Iguana Mack's has now been officially relegated to niche status for me. Last night I picked up some hot wings, the drunken shrimp (Lynn's favorite dish there), and a Southwest chicken salad. The wings were great, but everything else sucked. Lynn's shrimp was missing all of the flavor that's normally in the dish. Lynn was disappointed, and I wouldn't touch the shrimp. I'm not sure how they did it, but the Southwest chicken salad was terrible. I think it was probably the oddly flavored vinaigrette, but I'm sure the wilted lettuce contributed. It's pretty sad when Wendy's makes a better salad than a real restaurant.
When they originally told me about the change in head chefs at Iguana Mack's, they were so enthusiastic about it that I was looking forward to the new chef. The net result in the change has been the loss of my favorite dish, and a serious drop in the quality of the cooking. I'm truly disappointed. Anyway, I'm sticking to the sweet and hot wings at Iguana Mack's and that's it. At least until they get a new head chef.
Recently I've bought a lot of stuff online and here are my experiences.
Oh yeah, and I got my passport today so I can actually leave the country.
I did something this week I didn't think I'd do; I made reservations at a couple of Paris restaurants. After looking at a few travel guides and food web sites I decided not to worry about eating in Paris. Good food seems to be everywhere so I wasn't going to stress about it. Well a couple of days ago I ran into a food web site written by a chef, and her descriptions of certain restaurants, and their Michelin two star status, convinced me to make some reservations. (If you're not familiar with the Michelin restaurant rating system, three stars is the highest rating, and there are fewer than 30 restaurants in all of France with three stars. There are less than 100 restaurants in all of France with two or three stars. Normally I don't pay too much attention to restaurant ratings, but I've never heard anyone say anything bad about the Michelin rating system.) One reservation is for the first week we're in Europe, and the second one is for our last night in Europe. I can't wait.
I was hoping that I wouldn't have any loose ends besides my passport the week before Lynn and I are supposed to leave. Well this is the list of things (all from different suppliers) I'm waiting for in the mail. It's killing me almost as much as waiting for my vacation to start is.
It's been hard for me not to hit my post office box knowing that at least two of these items are just sitting there, but I'll try and hold out until the weekend.
I hate falling asleep on airplanes so I try to find interesting books to read on long flights. On the flight to Japan I made the mistake the bringing a boring book that put me to sleep two or three times. This time I'm reading a chapter or two ahead of time to make sure they're interesting enough to keep my attention for ten or twelve hours. I started with Haruki Murakami's "A Wild Sheep Chase". I knew after a couple pages that I'd love this book. I don't know what it is about Murakami's writing, but I really find it enjoyable.
The next book I started was Lois McMaster Bujold's "Young Miles", which is a compilation of the first two novels in the Miles series and a short story. At first I didn't like the novel I was reading; the main character (Miles) spent a lot of time feeling sorry for himself. I couldn't take it. Lynn said the book would get better, and I had enjoyed "Cordelia's Honor" so I gave it some time. Two days later I'm halfway through the book. Lynn's encouraging me to finish it since she has another two or three books in the Miles series lying around. It looks like I'll have more than enough reading material for these two upcoming flights.
I must be on a Japanese food kick because Zipangu sounded good today. The last time I was there I wanted to try the ramen the next time I was there. We started lunch with the tempura, and it was pretty good. Everything was as crispy and greaseless as you'd expect. The tempura sauce was unique in that it tasted like it had bonito in it. It was mild and didn't do a whole lot for the vegetables, but it was excellent with the shrimp. That was the first time I've ever really enjoyed tempura shrimp, and I'd definitely order it again.
Lynn ordered the tonkotsu [pork broth] ramen and I got the negi [green onion?] ramen. The ramen noodles were good and the broth was tasty. After a couple of bites I noticed that my broth was a little spicy. It was more than a little spicy after a while. I didn't care for the pickled bamboo or pickled ginger that were served on top of the soup, but the bean sprouts and grilled green onion were pretty tasty. Lynn's ramen came with a couple of slices of pork that were pretty good when they were warmed up by the soup. The pork broth had body, but the flavor was a little odd. It was good with the ramen, but not something I could eat by itself. Lynn didn't like it. She would have liked the ramen if the broth was a mixture of the negi and tonkotsu broth.
I don't like ramen enough to eat it very often so chances are I'm more likely to return for katsu than ramen.
To make up for the average tempura I had at the Ichi Ban in Phoenix I wanted to get some tempura at the restaurant for tempura, the Southern and Rural location of Ichi Ban in Tempe. I also wanted to verify that tempura was still good there since I tend not to eat it too often.
I went to Ichi Ban one day for lunch and get a combo lunch with salad, tempura, teriyaki beef, and a few pieces of California roll. The salad dressing was nasty and I couldn't eat more than two bites of the salad. The sushi was average. The teriyaki sauce on the beef was overly thick and tasted pasty. The only good thing was the tempura, which was perfect. The vegetables were crispy and the tempura sauce was a little salty. The only complaint I had was that the broccoli was overcooked. The broccoli used to be my favorite because they would just barely cook it so it still had a firm texture without the raw flavor.
This last lunch trip once again confirmed that Ichi Ban is only good for one thing, but at least it's something that I can't get as well anywhere else.
This week my college gives us a couple of days off for Spring Break starting today. Today I've been "busy" going through guidebooks trying to find what might be interesting to see on our trip. I don't have much for Paris that isn't already covered by the tour, but we may not even have enough time to see the few things I've written down. Some of them, like the Pompidou Center, are purely there for photo opportunities (although I might actually visit the museum inside). The more fun ones, like markets or organ concerts, are there for the experience. It should be a fun time either way. I'm not finished with Paris yet, and I still have the rest of the trip to look at too. I've still got two weeks so I'm not worried about it. I can't wait to get started on restaurant hunting though.
In an effort to find some sort of decent delivery pizza I wanted to try a new place that had effectively covered our neighborhood in flyers. They claimed they make Chicago style pizza, but I couldn't figure out what exactly made it Chicago style. The crust wasn't very thick, or very thin, but normal, like New York style pizza. The only thing I could think of was that their pizza sauce had a very strong herbal flavor to it, and I don't even know if that's supposed to be representative of Chicago style. The pizza was ok, but the interaction between the pepperoni and the cheese was nasty so I picked all of the pepperoni off and ate it separately. It doesn't seem very likely that I'll order their pizza again.
Their hot wings, on the other hand, were very good. They were covered in a spicy sauce that wasn't the usual Tabasco "vinegar and cayenne one dimensional heat fest". The wings also had a little more black pepper than you would normally find, but it tasted good in concert with the wing sauce. I wouldn't say the wings were any better than La Famiglia or Iguana Mack's, but different. If Lynn could stand the heat of regular hot wings I'd probably order a bucket from Roni's every once in a while.
As part of trying to save a couple of bucks for the trip I only wanted to have a couple of "expensive" dinners before we left. One of the dinners had to be at Cafe ah PWAH, since I had to see how they held up with the absence of Mark (the ex-chef de cuisine). I had hoped that they had gotten around to changing their menu, but when we got there it was the same menu we'd seen for at least the past year. I mentioned to Mike (our waiter) that I'll just start calling ahead of time to see if they've changed their menu. He said he couldn't wait to see another menu either. I guess it was old on both sides of the table.
We started dinner with the crab cake. I knew I should have went with the leek and sun dried tomato strudel, Lynn and my choice for the best appetizer on the menu, but as great as it is both me and Lynn wanted a change. The crab cake was ok. I'm not sure what they changed since the first time we had the crab cake there, but it's never been as good since.
I was happy to see that the lamb on the menu was named as Australian so those of us who enjoyed the Colorado lamb wouldn't mistake one for the other. I went with the pork tenderloin with mashed sweet potatoes and Lynn went with one of the few entrees we've never had, the hanger steak. The tenderloin was as delicious as usual. The hanger steak (which I think is a terrible cut of meat) was marinated in soy sauce giving the steak a beef jerky flavor. It wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be, and Lynn liked it. Sort of. She didn't like the flavor of the charred parts of the meat so she only ate from the center of the meat. I had to agree that the way the marinade caramelized in the charred parts gave the meat a funny flavor.
At dessert time Lynn and I couldn't agree on a dessert so we got two. I had the fallen chocolate souffle and Lynn had the cherry cheesecake. The first time I had the fallen chocolate souffle I didn't like it at all, but I'm sure that serving was past its prime. When the cake is fresh it's pretty good. The cherry cheesecake was light and the flavor wasn't overwhelmingly cherry. I enjoyed it, and I don't usually care for cherry anything. I really loved the pistachios in the pie crust too so I guess there is one good use for pistachios in cooking.
As you can tell I'm really sick of Cafe ah PWAH's old menu. I'm even sick of writing about it. I believe the really good restaurants change their menus often enough so that fickle people, such as myself, don't get bored with the food. (Keep in mind that's only one of many criteria so don't think I endorse Chili's as a very good restaurant.) Hopefully Cafe ah PWAH will change their menu sometime in the next two months so that I only have to call once to ask about it.
