My office crew and I often eat at Charcut for birthday lunches. The $15 lunch special is consistently value-packed and most importantly, delicious. We can also get in and out relatively quickly, which is essential to me. Despite the recession, Charcut was packed full of customers.

Kudos to Mike M, one of the best servers we’ve ever had at Charcut. He was always refilling our glasses and good-naturedly joking around with us even when Office Dad got his weird on. The last time we were here, Office Dad startled our server with his eccentric manners. Sometimes he will break out in a terrible British accent, pretending he’s not from Canada. This time around, he was pretending to be Australian. Mike took it all very well. When we asked if he would mind taking our picture, he offered to move the dishes first, so the photo would look better. He also warned us that he already added the gratuity for our large party, so that we wouldn’t overpay.

The $15 special included duck fat fried fries, sausage and potato soup, pork loin sandwich and two homemade chocolate chip cookies in a bag. There’s always a pickled cucumber or carrot on the side.

The soup was salty, but served piping hot with generous chunks of sausage. The pork was juicy and nicely marbled with fat. I liked the addition of juicy tomatoes, crisp spinach and pop of the grainy mustard. Office Dad asked Asian Persuasion what part of the pig was the loin. She gestured with her hands toward her crotch.

The gravy ($4) is delicious, creamy with a subtle taste of truffle. One order is another for three people. The fries were crispy even after taking a hot gravy bath.

Happy birthday What’s up Hamsup. Hope you enjoyed your personalized birthday card. You better stop eating at Oiishi lest you ruin your killer bod.