It is said that good things come in “threes”. We don’t know who came up with the adage, but tonight Date Night salutes the number three with a triple-decker triple-date that coincidently celebrates the third anniversary of this blog. All of this as we approach our 30,000th reader. Perhaps the old saying is correct.

All good third celebrations begin at Three Taverns Brewery in Decatur. We last visited here in April before our meal at Victory Sandwich Bar near the square in Decatur. Tonight we return with two couples who have not been to Three Taverns: Mitzi and John, making their first Date Night appearance, along with Claudia and Randy, who graced the pages of this blog just last week at Six Feet Under.

We won’t go into the wonderful Belgian beers that we tasted here the last time, but there are two new offerings tonight, a Trippel and Quasimodo, which is their recently-released quad. Both big beers are aged in barrels that infuse lots of alcohol into them. We suggest you get over there and taste these before they run out, especially the trippel, which is one of the best this reporter has had in a long time.

Our second stop is near the square in Decatur.

Which entrance do we take? This one, or the secret one behind Victory Sandwich Bar?

Behind this door lies Paper Plane, the perfect secret place, especially if you have a group of six.

There’s only five of these tables, which means that our secret restaurant only holds about 30 people.

Additional seating is available at the bar, which is staffed by a very thorough mixologist. We have had too much beer at Three Taverns tasting and must lay off the alcohol tonight. Our friend Anish of Spatialdrift, who likes his cocktails made by a professional, would really like this. In case you were wondering how they get the booze off of the top shelf (we were), they actually climb up on the bar to reach the top-shelf brands. No wonder they are so pricey.

The table is hungry and we order the “popcorn of the day“, which happens to be corn flavored. Corn flavored popcorn? Apparently, they dehydrate corn, grind it up and sprinkle it over the popcorn. It’s tasty, but way too salty.

There are four flat iron steaks on the menu along with a duck, pork and trout dish. Each couple decides to split a steak and order some sides to share as well.

We get three spring salads, which feature striped beets and a really good green goddess dressing that is full of avocado. It’s a very fresh salad and an excellent start to this meal.

The dry-aged NY strip steak has an excellent chiles-based seasoning on top. It’s a spicy piece of meat, but the chiles make it so interesting.

Along with our steak we get some roasted fingerling potatoes. These are prepared with bacon and kale. Eve picks out the bacon, but that’s more for me.

If there are Brussels sprouts on a menu, we are going to order them. These are “en fuego”, spicy enough to wake you up, but not too spicy to make you sweat. “I don’t like my vegetables to burn my tongue,” Eve says afterwards. Be forewarned if you order the sprouts.

The other couples each get a ribeye cap steak. It comes with potatoes, beets and kale. Comments include “scrumptious” (the first time this word has appeared on Date Night) and “a very good steak”.

Here’s the squash side dish. It’s served cold with feta cheese. The squash is cooked barely enough to soften it up.

The menu says to save room for dessert. There are three desserts on the menu and instead of choosing between them, we order all three. After all, it’s our third anniversary. Don’t worry, the entire table eats the desserts.

The chamomille panna cotta comes with berries and a nice pie crumble. It’s almost like a deconstructed cheesecake.

Peaches and cream features cooked peach with two little cakes. There’s some creme fraiche along for the ride as well. I would have liked a couple of more peaches on the plate as there was a lot more of the small cannel than there was fruit.

Finally, the most interesting-looking dessert of the night, the PB and chocolate. Get a load of that flexible ganache, which has a dark, rich chocolate flavor. It’s served with peanut butter ice cream, peanut brittle and a little banana caramel. Elvis would be pleased. I am too and this is my favorite dessert of the night, although all of the plates got favorite votes.

The bottom line on Paper Plane: Our Decatur-based foodie friends Elizabeth and Sonya absolutely love this place. A well-known Atlanta television personality adores their cocktails. Your outside the perimeter correspondents and their “posse” had an excellent meal and a lot of fun here. Go here with a group and find the secret room behind Victory Sandwich Bar. But keep it a secret so that there’s room for us next time.

Wait…we’re not done yet. Did we mention that there was a third venue for this date?

How we wind up at the Atlanta Roller Girls match at the Yaarab Temple on Ponce is a long story. There’s a couple of hundred people here, and some of them actually know the rules to roller derby. For those who don’t, a patient roller girl explains them to the novices, which allows us to figure out what’s going on.

Let’s just say that this is not your mother’s roller derby. It’s all about the jammer. That’s all you need to know.

Beer, secret rooms and roller derby on the same date. Who knows where we will wind up next! Thanks to our loyal readers as we celebrate our third anniversary with one crazy night.