When I saw the announcement for the Canon Powershot Pro1 I thought I finally found a digital camera that would convince me to upgrade. I've been very happy with my Powershot G2 so even though newer cameras have some tempting features they never seemed worth the money. Well the Pro1 has a supposed superior lens compared to previous Canon prosumer digital cameras, an actual wide angle (28mm) portion to it's zoom range, an ultrasonic motor for a quick and silent zoom, and a macro mode that focuses down to 1.2 inches. It was a compelling package for me.
I told Lynn about the camera and she liked the idea of me getting it so she could have a digital camera (my G2) for our trip. Two digital cameras on this trip would be great (assuming Lynn ever learns how to focus properly) so I looked up information for the Pro1, but it wasn't going to be available until April. It wouldn't do me a bit of good. I looked around the internet for information about the camera, and the reviews weren't as favorable as I expected. I'm not disused to negative responses to cameras I like so it wasn't really surprised. I learned a long time ago that people can say bad things (that are true even) about a camera, and it can still take perfectly good pictures in the right hands. It did make me research the camera a little more closely though. There were a couple of things I found I disliked about the camera without ever having seen it. One problem was the lens is slower than the G2 lens, and the other problem is the Pro1 is 3.5 deep, which is one inch more than the G2 and less likely to fit comfortably in my jacket pocket.
I decided to look for an alternative to the Pro1. There were a couple of prerequisites that I had: the camera had to have a vari-angle LCD and use compact flash cards. I find vari-angle LCDs too useful to get a camera without one ever again, and I've already invested in enough compact flash cards that it would be good to be able to swap them with the new camera. That narrowed the field to Nikon and Canon. I looked at a couple of cameras with 1.5 inch LCD panels, and they looked like postage stamps so I made a minimum size of 1.8 inches for the LCD panel a prerequisite too. The Nikon Coolpix 5700 and Canon Powershot G5 were the only cameras to fit all of my criteria. Both cameras were pretty good, but the Coolpix 5700 was 4 inches deep so I knew it wasn't going to fit in a jacket pocket. The G5 is generally known for its noisy pictures, and the camera build felt a little cheap to me. Neither seemed like a good choice until Best Buy reduced the price of the G5 to almost half of what I paid for my G2. To make the deal even sweeter I could get the camera for 12 months zero interest. I bought it.
Now that I've handled the camera for a week I don't think it feels cheap so much as just feels different from the G2. I've got a two gigabyte microdrive and a wide angle adapter (I hope I find it useful) coming to me in the mail for the new camera since I plan on keeping this camera for a very long time.
While we were at Best Buy Lynn got a laptop. I didn't think Lynn needed it, but both of our computers were very outdated, and the laptop will be useful on the trip to download pictures from the cameras.
Finally, I got some guide books and some road atlases for the countries we're going to be driving through in Europe. This trip is costing a lot of money, but I can't wait to go.
On my final day of training in central Phoenix I had lunch at Ichi Ban again, this time with Ken. I was there to try the sukiyaki, which was recommended by Steve, and this time the guy behind the register said, "We don't make that anymore." Ah. The other guy told me on Monday, "We don't have that," which I had interpreted as, "We don't have that today." At a loss for what to order I went with the chicken katsu, and split an order of tempura, also recommended by Steve, with Ken. The chicken katsu was very light and crispy, but it was drowned in katsu sauce. It would have been much better with the katsu sauce on the side since katsu sauce has a very strong flavor that's pleasant in small quantities. The tempura was undercooked, and the tempura sauce was only ok. The tempura might have been better if we didn't order it during the lunch rush, but I'll stick to the tempura at the Ichi Ban on Rural and Southern in Tempe.
Ken had the udon and said it was ok. He said the broth was kind of weak, and it looked like a soy sauce broth so it probably was weak. I think by shear luck I probably had the best thing they made on Monday (the bool kogi). I'd go back for the bool kogi, and might even return for the katsu chicken (with the sauce on the side), but this Ichi Ban seems like the other Ichi Bans I've been to in that they're only good for one or two things.
Today's lunch was at Pho Bang. Me and Ken split an order of spring rolls and I had the pork chop lunch special (which, needless to say, is a very good value). The spring rolls were good, but the lettuce they gave us was pretty sad. We had four small lettuce leaves that were wilted from, what looked like to me, over watering. The spring rolls also had too much meat in them so they weren't the epitome of perfection they used to be. There was too much meat in the spring rolls the last time I was at Pho Bang too so I believe it's their normal way of making the spring rolls now. Pity.
When Ken saw how large the two porks chops I had were I think he might have regretted ordering the grilled pork just a little bit. The pork chops were delicious, and I spent far too much time eating the meat off of the bone. I guess spring rolls will never be the same at Pho Bang, but hopefully the pork will never change.
Today's lunch was at Thai Rama. I enjoy Thai Rama, only for a few specific dishes, but today I wanted to try something different. I looked at their lunch specials (which are a good value) and spotted chicken in red curry with coconut milk. I guess Wild Thaiger wasn't that strange for putting coconut milk in their red curry, but at least Thai Rama warned me about it first. The lunch special includes soup, which tends to be a cup of weak noodle soup that actually tastes delicious anyway, but today's soup was just weak. That's the first time I've disliked the soup so today's soup was probably an exception. My red curry was drowned in coconut milk, but still managed to be spicy. It was better than the red curry at Wild Thaiger, but it wasn't as dynamic as a regular red curry. They also had regular red curry on the lunch menu so I imagine that one's probably better.
Today's lunch wasn't bad, but the tom yum gai is still my main reason for liking Thai Rama.
Ken suggested we make this week a "Best of Central Phoenix Asian Lunch Tour" and visit someplace Vietnamese like Pho Bang or Da Vang tomorrow. I didn't even realize that my last three lunches were at Asian places, but I can easily live off of Asian food if I have enough variety so I agreed to Pho Bang. Friday will probably be at Ichi Ban again so I can try their sukiyaki and maybe their tempura.
Tuesday Ken and I had lunch at Silver Dragon. I like Silver Dragon and Lynn doesn't so I don't get to eat there as often as I would like to. That being the case I wanted my favorite dish there (scallops in XO sauce) instead of something new. Ken went with his old favorite too, beef chow mein Hong Kong style. The chow mein was understated and plenty delicious. The scallops were delicious and the green beans they were served with were perfectly cooked and spicy. It was a good way to spend lunch.
I was surprised how packed Silver Dragon was for lunch, but I have to give them credit for getting the food prepared very quickly. It seemed like five minutes after the waitress took our order our food came out. It's perfect for people with lunch time constraints.
Today I went to the downtown Ichi Ban, one of Steve's favorite restaurants, for lunch. When I walked in I noticed how long and dark the restaurant was. The restaurant was dark because they had the front windows (the only windows in the restaurant) covered. I understood that it was done to keep the western sun out of the restaurant (which is probably pretty vicious in the afternoon), but the feeling of being in a cave was pretty overwhelming.
Steve recommended the sukiyaki and tempura. I read the description of the sukiyaki and it did sound good. I tried to order it, but the guy behind the counter said they didn't have it today. I wasn't in the mood for tempura so I went with the bool kogi instead. When it came a third of the bowl was covered with bool kogi, a third with what looked like octopus, and a third with some sort of green stuff that looked like green onion. The bool kogi was excellent, and the only thing that could have made it better was some pepper. I've never liked octopus, but I've always been willing to try it. This octopus was sliced very thinly and tasted like it was pickled. I actually liked it! (I'm convinced that the way squid and octopus is cut makes most of the difference. Neither one of them has much flavor so if they have an interesting texture, and overly chewy is not interesting, they're actually a good eating experience.) The green stuff tasted kind of like fishy seaweed. In the end I wished they had more beef or octopus in place of the green stuff, but since I ordered a large bowl that was it.
I didn't care for the cave like atmosphere of the downtown Ichi Ban, but it was one of the better places I could have eaten lunch at. Maybe I'll return there for sukiyaki later this week?
I'm in training again this week so that means a couple of things: one, I get to eat in central Phoenix for a whole week again, and two, I might actually get home at a decent hour. Today I got home early and I had the opportunity to sit outside and smoke a cigar. For a day that was hot (especially when you're waiting in the line for the gas pump at CostCo) it was pretty nice on the patio. I sat there reading Rick Steves' Paris guidebook while listening to the birds chirp and the pigeons coo. It was very relaxing. I felt like I was the embodiment of serene. Then I read a sentence I never thought I'd read in a guidebook. "Dildos abound." I can't wait to go on our trip, but not for that.
