"Essex is a cocktail bar that doubles as an exciting place to share a weeknight meal. If you’re going for the bare minimum with this person, disguise the event as “grabbing a drink,” and if things are going well, order some snacks. Regardless of what you drink or eat, it’s so dark in here that your friend won’t see you rolling your eyes at their lame anecdotes from whatever extravagant vacation they took last month. And the burger is so big that they might not tell any to begin with. Essex is full of silver linings." - aimee rizzo