannah Albertine] Yeah.
- Pretty reasonable price point.
You can get out, I think, forunder $50 if you don't drink.
- It's a group of eight, you said?
- [Bryan Kim] Yes.
- Okay, I actually, I think I found
a really good one in Philly.
It's called Marrakesh.
- Marrakesh.- It's been around
for a while.
It's a Moroccan restaurant,
and they have a prix fixemenu for around $40 a person,
(34:40):
and you get so much food.
You get like spicy cumin chicken.
You're getting likeeggplant and carrot salad.
Everyone is sitting on the ground
on these, like, nice pillows.
And it's BYOB.
And the best part,there are belly dancers.
(35:00):
So the divorced people
can really sort of like marinate
in all of that and think really hard
about what they wantin their relationship.
- This sounds pretty tricky.
So BYOB, right off the bat,
people are going to be drinking, okay?
So like, they're thinkingabout getting divorced,
and they're definitely thinking
about, you know, havinga few bottles of wine,
so it could get messy.
(35:21):
- I think that the messier the better,
in my opinion.- Okay.
Sitting on the floor, too,
could be tricky.- Yeah.
- But I like it.- It's comfortable.
- [Bryan Kim] I like it,it feels messy, though.
But I like it.- Yeah, yeah.
Well, it's a messysituation in so many ways.
But this place is legendary.
It's been around for so long.
- Okay.- It's great.
I mean, I think no matter where you live,
if you are trying to have aparty that keeps costs down,
(35:41):
I think lunch is an interesting strategy.
And restaurants that have set prices,
so you know everybody is going to spend
like $45 or whatever.
- I think an afternoon birthday lunch
is a highly underrated option.
- For sure, lunch is classy.
- [Bryan Kim] Mm-hmm.
(36:03):
- And also, I do think I'd want to come
to this party because I want gossip
on the pre-divorced people.
- Absolutely.
- So, if you have this party,let us know how it goes.
This is so fun, I could do this all day,
but let's talk birthday fauxpas 'cause there are so many.
And I want some cake.
(36:23):
- Absolutely, let's eat some cake.
- You want some cake?
- Yeah, let's do it.
All right, it's cake time.
Right in front of us, wehave a beautiful little cake
from Saint Street Cakes in Fort Greene,
a place that is currently onthe New York City Hit List,
the Best New RestaurantsIn New York City, that is.
I'm going to cut intothis while Hannah takes us
(36:43):
through some birthday faux pas.
- Yeah, it's a cute little cake.
- It's beautiful.
- It's following, like, I thinkthe in vogue style right now
of being like a vintage
sort of like elaboratelypiped pastel color.
It's the equivalent of likea manic pixie dream girl,
but it's a cake.
Oh my God, look at that little piece.
(37:04):
Okay, well, while Bryan massacresthis adorable little cake,
I'm going to talk aboutsome birthday etiquette.
We asked the members of our editorial team
for some birthday fauxpas, you know, things
that they think are totally inappropriate
(37:26):
at a birthday dinner, thingsthat people get wrong,
and, yeah, let's hear it.
Oh my gosh, thank you, sir, wow.
- Enjoy your cake.
All right, let's hear aboutthis birthday etiquette
while we eat our cake.
- Well, I'm going to takea bite really quickly.
- I'm going to take a bite right now.
(37:47):
- Yeah, oh, hello, wow.
Is it vanilla, did you say?
- I'm going with vanilla here, for sure.
- [Hannah Albertine] Mm.
- It's delicious.
- It is delicious.
- [Bryan Kim] A very thick icing.
- I was going to say,I got a lot of icing.
- Mm-hmm, we all did.
- Mm, what do you do when people sing
at you for your birthday?
(38:08):
- Mm, I smile, and I'm uncomfortable,
and I just get through it.- Yeah.
I don't think there's agood way to handle that.
My strategy is to, like, also sing.
- So is that one of your faux pas,
just don't sing "HappyBirthday" at a birthday?
- I think you could arguethat it's a faux pas
to sing at someone who's uncomfortable,
but also, I kind of like it.
- I think everybody's alittle uncomfortable, right?
- Maybe it's just like birthday hazing,
(38:28):
part of the ritual.- Just something
you got to get through.
- Yeah, one of the birthday faux pas
that Heidi, our seniorstaff writer in London,
she does not like restaurantsthat put candles in anything,
in non-cake items to celebrate birthdays.
So there's a candle in the ice cream
(38:49):
at a place called The Devonshire.
- Been there.- And she wrote,
"What the ."
It's a pub and a British restaurant
in Soho with a 9.0 rating.
So they love this place,but Heidi gets really mad
when there are birthday candlesin places they don't belong.
- Do you think that's a valid critique?
You think it's a valid point she's making?
- No, I don't.
(39:10):
- Yeah, I don't really get that one.
That doesn't bother me.- Well, there's also
another restaurant inLondon called The Plimsoll
that puts a candle in their burger,
which I think is very cute.
- I don't like that.
- Really, why don't you?
Why is ice cream fine, but burger's not?
- Dessert.
- Okay, I mean, sure.
But I saw a picture.
Jake took Katie there.
It was so sweet.
- Oh.
(39:30):
- Okay.- Jake and Katie
are two of our coworkers
who are dating.- And they're dating,
and they're adorable, and we love them.
Okay, our editor Matt
in Austin absolutely thinks that three
or four dollar sign birthdayspots are a faux pas.
Any expensive birthday is a faux pas.
What do you think about that?
- I am inclined to agree,
(39:51):
unless it's you andyour significant other,
and you're both on board.
- To me, that's, like,such a different category
of birthday celebration.
That's like, you know,
behind-closed-doors birthday celebration.
- But definitely, evenif people agree to come
to this birthday that aren'tyour significant other,
chances are they do not wantto be spending that money.
They have to say yesbecause it's your birthday
because they love you,
(40:12):
but they would rather not spend
that much money most of the time.
So yes, I think that's a valid faux pas.
- Someone on our LA team named Brant,
who is our editorial leadand a huge birthday fan,
he thinks that you shouldn'tgo to new restaurants
on your birthday, which you did last year
or this year.- Oh, really?
(40:33):
- [Hannah Albertine] Whatdo you think about that?
Like try-- I didn't go
to a new restaurant this year.
- Yakitori Totto.
- That's been around
for years, oh.- Okay, new to you,
new to you restaurant.- Oh, that's what he means.
- Yeah, he thinks that it's better
to go somewhere you knowis going to be great.
What do you think about that?- Yeah, I guess, if you are,
I guess, if you're risk-averse,
if you're scared like Brant.
- Yeah, if you're a scaredy-cat.
- Yeah, if you're ascaredy-cat, don't do that.
(40:53):
But no, that's generallyprobably good advice, right?
You want to know where you're going,
what you're signing yourself up for.
You want to know thefood's going to be good.
- I guess, if you'remanaging expectations.
- Yeah, but like, yeah,
so if you don't knowthis restaurant's good,
you don't want to ruin your birthday.
Brant, that's a valid,
yeah, that's a valid faux pas, I guess.
- Alternatively, if you, you know,
are trying a new restaurant
that you've heard good thingsabout on theinfatuation.com,
(41:15):
and it turns out to be great,
that's a good feeling.- Oh, yeah, you can trust us
if you've never been before,but you read about it
on our site,-- Check it out.
- and we say it's good,
go for it.- It's on the Hit List.
- We're never wrong.
- The Hit List is also, I think,
a really good birthday list.
Like a secret birthday list.- Yeah.
- Brant also thinksthat if you're over 35,
you should be paying for everyone else's-
- That's
nuts.- dinner
(41:35):
if it's your birthday.
- To me, that's nuts.- My friends
aren't rich enough to do that.
- Yeah.- Not yet.
Oh, this is fun.
Karaoke on birthdays, a divisive topic.
What are your thoughtson mandating karaoke
for your friends if it's your birthday?
- Absolutely, I think,
so I actually do,
(41:55):
I wouldn't make people sing,but it's your birthday.
You can make people sing.
You can be bossy.- You make people.
Don't make me sing.
Don't make me dance.
- One of our producers, Alicia Camden,
she had a birthday partyat a karaoke place,
which is in the bottom ofsomebody's basement, well,
in the bottom-- Oh my God.
- [Bryan Kim] of someone's home.
- I went to this birthday party.
Where?- In East Williamsburg
called Lion's Roar Karaoke.- Yeah.
(42:16):
- Literally a house.- I do not think
it's a legit business.
- It's legit, they have a website.
Anyways, we had a great time there.
- It was so much fun.
It was so much fun.
- Bring your own food.
Karaoke birthdays, the best.- I totally forgot about that.
Yeah, karaoke's fun.
You got to have the right crew.
If you have a group of people
who don't actually all know each other,
I think karaoke is agreat bonding exercise.
