Benihana Dinner With Tracy Morgan

Last week was an interesting one. We had the Fourth of July in the middle of the week, and while some people found that annoying, I found it to be a refreshing mid-work week break. On Thursday, I received an email from an agency in San Francisco regarding a potential brand collaboration (fingers crossed that moves forward). I always get motivated by those potential opportunities, so it gave me some air following a nice Wednesday off. My team at the media agency I work at put some serious work in on Thursday and Friday – so come Friday evening, we were ready for the weekend.

A couple of my coworkers invited me to get some sushi, and while I wanted to just go home and begin relaxing mode, I figured I would be a little spontaneous and accompany them on for dinner. While I was wrapping up one final email, my team member Jackie had apparently made a reservation at Benihana and told them that it was my birthday. Remember that was we go, because while I thought “oh boy, here we go”, it turned out to be the best idea in the world. So finally, around 6:30/6:45 pm, Stefanie, Jackie and I headed out of the office and began our trip to Benihana in Midtown.

Making The Trip

We first decided to make a quick stop and check out this season restaurant that opened right across the street from out office for the Summer. It’s called Gitano, and it looks super chic. They almost didn’t let us in because it’s so popular and reservations are a must (especially on a Friday night), but we told them that we just wanted to look around and get some pics, so they let us in and gave us a little context on the spot. It’s was like a tropical paradise in the middle of the concrete jungle. The music is right on vibe and there were people happily engaged in lively conversation around every corner of the spot. The ladies and I agreed that we had to pay a real visit to this bar before the Summer ended.

After that quick stop, we hit the subway and finally made our way uptown.  The whole trip we were talking about the hibachi full-course meals we were looking forward to when we finally arrived. It took us about 15-20 min. to get to Benihana, and we made it just in time for our 7:45pm reservation. Upon entering, we were unpleasantly surprised by how hot it was in the restaurant. They literally had heat blasting right as you walked through the door, and the place was hotter inside than it was inside. We asked if we could be seated upstairs, where there was apparently air-conditioning (though we received mixed messages from every group of people who came down after their dinners).

Celebrity Dinner Guest

We waited patiently for 30 min. in the awkward heat while the staff figured seating out. You could tell that people were getting annoyed having to wait so long, so it was nice not being the only party having to stand around. We were told that we could go upstairs and to just ask the host upstairs we were ready to be seated. When we made it upstairs, did just that and for a second it seemed like the host was confused. He told us “it looks like you’re sitting with Tracy,” and we were who is that, the reservation is under Jackie. He simply said, “you’ll see.” And when we turned the corner to the main dining room and approached our table, sitting at the end of it was none other than TRACY MORGAN!!! This is where things get interesting.

We obviously weren’t expecting this, and I still haven’t had my fair share of celebrity encounters, so I was instantly star struck. He and his entourage were casually sitting at the table and conversing, so Stef, Jackie and I knew we had to just keep our cool and get settled at the table like nothing amazing was happening was before our eyes. I kid you not when I say that we were literally freaking out inside – like, what would you do in that situation? We of course just wanted to stare at them and immediately start talking to them, but we just tried to be regular and act like they were just another group of people at the table.

Engaging With Tracy

While Tracy didn’t explicitly exhibit it, I feel like he enjoyed having “normal” people sitting at the table with him, because as we were taking our orders and waiting for the chef to get set-up, he started cracking jokes and looking around at the people at the tables around us. There were moments when he would look at us and saying something funny – and we just made eye contact, smiled and nodded. I always told myself that I would be relaxed in situations like this, but I was literally speechless. Between keeping your cool and acting like nothing amazing is going on, it’s hard to think about how to respond to a celebrity like this. Fortunately, he and his entourage were super nice and easy enough to talk to, which made the situation more comfortable.

At one point during an exchange we were sharing with Tracy and gang, of course Jackie had to be sure and mention that it was my “birthday” (told you to remember that). When Tracy looked at me and said, “Happy Birthday man” – I of course smiled and said, “thank you”, but was 100% dying inside. I mean, I thought I was already by that point, but I was officially six feet under after that. Around this time, we had received our drinks and the beginnings of our meals, which helped me give something to focus on and take the edge of the intense adrenaline I was paralyzed by.

The Meal Was Amazing

Taking a moment to talk about the food and drinks – the spicy chicken hibachi meal that I got was amazing. They start the five-course meal with a soup and salad (which were both bomb), but I was say that my favorite part was the fried rice, shrimp and mushrooms. The flavor of everything mixed together, and of course the engaging experience of the chef serving this to you gradually and real-time, was exquisite. It was really quite a bit of food, but with the incredible drink and star-buzz that I was under, I hardly even noticed and was just scarfing it down.

Throughout the dinner, Stef, Jackie and I were continuing casually chit-chat with Tracy and entourage, laugh at his jokes, and freak out between one another. It was funny reading the reading the reactions of the people were texting – it felt like absolutely no one could believe what was going on. I was so caught up in the moment that I didn’t get as much content from the experience that I wanted to, but I did manage to get a quick Instagram Story clip, which I feature in the story time video above.

The Best Birthday Gift

As we were eating the last bits of our meals (i.e. as I was shoving the last bits of food in my mouth), I heard Tracy say to the waiter, “can you cover this?” I figured that was just him paying for him and his crew. However, to my surprise, I heard Tracy say once again “Happy birthday brotha”, and Stef/Jackie were like “he paid for meals!” I was honestly in disbelief – sure he’s a celebrity, but I by no means had the expectation that he would go out of his way to pay for our dinner. UNREAL!!! The whole time Tracy came across as down-to-earth and humble, but that super kind gesture solidified that fact.

If that weren’t enough, with the dinner concluding, it was time for the Benihana crew (just two waiters fortunately) to sing me happy birthday. I usually feel awkward when people sing to me on my birthday anyway, but in this cloud 9 situation, all I could do was try to survive the surrealism by smiling throughout the whole thing. They sang it twice – once in English and again in Japanese (I think?). Adding on to the craziness, a random guy from the table behind us came up to me and said, “happy birthday man, it’s my birthday too” and shook my hand. Are you serious??!! You literally cannot make these things up.

As we were all getting ready to leave, Tracy’s crew got up from the table first and I shook their hands as they went to leave. And then when Tracy approached, I decided to stand up and give him and hug and thank him for the incredible treat. He said, “happy birthday brotha, enjoy, I’m serious.” You should have seen my face after that. The people at the table in front of us were just looking at me and smiling, and one guy even said, “you’re lucky, you know that?” Obviously, dude! Stef, Jackie and I really wanted to get a picture with Tracy, but we didn’t want to be greedy after getting the opportunity to have dinner with him and having him pay for our meals. But of course, everyone else and their mother were yelling out “Tracy!” and snapping pics with him and his entourage as they were leaving the restaurant. No shade – if we didn’t just have dinner with him, we probably would have done the same.

We Made It

I felt like I was high after that experience. We were literally VIPs for the night, and it was such a rush. It’s amazing how people look at you and treat you in those circumstances – just sitting with Tracy, it was like we were celebrities as well (famous by association). We were still carrying that glow once we left Benihana – testing our friends, posting Instagram stories and walking about the city. It pays to be spontaneous sometimes, because you never know what life has waiting for you around the corner. After posting an IG story about, I had some peeps respond to me and tell me that their friends had dinner at Benihana once for a birthday and Tracy paid for their meals then as well. Sounds like he’s a regular there, and after that experience I can see why. If I was a fan of Tracy before – I’m a super fan at this point.

Crossing my fingers for another once in a lifetime experience like that again soon!