Every time Lynn gets sick delivery food sounds good to me. The only delivery place I know around this neighborhood that's halfway decent is Red Dragon. This last time we got sesame scallops, lemon chicken (Lynn's pick), and garlic green beans. The sesame scallops were prepared exactly like the coral scallops; the scallops were battered and fried, and served with a sauce and broccoli. The only difference was the sauce, this one being sweet and tangy. It was pretty good, but the scallops could have been a little less battered. Lynn's lemon chicken was battered using a heavier batter, deep fried, and served with its sauce on the side (a nice touch for delivery so the chicken could remain crispy if it didn't get soft by steaming itself in the container). The chicken wasn't bad, but the sauce was thin and didn't have nearly enough lemon flavor. Lynn liked it, but she was sick so what did she know. The garlic green beans didn't have much garlic in them, and they were too soft for my tastes. The only positive about them was that there was a little spice to them that was pleasant.
Red Dragon didn't fare very well this time around, but at the rate Lynn gets sick I'm bound to order from them again, and they'll probably do better.
The trip to Pizzeria Bianco got me curious about Italian style pizza in the Valley, but I wasn't even sure there was another Italian style pizza place in Phoenix. Luckily someone reminded me that Classic Italian Pizza existed. I had been there years ago, and I didn't like it because it tasted like they didn't salt their dough. It was possible that they had one bad night so I decided to give them another try.
Lunch began with bread sticks that were really good. The flavor of the bread sticks was familiar, and when I finally figured out why it was familiar it was because it tasted like Belizean fry bread. Naturally I'm rather fond the of flavor so I was tempted to eat all the bread sticks before our food came out (and almost did).
We started with a nizza (nicoise) salad of lettuce, tuna, hard boiled egg, ricotta cheese (aka the cheese of the devil), olives, and some other stuff topped with a vinaigrette. The tuna had a good flavor, but I remembered why I tend to avoid most composed salads (except capreses); I'm too lazy to want to try and put the ingredients together. The salad was decent, but I won't be ordering it again.
We went with two individual pizzas instead of one large pizza for the variety. Lynn got the Margherita pizza (tomato sauce, mozzarella, and basil) and I had the pork sausage pizza (sausage, onions, mushrooms, and bell pepper). My pizza was amazing; I couldn't think of one thing that would have made it better. The crust, pizza sauce, and combination of ingredients was perfect. Of course I was also comparing the pizza to Pizzeria Bianco, and the only real differences (besides the fact that this was superior to the comparable Bianco Wiseguy pizza) was the crust wasn't as crisp as Bianco's, and the pizza sauce was herby. I can take my crust crispy, or not, but Lynn's preference was definitely for the softer crust at Classic Italian Pizza. I tried Lynn's Margherita pizza, and found that while the herby pizza sauce was perfect on my pizza it was completely out of place on her's. We both agreed that Pizzeria Bianco made the better Margherita.
We had canolli for dessert, and it almost good; the filling was smooth and sweet, but not too sweet. I would have really enjoyed it if it wasn't completely covered in cinnamon. I avoided the cinnamon on top only to discover that there was cinnamon in the filling too! I don't know why they thought that was a good idea, but it wasn't.
Anyway, I was more than pleasantly surprised how good the pizza can be at Classic Italian Pizza, and I hope to go back there sometime soon (but it'll probably be after our trip) to try some of their other pizzas.
I had the kalbi at Korean Garden for lunch today, and they made it differently. They used to cut straight through the ribs resulting in meat and bones that were around a quarter of an inch thick. Today the ribs were cut about three inches thick, and the meat was cut off of the bones. This effected the flavor because the hand cut meat was thicker and the marinade didn't soak in as well. The kalbi was good, but not as good as it was only two weeks ago. I hope this change is only temporary since I only recently rediscovered the place. On a positive note, they had the stewed potato side dish again, and it was delicious.
Lynn and I were at the Phoenix Matsuri Festival last Saturday. I looked around at the food booths, and nothing looked good. I had already tried the red bean paste mochi [pounded rice] balls, nikuman [bread stuffed with curried meat], and yakitori [grilled skewered meat] before and they weren't that good, and these were the same food vendors as last year. I decided my money would be better spent trying a real Japanese restaurant that was new to me so we headed to Tempe and Zipangu.
The strip mall facade of Zipangu does an excellent job hiding the hip, almost clubby interior. (I could see the place being open late on Friday night for dancing and sushi.) The first thing I tried was the sushi. We had a California roll, unagi [fresh water eel], and tai [red snapper] nigiri sushi. The unagi was decent, but considering how much really good unagi I've had it was below average comparatively. The California roll was also very average. I was looking forward to the tai since I haven't had it since I was in from Japan, but the sushi chef was a little too generous with the wasabi and that was all I could taste. It doesn't look like I'll be ordering sushi at Zipangu again.
They had ramen on the menu, and while we were both sorely tempted to try it, we went with bento boxes. I had the aji katsu [fried mackerel] and Lynn had the ginger beef. The bento boxes came with miso soup, which tasted rather weak, a croquette, gyoza, salad, and rice. The croquette was the decent, but not as good as the crouettes at Toh Zan Nagazaki Grill. The gyoza were also decent, but not as good as the gyoza at Bangkok Express. (Seeing a theme here?) The salad had a strange tangy, creamy dressing that was a little too strange. The high point of all the sides was the rice, which was topped with a furikake that was grated bonito and sesame seeds. While most bonito is too fishy for me this was a high quality bonito with a smoky and meaty quality that made the rice taste great.
As average as everything else was the aji katsu was amazing; it was crispy while not greasy, perfectly cooked, and so very tasty. That dish alone merits a return trip. (When I go back I'll have to check the menu for tonkatsu.) Lynn's ginger beef tasted kind of like bool kogi, only not as good as bool kogi. Lynn liked it.
Naturally Zipangu had to do one thing amazingly well so that I'll return there four or five times to try and figure out what else they do well. Hopefully it's a lot.
"Philips' Fluid Lenses" talks about an interesting development in digital photography that actually has nothing whatsoever to do with the image sensor. Philips plans on mass producing lenses that focus using liquid and electricity. They're small, lightweight, and probably don't cost very much to manufacture. It'll be interesting to see what kind of new tiny cameras will be possible with these kind of lenses.
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This last Saturday I had an appointment in central Phoenix. Lynn was with me so I was hoping we would have a chance to stop at Arai for a fruit tart or two. I thought we didn't have enough time so we skipped it. When I got into Phoenix I had about 30 minutes to kill. I was by my post office box, and still in the bakery mood, remembered that Karl's Quality Bakery was in the area. We picked up a slice of quiche Lorraine (bacon, ham, and onion), a bavarian fruit tart, and a farmer bread. The quiche was a little moist for my tastes, but the flavor was very good. The bacon, ham, onion, and some sort of cheese all melded beautifully. The bavarian fruit tart was decent, but it wasn't an adequate replacement for the fruit tart at Arai. The custard didn't taste as good as it should have, and the crust didn't seem to add anything to the flavor either. (A fairer comparison might have been with Karl's regular fruit tart though.) We took the farmer bread home and ate it with fondue (that was the second time we've made fondue at home in less than a month). The bread was a huge disappointment; it was a wheat loaf, but it lacked a good wheat flavor. I've had better wheat beard from the stuff they stock at the supermarket.
Karl's seems very hit and miss, but it is fun to eat through everything to figure out what I like. Next time I'm at Karl's I hope to try their pizza.
Normally I don't put jokes on this site, but I really liked this particular joke because it reminded me of the Ananse and Tiger stories my mom used to tell me as a child. My favorite thing about those stories is how Ananse was so clever it seemed like he could outsmart anybody. Below the joke is an Ananse story I found online. The story is good, but it's a better experience if someone tells the story to you.
The Joke
A wealthy old lady decided to go on a photo safari in Africa. She took her faithful pet dachshund along for company. One day, the dachshund starts chasing butterflies and before long the dachshund discovers that he is lost. So, wandering about, he notices a leopard heading rapidly in his direction with the obvious intention of having lunch. The dachshund thinks, "OK, I'm in deep trouble now! Then he noticed some bones on the ground close by, and immediately settles down to chew on the bones with his back to the approaching cat. Just as the leopard is about to leap, the dachshund exclaims loudly, "Boy, that was one delicious leopard. I wonder if there are any more around here."
Hearing this, the leopard halts his attack in mid-stride, as a look of terror comes over him, and slinks away into the trees. "Whew," says the leopard. "That was close. That dachshund nearly had me."
Meanwhile, a monkey who had been watching the whole scene from a nearby tree figures he can put this knowledge to good use and trade it for protection from the leopard. So, off he goes. But the dachshund saw him heading after the leopard with great speed, and figured that something must be up.
The monkey soon catches up with the leopard, spills the beans and strikes a deal for himself with the leopard. The leopard is furious at being made a fool of and says, "Here monkey, hop on my back and see what's going to happen to that conniving canine."
Now the dachshund sees the leopard coming with the monkey on his back, and thinks, "What am I going to do now?"
But instead of running, the dog sits down with his back to his attackers, pretending he hasn't seen them yet... and just when they get close enough to hear, the dachshund says "Where's that darn monkey? I sent him off half an hour ago to bring me another leopard!"
The Ananse Story
Long ago, the Tiger ruled the world because he was the strongest of all the animals. Everybody did what Tiger said to do. Everything was named by whatever Tiger wanted. So many things were named Tiger - tiger moth, tiger lily, tiger nuts, even tiger stories!