(42:36):
The people who aremiserable won't show up.
The people who aren'tany fun won't show up.
And it's dark,
and usually, karaoke barsmake you drink a lot,
and so that is usually a goodcombination for a birthday.
- Real quick, if you want todo karaoke in New York City,
and you don't want to renta room, it's your birthday,
two great options inChinatown, there's Winnie's,
and then there is aplace called Up Stairs.
They're right next toeach other, actually.
(42:57):
- Wow.
- We were talking to somewriters at Infatuation.
We got some ideas forbirthday alternatives
if you don't want to do atraditional birthday dinner.
Will from New York City,a writer in New York City,
says a birthday breakfast.
- [Hannah Albertine] Mm.
- Which sounds nice aslong as it's not too early.
- Yeah.- His suggestion
is Café Sabarsky,
which is on the UpperEast Side, I believe.
I haven't been.
I've heard great things.
(43:18):
And then also Barney Greengrasson the Upper West Side.
- [Hannah Albertine] Ah.
- A favorite of Kevin Bacon.
- Yes.- He said that
in one of our interviews.- Yes.
Barney Greengrass is a greatbirthday breakfast spot.
- Barney Greengrass, yeah, I cosign,
definitely.- That's so lovely.
- And then London, oursocial media manager Emily
in London says hot pot.
(43:40):
She suggests Hai Di Lao.
They bring you a massive neon sign,
pre-decorate your table with bunting,
and then all the staff come
and sing "Happy Birthday" in Mandarin.
Plus, they give you freebies.
Emily's mom got a fluffy hairclip and a fruit platter.
- [Hannah Albertine] Wow.
- Allie in New York Citysays limos, remember limos?
- Yeah.- Allie wants to take a limo
(44:00):
from Tatiana in Lincoln Center,our highest rated restaurant
in New York City still,-
- Yep.- to Tatiana's
in Brighton Beach, a muchdifferent restaurant.
- Huh.- A Russian dinner place
with like a show element.
- That's such a good idea.
- It's a really
good idea.- I hope Allie does that.
- [Bryan Kim] Yeah, it's an
exceptional birthday dinner.- Limos, do limos still exist?
- Sonal, our New York City editor,
says "I want to buy out Cocina Consuelo."
(44:20):
- Oh.- That is a small restaurant,
I think, in Harlem, Hamilton Heights.
- [Hannah Albertine] Yeah.
- It's one of our "25 Best Restaurants
In New York City" currently.
Sonal wants to spend a nightat the Hotel Chelsea as well
and visit every venue-- Ooh.
- in there, including the spa.
The Hotel Chelsea is a historichotel, recently revamped,
and currently there's what, El Quijote.
(44:43):
- Yeah.- There's Café Chelsea.
There's a new Japanese restaurant.
The name is escaping me right now,
but you can read aboutit on The Infatuation.
And then, there's Lobby Bar as well,
which is a great cocktail bar.
We've been there together.
- Listen to our martini episode
about that.- Yeah.
- Yep, I mean, if you can do a buyout,
it's a baller birthday
no matter what.- Oh, yeah, mm-hmm.
- But pricey.
- [Bryan Kim] Yeah.
(45:03):
- You know, I think thereare some restaurants
that are quintessentialbirthday restaurants.
Like, when you hear the name
of this restaurant, you think birthday,
like Chuck E. Cheese is one,and another one is Benihana.
- For sure.- Have you been
to Benihana?
- I've never been to Benihana.
So you went to Benihanarecently just to research it.
Are birthday restaurants good
when it's not your birthday, right?
- Well, I was really curious,
like, okay, Benihana is acertified birthday restaurant.
(45:26):
But what if I go sort of doing
the opposite scenario of a diner?
Like, what if I go as asolo diner to Benihana
and see how that experience was?
- Mm-hmm, was it rewarding?
- It was one of the weirdermeals I've ever had in my life.
I mean, would you go to like, just,
would you go to Benihana by yourself?
- Benihana, I would go toalmost any restaurant by myself.
(45:47):
Benihana is a maybe.
- It's a maybe.- But, yeah,
I would go there by myself.
- Well, I also was curious
about like, you know, it's a Sunday night,
and who is going to be there.
Every single party besidesme is celebrating a birthday.
It's like families, kids.
And I am seated, I madea reservation for one
at the Pennsauken, South Jersey Benihana.
(46:10):
I'm seated with a family.
It's six of them and me at one table,
and they are looking at mewith like pity and despair-
- Mm-hmm, they hate you,
yeah.- for like 70 minutes.
Like, they hated my guts.
And it was Colleen's birthday.
And the chef came out,
(46:30):
and he was likeimmediately cracking jokes.
Like, he was like,"Who's first time is it?"
I raised my hand, eventhough that was a lie
'cause I had been to Benihana before,
but I wanted to see what he would say.
And he said, "Oh, it'salso my first day too."
And he's like, doingmagic trick with eggs.
They still do the volcano with the onion.
And I had a terrible time
(46:52):
because I knew I was makingthese people so uncomfortable.
And so I do think Benihana is only fun
if you are celebrating a birthday there.
- Benihana, only for birthdays.
- Can you think of anyother birthday restaurants
that, like, won't work if you'renot celebrating a birthday?
- Absolutely, most of 'em.
- Like what?- Like most
of these birthday restaurants.
We already talked about Puglia.
I just went to a placecalled Crazy Pizza in Soho.
- What is Crazy Pizza?- Has 16 locations.
So Crazy Pizza has 16locations around the world.
(47:13):
Like places like Milan, Monte Carlo,
now they have one in Soho.
The servers come out.
They spin pizza every once in a while
in the middle of the dining room.
It's a crazy party placewhere mostly 16-year-olds go
to have a nice meal.
- Oh.- I don't know why.
Film TikToks, I guess.
- [Hannah Albertine] Okay.
- But it's mostly 16-year-olds
and other people celebrating birthdays.
(47:34):
I went recently.
The food is not good.
I do not recommend.
I don't think some birthday restaurants,
most birthday restaurants,probably, are good
for just your everyday meal.
- Yeah, it's almost like the theatrics.
It makes me feel bad.
Like, I'm like, oh, I'vegot nothing to celebrate.
(47:54):
- I know.- Oh, I'm just by myself.
- Yeah, you do all that for me,
you know?- Yeah, it's not for me.
- [Bryan Kim] Yeah.
- Pretty sad.
- Yeah, so if you are planning a birthday,
hopefully, we just madeit a little bit easier
by running you through thethings that you need to consider,
starting with what kind ofa birthday person are you.
Are you a Birthday Diva, for example?
The other factors to consider are money,
(48:18):
guest demographics, any wildcards that might come up,
and also, what's the last one?
- Party intensity.
- Party intensity, very important.
- How hard are you partying?
- Yeah, how hard is everyone partying?
- That's the question.
People think we're not partying anymore,
which I don't agree with.
- And, of course, you canalways go to theinfatuation.com
(48:39):
for all of your birthday recommendations.
Check out our guides.
We have a ton of them in a bunch of cities
around the world and in the US.
Sorry.- Around the world and the US.
- Around the world and the US.
- Also, if you DM us on Instagram,
there's a chance you might get a response
if you have a birthday conundrum.
- A very good chance.
- There's a very good chanceyou'll get a response,
so please, ask questions.- Yeah.
(48:59):
I'm Bryan.
- I'm Hannah.
- Thanks for stopping by.
This was Restaurant People,a show by Infatuation.
- It sucks that peopleare going to hear this,
people that know me,
but I hardly ever enjoygoing to birthday parties.
- None.
- I like being invited, it's nice.
But-- You like being invited,
but you don't want to go.
- I just, like, hardly ever want to go.
- But-- I like going
to very specific typesof birthday parties.
- Tell me about that.
Which parties do you enjoy going to?
- Parties where you get tohave fun, leave when you want,
(00:22):
and not spend a ton of money.
- I'm a birthday person for sure,
but I think my birthdaystyle has changed recently
because I got so stressed
about planning the perfect birthday
that I ended up cancelingmy 30th birthday.
- Yeah, and I was the only one there.
Yeah.- You were
the only one there genuinely
because I told everyone else not to come.
(00:43):
I think, from that experience,
I learned it's really, it's stressful.
It's intense to put so muchpressure on this one day.
And I think we need tohave this podcast episode
to discuss why it's so stressful
and also to discuss maybe ways
to make it a little less stressful.
(01:05):
- Yeah, let's figure it out.
Let's get to the bottom of this.
Let's help people plan their birthdays,
or maybe people don't need toplan their birthdays at all.
- Maybe we should justabolish birthdays, actually.
- Mm-hmm, get rid of birthday.
No more birthday parties.
- Bye, birthday.
