"Happy Place"

I managed to weasel my way into a trip out to Hilltop Steakhouse last night to celebrate Z.J's birthday. Z.J. is one of Adam, Zrad and Zeith's housemates and also attends B.I.T. Z.J. and I aren't great friends...in fact we barely recognize each other, but he seems like a congenial chap and I couldn't pass up the Hilltop having heard so much about the steakhouse in Saugus graced by a huge neon cactus and a herd of plastic cows. Zrad is extremely enthusiastic about Hilltop bordering on fanaticism. Throughout the evening, Zrad would say things like, "this is a happy place" or "this is a happy day." Heeding Zrad's advice, I settled on the prime rib...the "regular" 16 oz. cut because according to Adam & Zeith, "I'd be throwing my money away" if I didn't opt for the extra 4 oz. Hoping for preferential treatment by speaking their language, Zrad ordered the "Super King Cut Prime Rib." Without batting an eye, our waitress took Zrad's order and moved on to me. Curious about this "Super King Cut," I asked our waitress "How big is the 'Super King Cut'?" The "Super King Cut" was merely 16 oz. or also known as the "Regular." The Hilltop Steakhouse had at one point served a 20 oz. "King Cut," but no longer offered the "King Cut." Excited to share his enthusiasm for the Hilltop, Zrad kept encouraging me to keep up with him by eating my entire meal plus a slice of Hilltop Mud Pie for dessert. Given that I don't possess Zrad's superhuman metabolism, I'm a full foot shorter and I shouldn't aim to consume 3% of my body weight, I tried hard not to get sucked into a game of steak eating "chicken" and stuck to my original plan of eating two thirds of my meal saving the rest of lunch. There were times when I was afraid the meal that sat before me would overwhelm my will and I would end up eating a pound of steak, my sides and Mud Pie. Adam and I did split a slice of Hilltop Mud Pie and Zrad sure was right...it was sublime. I dare say, at $3.50, the Hilltop Mud Pie was hands down the best part of the meal.