Weekend Walkabout

A chalked cursive scrawl outside Tim’s Texas BBQ reading “Grand Opening” was the only sign of anything special last Saturday night. Wait-staff greeted me with blank stares and failed to take my order after ten minutes at a table. My litmus test of reasonable service is staff that doesn’t scowl. Tim’s failed with flying colors. The well-lit second floor had a handful of tables with empty plates and customers patting their bellies. Most tables were drinking beer and acting law-abiding. I got the hell out of there.

The next grand opening was Nanjie’s Revolution Party. The people at Nanjie passed the reasonable-service test. My waiter smiled and convinced me to try the two-for-one deal on Stella zhapi (RMB30). He returned promptly with beer in wine-cups. Thirty kuai in three gulps. Forgive my uncivilized habits, but I like my zhapi like I like my women – in deep broad mugs for RMB 10 a pop. Overall, the party was better than Tim’s. People were having fun and getting blotto. At the same time, Nanjie featured nothing revolutionary besides a few people wandering around with red bandanas around their necks. I thought they were waiters. They weren’t. Some were scowling. Final verdict: Nanjie will succeed. It is still Nanjie.

And Suzie Wong will always be Suzie Wong. The last stop of the night was Pink 2: the sequel to last year’s Pink Party. I wasn’t privy to the details of the inaugural pink party, but the folks at Ms. Wong’s assured me that this year’s was better than the last. They also admitted, “Pink is a color. Glamorous, sexy … but really it’s just an excuse for a party.” As I slipped through the door, pulling my pants low over the open heels of my sandals, I was guiltily hoping I could do a walk-through and leave. But the place was hopping. Every bit of floor space was overflowing with fashionable humans. Some were wearing pink. Most were just engorged with swank. Women were given pink feather fans at the door, then decked out in downy pink boas. They struck glamorous poses into mirrors and fanned themselves as fluffy pink feather puffs danced away the breeze. The terrace was packed to near collapse, and although the service was slow, the barmen apologized. They smiled sympathetically as they were doing so.

Links and Sources:
Beijing Boyce: Not your gege’s Nanjie, II
The World of Suzie Wong Club (images from Pink II should be up on their gallery soon)
Tim's Texas Bar-B-Q