A Pirate's Life

I've been eagerly awaiting my good Pirate friend Jon's return to Phoenix. It had been a while since I was able to visit him in Palm Springs and he hadn't been able to make it out here either. Thursday marked the first time we had gotten a chance to get together in 3 years or so.

I had thought that we might make a return to Tasty Kabob, where we had gone out last time he was in town. In fact, Jon still asks me about Tasty Kabob from time to time. Instead, being an Asian food aficionado, Jon suggested that we try out Roka Akor, a high falutin' Japanese place that happened to be right across the street from his hotel.

Roka Akor is the first US version of Roka, a Robata-style Japanese grill. The other three restaurants are in London, Macau and Hong Kong, which leaves Scottsdale in some rather heady company. I'm not the uber-trendy type, nor am I an expert on Japanese food but I definitely enjoyed the place. It was classy, yet simple, the service was excellent, and the food was top notch. I ended up enjoying some things that I didn't think I'd care for, so adding that on top of excellent company, it made for an excellent evening.

We could have stopped there, but if a fellow Pirate is in town, you'd be mad not to go lookin' fer booty. YARR! So, we made the trek across town into Phoenix intending to do a little plunderin'. There may have been strippers involved, but there's absolutely no photographic evidence of any such activities. There was, however, a nasty straight chick who thought that a bar full of gay men wanted to see her fulfill her life's ambition as a pole dancer. Oddly enough, this bar wasn't quite as classy as Roka Akor. Nonetheless, it was a nice counterpoint to the earlier Scottsdale experience. To top it off, Jon & I decided that we absolutely MUST tour Europe together... and soon.

Good food, grog, good Pirate friends, and hot man-wenches. A pirate's life, 'tis for me.