Last year was an … interesting Anime USA for me, in that I am not entirely sure it really happened. You see, right before the convention I had the unfortunate luck to get sick. I tried very hard to take care of myself, but the strange workings of fate would not have it. I found myself at the convention with a 102 degree fever, because as you know, the show must go on. Three days of convention are a total blur, and I can’t remember anything, not the rave, not the panels I did, not even the videogames I played. In fact, there is only one thing I remember, and that is Freddie’s.

You see, I woke up on Sunday feeling a bit better than I was the rest of the convention weekend. Other than a bit of a runny nose, I could tell I was finally getting over whatever plagued me (and was soon to plague many other con-goers … sorry guys, show must go on and all). Me and my faithful DO XIII compatriots packed up our stuff, took one last look over the abysmal Sunday convention programming (seriously, I don’t think I have ever seen a good Sunday at any convention ever), checked out of the room, shoved our bags in the car, and decided to get something to eat before the long trek up to our home state of New Jersey (North Jersey even).

We walked down a strip of restaurants on 23rd St South, only a small ways away from the convention hotel. There was no shortage of good looking places to eat, but we just couldn’t decide where. We tried walking in to the local sports bar, but everyone there was dressed up in football jerseys, shouting at TV screens, and giving us odd looks as we walked through the door. Meanwhile, here I was still in my headband, DO-XIII T-Shirt, convention badge still hanging around my neck, trying to avoid talking about that awesome new episode of Code Geass I just saw. Yeah, no one felt like they were going to fit in in this place, and without a word we quietly backed out of the door and continued our search.

That was when we came upon Freddie’s Beach Bar & Restaurant. Maybe it was the beach theme that brought back fond memories of the Jersey shore, maybe it was the good smelling food coming from the buffet and the 4 free mamosas we got with it, maybe it was the purple and rainbow decor and the tasteful jazz music, or maybe it was simply a function of left over delirium from my horrible fever but this was the place we eventually sat down to eat. Yep, it was 10:00, on a Sunday, I had just finished performing at an anime convention with a 102 fever, and me and my friends were going to eat at a gay bar. Never a dull moment!

Before I go on, let me take a minute to address some unfortunate rumors that have been spread about Disorganization XIII. Since we at Disorganization XIII are very open and accepting to lifestyles of all sorts, we find no reason to censor ourselves when talking about such things in our panels. It is a disservice to talk about fan-fiction without ever bringing up Yaoi, for example. It is a similar disservice to bring up games such as Persona 4, that have characters (see Kanji Tatsumi) whose very plot lines involve homosexuality and the acceptance or rejection thereof, and avoid talking about those characters due to fear that this might offend someone. We are all mature people (regardless of the massive amount of penis jokes we make) and we should be able to talk about this stuff with the public without issue right.

Well, not so much. I won’t name names, but there are people who have taken our panels (regardless of our disclaimers and admission of our own queer identities) as homophobic. I think you can see where I am going with this … we are nothing of the sort. Our personal lives are not particularly anyone’s business but our own (please ignore the animal sounds coming form my room late at night) but let it be known that we have people of many races, religions, political affiliations and sexualities among our ranks. We accept all and are prejudiced against none (except Nazi’s, Scientologists, and Steve … you know what you did). We have members who are homosexual, bisexual, transgendered, and even more obscure terms like pansexual, and even asexual if you count some of our more eccentric members. Calling us homophobes is not only wrong, its laughable and quite frankly immature.

Now, back on track. Even though we are accepting, I could understand if some of our members might have felt uncomfortable at a gay bar, but not a single one was. Not only did Freddie’s welcome the entirety of DO-XIII with open arms, but they really understood where we were coming from. The waiters and bartenders were really nice, and participated in more than one conversation about anime, video games, and of course how queer society relates to geek society. They had many interesting insights about the homophobe problem, and amidst the many sex jokes and rampant innuendo, there was a civilized discussion about the fact that in some places, it is hard to say anything uncensored about the gay community without being branded a homophobe, even if you yourself are gay.

Once again, this could be a combination of the delirium from my sickness and the alcohol from the mamosas going to my head, but it was one of the most fun times I have ever had eating out. Not only was the wait staff unfathomably nice and very attentive, but the other people who were there for the buffet were quick to start up conversations with us as well! I have to be honest I have never, EVER, eaten at any place with a more pleasing atmosphere, gay bar or not!

However, aside from the magnificent atmosphere and wonderful intelligent conversation, let me talk to you about the real draw of Freddie’s … THE FOOD! Holy hell I was in heaven! The brunch buffet was not only very affordable (I don’t remember how much but it was very light on my wallet considering the mamosas) but it was delicious. There were pancakes, french toast, fresh waffles, bacon and ham as far as the eye can see, fresh biscuits, fruit salad, fresh omelets made to order, eggs over easy, and that is just a portion of the breakfast part! You also could have lunch and they had the greatest cuts of meat EVER! Or you could have gone Chinese with delicious General Tso’s chicken and fried rice! Heck, there was even more stuff that I can’t remeber but all of it was DELICIOUS! I ate until I was exploding … and then there was desert! Oh god, there was cheesecake and devils food cake and brownies and carrot cake and god just EVERYTHING you could possibly want all lined up and ready for you to take, and the taste of these sweets made me melt in my pants!

Freddie’s, without a doubt, was the best brunch buffet I had ever been too, and I live in Jersey so I have been to a lot. It was affordable, varied, plentiful, and delicious, with a great atmosphere and wonderful service. The staff of Freddie’s said that they were aware of Anime USA, but they rarely ventured over to see what it was like, nor did they ever get many visitors from the convention. This was a shame, considering a some of the staff had a healthy enjoyment of anime, videogames, and all around geekery. So I am here to spread the word. If you are LGBT friendly and need a place to eat that is not only affordable but delicious in ways I cannot even describe, then you should stop by Freddie’s Beach Bar & Restaurant. You will be glad you did!

In short, Disorganization XIII wants to take you to a gay bar, gay bar, gay bar WHOOOO!