Word on the street is The House of Prime Rib typically books out months in advance. Thankfully, I somehow managed to score reservations for the day AFTER Bubbey’s bday. We’d only gone once before and that was years ago… We went with our friends, and goddamn, it felt so fricking pricey. Now that we’re old folks though, I was looking at the menu (Of course, I researched the shit out of that too: did you know there’s a secret menu?!?), and the prices didn’t seem shocking at all. Chock it up to living in the Bay Area! All told, including drinks, about $60 pp. Not bad for super high end all-you-can-eat beef plus all the sides, right? Granted, earlier I was researching Michelin-starred places like Chez TJ in Mountain View and Manresa in Los Gatos. Fuck man, we’re talking several Benjamins per person!! Thankfully, Bubbey told me he’s not as into the uber swanky restaurants like he used to be. Haha, I say it’s bc his current company is a bunch of fresh PhD grads, so being surrounded by all those former students (with this being their first jobs out) brings down the standards. I was reminded of my grad school days when I was making furniture out of giveaway plastic milk crates and cardboard boxes (a medicine cabinet, an end table, and Remy’s perched doggie bed) from the Publix supermarket. Anyway, HOPR did not disappoint, and man, that place was packed!!! Bubbey was making fun of me bc all the Asian diners there were leaving with bags and bags of leftovers, so he said I was feeling pressured to “play my game.” I def ordered seconds and ate it. The waitress was impressed. Oh yeah lady, I can be a real Kobayashi when I want to be… I ate nearly every round, from the starting sourdough bread, to the dressing-drenched salad and the juice-soaked Yorkshire pudding (more bread), plus all my mashed potatoes and creamed spinach, and my whole plate of meat. And then I got another plate of the “end piece,” which I had learned from the secret menu. Tasty but surprisingly a little too dry for me (Next time I’d stick to the original English cut!). In the end, we only left with ONE bag of food– Bubbey’s baked potato. Yeah, I was kinda bummed not to maximize for some additional meals at home, but Bubbey gets his way on his bday. All in all, we had a great celebration week.