Ananse, the spider, was the weakest creature in the whole world. He had to tiptoe around on his eight, hairy legs, walking so quietly around Tiger. Ananse thought of what Tiger had and what he, Ananse, did not have. Ananse did not think that Tiger should have everything.
One night, when the usual night-time stories were being told - the Tiger Stories - Ananse imagined how famous he would be if all the stories were named after him. When it grew late and the storyteller had finished, Ananse crept up closer and closer to Tiger.
"Tiger, oh Tiger," began Ananse in his nasal voice. "I would like something of yours. I want all the stories to be named after me."
When the other animals heard this they started to laugh. The parrot squawked, the owl hooted, the bullfrog croaked, and the monkeys screeched. Then there was a sudden, silent moment as they all waited to hear what Tiger would say.
"Very well, have your wish," growled Tiger.
All the animals were shocked and surprised. Had Tiger given feeble Ananse his stories so easily? But Tiger was loudly clearing his throat to say more to Ananse.
"First," said Tiger, gruffly. "You must do me two favors. Two favors from the weakest counts for one favor from the strongest, does it not?"
Ananse crawled closer to Tiger and faced him, asked, "What are the two favors you want from me for your stories?"
"I have always wanted my own hive of bees for honey," said Tiger, hungrily. "You must bring me a large gourd filled with live, buzzing bees. That is the first favor."
When the listening animals heard this, they began to twitter and laugh again. The green parrot squawked, the owl hooted, the bullfrog croaked, and the monkeys screeched. How could little, weak, feeble Ananse, the spider, catch a gourd of live, buzzing bees? Just one or two stings would kill him.
"And for the second favor," roared Tiger. "You must bring me Mr. Snake alive - Mr. Snake who lives by the river near the grove of bamboo trees. I have often wanted to sit and talk to Mr. Snake, since I have heard he knows many things. But he never comes close to me."
Tiger jumped up from his place of honor and soon disappeared quietly into the night. As Tiger left, the other animals began to twitter and then laugh all over again. The green parrot squawked, the owl hooted, the bullfrog croaked, and the monkeys screeched. How could little, weak Ananse, the spider, capture Mr. Snake alive?
Spider did not mind the animals that were laughing at him. He went to his house that night thinking of a way he could, first, get the gourd of bees for Tiger.
The next morning, Ananse woke up very early to find a large, empty gourd. When he did, he crawled through the woods, talking and whispering to himself.
"How many? I wish I knew how many? Oh! I wonder how many. How many can it hold?"
Lizard asked Ananse why he was carrying an empty gourd. Centipede asked him why he was whispering to himself. And when Queen Bee flew by, she too, became curious.
Queen Bee buzzed, "Why are you carrying an empty gourd, Ananse? Why are you talking to yourself?"
Ananse answered, "Hmm... Queen Bee, I made a bet with Tiger, but from the look of things I am going to lose the bet. Tiger bet with me that I could not tell him how many bees an empty gourd can hold. Queen Bee, what can I tell him?"
"There is only one way," said Queen Bee. "You have to count us the bees while we fly inside. Then when the gourd is full we will fly out. That way you will win the bet with Tiger."
"That will do it, yes, it will!" said Ananse.
He held up the opening of the gourd to the sunlight so that the bees could see their way it. Then the Queen Bee gave the word and all the bees in her hive, filled with honey, flew into the gourd. While they flew in, Ananse counted each one.
"One, two, three, buzzing bees, Oh!
One, two, three, buzzing bees, Oh!
Come to me, fly to me, all you bees.
Come to me, fly to me, all you bees.
One, two, three hundred buzzing bees...
One, two, three hundred...Ananse stories!"
When the last bee flew in, Ananse corked up the opening and hurried off to Tiger. He found Tiger in his courtyard, yawning.
"Look, Tiger!" cried Ananse in his nasal voice. "Here is your gourd of living bees filled with honey. Do you hear them buzzing? You have your own hive of honey bees, Tiger!"
Tiger stared, without believing what he saw and heard.
"Is this enough, Tiger? Or do you still want Mr. Snake?" asked Ananse, proudly.
"What! Of course I want Mr. Snake. The strongest has set the weakest two tasks. And you have only done one. Tomorrow, bring me Mr. Snake," growled Tiger.
Before dawn the next morning, Ananse went down to the river where snake lived. He took his cutlass with him and soon passed Mr. Snake's hole. He woke up Snake, who hissed at him.
"What are you doing here so early, Ananse? I might as well eat you for waking me up," said Mr. Snake, "And what are you doing with your cutlass?"
"Oh, Snake, sorry to disturb you. I came to win a bet with Tiger. I told Tiger that you are the longest animal in the world - longer than the tallest bamboo tree. But he says that you are shorter than the tallest bamboo tree."
"Of course, I am longer than that bamboo tree. Can't you see that?" hissed Snake loudly as he stretched himself.
"Now that the sun is up, you look very, very long. But the bamboo tree looks just a little bit longer. I am not sure I have won bet."
"What are you saying, Ananse? You don't know what you are saying. I am much, much longer than that tree. Cut it down with your cutlass and put the tree beside me and I will show you that I am longer."
Ananse quickly scampered over to the clump of bamboo trees, cut down the tallest and trimmed its branches off. He placed the tree on the ground next to the snake and tied Snake's tail to the end of the tree. But the tree was longer.
"Stretch, Snake!" called out Ananse. "I want to win my bet."
The animals were all awake and heard Ananse call out to Snake. The fire- flies came to see what was going on. They all joined in, shouting, "Stretch, Snake, stretch!"
So snake stretched his long body longer and longer. But still the tree was longer.
Ananse said, "I will tie you at the middle and you can stretch even more."
The animals kept on shouting to snake,
"Stretch, Snake, Stretch!
Stretch, Snake, Stretch!
Six more inches, you can do it!
Five, four, three, two, one.....done!"
But, at that moment, Ananse tied Snake's head to the bamboo tree. All the animals fell silent. There was Mr. Snake gagged and ready to be carried to Tiger.
From then on most stories have been called "Ananse Stories."
Occasionally my favorite restaurants actually get new menu items (or old ones that are new to me). The other night Lynn and I were at La Famiglia (Chandler, AZ) when I noticed that they had Philly cheese steaks on the menu. I've never had one there before and couldn't wait to try it. The sandwich had bell peppers, onions, mushrooms, and some sort of cheese, and was served on a sesame roll. The beef had a really good flavor, but there wasn't enough beef on the sandwich. I even had a couple of bites that were nothing but vegetables and mushrooms. I'd order the Philly cheese steak again, but next time I'd see if I can get more meat if I pay a couple of bucks extra.
I hadn't been to The Barbecue Company (Phoenix, AZ) in months (not intentional, but due to a bad memory), so when Murray suggested them for lunch today I thought it was a great idea. I never noticed that they had chicken wings on the menu, but Long did and ordered them with the rib tips. He was nice enough to let me and Murray try one, but that was before he figured out how mediocre the rib tips were. The wings had a great flavor (I think there was a hint of teriyaki in the flavor), but I thought they needed to be cooked just a tad longer; there was a little pinkness in the wing, and chicken is one of those things I'm paranoid about being undercooked. Long said the wings that me and Murray had were the only ones that looked a little pink. I dug the wings, and I'd order those again.
I had a burger for lunch at The Barbecue Company, and I think their beef today was fattier than it used to be. It wasn't bad, but it tasted greasy when it never did before. Another small change I noticed was that the side salad had grated parmesan on it instead of shredded parmesan. Neither of the changes are enough to keep me from ordering my usual burger and salad at BBQ Co., but I do wonder if they signal a downhill slide.
Last week I was happy because I had decided on our vacation itinerary, and started reserving hotels. I knew the second half of the driving trip was ambitious so I double checked the drive times, and it was too much time on the road for us. I've already been on a tour that covered a lot of ground, and while we did see a lot I didn't want to repeat the amount of time we spent driving. I had to rethink the second half of the trip, and dropped our visit to Venice. It was disappointing, but I know we'll hit Venice when we visit Italy someday. We'll still have a lot of driving with our final itinerary, but it'll be fun. Here's the final itinerary:
I've made most of the hotel reservations and we'll be staying in some interesting places. In addition to staying at some old hotels with character we'll also get to stay in a couple of houses, a chateau, a converted bank, above an English pub, and possibly in a castle. Of course the whole reason I was making reservations was because I needed to in order to get a visa for France. Well last Saturday I got a letter informing me that my citizenship swearing in ceremony is next month. I'll become an American citizen two weeks before I go on vacation. It's great, but it also makes it unlikely that I'll get an American passport before I leave the country because an expedited passport takes about two weeks to process. Ultimately I still have to get a visa just in case I don't get my American passport on time.
I can't wait until I'm a citizen so I'll never have to deal with this kind of stuff again.