Hi, I'm Hannah Albertine,senior editor at Infatuation,
and the best birthdayparties I've ever been to
have all been at bowling alleys.
(01:25):
- And I'm Bryan Kim, editoriallead at Infatuation NYC,
and frankly, I am notmuch of a birthday person.
- [Bryan and Hannah] Andthis is Restaurant People,
the show for people who eat
at restaurants sometimes,from Infatuation.
- Today on Restaurant People,
we're talking about birthdays.
Why does it seem like everyonewants to plan something
on their birthday, but hasthe toughest time doing it?
(01:47):
- If you were, say, planning a birthday
and got so flustered, you had to give up,
maybe it was your 30th birthday,
and it happened last year inPhiladelphia, I don't know,
this is a great episode for you.
- First, we're going to giveyou all the tools you need
to plan a great birthday,
and also, tell you where you should go.
- Finally, we're going totalk birthday etiquette
at restaurants, how to bethe least annoying person
(02:08):
in the dining room, even ifyou're having so much fun.
- Birthdays are tough toplan, but we're here for you.
With that, let's get into it.
- The question we getasked the most, I think,
is where should I go for my birthday?
And that's coming from, youknow, readers who we don't know,
but also text messages I get from friends
(02:29):
and friends of friends and aunts
and, like, friends of my aunts.
- Yeah, because, well,the stakes are so high.
That's why people have so much trouble,
you know, figuring it out.
- Yeah, and I think it does take
some expertise, some knowledge.
It also, I think, takes asort of neutral third-party
who's not, like, as personallyinvested as you are, perhaps.
(02:54):
- Right, right, right.- Which is why
The Infatuation can help.
- Yeah, and even if you knowthe restaurants in your city,
you might not know thebest birthday restaurants
in your city.
Sometimes, it's a differentbreed of restaurant.
- Bryan, I have something for you.
- Would you say it's a gift?
- No, it's not a gift.
- Okay.- Because I think gifts-
- Is it-- have to be something
that the other person's going to like.
(03:15):
- Is it expensive?
- [Hannah Albertine]No, it's not expensive.
- Okay.
- Okay, close your eyes.
- Oh, it's squishy.
- [Hannah Albertine] Yeah.
- And is that an ear?
- Um.- Tell me when I can open.
- You can open your eyes.
- Oh my gosh.
Am I going to wear this
the whole episode?- You should put it on.
I mean, I don't thinkabout the whole episode.
- Oh, okay.- But isn't it great?
(03:35):
- Perfect.- For everyone listening
at home, Bryan is currentlywearing a birthday hat
that I procured on 4thAvenue by Union Square
at the Halloween costume store.
- So, Hannah, what exactly happened
with your 30th birthday planning?
How did it get so stressful?
Why was it so difficult?
- Well, you'll probably remember
that I was getting surgery on my butt.
(03:55):
- Mm-hmm, you had butt surgery,
yes.- But I was getting
butt surgery, not like a...
- BBL, yep.
- [Hannah Albertine] Not a BBL.
- No, it was a BBL.
- Well, it was like in some ways a BBL,
but less lifting and not Brazilian.
- Yeah.
- But it was very stressful.
And I think the birthday anxiety
was just like a compounding force.
(04:16):
I was like, I got to have this birthday.
It's got to be perfect.
It's got to be fun.
And I was not in abirthday moment in my life,
and I still was trying to push through
and have the best birthday ever
because I thought itwould lift my spirits.
And it turns out, it won't.
So I think if you're having a hard time,
if you need your butt cyst removed,
just cancel your birthday.
(04:36):
Just do it from the get-go.
You don't need to push through.
- Yeah, maybe you don'tneed a birthday every year.
- But, you know, the thingabout big milestone birthdays,
a 21st birthday, a 30thbirthday, a 50th, a 40th,
there's extra pressure on them.
And I think, for my 30th, I had been
to a couple really good 30th birthdays.
(04:59):
I'll tell you about one.
Someone we both knowhad her birthday party
in the trailer behind Diner.
- [Bryan Kim] Oh, yes, Iheard you talking about that.
- And it was so special and lovely.
Like this trailer canfit maybe 15 people max.
You were not invited.
- I didn't make the cut.
- You didn't make the cut.- I wasn't one
of the 15, Katherine.
(05:19):
- She's absolutely goingto be watching this show.
Sorry, Kathy.- Mm-hmm.
- So it was, like, 15 ofus in this Diner trailer.
No one had to make any ordering decisions
other than what do you want to drink.
It was all family-style.
Diner in Williamsburg, I think, does,
like, sort of beautiful,
like seasonal American foodvery well, very crowd pleasing.
(05:41):
And then after, we allwalked our little selves
to this place called Nightmoves,
which is right next to The Four Horsemen
and is like a place where you dance,
and the dance floor has littlelike squares that light up,
which is really makes dancing better.
- Yeah, our editor-in-chief Arden said
(06:01):
that she saw Paul Mescal there.
- He wasn't there.
Look, I would not have been able
to keep it cool if Paul was there.
Anyway, so that was areally great 30th birthday,
and so I thought, okay,so I want someone else
to think that I had a good 30th birthday,
and maybe on their ownpodcast, they'd talk about it.
- Yeah.- So I was planning something,
and I think I maybe was shootingfor the stars a little bit.
(06:25):
- Well, you can't competewith our friend Katherine,
whose job is literally, it's centered
around throwing parties.
- You look like you wantto take that hat off.
- I'll take it off.
I'm getting a little warm.
- All right, I miss it.
- I know, me, too.
In your professional-
- Yeah.
- opinion, what makes agood birthday restaurant?
(06:46):
What are the criteria?
- Well, it really depends what kind
of birthday celebratorwe're talking about.
There are different needsfor different people.
- [Bryan Kim] Right.
- But assuming you're someone
who wants to celebrate a birthday at all,
and you want to have more than,you know, five people there,
I do feel strongly that restaurants
(07:07):
with big circular tables are really great.
We actually, I believewe used to have a guide
to where to sit at a bigcircular table in New York City.
Has that been updated?- Oh, yeah.
It still exists.
It could use a little update.
- Yeah, yeah.- We'll work on that one.
But, yeah, we do have that guide.
- That was one of the, actually,I think that guide existed
before I worked at TheInfatuation, and I was like,
that is brilliant.- Really?
(07:27):
- Yeah, I'm pretty sure.- Wow, okay, so,-
- Okay, so-- big circular tables.
- There are some Cantoneserestaurants that do this so well.
One of the classics in NewYork is Wu's Wonton King,
which is in Chinatown.
It's been around for decades.
It's a BYOB, so you canbring whatever you fancy,
(07:49):
which cuts down on the cost.
They also have a couple ways
of making birthday celebrationsfeel really special,
including if you order ahead of time,
you can get this, like,really baller king crab.
It's expensive, it's like $70 a pound,
and you're probably gettinglike six or seven pounds,
so you have to be readyto spend $600 on crab.
(08:10):
But if you bring a lot ofpeople, it kind of makes it fun.
And they bring it out to you,and it's like this big show.
If you're being thoughtful about price,
you maybe want a restaurantthat has, you know, a menu
for a large party. That way,
you know exactly how muchpeople are going to spend.
I found so many examples of this.
(08:30):
So, you know, in New York,there's a place called Leo,
which is a pizzarestaurant in Williamsburg,
where they have a set menu.
It's a five-course family-stylemeal for $45 a person,
and you can do it for 8 to15 people, and it's seamless.
You get pizza, you get salad,you get dessert, it's great.
- But even if there's no set menu,
(08:51):
I think it's maybe safeto say it should maybe be
under $100 per person for 99%of these birthday scenarios.
- Yes.- So maybe big round tables
and a reasonable price point.
- Yep.- However you want to
define that.
- What else are you thinkingin terms of criteria
for what makes a goodbirthday restaurant to you?
- Obviously nothing too formal.
(09:14):
You don't want anyone tohave to go gown shopping.
I don't know what thatwould mean in New York,
but I mean, fine dining pretty much.
Fine dining's out the window,
unless it's just you, one,two, three other people
who are very special to you,
and then you can go fine dining.
Hannah, what other criteriado you have for us?
- If you are someone whowants a momentous dessert.
(09:36):
- Oh.
- A birthday's a good timeto have a momentous dessert.
I am more, as I age, I'm less interested
in sweets, actually.
Is that something you've experienced?
- Yeah, I go to so many birthdayparties and there's cake,
and people will just keeppassing around these slices
of cake 'cause nobody really wants
to eat a whole slice ofcake at the birthday party.
But even if people secretly
(09:57):
might not actually reallywant to eat a ton of cake
at your birthday, a dessert is important.
I think there's one thingwe haven't mentioned yet
when it comes to a goodbirthday restaurant,
and it has to feel festive,
right?- Mm.
