You're invited: A very special birthday celebration.

Dear friends, readers & strangers who've taken a liking to me,

You only turn 25 4 times. So, please consider taking time out of your usual Sunday night routines (trips to Target, lounging on the couch in your underwear, and drinking beer at unruly sports bars) to celebrate my birthday with me. Details below...

Sunday, August 15th
7 p - 12 a

R Bar
3331 West 8th Street (b/w Ardmore & Irolo)
Los Angeles, CA 90005

Reasons why you'll want to be in attendance:

* The bar's amazing kitchen will be open for service. So come hungry. Hungry & thirsty.
* There is a jukebox. It's not bad.
* If you don't like the crowd, I'm sure you can find a tacqueria in the neighborhood that's more your speed.
* I promise not to be in my birthday suit. I'm fully aware that after the first 25th, no one wants to see that.
* The party starts early. Get in. Get out. Get to bed by midnight.
* Though Robert Pattinson will not be coming (so his publicist says), I may or may not supply a life-size cut-out of him in the corner for photo opps.

Feel free to invite your friends who enjoy birthdays, celebrations, and me. The more, the merrier they tell me.

RSVP: to jessie.b.rubin@gmail.com by Friday, August 14th so I can let the bar know how many of your beautiful faces to expect.

Hope to see you there!

xo * Jessie

A day and night in Koreatown: Jonathan Gold, BBQ & Soju.

Just in time for the Jersey Shore of Koreatown (yeah, I'm not good enough to just make this stuff up--the SituASIAN has officially been born), my friend and I took to the streets of my neighborhood this past Saturday looking to see what actually happens in K-Town on a weekend. And from day to night...for better and for worse...we found out.

A stop at McDonald's for a soda and a 'snack wrap' for my buddy, led to the realization that not all Mickey D's are created equally. In Koreatown, for instance, the franchise decorates with what can only be described as a hybrid between tiki tacky and religious offering.

At the Koreatown BBQ Cookoff, where esteemed judges Jonathan Gold, Chef Ludo (famous now for his Ludobites), and Sandra Oh (who is qualified to judge a Korean cookoff only for being Korean so far as I can tell) were on hand, I let my friend handle the meat sampling while I checked out the crucial vegatarian fare (soju, desserts and more soju)...

In a quest not to leave a 1.5 mile radius of my apartment, the evening took us to R Bar (home of my upcoming birthday party) and HMS Bounty (home of the previous year's birthday party).

Lessons learned in Koreatown:

1. Dessert is the only Korean food I care to partake in. I knew this...but I enjoyed confirming it with ice cream and Choco Pie.

2. Korean men will hit on me. This is both confusing and ego-boosting. I will not question it...for now.

3. I like to stay close to home on my birthday.