Today I went to Korean Garden for lunch again. This time I tried the bool kogi [beef] lunch box. I didn't like the bool kogi as much as the kalbi [short ribs] I had last time, but the bool kogi that sat in the sauce at the bottom of the lunch box was great. We got seven condiments again, and this time I had a few I really liked: the kim chi, a cucumber salad, and a potato dish that tasted like it was stewed. I'm very happy with the new Korean Garden, and my friend was convinced that they're worth eating at again (because she liked Korean Garden when it wasn't so good). Now I need to get back to eating at my other favorite lunch places.
Not being a citizen of any country that gets into France without a visa means I have to fill out all sorts of paperwork to enter the country. I thought the paperwork for my Japanese visa was annoying, but France is definitely the worst so far. One of things I have to do is have confirmed hotel reservations for every day I'm in Europe. This isn't going to be the "seat of my pants" trip I was hoping it was going to be, but it does force me to start my research. I've already decided that we'll be spending time in Bern, Lucerne, and Lugano Switzerland. Eleven free days seemed like a lot of time to work with, but now that I've started planning them it doesn't seem like much. Of course now that I'm researching my trip my obsessiveness has kicked in and has drained my motivation to write.
The books I've been reading lately have been travel guides so it's taken me forever to finish, Tom Holt's "Nothing But Blue Skies", which I started a couple of months ago. For a fantasy book the plot is actually original, and the book is entertaining. It's the same way I felt about Terry Pratchett before I burned out on his writing.
When we were walking to Tokyo Stop I noticed a bakery named Arai Pastry in the same strip mall. We stopped there after we were done with lunch. The place was a pastry shop instead of a bakery, like I thought, and the displays looked pretty good. Since it was a Japanese pastry shop they made some things you wouldn't find at a French pastry shop, like green tea mousse. The green tea mousse intrigued me so I got one and a cream puff. Murray and Long also got some stuff too: a slice of chocolate cake, a slice of cheesecake, and a fruit tart. The cream puff was creamy, and not very sweet. It was good, but nothing special. The green tea mousse had a strong green tea flavor that had a fishy quality to it. I couldn't stand to finish half of it, and neither could Long. I got to eat half of the fruit tart, and that was delicious. The pastry shell was good enough to eat by itself, and the fruit only made things better. I'd definitely go back for the fruit tart. I didn't try either one of the cakes, but Long told me the cheesecake was nasty and didn't taste like cheesecake, and Murray told me the chocolate cake was light, tasty, and not too sweet.
Between Arai Pastry, Pleaissant Croissant, and El Sol Bakery I've got fruit tarts, croissants, and empanadas covered. Now if I could only find a place for bread I'd be set.
I've been looking for a good source of tonkatsu [breaded and fried pork cutlet] (other than my own kitchen) since I got back from Japan. The other day I was doing a little web searching when I ran across "this" web page written by some Japanese lady in Arizona. I had Steve translate it for me, and she said that Tokyo Stop had tonkatsu similar to Japanese tonkatsu. That was endorsement enough for me to want to try it.
Today I went to Tokyo Stop with Murray and Long for lunch. I got an order of the tonkatsu, and an order of edamame (because I'm a total sucker for boiled soy beans). Long also got the tonkatsu, but Murray (the rebel) got a combo with curry chicken and chicken katsu. The edamame was ok. I don't know all the ways they can be made incorrectly, but like most extremely simple things they're not good most of the time. When I looked at the tonkatsu, it was an unappetizing blob of pork, onion, and egg. It didn't look a thing like the tonkatsu I was used to, which was plain fried pork either covered with tonkatsu sauce or tonkatsu sauce on the side. Murray said he had it both ways in Japan so I was a little relieved. I tried it, and the odd tonkatsu tasted better than it looked. I'd eat it again, but I wouldn't say it was great. I also tried some of Murray's chicken katsu (which was plain, but he had to ask for the tonkatsu sauce) and chicken curry. The curry tasted like all the other heatless "curry flavored" Japanese curries I've had in Phoenix. It would have been a disappointment if I had expected something better. The chicken katsu wasn't very good either. Tokyo Stop isn't a bad change of pace, but I don't see myself frequenting the place.
My cousin Carl in Belize is getting married in March of next year, and Lynn and I have been invited. I think it'd be cool to go back to Belize, but I wish the timing was a little different. After Europe I wanted to concentrate on buying a house and not take any big trips until late next year at the earliest. I felt a little reluctant about going when my mom told me, but a couple of my cousins came from Belize for my wedding. My cousin Carl even made me a wedding present so I feel like I'm a little obligated to go. When I told Lynn about the wedding she was very excited about the entire thing. Her enthusiasm was enough to convince me to go. I'm sure it'll be a good time so long as I don't think about paying for it.
I've always considered Korean Garden the worst Korean restaurant I'd ever eaten at. That wasn't as bad as it sounded because all the other Korean restaurants I've ever been to have been pretty damn good so that meant Korean Garden's merely decent food was far below average for a Korean restaurant. I did enjoy their lunch boxes because of the variety of stuff that would come in them (like man du, kim bob, bean cake, and salad). It had been a long time since I was last there, but the urge struck me today. Long and I walked in, and the interior was repainted and the carpet had been replaced with tile. You know what this hinted at right? Ownership change. When we got the menu, and it was completely different, I knew the restaurant had new owners. I was curious how this would affect the food.
I ordered a kalbi [barbecue beef ribs] lunch box, which wasn't available on the old menu, and Long ordered the pork bool kogi lunch box. Our meal started with bowls of miso soup which were quite weak. Neither one of us finished it. The waiter then brought out seven condiments and rice, and laid them on the table. I was surprised to see condiments, because you normally had to order an entree to get them, but I was happy since they're one of the best things about Korean food. Our lunch boxes came and in addition to the meat they also had cold cellophane noodles, two pieces of maki [rolled] sushi, a croquette, and a salad. It was a ton of food! The quantity didn't affect the quality of the kalbi either. It was utterly delicious, and I stripped all of the meat and fat off the bones. I had some of Long's pork bool kogi and didn't like it, but I almost never like restaurant pork bool kogi. The noodles were nice in an understated sort of way. The sushi wasn't bad with a little wasabi and soy sauce, but the croquette was sweet and disturbing. Neither one of us finished our croquettes either. The salad dressing had a nice sesame flavor, and it was blazing hot. I loved it. Of the condiments I didn't find anything to love, but the kim chi was pretty good. I was impressed to see that one of the condiments was a salad type thing made with dried fish and peppers. The flavor was way too strong for me to enjoy, but I appreciated the opportunity to try something I had never seen before.
I walked out of Korean Garden stuffed, and ready for a return visit. It would appear that the ownership change at Korean Garden had a positive affect, even if the new look to the dining room is ugly compared to the old dining room. I have a friend who used to love Korean Garden (specifically for their bi bim bop, which I'd never had), and she tried them after the ownership change and didn't like the place. I'm going to take her to lunch there so she can either try the bi bim bop again or try something I know is tasty, like the kalbi. I can't imagine their bi bim bop is bad, because even their rice is delicious.
I've never bought into the Riedel marketing, that every grape varietal needs a different kind of specialty glass. I don't doubt that some wines taste better in certain styles of glasses than others, but I doubt it's to the degree they suggest. The other day I read the article "O Tempora, O Mores: New Riedel Stemware Is Stemless", and I think a wine tumbler would be kind of cool. I don't know if they'll make wine taste any better, but at least they're novel.
I'd never heard of Pizzeria Bianco before I started reading Chowhound, but a quick search on Yahoo revealed that Pizzeria Bianco was pretty well known nationally. I tried to eat there a couple of times after I learned of its existence, but their "no reservation" policy leads to long waits and I have a serious aversion to waiting for a table. When KJ Hart from Chowhound volunteered to make a reservation for a group I jumped at the opportunity.
Seven of us were there so we tried almost everything on the menu. We started with the spiedini (baked prosciutto wrapped fontina with rosemary on a bed of arugula(?)), antipasto (too many things for me to write), and a caprese salad (mozzarella, tomato, olive oil, and basil). The spiedini was billed as amazing, but I didn't find it any better than a deep fried mozzarella stick, and deep fried mozzarella sticks don't reek of rosemary. I found it a little better when eaten with the arugula, but I wouldn't order it again. The antipasto was impressive. The roasted mushrooms (quite meaty), roasted asparagus (which was much better by itself instead of on focaccia with other ingredients), roasted onions (so sweet), and broccoli au gratin (which had an unexpected spicy kick to it) were all excellent. Vegetables should be that good all the time! The worst items on the plate (and that's comparatively because they were all good) were the typical antipasto things like cheese and salami. The caprese salad was very good, but its only real distinction was that the tomatoes were riper than you get at most restaurants. Next time they should try putting a little black pepper on it. The big winner of the appetizers was the antipasto, which was good enough to make a dinner of if you ordered three of them.
