Friday night fun

Make Westing

Friday night K and I went to see Dr. Strangelove at the Paramount movie classics. A whole lot of other people did, too.

We planned to start with dinner at Rudy's Can't Fail Cafe next to the Fox. Unfortunately it was already crowded, so there was a 20 minute wait for a table. Fortunately, Make Westing across the street is now open, so we went over there to check it out while we waited. It still smells new, but the bar was crowded and both bocce courts were in use. They've got a good selection of beers on tap, and an interesting-looking cocktail list.

We headed back over to Rudy's for dinner, and although it was crowded and we were in a corner table we loved it. K had a portobello mushroom sandwich and I had a Asian crunchy tofu salad, and both were very tasty.

crunchy tofu salad at Rudy's

Each table is decorated with a unique collage of items. Ours had toy cars and other car-related items embedded in the plastic; the next one over had a variety of bottle caps. Rudy's isn't too fancy, and is very reasonably priced.

I thought I saw George of All About George and the Contra Costa Times on the other side of the restaurant (there aren't many hairdos like his), but it was crowded and I couldn't tell for sure. By the time we left, he was already gone so I still wasn't sure. But as we waited for the signal in front of the Fox, I saw Amy Gahran of contentious.com and CNN, and found out later they'd been out celebrating Amy's birthday. Happy Birthday, Amy!

the mighty Wurlitzer

We walked over to the Paramount, and joined hordes of other people filing in to see Dr. Strangelove. I knew Jonathan of TheDTO was planning to be there, as was @kenyaw, but given the crowd the odds of finding them seemed small. The main level was already filling up, so we headed up to the balcony. The view from up there is different, but still very good because the rows are very steep. And most of the Dec-o-Win winners were up there, too. Alas, we didn't win anything -- especially nice-sounding was the gift certificate for Plum. Part of the whole Paramount movie classics experience is what leads up to the movie itself: hearing the mighty Wurlitzer, hoping for a winning ticket during the Dec-o-Win game, watching the newsreel and the cartoon, and of course checking out the beautiful interior of the Paramount itself.

The movie itself is a lot of fun (now that the Cold War is safely over), and even more so with a big theater full of people who have all seen it before, too. People cheered when various names were listed in the opening credits, laughed during the many funny parts, and made the whole experience that much more fun.

Afterwards as we were leaving, I saw not only Jonathan from The DTO, but VSmoothe of A Better Oakland and @das88.

All in all, a hecka fun evening. The $5 for the Paramount movie classics is a great deal for all you get, and is definitely worth checking out if there's a movie playing you'd enjoy.