- It needs to feel more festive
than your average restaurant.
- Yeah.- I'm not saying
they need to be playing loud music,
and they don't have to havesparklers or napkin waving,
(10:21):
but there has to be somekind of festive element.
- What do you think aresome festive restaurants
in New York right now?
- So, on our guide to The Best Restaurants
For A Birthday Dinner in New York City,
we have a whole range of places.
All of them pretty much hit these criteria
that we've talked about.
We have a place like Le Veau d'Or.
(10:41):
- [Hannah Albertine] Oof.
- You've been there, right?- That is a good
birthday restaurant.
I've been there.
I'm a huge, huge fan.
Upper East Side, French, revived recently
by the Frenchette team.
- Exactly,
tiny.- I don't know what it has
on the site right now
in terms of rating, but.- Very cute.
It's actually one of our 25-
- Oh.- Best Restaurants
in New York City right now.
- I love that place.- Yeah, yeah,
it's a great place.
And it feels very festive
'cause it feels like Paris,you know, when you walk inside,
(11:03):
and the servers are alldressed very nice, and...
- But it's not too big.
It's not like giant bistro.
- Oh, it's small.- It's quite small.
Yeah.- It's tiny, yeah.
And then it's a prix fixe too,
so you know how much you'respending, which is nice.
It's not cheap, but at least you know
how much you're spending.- Yeah, I think it's $125,
something around that.- I think it's, yeah, $125,
three courses.- And you get three courses.
But it's rich food.
You know, I definitely wasn't hankering
(11:23):
for more after I eat there.
- So that is definitely afestive French restaurant.
- And they have a really good martini.
- Yeah, no, no, everythingthere is really good.
And then downtown, there'sa place called Sevilla,
also on our birthday guide,which is much less fancy.
- [Hannah Albertine] Yeah.
- I got like a $10 martini there once.
I don't know how much they are now.
- Is it a Spanish restaurant?
They're serving Spanish food.- It's Spanish.
(11:43):
- Yeah.- Yeah.
- Carlo on our team lovesthat place, I think.
- Mm-hmm, I don't know whodoesn't love that place.
- I've never been.- I mean, the food.
- I'd like to go, how's the food?
- [Bryan Kim] Not very good.
- Well, here's a question,for certain birthday people,
is it okay on your birthdayif the fun trumps the food?
- Yeah, absolutely, I would say.
But the food at Sevilla,I'm not saying is bad.
(12:04):
It's just not really thereason why you go there.
They'll have a guitarist walking around
and strumming a guitar.
I went to some party there the other day
that was an open bar, andthey cleared all the tables,
and they just like had loud music playing,
and they handed me a guitar at some point.
- They handed you a guitar?- Yeah,
and I was supposed to play
along to this music.- Did you?
- Yeah, but you couldn't really hear.
- Sorry, you played guitar
at Sevilla?- No, no, no.
(12:25):
Well, yeah, but I'm terrible at guitar, A,
and, B, nobody could hear it'cause the music was so loud,
and how am I going to,-- Aw.
- it wasn't even a song
with guitar in it.- So it was a prop, basically.
Oh, interesting.- Yeah, but it's
a fun, festive place.
- [Hannah Albertine] Was that a birthday?
- Yes, actually, it was a birthday.
- [Hannah Albertine] Oh, fun.
- It was an open barbirthday, but just no food.
- Open bar birthday is a classy move.
- Yeah, so anyway, Sevilla,opposite end of the spectrum.
(12:46):
Not very fancy, very, very festive.
It's very old-timey Spanish.
- Totally.
- Lots of sangria, lots of martinis.
- That sounds great.
I mean, there's so muchkitsch, I think, historically
associated with birthday restaurants, too.
- Oh, for sure.
- Yeah.- Kitschy places are the best
for birthdays.- Kitschier, it's nice.
You know, you referenced theNew York City birthday guide,
but all of our cities haveso many birthday guides,
(13:07):
and you can find them just by clicking
on the header of any city website.
If you hit PERFECT FOR,
you can find the PERFECT FOR birthday tag,
and it'll lead you to all the goods.
- So I feel like birthdaycelebrations are different
in every city.
Every city has its own birthday culture.
And I know you work witha lot of other cities
around the country, a lotof Infatuation writers
(13:30):
in other cities around the country.
So I would love for you to tell me
about how people arecelebrating their birthdays
outside of New YorkCity around the country.
- There's a lot of raucousbirthday happenings.
You know, in a city like Chicago,
I heard from our editor Nick
that people go to thisrestaurant called Maple & Ash,
(13:51):
which he describes as "a hornysteakhouse in Gold Coast.
They go for their birthday,
and they get a personalized menu,
and it says happy birthday,Wallace, or whatever.
It's tacky, but people stilldo it all the time," sure.
In London, there's a Pakistani restaurant
called Royal Mahal,which got an 8.0 rating
(14:11):
from our writer there named Sinéad.
And they have their own,like, birthday song remix.
They come out and sing it to you.
There are often congalines at this restaurant,
and there are sparklers,
like the whole nine yards,which is really fun.
It's on our guide to "Whereto Celebrate Your Birthday
When It's All About You" for London.
So that is very much like unabashed.
(14:32):
- Wow, we need that guy in New York.
- Yeah, you do, when it's all about you.
It's kind of your nightmare, actually.
- Mm-hmm, it is my nightmare.
- But you like attention.
- No, I hate attention.
No.- Yeah, you hate,
you hate attention.
Say that to the camera.- I hate it.
I hate attention.
- In Atlanta, oh, I thinkthis is a good birthday hack.
So the team in Atlanta is really excited
about this restaurant called Miller Union,
(14:52):
which is an American Southern restaurant
that they added to their "Best25 Restaurants in Atlanta".
And if you give Miller Union a heads up
within 48 hours that it's your birthday,
they'll make you a cake.
A whole cake, isn't that nice?- Wow, that's nice.
- I love that.
I was surprised to learnthat our Miami team,
which we think of Miamias like clubstaurant city.
(15:16):
- [Bryan Kim] For sure.
- Party, party, party.
Our writers, they are recommending
this place called Lagniappe more often
than any other place for birthdays.
It's a, like, wine bar where,it sounds very up your alley,
you can go and mill about andorder at the bar yourself.
Get whatever you want, stayfor as long as you want.
Very like low-key birthday.
(15:37):
- That sounds nice.
- Yeah, the Miami team,
they're constantly recommendingcasual walk-in wine bars
where you pay at the counter
because they think that splittingthe check is a nightmare.
And it is a nightmare.- Oh, 100%.
I need to move to Miami.
- Yeah.- Hang out with them.
- There's also this place called Magie,
which is good for this situation too.
- Okay.- So maybe our Miami writers
are, like, too partied out,
so then now they're justlike, go to a chill wine bar
(15:59):
for your birthday.- They're definitely
anti-clubstaurants.
- They're anti-clubstaurant.
So, we've talked about
what makes a good birthday restaurant,
but we still need to define the types
of different birthday celebrators
'cause I think that'slike the number one factor
in terms of finding a greatspot for your birthday.
- Yeah, before you can plan your birthday,
you really need to figure out
what kind of birthday person are you.
(16:21):
- And that takes self-awarenessand introspection.
- Oh, yeah.
- Maybe therapy.
- [Bryan Kim] Maybe therapy.
- But we could also tell people, I think,
what kind of birthday person they are,
or we could at least lay out some options.
- Yeah, so let's talkabout the different kinds
of birthday celebrators.
- I think you're a Shy Guy.
- I'm a Shy Guy,
100%.- You barely want
to acknowledge that your birthday exists.
- Mm-hmm.- In fact,
(16:41):
you're only going to acknowledge
that your birthday exists if forced to.
- Yeah, I'm very modest,don't love attention.
- I think I'm a Secret Birthday Diva.
- You are borderline BirthdayDiva, Secret Birthday Diva.
What is the distinction-- I'm changing.
- there?- I'm growing up.
- Okay, so a Secret BirthdayDiva, what is that exactly?
- You are a birthday diva,
(17:03):
which is to say youwant a birthday weekend,
you want a birthday week,
you might even want a birthday month.
- [Bryan Kim] Mm-hmm.
- I've never celebrated a birthday month,
I want to make that very clear.
When I was in my 20s, I did birthday week,
and I'd do it again, frankly.
- Okay, so Secret BirthdayDiva secretly wants-
- You secretly want that.
(17:23):
- Okay.- And you might not even be,
like, forthright about it.
You might be a little like, eh, it's okay.
Oh, what are we going to dothis year for my birthday?
Even though inside,
you're like, oh my God,what am I going to do?
What am I going to do?- Right,
a Secret Birthday Diva might talk
about her last birthday on a podcast,
and then leave out half the celebration,
like not say that it was a whole weekend,
just talk about the bathhouse,
maybe.- Yeah, for sure.