There are six pizzas on the menu, and we ordered five of them: the Sonny Boy (tomato sauce, salami, and calamata olive), the Rosa (parmesan, red onion, and pistachio), the Bianco Verde (tomato sauce, ricotta, and arugula(?)), the Wiseguy (olive oil, cheese, roasted onions, and fennel sausage), and the Margherita (tomato sauce, mozzarella, and basil). The only pizza we didn't try was the Marinara, which was a cheeseless tomato sauce, garlic, onion, and oregano pizza. From the descriptions I thought the Wiseguy, with its tasty sweet onions, would be my favorite. It turned out to be a disappointment for me. Once again all the ingredients were very good individually, but the whole seemed to be lacking flavor. I don't know if it was the olive oil, but the flavor explosion I expected turned out to be a flavor whimper. I didn't have much of the Sonny Boy, but what I tasted was very salty. Lynn said I probably got the saltiest bite of the whole slice because there were a couple of pieces of salami and some olive on it. I didn't care for it, but the Sonny Boy turned out to be Lynn's second favorite pizza. The Rosa was a pizza I didn't expect to like because of the pistachio (my previous experience has taught me that pistachio has no place in prepared food whatsoever), but it was actually a very good pizza. The parmesan, and the lack of tomato sauce, made the flavors very dense, but the red onion helped give it some life and the pistachio actually provided a nice texture. (The reason the pistachios were good is because the flavor of the parmesan was so strong that you couldn't taste them.) Even though the Rosa was my second favorite pizza I don't think I could handle six slices of its flavors. Lynn didn't care for the Rosa because there was too much parmesan for her tastes. The Bianco Verde actually had a nice flavor for a pizza that utilized the cheese of the devil (also known as ricotta). I wouldn't order it, but I'd eat a slice of it if someone else ordered it. Finally we get to the Margherita, which was both Lynn and my favorite. It was a brilliant combination that far surpassed its parts (and put the tasty tomato, mozzarella, and basil sandwich at Pane Bianco to shame). The only complaint I had about the pizza is that it could have used more basil because the one basil leaf per slice I was getting wasn't enough. If the Margherita pizza was the only pizza they made at Pizzeria Bianco I'd be happy with their selection.
We only had one dessert to choose from so we had the blood orange Italian ice. I've had blood orange quite a few times, but this was the first time I really liked it. The flavor was nice and sweet, yet it still had an astringent quality to it. I was impressed.
Afterwards half the group went home, but I was ready to relax at the bar (Bar Bianco) next door. We had some wine, and an interesting chat with JK Grence and Patricia (who was the one who told me about El Tlacoyo). I had a good time that night, and was happy for have a chance to meet and eat with a bunch of vocal food nuts.
Now on the all important pizza evaluation and comparison. Lynn didn't like how thin and crispy the crust was at Pizzeria Bianco, her preference being New York style, but she did enjoy the pizza. I've never minded thin crust, even if it's not something I go out of my way for. I noticed a strong resemblance between Pizzeria Bianco's crust and the crust at Patsy Grimaldi's Pizzeria (Scottsdale, AZ), but everything else about the Pizzeria Bianco pizza was superior (except for the pepperoni at Grimaldi's, because Pizzeria Bianco doesn't offer pepperoni). The pizza at Pizzeria Bianco was better than any Italian style pizza I've had in Arizona, but that's an easy feat because Arizona is so pizza poor. The pizza I had at La Fourno (Philadelphia, PA) is still the best Italian style pizza I've ever had. Their crust wasn't as crispy as Pizzeria Bianco's, but their crust also had a better flavor. I'm not sure if the lure of antipasto and Margherita pizza is enough to make me overlook having to wait for a table at Pizzeria Bianco, even if the wait is at a comfy bar, but time will tell when the urge strikes.
What do you get when you combine Hong Kong cinema, vampires, kung fu, good special effects, cheesy music, and comedy? "The Twins Effect", (or as the title appeared on our tv guide, "The Vampire Effect"). I had a feeling the movie was going to be awful, but after the first five minutes I was hooked. The action got my attention, and the humor kept the movie unique and entertaining. It was quite campy, and as if to prove the point Jackie Chan shows up in a couple of goofy humorous scenes. The movie isn't rocket science, but if you like movies like "Big Trouble in Little China", then you'll probably enjoy "The Vampire Effect".
Saturday I took Lynn to Pane Bianco so we could both try their sandwiches. Lynn got their mozzarella, tomato, and basil sandwich while I got the soppressata (an Italian sausage), aged provolone, roasted pepper, and basil sandwich. We also got a focaccia with gruyere, asparagus, and basil. We went to a park to eat because it was too nice a day to bother sitting on their patio. The first thing we started on was the focaccia. The bread was very good, and the ingredients were very good individually, but the asparagus didn't seem to go too well with the other ingredients. The focaccia would have been much better with gruyere, basil, and a little black pepper. Lynn thought I was just being picky wanting black pepper, but later we tried it with black pepper and she agreed it actually was much better.
I tried my sandwich and I was impressed. The roasted peppers were actually the best roasted peppers I've ever had, and the combination of flavors was perfect this time. The sweetness from the roasted peppers, mildly spicy flavor of the sausage, and musty cheese flavor of the provolone was great. There also wasn't too much salt on the focaccia this time, although Lynn and I both discovered that the large dips in the focaccia collected far too much salt. Lynn's sandwich had a lighter flavor, but the combination was also perfect. I preferred my sandwich to Lynn's, and she preferred her's to mine. We both agreed we'd pay $8 for those sandwiches again.
I was very happy with lunch, and even happier that I remembered this time to try the chocolate they put in our bag. (The last time I threw all my garbage in the bag and threw it away, and it wasn't until I was halfway home that I remembered there was a chocolate in there.) It was cream filled, and sort of disgusting. I don't know what the flavor of the filling was supposed to be, but it was fuchsia colored and tasted like Pepto-Bismol. What it did was put me in the mood for some good chocolate so I got some white chocolate covered cashew brittle and some almond turtles from See's Candy. It was a great way to end a great lunch.
Pane Bianco lived up to the expectations set by their prices and their reputation, and now I can't wait to try Pizzeria Bianco (which we'll be going to today with a group of people from Chowhound).
One of the things training has always been good for is getting me enthusiastic about things totally unrelated to training. This week has been especially fruitful because I've started a RSS news feed, got a search engine that I'm almost ready to implement, and I've learned a lot about XML and XSLT.
If you don't know what a news feed is you're not alone; up until two days ago I didn't know what a news feed was either. Basically it's a file that you register in your news reader (to find one try www.download.com and enter something like "RSS news reader" in the search field) to view recent headlines from whatever sites you registered RSS files. It's kind of cool because you can tell when I've updated something without having to visit the site. (If you want to register my RSS file it's at http://www.iamjacksbrain.com/IamJacksRSS.xml.) I've also registered my news feed with a couple of news feed aggregators so hopefully it'll attract people with similar interests. (I'm not exactly sure why I want to attract people so I'll have to figure that out someday.)
My search engine is almost ready to go. The only thing I need to do is create a search button, which I should have that done this weekend. The main reason I wanted a search engine is so that it would be easy to look for specific restaurant reviews. It's not as good as putting all my restaurant stuff in a database, but it'll do for now.
Taco Bell has made me very happy today because today I found out that they have brought back the most delicious thing they've ever had on their menu, the club chulupa! There's something about the combination of grilled chicken, bacon, fried bread, and their spicy-creamy sauce that makes for excellent eating. It looks like I'll be at Taco Bell a lot more often now.
Today was my last day in training so I wanted to end on a high note. Pho Bang has been one of my favorite restaurants for years, and one of the few restaurants on that side of town that I hadn't visited yet. Lunch was a small order of spring rolls, and the grilled pork lunch special with a salad. The first time I ever had the spring rolls at Pho Bang fireworks went off, and my world shifted 5 degrees towards Vietnam. Well these weren't the same spring rolls. They were good, but there was extra meat and carrot in them throwing the flavors out of the balance. There was so much meat I had a hard time tasting the cilantro and mint I had wrapped around the spring roll! The lunch special was much better. The salad was lettuce, tomato, and a little shaved onion with a simple dressing and a brilliant topping of fried scallions and black pepper. (The fried scallions and black pepper added the sharp contrast the salad needed.) The grilled pork was tender (which is amazing considering how thin they slice the pork), tasty, and had really good crispy edges. It was a very good lunch.
Pho Bang still makes some really tasty food, and the lunch special is a bargain at less than $4 (not including a drink). Of course the service there is lousy and the nonsmoking section is any table where someone isn't actually smoking at so it does come at a price. If you prefer better service there's always Da Vang just down the street.
Aside: I noticed when I walked into Khai Hoan the first time after the Tempe smoking ban how much better I enjoyed the restaurant when I didn't have to breath second hand smoke. I've read that Paris restaurants are notoriously smokey so it'll be interesting to see how that works out.
Today I had lunch with Ken at Honey Bear's. I expected lunch to be damn good, but it turns out the downtown location of Honey Bear's isn't nearly as good as the east Phoenix location. Ken had mentioned that the downtown location wasn't good the last time he went there, and I was surprised; I've eaten there over the years as I've attended different training sessions downtown and it's always been pretty good. Today it wasn't. There was an odd flavor to the ribs that I didn't like, and I think it was due to the meat being boiled. I tried a little of the pulled pork that Ken ordered, and it had the exact same flavor. My disgust was cumulative and resulted in me not finishing my lunch. Today was the only day I've ever thrown meat away at Honey Bear's.
