Achingly Hip LES Birthday Brunch

My friend Laird's birthday today... he likes to keep it low-key, so five of us head down to the Clinton St Bakery for some good eatin'. The wait is longer than exected on this dreary day, but the food is scrumptuous.

After the main course of truffle fried eggs (must I always choose the most esoteric item on the menu?), the waitress brings over a choclate cake a la mode with a lit candle for the birthday boy. The four of us begin an impromtu 'Happy Birthday' sing-a-long, and this being the Lower East Side, everybody else is too hip, too cool, to jejeune, to join in.