(17:44):
- Okay.- Which, oh my god,
if you're in the Philly area,
please go to the Southampton Spa.
- Southampton Spa.
- It has the lighting of an ASPCA.
Does that sell it to you?
- Yeah, I think so.
- It's so nice.
- So we got the Secret Birthday Diva,
and then we have, Iassume, the Birthday Diva.
- Birthday Diva, certified Birthday Diva.
(18:05):
- Who just transparentlywants to celebrate themselves.
- And good for them.
- Yeah, absolutely.
- Very fond of birthdays.
- Probably good for them,maybe good for them.
- Your birthdays, itprobably is expensive, too,-
- [Bryan Kim] Yeah.
- to be honest.
And, you know, as long asyou communicate your needs,
and everybody's down,
sure.- How does one know
if one is a Birthday Diva?
What do you think their favorite movie is?
(18:27):
- If you're a Birthday Diva,your favorite movie came out
between 1991 and 2005.
- It might be "Step Brothers,"
maybe?- Oh, yeah.
- Right, so Birthday Diva,just they're not necessarily,
we're not calling you a narcissist,
Birthday Divas.- No.
- We're just saying thatyou like to celebrate.
You like to celebrate yourself.
- Which is maybe healthy.
(18:48):
- [Bryan Kim] I think it is probably
the healthiest.- I think it's the healthiest.
- [Bryan Kim] I think it's the healthiest.
- Shy Guys, I think, needto figure out why they don't
want to celebrate their birthday.- Oh, for sure.
They need some more therapy.
- Yeah, and we're saying guy,but we mean all genders here,
and that applies to the next category,
which I'm calling Dad.
- Dad, tell me about what a Dad is in-
- If you're a birthday Dad, itmeans no matter who you are,
(19:09):
if you have children,whatever, however you identify,
you want to gather your family for dinner.
You require everyone's presence.
You want a nice dinner with your family.
I'm not sure, you mightpay for the dinner,
or someone else might pay for you.
And it's not a big deal,but if you're not there,
you're going to get a lot of for it.
- Right, right, right, right, right.
Okay, so Dad just requires thebare minimum, your presence
(19:32):
and a dinner, and that's it.
And there are all kinds of Dads.
- My mom's a Dad.
- [Bryan Kim] Okay.
- Like, we have a nicedinner for her birthday,
and everybody has to be there.
And like the significant others come,
and the dogs are not allowed to be
in the dining room, and whatever.
- My mom
is a Shy Guy.- Is your mom a Dad?
Aw.
That's nice.- We're both Shy Guys.
- [Hannah Albertine]Is your stepdad a Dad?
- My stepdad's a Dad,
yeah.- Nice, that's good.
(19:53):
- The next category I wouldsay is the Party Animal.
Hannah, what can you tell me about
the Party Animal?- Puh, puh, puh,
puh, Party Animal.
- Party.
- A Party Animal can beBirthday Diva overlapping,
but I actually think the PartyAnimal is really just looking
for an excuse for everyone to get wasted.
They don't care who's coming,
how many people are showing up.
It's probably at a bar,might be at a club.
(20:15):
They're just like, comeon, we're going out.
We don't do this anymore, everyone.
We got to, come on out for my birthday.
- Right, right, right.
- Party animal.- Halfway through the night,
they forget it's their birthday.
- Yeah.- And chances are,
the night before, theydid the exact same thing
even though it wasn't their birthday.
- 100%.
- Okay.- They don't really care
that it's their birthday.
They're just like, this is agood excuse to like go out.
Really fun.- Yeah.
- It's nice to have someParty Animals in your life.
(20:35):
- I've probably done that once or twice.
- Yeah?- I would say early 20s,
I might've been Party Animal.
- You were a Party Animal?
- I don't know.
- That's sweet.- I'll have to think about it.
- Okay, the last one, Ithink, is the most obscure.
- Okay, what do we got?
- Birthday Retiree.
- Oh, Birthday Retiree.
- You used to be a Party Animal
or a Birthday Diva, not anymore.
- Oh, dang,
I might be like-- Not anymore.
- Shy Guy/Birthday Retiree, actually.
- [Hannah Albertine] Yeah.
(20:56):
- Just like, you used to care about it,
but now, when you're gettingolder, maybe a birthday's less
and less of a thing to celebrate.
- You're pre-Dad.
- Pre-Dad, sorry.
- Pre-Dad.- I thought you said pre-dead.
That was sounding...
- Well, we're all pre-dead.
- We are, we're all pre-dead.
- That'd be crazy if you weren't.
Post-dead, I'm post-dead, what's up,
birthday ghost.- Yeah, okay.
- Okay.- So Birthday Retiree,
(21:17):
no longer in the game, but respects it.
- Respects it, yeah.
And I think that's probablyall of them in the world.
Everyone can be divided into these types.
- Sure, sure, sure.
- What kind of birthdaycelebrator are you?
Let us know in the comments.
- So we already figured out what types
(21:38):
of birthday celebrators there are.
- Yeah.
- But before we can reallyplan the proper birthday,
before you can plan a proper birthday,
there are some more factorsthat you need to consider,
some more key factors, starting off
with, I would say, party intensity.
Is this going to be more teaparty or more frat party?
- Mm, yep.
(21:59):
- Yeah, what else?- Yeah, what kind of party
do you want to have, basically.
The next one is guest demographic.
Are there going to be kids there?
Who is going to be at your party?
- Know your audiencebefore you plan your party.
That is super important.
- Yes.- Another factor,
a big one, money.
- Money.
- Not just how much do you want to spend,
how much do the people comingto your party want to spend?
(22:19):
You really got to thinkabout that, be considerate.
- Money makes this asensitive topic for people.
I think that's part of the pressure.
- Definitely.- They're like I don't want
to put anyone out, butalso, I want it to be fun.
- [Bryan Kim] Mm-hmm.
- [Hannah Albertine] It's hard, stressful.
- It's a big one to consider.
Lots of complaints about money
when it comes to birthdays.
- For sure.
And then there arealways extra wild cards.
You know, something comesup, someone has an allergy,
(22:40):
someone just started datingthis really boring person,
and now that person iscoming to the party.
- Mm-hmm, wild cards.
- Wild cards.
With these factors in mind,
I think we can actuallyfind the perfect formula.
No matter what the factors are, there's
still going to be a goodbirthday restaurant for you.
- You just need to figure out the factors
(23:01):
that you are working withand then narrow it down,
and we can help you find the right place.
- So you don't have to.
- [Bryan Kim] Yeah.
- That's so generous.
- We're very generous.
- We're generous.- We're so nice.
- You're humble, and you're generous.
- I'm humble, and I'm generous.
- And you-- And Infatuation
is such a useful resource when it comes
to figuring out whereto have your birthday.
- The birthday guides in all
of our Infatuation citiesare constantly being updated.
(23:24):
I mean, just in New York,
there are probably, you know, five or six.
Which birthday guides can you remember
off the top of your head?
- We have so many specific guides
to just different scenarios
that maybe you never knewyou would find yourself in.
Whatever scenario you need to plan for,
we have a guide for that.
Where to plan your 30th birthday,
like we were just talking about.
Where to not spend $100.
(23:45):
Unique dining experiences, even.
We have a guide to uniquedining experiences.
That can work for your birthday.
We have BYOB restaurants.
That can work
for your birthday, we have-- Most fun.
- Most fun restaurants, exactly.
That's pretty much a birthday guide
and any celebration.- See & Be Seen,
I would argue, isbasically a birthday guide-
- See & Be Seen,
any of those restaurants.- for a certain kind
of birthday celebrator.
- Yeah, they work for birthdays.
"Bars Where You Can BringYour Own Food," so specific.
- Oh, I love that.
(24:07):
- You're not going tofind many lists of that,
but you will find alist on The Infatuation.
"Bars Where You Can Bring Your Own Food."
Those are my favoritekind of birthday places.
- Let's put these variablesto the test, shall we?
- Yeah, let's do it.
- Let's see what randombirthday scenarios we can plan
based on what we're going tocall 'em, Birthday Mad Libs.
- Mm-hmm, I think we'll getsome really good recommendations
for all of these scenarios.
(24:27):
- And maybe help youlearn how to plan a party.
- Mm-hmm.
- [Hannah Albertine] Ifyou like this episode,
make sure to like andsubscribe to Restaurant People
on YouTube and all of yourpreferred podcast platforms.
- All right, everybody, right now,
we're going to play a gamecalled Birthday Mad Libs.
How does the game work?
Well, in front of us we have four bags.
(24:47):
We're going to draw one variablefrom each of these bags.
The bags are labeled money,guest demographic, wild cards,
and the last one is.
- Party intensity.
- Party intensity.