[Addendum: I forgot to mention that the booth seats at the downtown location of Honey Bear's were amazingly uncomfortable. When I left my ass really hurt, and that's not something that happens very often.]
The last three days I've been sitting in C# training completely on top of things. I knew the basics of the language backwards and forwards. Today the instructor started on the subject of object oriented programming (OOP), and my eyes glazed over. It was so boring. I knew a little about OOP before this training, but this was going over all sorts of advanced topics that I should've cared about. What's worse is the instructor from last week recommended a really good web site for learning web technologies (http://www.w3schools.com) so I wanted to read about XML during the lecture. I got some reading in and tonight I experimented with XML a little bit. Hopefully it'll be useful for either my web site or my job.
Lynn's working late these days so I've been making dinner. Tonight I didn't feel like making anything so we picked up dinner at Iguana Mack's. I was planning on getting a dinner salad, but the special of the day looked so good that I had to get it. The special was grilled Mahi Mahi in a lemon cream sauce with basil and tomatoes, and green beans. Lynn had the pot roast sandwich (pot roast, mashed potatoes, fried onions, and mushroom sauce on ciabatta bread). The grilled fish was pretty good, and even though I've had better cream sauces I thought this one was pretty tasty. The green beans had a nice flavor too. Lynn hated her sandwich, but it turned out that I liked that a lot too. The pot roast tasted like beef jerky. It was a little salty on its own, but it was perfect with the mashed potatoes. The fried onions had a nasty greasy taste to them, which is why Lynn didn't like the sandwich. I never bothered trying the bread, but it was an open faced sandwich so it's not expected to be eaten anyway.
If it wasn't for their later hours I know I wouldn't eat at Iguana Mack's as often as I do, but they do make some good food so it's justified.
Today I had a green chile chimichanga with guacamole at Sylvia's La Canasta. It was excellent as always, but I think I've had it so many times now that I'm no longer impressed by it. It's sad because I enjoy being impressed by food, especially green chile as good as Sylvia's.
Today I had lunch with Ken at Park Central Deli (which probably isn't a Miracle Mile anymore since that location doesn't appear on the Miracle Mile web site). I got the "Straw" sandwich (hot pastrami, Swiss, and sauerkraut), fries, and a soda. The pastrami, swiss, and sauerkraut made for a good combination, but it also highlighted the importance of good bread. The onion roll my sandwich was served on seemed cheap, and the sandwich deserved better. Considering the sandwich was priced close to Pane Bianco I'd say it was overpriced.
Tomorrow I'm having lunch at Sylvia's La Canasta for a green chile chimichanga with guacamole.
Today I had a Sicilian sandwich at McGurkee's. The combination of genoa salami, ham, capocollo, melted cheese, and toasted sesame roll was perfect. It was a little more than the $5 my lunches seem to run these days, but their sandwich and a large soda cost less than the sandwich alone at Pane Bianco. I'm not suggesting that Pane Bianco is overpriced, but that McGurkee's is a better value. Every sandwich I've had at McGurkee's has been pretty damn good so it's unlikely you'd pay for something you didn't like. The only way I would happily pay $8 for a sandwich is if it was brilliant, but I'm willing to try Pane Bianco again to see if they have something brilliant. (I almost took Lynn there last Saturday just so we could try two new sandwiches.)
Tomorrow is another sandwich for lunch, this time from the Miracle Mile Deli at Park Central. I've eaten there a few times, but I've never been impressed with the place. Long insists that one of their sandwiches is great so I'll give it a try.
Friday I received all of the stuff included in our Rick Steves' Tour: Paris tour books, French phrase books, the name of the hotel we're staying at, and other miscellaneous items. I've been really happy because now I can extend the reservation at our Paris hotel after the tour (so we can leave Paris on a Sunday or Monday instead of the tour scheduled Saturday), and I can try and figure out which neighborhood we want to stay in when we return to Paris a day or two before we have to fly out of Europe. The tour book has been a good read, and really makes me interested in properly doing some research. I'm not much of a trip planner (in the doing stuff sense), but when I have a list of likely things to do (not a schedule, but a list of possibilities) that I can stick in my back pocket the trip usually turns out pretty well.
After we're done figuring out Paris me and Lynn are going to decide what we're going to with all the time between leaving and returning to Paris.
Yesterday I had enough of our tax information to estimate what our tax return is going to look like. I'm especially happy because it looks like our tax return will pay for a good 80% of what I estimated the trip to cost. This hasn't made me want to save any less money though because my estimates were budget minded. With more money we can eat at fancy restaurants and not worry about it.
Well Microsoft isn't the only company quick to shut someone down to enforce their trademark. The article "Google, Booble Battle Over Trademarks" tells the sordid tale of Google's trademark battle with Boodle (an adult search engine). Not that I've ever been to Boodle, but I can tell you without a doubt that I wouldn't mistake them for Google (just like I wouldn't confuse MikeRowSoft for Microsoft). Sometimes trademark enforcement is plain silly.
I had heard that Pane Bianco was a bakery that served sandwiches so I was surprised when I walked in to see that they only sold two types of bread. It wasn't much of a selection. The menu didn't offer much of a selection either; it consisted of only four sandwiches and two salads. I ended up getting today's market sandwich, which was bresaola (an Italian dried beef), montasio (an Italian white cheese), and escarole, and an Empire Bottling Works cola. Lunch was a little pricey at over $10.
I didn't feel like eating at one of the benches on the patio so I found my way to a park. It was a beautiful day out, and I was going to enjoy it out in the sun. I found a bench with the sun to my back and unloaded my lunch bag. I looked at the sandwich wrapped in butcher paper with anticipation (there's something about butcher that speaks to me of quality, and Dean & Deluca are also fond of butcher paper so I don't think I'm alone in this), and unwrapped it to reveal a beautiful sandwich. You could tell by looking at it that the ingredients were quality, but it's possible any ingredients would look good on that bread. The bread was stated as focaccia on the menu, but looking at it it was very thin, and bore more or a resemblance to a crusty pita (covered with olive oil and salt) than focaccia. I took my first bite, and tasted salt. I took my second bite, and tasted salt. Salt was the dominant flavor of the sandwich so I scraped it off and tried the sandwich again. This time I could taste the bread, cheese, and the vinaigrette on the escarole. The beef was tasteless, or completely overpowered by the other ingredients. The bread was very tasty, and the flavor was reminiscent of popcorn (in a good way). The cheese and the bread alone might have made for a really good sandwich, but this combination wasn't working at all. (I began to understand the appeal of the mozzarella, tomato, and basil sandwich though, and that's a sandwich that could probably use a little salt.)
As for the cola, the flavor seemed "hollow", and not nearly as vicious as I like my cola, so Coke has nothing to worry about.
Pane Bianco obviously has potential, even if my sandwich today wasn't particularly good. I'll have to return there sometime in the near future to try one of their other sandwiches; I have a feeling that when they get a sandwich right it's probably pretty impressive. Besides, the likelihood of finding that great sandwich is pretty good since they only have four on the menu.
Monday's lunch is going to be at McGurkee's, one of my favorite sandwich shops. The bread there isn't made to order, but it is a high quality sesame seed roll, and it is toasted for effect.
What's in a name? Apparently a lot if you're a Thai restaurant.
Ken and I got to The Wild Thaiger and weren't too surprised to find the dining room very hip. It was nice, but didn't give me any confidence about the food. (Obviously I've had one or two bad experiences with hip Thai places.) A couple of the appetizers looked good, but I wanted to try as much as possible this lunch so we went with the sate sampler (beef, chicken, and shrimp sate). All the sates were ok. The chicken sate was the best of the bunch, but I could tell that the chicken wasn't salted.
The lunch menu was somewhat limited, but there were a few things that looked good such as the gaeng kari [yellow curry chicken], red curry beef, green curry beef, and and gaprow gai (the chicken version of pad gaprow). Ken got the green curry (the wuss ordered it mild) and I got the red curry. My red curry was drowned in coconut milk, as was Ken's green curry. That was the first time I've seen either one of them made with coconut milk. My red curry was ok, but the flavor was muted by the coconut milk and pretty mild for a red curry. Ken thought his green curry was hot, and was sweating to prove it. I tried it and it tasted like feet. I tried it a second time, and I got flavors of ginger, coconut milk, and feet. I didn't think it was spicy, and I thought it was disgusting.
The restaurant was full towards the end of our meal. I was surprised it was full considering the food, but it is downtown where I'm sure all restaurants are busy during lunch. The restaurant was uncomfortably loud when it was filled. When we left the big shaded patio out front was almost full too. It was a nice day to be outside in the sun, but a little too chilly for the shade. I wonder if those people on the patio really liked the food at The Wild Thaiger that much, or if they were desperate for something different downtown.
