Kurt and I went to Guu with Garlic (Robson & Bidwell) for my cousin Shawn’s 25th birthday. Most of the cousins (well, the cool ones) came out as well as a plethora of my cousin’s friends. To celebrate, Shawn and the other birthday boy, Ian, dressed in togas. Shawn’s was complete with headband leafed in real laurels. That’s hardcore.

It was the first time we went to Guu even with our obsession of trying all the good restaurants in the downtown area. It’s a Japanese tapas bar, so don’t expect your average sushi dishes. I’m pretty sure you couldn’t order sushi if you tried. The food was stellar and very well plated. I hope my photos did them justice. There were also pitchers and pitchers of beer and a near unlimited supply of plum wine, which I couldn’t stop drinking. It tasted like a liquid version of those little flat red discs of candy you’d get from Chinatown, often distributed around Chinese New Year. I remember pigging out on them as a child. In any case, the wine was yummy and worth having again when we return to Guu.

We were a little worried that as the older cousins and the married couple, we’d stick out of Shawn’s crowd like a couple of old, married, square, sore thumbs. It turned out alright, though. The cousins were there and we were the rowdy bunch as usual, and some of Shawns friends were closer to our age than his. And I’m sure the giant bottle of Jack Daniels that my brother passed around put everyone at ease.

Below are the photos on Flickr–and here are the videos clips as well: shawn chugging and a toast to shawn.