No chicken in the 'hood

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It's been quite a few months since I last caught up with the Specialist, and it's been a couple of years since I last sat down with BFF and the others. I took the opportunity to take them to Neighborhood, as I happened to have booked a table, and it's somewhere they haven't been to in quite a few years.

The Kitchen Nazi is still MIA, which means once again, I get to order what I want to eat. As it is still 休漁期 where there's a moratorium on fishing in the South China Sea, we weren't likely to get any amazing seafood specials for the next 3 months. I guess that's why he's off galloping halfway around the world.

Escargot / ramps - I'm so happy to have this again. Love the classic flavor combinations of escargot with garlic, but in a different form.

Grilled local baby squid - initially I didn't want to order this again, as I was unhappy with the size of the squid I got 2 weeks ago. But the others wanted this and Shirley promised to get me the smaller ones from their stock.

OK... so these were a little bit smaller, but still on the larger side. Always better on a piece of sourdough bread, with a drizzle of the garlic and parsley sauce.

Strawberries / burrata / tomato - we've also got marinated red peppers, basil, and pine nuts for crunch. Pretty nice and refreshing. Grateful for the extra dish from Shirley.

Buffalo wings / Roquefort salad - someone had told us that they didn't want this dish... but when the kitchen sent it to us anyway, the same person was happily lapping this up, especially the sucrine lettuce rubbed with blue cheese.

Pigeon roasted in fig leafs - pigeons are always a good idea here, and this was not a small dish for us, considering the other main dishes we had ordered.

I always love how tasty the birds are here, with the fragrance from fig leaves working well with the Sichuan peppercorn seasoning. Very, very tasty.

Hokkaido kinki paella - I haven't had this in YEARS, so I insisted on it while the Kitchen Nazi wasn't around to stop me. I love me some socarrat, but we kinda left the dish sitting around a little long as we focused on the pigeons. In the end the rice was much drier and crunchier than I remembered... whereas I used to think that the rice was a little too wet for my liking. Still very delicious, though.

Handmade garganelle / black pork ragu - YASS!!! Another opportunity to order one of my favorite dishes here... as they say, "When the cat's away, the mice will play." It became pretty obvious to the others why I insisted on getting this dish. The texture of the garganelli is always very nice, and that ragù remains the star.

Warm vegetables / truffle vinaigrette - I love me some sweet peas in the spring, especially to balance out all the heavy meat dishes.

Australian wagyu shortrib roast beef - I love that I got to order this again, as the wagyu is just so, so tasty with flavors that reminds me of blue cheese... and really tender with texture like butter. I also made sure the others didn't miss out on the chunky taters, as they almost steal the show.

Canelés - absolutely zero room for dessert, but these are always perfect to finish the meal with.

One of us was not feeling well, so there were only 4 bottles tonight.

2000 Dom Pérignon P2 - nice and toasty, mineral, flinty on the nose. Good maturity now, pretty nice and rounded on the palate.

1979 Bouchard Nuits-Saint-Georges 1er Cru Aux Perdrix - nice and toasty on the nose, with red fruits. Very soft and light and not much there left on the palate, with a short finish.

2009 Méo-Camuzet Corton Les Perrières - nose of blueberries and vanilla, with lots of toast.

1996 Gruaud Larose - tasted almost 2 hours after opening. So soft and supple on the palate. Smoky and a little brett, with leather, ripe stewed fruits, savory minerals and mint.

This was a fun evening out with a gang I hadn't hung out with in a few years, and I'm always happy to be back at Neighborhood, even when the boss isn't around.