After we draw these variables,
we're then going to helpyou find the best place
to celebrate your hypothetical birthday.
(25:07):
We have no idea whatscenarios are in these bags,
but no matter what wedraw, we are 100% confident
that we will find the proper location
to have that birthday party.
- 100% confident?
- 101%
confident.- Wow.
Remember goodie bags?
- No.- You don't?
You don't remember?- Okay, I remember them.
I was lying.- Yeah, they would,
I don't even, like chocolates,
and like, I don't know.
(25:28):
What else would you-- I was dropping-
- get in it?- those goodie bags.
I don't know, I think just chocolate.
Maybe some of those, like,-- PLAYMOBILs.
Oh, yo-yos, perhaps.- things, I don't know, yeah.
- Yeah, really good.- Definitely was Silly Putty.
- All right, should we start?
- Let's do it.
- Okay, Bryan, here's money.
- Okay, first off, money.
- Be gentle.
(25:51):
- This is the money variable.
- Yeah, what do we got?
- Split whole meal evenly,
including birthday person,-- Okay, oh.
Huh.- except for the sober.
- Okay.- So if you're not drinking,
then you don't have to splitthe meal with everybody.
- But the birthday person
is also being included in the split?
- Birthday person's splitting the meal.
If you're not drinking,you don't have to pay
for the alcohol of everybody else.
(26:12):
- That seems like a reallyreasonable egalitarian.
- This is a good reasonable,-
- [Hannah Albertine] Process.
- yeah, scenario.- All right.
Okay, let's do party intensity.
We got
someone's throwing up.
- Someone's throwing up, perfect.
- That's like max levelof party intensity,
I think.- Mm, yeah, I think so.
- Okay, so someone's throwing up,
(26:33):
but we're extremely reasonable egalitarian
party planners.- Mm-hmm, splitting the check,
but someone's throwing up.
The guest demographic is 10 people, nice.
- Okay.
- All a mix of friendswho don't know each other,
and the only connection isme, the birthday celebrator.
- All right, so we still have wild card.
This could really throw things for a loop.
(26:54):
It's a 21st birthday party.
- 21st birthday.
- Wow, okay, so we needto find the right kind
of location for a 21st birthday party
where there are 10 people,
a mix of friends whodon't know each other.
The only connection isthe birthday celebrator.
The meal is going to be split evenly,
(27:16):
including the birthday person,
except for people who aren't drinking,
and the party needs to get sowild that someone throws up.
- [Bryan Kim] Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
- What do you think, Bryan?
What kind of place would be good for this?
- My first thought isDallas BBQ Times Square.
- Okay.- But I can come up
with some others.
- Well, why, let's start there.
What makes you think of that?
(27:38):
- Well, DBBQ is popularwith the 21-year-olds.
They've probably been drinking there
with their fake IDs already.
- Yeah.- They have Henny Coladas.
They're about this big.
- Whew, that would make me throw up,
and I'd be happy about it.- It's not too expensive.
So, you know, when youhave to split the check,
and the birthday person has to pay
for their own meal, then,you know, it's fine.
And also, 21-year-olds are justgoing to find it hilarious,
(27:59):
or maybe they're not old enough to find
Dallas BBQ hilarious.- Yeah, I was going to say,
maybe they don't realize thatit's funny to do that yet.
Like, maybe they wantsomething a little bit more
partying in earnest.- Maybe they're too, yeah.
Mm-hmm, okay, so do you haveany partying in earnest?
- Yeah, let's think about this.
Well, actually, I want to see,
based on our guide in LA,maybe I can find a spot.
(28:20):
Okay, so I'm going toThe Infatuation LA site,
and I clicked on thePERFECT FOR tag birthday,
and the first guide thatcame up was the guide
for "The Best LA RestaurantsFor A Birthday Dinner."
And it looks like, Ihaven't been to this place,
but I actually remember helping Sylvio,
(28:42):
one of our writers, with the review.
This is a restaurant called Descanso.
It has a 7.4, which iskind of the right zone
in terms of rating fora 21st birthday party
with a lot of people, andsomeone's going to throw up.
Like, that's totally correct.
You want a place where the food
is not necessarily going tobe the number one priority.
(29:04):
And this place, Descanso,
has margarita flights, tacos,
but also a teppanyaki, so like an area
where there's a chefsort of grilling for you.
They have quesadilla platters,
they have Puerto Nuevo-style lobster,
they got hibiscus margaritas,
huge booths for large groups.
(29:26):
It's sort of like you couldbook the private teppanyaki
for a private-ish dinner,but you don't have to.
So that seems like maybe an option in LA.
Did you find somethingelse in a different city?
- So I just used our guideto the most fun restaurants
in New York City to find a restaurant,
and I think I found onethat's perfect for this.
- Hit me.
- It's called Sammy's Roumanian.
(29:46):
- [Hannah Albertine] Classic.
- Sammy's is now in its second iteration.
It closed and then itreopened, and it's back.
And I feel like everybodywho goes there goes
to celebrate a birthday.
- [Hannah Albertine] Yes.
- They get these bottlesof vodka encased in ice,
so if you want to throw up, that is
very doable.- It's perfect.
Doable for throwing up.
- [Bryan Kim] Yeah, and-
- And, you know, like astoried birthday place.
(30:08):
- Yeah, it's just likea kitschy party place
with food that you, like,actually want to eat,
you know, steak and stuff.
- And also, you'll beon the Lower East Side,
which is the land of 21-year-olds
that are happy to be drinking.
- Definitely, you're surrounded
by your peers, mm-hmm.- So I think that's perfect.
Great, I feel like that was too easy.
- Yeah, that one made a lot of sense.
- All right, let's do another.
You want to start?
- Birthday number two, startingwith guest demographic.
(30:31):
I pulled eight people.
- [Hannah Albertine] Okay.
- Mix of family and family friend couples
who should really be divorced.
Okay.
All right.- Okay.
- This could get uncomfortable.
- Sure, all right, let's do money next.
So okay, $50 or under per person.
(30:51):
- Wow, 50 or under
- All right, so we don't want to
spend a lot of money with our family
and family friends whoshould get divorced.
And frankly, the people
who should get divorcedshould save their money
'cause they're going tohave a lot of legal fees.
- No, they're going tolose it in the divorce.
You got to spend it.
- Oh, spend it now.
- It depends on, like, howthe divorce is going to go,
but.- Right, maybe it'll be
amicable, probably not.
- All right, the wild card
(31:11):
for this birthday is everyone's a foodie,
so people are going-- Ooh.
- to take nonstop pics.
- Huh.
- Okay.
- Okay, so it needs
to be maybe something
that a person could puton their social media.
- Maybe like slightly gimmicky food
that people will want to take pictures of.
- Or like, oh, that's ahot spot I want to go to.
(31:31):
- Mm-hmm, but remember,can't spend more than
$50 per person.- Yeah.
All right, that's tricky.
Okay, the last one is party intensity.
This is a weird one, in bed by 9:00 PM.
- Oh, oy.
This sounds, it doesn't sound
like a good birthday.- This is a really,
really bad birthday.
- But we don't judge.
- Well, we're just here-- We're just going to help-
- to help.- plan this birthday.
- All right, so let'shear it from the top.
(31:52):
What are the categories?
- The number of people is eight.
It's a mix of family andfamily friend couples
who should really be divorced.
The wild card is everyone's a foodie,
so people are going to take nonstop pics.
- But also, we need to keepthings $50 or under per person,
and everyone needs to be in bed by nine.
- Everyone's in bed
(32:12):
by 9:00 PM.- Or at least in bed by nine
so that you can fight with your spouse
before you get divorced.
- Exactly.- Like the fighting might last
like an hour and a half.
- Mm-hmm, fighting in bed.
Okay, all right, let's plan it.
- Okay, I'm going to think
about a place in Philly.
I'm thinking maybe
(32:33):
it's an afternoon experience.
- Okay, hey, however youwant to interpret it.
- [Hannah Albertine] Or lunch.
- Okay.- Both for cost reasons,
but also, you know, being in bed by nine.
- [Bryan Kim] Sure.
- And I don't want to seedivorced people at night.
- Well, divorced peoplecan do whatever they want.
They're people, too.- No, wait.
Let me say that again.
I don't want to see-
(32:54):
- Your parents are divorced,
by the way.- No, no, no, I love
divorced people.
That's not what I meant.
- My parents are divorced too.
- Divorce is incredible.
I don't want to see people whoshould be divorced at night.
- All right.- I want to see them
in the light of day.
They need to figuretheir **** out at night,
okay, don't involve me.- Okay, okay.
- [Hannah Albertine] Don't involve me.
(33:14):
- Don't involve me in Hannah's opinion,
okay?- Ugh, too late.
You're already doing
this podcast with me.- I know.
- So I'm going to look
for like a really funlunch spot in Philly.
