Looks like you guys had fun, and that you enjoyed a "couple" of bottles of wine too. :p

The Doc

You know something SC? Now that I look back upon that great evening, and then look at the pic you posted with Plaw and that waitress, I realized that we were waited on by a totally different waitress who is NOT in the picture and ONLY Plaw got served, all night long, from the waitress in the picture! Come to think of it, this girl was around Plaw the whole damn night! Think about it SC! Hey Plaw, what's up with that?


Don Cardi

Look at this pic. Doesn't the room look similar to the Corleone Dining room used at the end of GFII, when Michael is thinking back?

Left side : Connie (Lori), Tom (Geoff) and Fredo ( sorry Turnbull, but it's the seat that you chose ).

Head of the table : Sonny (Plaw)

Right side : Michael (Don Smitty)

Those other two jamokes are on the wrong movie set, they wandered over from the Scarface set! Manolo and Tony!

Not pictured is Francis Ford Coppola (SC)who is taking the shot of the table.


Don Cardi

Tessio was wandering about in that scene. One of you can choose to be Tessio

I never heard of a BYOB restaurant either. Must be a NYC thing. :p I'm almost certain it'd be illegal here in CA.

Next time though don't forget Sicilian Babe and Just Lou. There are so many East Coasters, you guys could have quite a large group.


TIS

It actually was in New Jersey.

Just Lou was supposed to come but he got stuck in work very late. Sicilian Babe, well, she forgot that I had originally PMed her with an invite. But dats History!An dat lady TIS, we waited all night long mang! where da heck waz chu lady? Chu waz on da phone wit us for so long dat chu jus shoulda showed up mang!


Don Cardi

TIS - That's DC's story and he's sticking with it, but PL admits that he forgot to invite me!! So, is there any way we can lure you over here in August. It would be terrific!

As for the BYOB thing, it is fairly common around here. I know that one of my local Italian places does it, and I've seen it often in Chinatown. And I agree with PL, it certainly saves you some serious money to be able to bring your own.

Bella Sicilian Babe----- NEVER takes sides against the family again!


Don Cardi

I think DC looks like a real mafioso

Who says he wasn't?

DS

Fantastic pics. It's great to see everybody and put faces to those names. It looks like you had a great time...if only I could've been there

By the way, that BYOB thing, we have here too, infact at my local restaurant they have no alcohol licence but, they charge you £5 'corkage charge' in other words thats what they charge to open the bottles for us I'm gonna send the boys round

FH

FIVE POUNDS corkage on your own wine? Are you sure there will always be an England??

Haha exactly TB. Disgusting eh! Plus, add on the tip for a table of 8-10 people and your talking a lot of money for this restaurant, when you consider it's for each table.

I'm in the wrong job

FH

The cheapest corkage fee I've come across was $10... So it's definitely not worth it to bring your own if they've got the same kind of wine at the restaurant. It doesn't come out cheaper to BYO. However, I think it is illegal in California to BYOB at a place that doesn't have a liquor license. The only time it makes sense to bring your own is if you want a particular bottle of wine that the restaurant doesn't have.

Or bring your own corkscrew!

Mick

Thats really interesting. I dont think I've heard of anyone taking their own bottle to a place WITH a licence here. We only take our own cos we have no option. They have no licence to SELL it but can serve you your own I have to admit tho at places with a licence the wine can be quite pricey
FH

I tried that Mick, I got kicked out j/k

FH

You do huh? Never let anyone outside the family know what you are thinking!

Funny that you should say that because before we hooked up for dinner DS took Mikey Montana and myself on a Soprano's filming locations tour! We saw Artie Bucco's restaruant where they film, The famous Bakery where Cris shot the guy in the foot, and several other sites. Then he takes us to The Bada Bing! So now I HAVE TO go in there and check out the place! We walk in and sit down and the Barmaid gives us our drinks and then says to me " I thought that they don't start shooting here until next week Mr. Soprano!
We all could not stop laughing!

And for your information, especially Partagas and Snake, the girls are NOT topless like in the show! They dance, but fully covered. Sorry to burst your bubble guys!


Don Cardi

Wow, that's news to me. I don't think any such laws exist here. Just up the road from me is a little town that apparantly has the most pubs per population in the whole country. But I've never checked.

I actually drink a lot of wine too. Roughly four bottles a week (although never when I'm out, I'd get stabbed). But I don't understand how any restaurant can survive with a BYOB policy. The wine and drinks are usually where the largest mark up of profit comes in. Maybe I go to more down market places, I am white trash, but this is weird to me.

Really? I thought this was only exclusive to our American cousins. And a corkage charge too?

DC - Is that Satin Dolls? I have a friend who works right near there, and he loves to tell tales. I can't believe you guys went there and had a drink! I honestly don't get the whole thing about nudie bars.

To go off topic for a moment - When my daughter was six or seven, they wanted to open a "gentleman's club" near our house. All of the PTA moms picketed and protested. My daughter saw all the stories in the paper and overheard our discussions, so she wanted to know what it was about. I told her that women dance in their underpants and men give them dollars (this began a week of her dancing around in her underwear asking us for money) and that people didn't want it near their house. She then asked if the women DROVE to work "nakie" and all I could picture scores of women driving around town without any clothes.

That would be awesome!

