Birthday Bash 2007

Every year on my birthday, I stress myself out with planning a "great" birthday bash. Every year I get frustrated and every year I give up about a week before my birthday. Also, I tell myself every year that "this year I'll have a quiet celebration". Ha! Never happens.

I think, of my birthday celebrations these last few years, my favorite would have to be the one at World Cafe back in 2004. I made the reservations a week ahead for 15 people - my friends and coworkers (including my boss). Our reservations were for 9pm and we pretty much got there on time. As usual, they were busy so I knew we had to wait for a few minutes even though we had reservations. We ended up waiting for 2 hours, with my boss leaving a half hour before we were seated. Nice. It was still a fun night despite the wait. Drinks were plentiful, food was delicious and the company was awesome. I got a call the next night confirming my reservations. It turns out they mixed up the dates. I don't think I've been back there since then. I did enjoy, but I think it was because of the people not so much the venue.

So much rests on the venue. The ambience, parking, food, music... This year I want somewhere that's a little more "chill". Not too Hollywood and not too pretentious. But I also want a fun place with music and dancing. After much thought, I narrowed it down to two places.

Ritual Supper Club sits where White Lotus used to be. The great thing about a supper club is that you get dinner AND dancing all under one roof.

Pros: dinner and dancing (especially dancing), sushi!, new place for me since I've never been there, and did I mention the dancing?

Cons: Hollywood location - I'm so over the Hollywood scene, can get a little pricey, not everyone likes sushi plus I've never been there so i can't vouch for their food.

Another option is Beechwood Restaurant in Venice. It's a relatively new restaurant with a great contemporary decor. It has a nice open patio, complete with a fire pit, that gets pretty packed as the night progresses.

Pros: great food and even better drinks, very "chill" atmosphere, great decor especially the patio area

Cons: no dancing, no dancing, no dancing... did I mention there's no dancing

What's a girl to do?