What's your strategy
here?
- This one has a Philly location.
You probably know what I'm going to say.
- [Hannah Albertine] What is it?
- It's called Laser Wolf.
- [Hannah Albertine] Oh, that's lunch.
- It's on-- Oh, no, do they do dinner
in New York?
- [Bryan Kim] They do dinner.
- Okay.- Yeah, it's a set meal,
isn't it, no, no, it's not a set meal.
(33:35):
But you get an entree, andit comes with, you know,
a bunch of sides.- Oh, sure, sure, sure, yeah.
- So you don't necessarilyhave to spend a ton of money
unless you're drinking.
It's got a nice view, soyou don't have to talk
to your spouse if you don't want to.
You can space out.
You can look at the Manhattan skyline.
And you see celebrities there sometimes.
A nice distraction from yourlife if you hate your life
and the person you're married to.
(33:57):
But you still love this person
you're married to on some level.
You just don't want to-
- Oh, huh.- be with them anymore.
And so it's kind of nice
that there are celebritiesthere to distract you.
Like Chuck Schumer, I saw him
last time, pretty random.- Oh, yeah?
What was Chucky eating?
- I don't know what Chuckles was eating.
He was across, he was across the way.
Laser Wolf, though, aMediterranean restaurant
on a rooftop in Williamsburgwith a very nice view.
(34:19):
- [Hannah Albertine] Yeah.
- Pretty reasonable price point.
You can get out, I think, forunder $50 if you don't drink.
- It's a group of eight, you said?
- [Bryan Kim] Yes.
- Okay, I actually, I think I found
a really good one in Philly.
It's called Marrakesh.
- Marrakesh.- It's been around
for a while.
It's a Moroccan restaurant,
and they have a prix fixemenu for around $40 a person,
(34:40):
and you get so much food.
You get like spicy cumin chicken.
You're getting likeeggplant and carrot salad.
Everyone is sitting on the ground
on these, like, nice pillows.
And it's BYOB.
And the best part,there are belly dancers.
(35:00):
So the divorced people
can really sort of like marinate
in all of that and think really hard
about what they wantin their relationship.
- This sounds pretty tricky.
So BYOB, right off the bat,
people are going to be drinking, okay?
So like, they're thinkingabout getting divorced,
and they're definitely thinking
about, you know, havinga few bottles of wine,
so it could get messy.
(35:21):
- I think that the messier the better,
in my opinion.- Okay.
Sitting on the floor, too,
could be tricky.- Yeah.
- But I like it.- It's comfortable.
- [Bryan Kim] I like it,it feels messy, though.
But I like it.- Yeah, yeah.
Well, it's a messysituation in so many ways.
But this place is legendary.
It's been around for so long.
- Okay.- It's great.
I mean, I think no matter where you live,
if you are trying to have aparty that keeps costs down,
(35:41):
I think lunch is an interesting strategy.
And restaurants that have set prices,
so you know everybody is going to spend
like $45 or whatever.
- I think an afternoon birthday lunch
is a highly underrated option.
- For sure, lunch is classy.
- [Bryan Kim] Mm-hmm.
(36:03):
- And also, I do think I'd want to come
to this party because I want gossip
on the pre-divorced people.
- Absolutely.
- So, if you have this party,let us know how it goes.
This is so fun, I could do this all day,
but let's talk birthday fauxpas 'cause there are so many.
And I want some cake.
(36:23):
- Absolutely, let's eat some cake.
- You want some cake?
- Yeah, let's do it.
All right, it's cake time.
Right in front of us, wehave a beautiful little cake
from Saint Street Cakes in Fort Greene,
a place that is currently onthe New York City Hit List,
the Best New RestaurantsIn New York City, that is.
I'm going to cut intothis while Hannah takes us
(36:43):
through some birthday faux pas.
- Yeah, it's a cute little cake.
- It's beautiful.
- It's following, like, I thinkthe in vogue style right now
of being like a vintage
sort of like elaboratelypiped pastel color.
It's the equivalent of likea manic pixie dream girl,
but it's a cake.
Oh my God, look at that little piece.
(37:04):
Okay, well, while Bryan massacresthis adorable little cake,
I'm going to talk aboutsome birthday etiquette.
We asked the members of our editorial team
for some birthday fauxpas, you know, things
that they think are totally inappropriate
(37:26):
at a birthday dinner, thingsthat people get wrong,
and, yeah, let's hear it.
Oh my gosh, thank you, sir, wow.
- Enjoy your cake.
All right, let's hear aboutthis birthday etiquette
while we eat our cake.
- Well, I'm going to takea bite really quickly.
- I'm going to take a bite right now.
(37:47):
- Yeah, oh, hello, wow.
Is it vanilla, did you say?
- I'm going with vanilla here, for sure.
- [Hannah Albertine] Mm.
- It's delicious.
- It is delicious.
- [Bryan Kim] A very thick icing.
- I was going to say,I got a lot of icing.
- Mm-hmm, we all did.
- Mm, what do you do when people sing
at you for your birthday?
(38:08):
- Mm, I smile, and I'm uncomfortable,
and I just get through it.- Yeah.
I don't think there's agood way to handle that.
My strategy is to, like, also sing.
- So is that one of your faux pas,
just don't sing "HappyBirthday" at a birthday?
- I think you could arguethat it's a faux pas
to sing at someone who's uncomfortable,
but also, I kind of like it.
- I think everybody's alittle uncomfortable, right?
- Maybe it's just like birthday hazing,
(38:28):
part of the ritual.- Just something
you got to get through.
- Yeah, one of the birthday faux pas
that Heidi, our seniorstaff writer in London,
she does not like restaurantsthat put candles in anything,
in non-cake items to celebrate birthdays.
So there's a candle in the ice cream
(38:49):
at a place called The Devonshire.
- Been there.- And she wrote,
"What the ."
It's a pub and a British restaurant
in Soho with a 9.0 rating.
So they love this place,but Heidi gets really mad
when there are birthday candlesin places they don't belong.
- Do you think that's a valid critique?
You think it's a valid point she's making?
- No, I don't.
(39:10):
- Yeah, I don't really get that one.
That doesn't bother me.- Well, there's also
another restaurant inLondon called The Plimsoll
that puts a candle in their burger,
which I think is very cute.
- I don't like that.
- Really, why don't you?
Why is ice cream fine, but burger's not?
- Dessert.
- Okay, I mean, sure.
But I saw a picture.
Jake took Katie there.
It was so sweet.
- Oh.
(39:30):
- Okay.- Jake and Katie
are two of our coworkers
who are dating.- And they're dating,
and they're adorable, and we love them.
Okay, our editor Matt
in Austin absolutely thinks that three
or four dollar sign birthdayspots are a faux pas.
Any expensive birthday is a faux pas.
What do you think about that?
- I am inclined to agree,
(39:51):
unless it's you andyour significant other,
and you're both on board.
- To me, that's, like,such a different category
of birthday celebration.
That's like, you know,
behind-closed-doors birthday celebration.
- But definitely, evenif people agree to come
to this birthday that aren'tyour significant other,
chances are they do not wantto be spending that money.
They have to say yesbecause it's your birthday
because they love you,
(40:12):
but they would rather not spend
that much money most of the time.
So yes, I think that's a valid faux pas.
- Someone on our LA team named Brant,
who is our editorial leadand a huge birthday fan,
he thinks that you shouldn'tgo to new restaurants
on your birthday, which you did last year
or this year.- Oh, really?
(40:33):
- [Hannah Albertine] Whatdo you think about that?
Like try-- I didn't go
to a new restaurant this year.
- Yakitori Totto.
- That's been around
for years, oh.- Okay, new to you,
new to you restaurant.- Oh, that's what he means.
- Yeah, he thinks that it's better
to go somewhere you knowis going to be great.
What do you think about that?- Yeah, I guess, if you are,
I guess, if you're risk-averse,
if you're scared like Brant.
- Yeah, if you're a scaredy-cat.
- Yeah, if you're ascaredy-cat, don't do that.
(40:53):
But no, that's generallyprobably good advice, right?
You want to know where you're going,
what you're signing yourself up for.
You want to know thefood's going to be good.
- I guess, if you'remanaging expectations.
- Yeah, but like, yeah,
so if you don't knowthis restaurant's good,
you don't want to ruin your birthday.
Brant, that's a valid,
yeah, that's a valid faux pas, I guess.
- Alternatively, if you, you know,
are trying a new restaurant
that you've heard good thingsabout on theinfatuation.com,
(41:15):
and it turns out to be great,
that's a good feeling.- Oh, yeah, you can trust us
if you've never been before,but you read about it
on our site,-- Check it out.
- and we say it's good,
go for it.- It's on the Hit List.
- We're never wrong.
- The Hit List is also, I think,
a really good birthday list.