DS

As I said in my post above, it is not even a topless bar. The dancers dance fully covered. I didn't feel the need to go there because there are dancers there, I wanted to go there to see if it actually looked the same on the onside as it does in The Sopranos show. Heck, I'm not gonna lie to you and tell you that I didn't watch the dancers, but they were not the reason for my wanting to go in there. If one decided to go to a place like that to see woman dancing, then why the heck would one choose a place where the dancers are fully covered? It was a visit because of the show, not because of the content!

Funny thing is that both Mikey Montana and I recieved phone calls from our wives while we were in there. When they asked us where we were, we told them that we were at "Da Bing" and Mikey took the phones and said "Listen" and held them out into the open air for the wives to hear the music.

Don Cardi

Yeah, right. :rolleyes:
Yeah, right. :rolleyes:
Yeah, right. :rolleyes:

Three disclaimers in the same post about how he didn't go there to see the dancers.

To paraphrase Shakespeare, "I think Don Cardi doth protest too much." :p

And how come when you called me at 5:30 and I asked you where you guys were, you told me you were "stuck in traffic"?

Really? I thought this was only exclusive to our American cousins. And a corkage charge too? [/b][/QUOTE]

No chance Turi, It's here. I'm sure it will be winging it's way to a restaurant near you pretty soon

FH

Really? I thought this was only exclusive to our American cousins. And a corkage charge too? [/b][/quote]No chance Turi, It's here. I'm sure it will be winging it's way to a restaurant near you pretty soon

FH [/b][/QUOTE]

So why don't you Chaps and Chapettes have your own little Commission Meeting Dinner and find out for yourselves?


Don Cardi

This is how I understand things to be here (mostly through experience):

1) In NJ, you cannot have a totally nude bar that serves alcohol. The girls are not allowed to show nipples. This is a gaffe in The Sopranos (like the one where they pump their own gas in NJ). There are nudie bars here, though, called "juice bars", where the girls can be totally naked, but they can only serve soft drinks and there's a cover charge (place by me is $10 to get in - from what I hear ). Things may be slightly different in some municipalities because I do remember one totally nude place up north that you were allowed to bring your own, so perhaps some other pervs can clarify this for me.

2) The number of liquor licenses is regulated, at least in NJ. I'm not certain if it's per town or per county, but there seems to be a finite number - probably per population. It's really tough to get here, at least in my area where one family seems to own most of them. It's a racket here.

Unlike many other states, in NJ you cannot even buy beer or wine in a supermarket or gas station (alcohol sold in gas stations always confused me - lol)... you must go to a packaged goods (liquor) store or bar. (Areas outside mine, however, you can buy them in warehouse clubs - but the local Family prevented Costco from carrying liquor here :rolleyes: ).

Some states (like Pennsylvania and many southern states) are even worse with liquor, where you can only buy liquor at state-run stores. I cannot imagine! But beer and wine are found everywhere.

Anyway, some restaurants do not have liquor licenses, and it's either because one is unavailable, or, it's way too expensive to get. In those cases, you can bring your own tho I've really only seen that in Italian restaurants (incl. pizzerias). I've never heard of a cork charge here, though.

NJ bars close earlier than many other States. Here it's 2AM. In some major cities outside of NJ I believe it's 4AM. In NJ you can purchase liquor (take out) until 10PM, when most liquor stores close. Some stores stay open until Midnight to sell only beer/wine. After that, many bars will sell you beer/wine for takeout until they close.

In NJ alcohol is available 7 days/week. I think in some places, like Atlanta, you cannot buy on Sundays, but I may be wrong.



If any of this is inaccurate, I'm sure it'll be corrected...

You can definitely buy wine and beer in the supermarkets and convenience stores like 7-11 and Krauszer's, at least where I live.

Maybe different counties have different regulations about that, but it's OK in Hudson County.

I'm pretty sure the number of liquor licenses allowable is by town, not county, and has to do with population.

Go to Hoboken. There's a bar on every block, and just about every restaurant has a liquor license. But here in Secaucus there are only like two bars, and several restaurants which are BYO.

Also, and again this may apply only to Hudson County, or just ppossibly only my town, but although you can buy liquor on Sundays, you have to wait until 12 noon.

Yeah, right. :rolleyes:
Yeah, right. :rolleyes:
Yeah, right. :rolleyes:

Three disclaimers in the same post about how he didn't go there to see the dancers.

To paraphrase Shakespeare, "I think Don Cardi doth protest too much." :p

And how come when you called me at 5:30 and I asked you where you guys were, you told me you were "stuck in traffic"? [/b][/quote]

That was great PLaw!! LMAO


Although I don't go to bars very often, I think they are open until 2:00 a.m. in my area. You can buy beer at some convenience stores/gas stations as well.

In Michigan in Grand Rapids, bars are not open on Sundays, but if you drive just outside the city there are bars open on only serve beer & wine.

TIS

That's weird. I guess they wanna be sure people go to church first. But I supposed it's not as weird as the bars by me opening up at 7AM! I've always wanted to go then to see just who the hell goes there for breakfast!

Actually we were stuck in traffic Plaw. That part is not a lie. " I always tell da trufth, efen wen I lye!" So instead of just passing by the place we figured what the heck, we've been sitting in the same spot for 25 minutes, mine as well go in to check out the scenery used in the show. ( now this part, well still not a lie, maybe bending the truth a bit though).


Ok, so I did want to see the girls dance. But only because I wanted to see if the same girls that were in Soprnaos were the same ones who really danced there.

DS and Mikey Montana FORCED me into the place! Really! :rolleyes:


I'm digging a deeper hole for myself, huh? Ok, time to shut up.


Don Cardi