Like a secret birthday list.- Yeah.
- Brant also thinksthat if you're over 35,
you should be paying for everyone else's-
- That's
nuts.- dinner
(41:35):
if it's your birthday.
- To me, that's nuts.- My friends
aren't rich enough to do that.
- Yeah.- Not yet.
Oh, this is fun.
Karaoke on birthdays, a divisive topic.
What are your thoughtson mandating karaoke
for your friends if it's your birthday?
- Absolutely, I think,
so I actually do,
(41:55):
I wouldn't make people sing,but it's your birthday.
You can make people sing.
You can be bossy.- You make people.
Don't make me sing.
Don't make me dance.
- One of our producers, Alicia Camden,
she had a birthday partyat a karaoke place,
which is in the bottom ofsomebody's basement, well,
in the bottom-- Oh my God.
- [Bryan Kim] of someone's home.
- I went to this birthday party.
Where?- In East Williamsburg
called Lion's Roar Karaoke.- Yeah.
(42:16):
- Literally a house.- I do not think
it's a legit business.
- It's legit, they have a website.
Anyways, we had a great time there.
- It was so much fun.
It was so much fun.
- Bring your own food.
Karaoke birthdays, the best.- I totally forgot about that.
Yeah, karaoke's fun.
You got to have the right crew.
If you have a group of people
who don't actually all know each other,
I think karaoke is agreat bonding exercise.
(42:36):
The people who aremiserable won't show up.
The people who aren'tany fun won't show up.
And it's dark,
and usually, karaoke barsmake you drink a lot,
and so that is usually a goodcombination for a birthday.
- Real quick, if you want todo karaoke in New York City,
and you don't want to renta room, it's your birthday,
two great options inChinatown, there's Winnie's,
and then there is aplace called Up Stairs.
They're right next toeach other, actually.
(42:57):
- Wow.
- We were talking to somewriters at Infatuation.
We got some ideas forbirthday alternatives
if you don't want to do atraditional birthday dinner.
Will from New York City,a writer in New York City,
says a birthday breakfast.
- [Hannah Albertine] Mm.
- Which sounds nice aslong as it's not too early.
- Yeah.- His suggestion
is Café Sabarsky,
which is on the UpperEast Side, I believe.
I haven't been.
I've heard great things.
(43:18):
And then also Barney Greengrasson the Upper West Side.
- [Hannah Albertine] Ah.
- A favorite of Kevin Bacon.
- Yes.- He said that
in one of our interviews.- Yes.
Barney Greengrass is a greatbirthday breakfast spot.
- Barney Greengrass, yeah, I cosign,
definitely.- That's so lovely.
- And then London, oursocial media manager Emily
in London says hot pot.
(43:40):
She suggests Hai Di Lao.
They bring you a massive neon sign,
pre-decorate your table with bunting,
and then all the staff come
and sing "Happy Birthday" in Mandarin.
Plus, they give you freebies.
Emily's mom got a fluffy hairclip and a fruit platter.
- [Hannah Albertine] Wow.
- Allie in New York Citysays limos, remember limos?
- Yeah.- Allie wants to take a limo
(44:00):
from Tatiana in Lincoln Center,our highest rated restaurant
in New York City still,-
- Yep.- to Tatiana's
in Brighton Beach, a muchdifferent restaurant.
- Huh.- A Russian dinner place
with like a show element.
- That's such a good idea.
- It's a really
good idea.- I hope Allie does that.
- [Bryan Kim] Yeah, it's an
exceptional birthday dinner.- Limos, do limos still exist?
- Sonal, our New York City editor,
says "I want to buy out Cocina Consuelo."
(44:20):
- Oh.- That is a small restaurant,
I think, in Harlem, Hamilton Heights.
- [Hannah Albertine] Yeah.
- It's one of our "25 Best Restaurants
In New York City" currently.
Sonal wants to spend a nightat the Hotel Chelsea as well
and visit every venue-- Ooh.
- in there, including the spa.
The Hotel Chelsea is a historichotel, recently revamped,
and currently there's what, El Quijote.
(44:43):
- Yeah.- There's Café Chelsea.
There's a new Japanese restaurant.
The name is escaping me right now,
but you can read aboutit on The Infatuation.
And then, there's Lobby Bar as well,
which is a great cocktail bar.
We've been there together.
- Listen to our martini episode
about that.- Yeah.
- Yep, I mean, if you can do a buyout,
it's a baller birthday
no matter what.- Oh, yeah, mm-hmm.
- But pricey.
- [Bryan Kim] Yeah.
(45:03):
- You know, I think thereare some restaurants
that are quintessentialbirthday restaurants.
Like, when you hear the name
of this restaurant, you think birthday,
like Chuck E. Cheese is one,and another one is Benihana.
- For sure.- Have you been
to Benihana?
- I've never been to Benihana.
So you went to Benihanarecently just to research it.
Are birthday restaurants good
when it's not your birthday, right?
- Well, I was really curious,
like, okay, Benihana is acertified birthday restaurant.
(45:26):
But what if I go sort of doing
the opposite scenario of a diner?
Like, what if I go as asolo diner to Benihana
and see how that experience was?
- Mm-hmm, was it rewarding?
- It was one of the weirdermeals I've ever had in my life.
I mean, would you go to like, just,
would you go to Benihana by yourself?
- Benihana, I would go toalmost any restaurant by myself.
(45:47):
Benihana is a maybe.
- It's a maybe.- But, yeah,
I would go there by myself.
- Well, I also was curious
about like, you know, it's a Sunday night,
and who is going to be there.
Every single party besidesme is celebrating a birthday.
It's like families, kids.
And I am seated, I madea reservation for one
at the Pennsauken, South Jersey Benihana.
(46:10):
I'm seated with a family.
It's six of them and me at one table,
and they are looking at mewith like pity and despair-
- Mm-hmm, they hate you,
yeah.- for like 70 minutes.
Like, they hated my guts.
And it was Colleen's birthday.
And the chef came out,
(46:30):
and he was likeimmediately cracking jokes.
Like, he was like,"Who's first time is it?"
I raised my hand, eventhough that was a lie
'cause I had been to Benihana before,
but I wanted to see what he would say.
And he said, "Oh, it'salso my first day too."
And he's like, doingmagic trick with eggs.
They still do the volcano with the onion.
And I had a terrible time
(46:52):
because I knew I was makingthese people so uncomfortable.
And so I do think Benihana is only fun
if you are celebrating a birthday there.
- Benihana, only for birthdays.
- Can you think of anyother birthday restaurants
that, like, won't work if you'renot celebrating a birthday?
- Absolutely, most of 'em.
- Like what?- Like most
of these birthday restaurants.
We already talked about Puglia.
I just went to a placecalled Crazy Pizza in Soho.
- What is Crazy Pizza?- Has 16 locations.
So Crazy Pizza has 16locations around the world.
(47:13):
Like places like Milan, Monte Carlo,
now they have one in Soho.
The servers come out.
They spin pizza every once in a while
in the middle of the dining room.
It's a crazy party placewhere mostly 16-year-olds go
to have a nice meal.
- Oh.- I don't know why.
Film TikToks, I guess.
- [Hannah Albertine] Okay.
- But it's mostly 16-year-olds
and other people celebrating birthdays.
(47:34):
I went recently.
The food is not good.
I do not recommend.
I don't think some birthday restaurants,
most birthday restaurants,probably, are good
for just your everyday meal.
- Yeah, it's almost like the theatrics.
It makes me feel bad.
Like, I'm like, oh, I'vegot nothing to celebrate.
(47:54):
- I know.- Oh, I'm just by myself.
- Yeah, you do all that for me,
you know?- Yeah, it's not for me.
- [Bryan Kim] Yeah.
- Pretty sad.
- Yeah, so if you are planning a birthday,
hopefully, we just madeit a little bit easier
by running you through thethings that you need to consider,
starting with what kind ofa birthday person are you.
Are you a Birthday Diva, for example?
The other factors to consider are money,
(48:18):
guest demographics, any wildcards that might come up,
and also, what's the last one?
- Party intensity.
- Party intensity, very important.
- How hard are you partying?
- Yeah, how hard is everyone partying?
- That's the question.
People think we're not partying anymore,
which I don't agree with.
- And, of course, you canalways go to theinfatuation.com
(48:39):
for all of your birthday recommendations.
Check out our guides.
We have a ton of them in a bunch of cities
around the world and in the US.
Sorry.- Around the world and the US.
- Around the world and the US.
- Also, if you DM us on Instagram,
there's a chance you might get a response
if you have a birthday conundrum.
- A very good chance.
- There's a very good chanceyou'll get a response,
so please, ask questions.- Yeah.
(48:59):
I'm Bryan.
- I'm Hannah.
- Thanks for stopping by.
This was Restaurant People,a show by Infatuation.
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