I'm not going to eat at The Wild Thaiger again, but Ken said he would return there to try some of their other food. To me it appears that the correlation between Thai restaurants with cutesy names and so-so Thai food is still true, and next time I'll trust my instincts.
Afterward this was an email exchange between me and Ken:
From: Ken
To: MeOh man, I don't remember ever getting such a bad stomach ache over green curry.
From: Me
To: Ken>Oh man, I don't remember ever getting such a bad stomach ache over green
>curry.
Maybe the curry didn't start green? ; ]
From: Ken
To: Me> >Oh man, I don't remember ever getting such a bad stomach ache over green
> >curry.
>
> Maybe the curry didn't start green? ; ]That's funny, I didn't start the day green either.
Tomorrow I'm trying, Pane Bianco, another restaurant new to me, and next week I'll return back to some favorites.
Today I met Ken at Da Vang for lunch. We had three different bahn mi: one with barbecue pork (the best), one with cold cuts (pretty good), and one with shredded pork (only alright, but that was Ken's order). Ken did get a chance to try them all, and he dug all but the shredded pork one. I'm sure he'll be back.
Tomorrow is something new; I noticed a restaurant, on the way to training, named The Wild Thaiger. My instincts tell me to avoid the place because of the cutesy name, but I want to try it anyway. Are there any places you would recommend in Central Phoenix that could get me in and out of there in less than an hour for lunch? Tell me about them.
Today I had a bacon cheeseburger with grilled onions and barbecue sauce from Tommy's Burger Place. The hamburger patty could have used a little more salt, but the burger was excellent as were their sliced potato "fries". Definitely better than Fusilli's.
Tomorrow I meet Ken at Da Vang for barbecue pork bahn mi. It'll be Ken's first time trying bahn mi so it should be an experience.
Yesterday Lynn and I got our plane tickets to Paris on US Air. The reason we chose to fly US Air (besides the fact that Lynn's dad works for the company) is because we were going to upgrade one of our international segments using our frequent flyer miles. We called to upgrade and we were told that an upgrade wasn't available, but we could be put on a wait list. I was pissed, but put us on the wait list since we really don't have anything better to do with the damn miles.
Today I decided that I'd rather upgrade the domestic portions (which are 20,000 miles for the domestic roundtrip instead of 30,000 for the one international segment) instead of waiting, possibly up until the day of our flight, to find out if our one international portion is upgraded. When I called US Air today they informed me that even though the Phoenix to Philadelphia portions are domestic it would still cost the same as the international segments because it's an international flight. Bastards! This is the second time we've tried to use our frequent flyer miles and have been unable to. I hate US Air.
US Air's frequent flyer program has done nothing but aggravate me every time I've tried to use it. Maybe they should pay attention to the purpose of incentive programs, and create one that doesn't piss their customers off. Now I understand why Southwest's frequent flyer program has won all sorts of awards; it's dead easy. Other than about eight black out dates you're free to use your free ticket on any flight at any time. Considering it was a frequent flyer ticket that made my trip to Mardi Gras possible, and resulted in me having more money to spend on food during my honeymoon, I'm quite happy with Southwest. That's how an incentive program should work (which is probably one of the reasons why Southwest is one of the few airlines operating at a profit instead of a loss)! I seriously doubt I'll ever get to use my US Air miles for anything.
I had heard a lot of good things about Patsy Grimaldi's Pizzeria so I went there to try their pizza one night. I looked at the menu, and was surprised to see that the cost of toppings was the same for a medium or large pizza. I ordered a large pepperoni pizza because ordering a medium seemed silly since I'd pay the same for the pepperoni either way. The crust was a lot thinner and crispier than what I'm used to seeing on a New York style pizza; it seemed more like Chicago style to me. The crust had a good flavor to it, but the pizza sauce didn't have any flavor whatsoever. In fact I liked the crust better without the sauce. The pepperoni was real dry pepperoni, and quite tasty. The mozzarella cheese was sliced instead of grated so it just sat on top of the pizza in lumps. It would have been much better grated. The best thing on the pizza was the fresh basil, but there wasn't enough basil to cover nearly enough of the pizza to make up for the pizza sauce.
I also got a cannoli, and it was pretty bad. The filling was gritty and was too sweet.
Not only did I not really care for the food at Grimaldi's, but I also found their restaurant way too noisy. I hate having to yell in a restaurant to be heard, that's why I don't go to Boston's more often even though I really like their pizza. Grimaldi's might be a good choice if you like a tasty crust and tasteless sauce, but if I'm going to go out of my way I'd rather get a barbecue chicken pizza and hot wings from Western Pizza (which has the added benefit of not being in Scottsdale).
For the next two weeks I'll be attending C# training at Interface Technical Training in Park Central Mall so I'll be eating lunch out a lot. So much for budget. Well today I didn't want to wander very far so I went to Fusilli's for a calzone. When I got there I decided to try the pizza instead. I should have known better than to go for pizza by the slice, but I was hungry and not thinking clearly. I got one slice of their bianca pizza (mozzarella, feta, tomato, and spinach), and one slice of their barbecue chicken pizza. To my surprise neither one of them was that much worse for sitting under the heat lamps; they were a little soggy, but it wasn't too bad. Since the bianca didn't have sauce it had a light flavor, if you're into that sort of thing. I liked the barbecue chicken pizza much better, and I'd eat that again. There's something about a sweet and smokey barbecue sauce, chicken, and a halfway decent crust that works.
Lunch today was decent, but I should have approached it like vacation eating, and really put some thought into what I'm going to eat. I mean this is my old neighborhood, and I could definitely come up with better food than Fusilli's so the lunches for the rest of my training are going to read like a best of central Phoenix fast food. It'll most likely include a bacon cheeseburger and fries from Tommy's Burger Place, a barbecue beef brisket sandwich (or ribs) at Honey Bear's, a barbecue pork bahn mi (or two) at Da Vang, the pork chop lunch special at Pho Bang, a green chile chimichanga with guacamole at Sylvia's La Canasta, tom ka gai at Thai Rama, and the Sicilian at J.P. McGurkee's Sandwich Shop.
I might have time to sneak in an oil change, and possibly a few cigars too.
Here's the best and worst of part two of our honeymoon in San Francisco and the Napa Valley.
Category |
Lynn's Pick(s) |
Mario's Pick(s) |
|---|---|---|
Best Appetizer |
Seared scallops - Pinot Blanc (St. Helena, CA) |
Seared scallops - Pinot Blanc (St. Helena, CA) Stuffed peppers - Cindy's Backstreet Kitchen (St. Helena, CA) |
Worst Appetizer |
Crostino - Ristorante Bacco (San Francisco, CA) |
Sauteed mushrooms - Zuzu (Napa, CA) |
Best Soup |
Hot & sour soup - Pink Dawn Chinese Restaurant (Vallejo, CA) |
Hot & sour soup - Pink Dawn Chinese Restaurant (Vallejo, CA) Mexican corn chowder - Zuzu (Napa, CA) |
Worst Soup |
Dungeness crab bisque - Cindy's Backstreet Kitchen (St. Helena, CA) |
Dungeness crab bisque - Cindy's Backstreet Kitchen (St. Helena, CA) |
Best Salad |
Cindy's Backstreet Kitchen (St. Helena, CA) Kansai (San Francisco, CA) Ristorante Bacco (San Francisco, CA) |
Cindy's Backstreet Kitchen (St. Helena, CA) |
Worst Salad |
Serrano ham with celery root salad - Zuzu (Napa, CA) |
Serrano ham with celery root salad - Zuzu (Napa, CA) |
Best Entree |
1/2 Dungeness crab with lemon butter sauce - Cindy's Backstreet Kitchen (St. Helena, CA) Butternut squash ravioli - Ristorante Bacco (San Francisco, CA) |
Roast duck - Cindy's Backstreet Kitchen (St. Helena, CA) |
Worst Entree |
Flat iron steak with chimichurri - Zuzu (Napa, CA) Cheeseburger - Mustards Grill (Napa, CA) |
Flat iron steak with chimichurri - Zuzu (Napa, CA) |
Best Dessert |
Chocolate cake with mocha Grand Marnier ice cream - Pinot Blanc (St. Helena, CA) |
Apple empanada with lime caramel sauce - Zuzu (Napa, CA) |
Worst Dessert |
Pineapple upside down cake - Cindy's Backstreet Kitchen (St. Helena, CA) |
Pot de creme - Zuzu (Napa, CA) |
Best Meal |
Pinot Blanc (St. Helena, CA) Ristorante Bacco (San Francisco, CA) |
Cindy's Backstreet Kitchen (St. Helena, CA) |
Worst Meal |
Mustards Grill (Napa, CA) |
Mustards Grill (Napa, CA) |
Best Atmosphere |
Pinot Blanc (St. Helena, CA) |
Cindy's Backstreet Kitchen (St. Helena, CA) |
Worst Atmosphere |
Mustards Grill (Napa, CA) |
Mustards Grill (Napa, CA) |
Best Service |
Pinot Blanc (St. Helena, CA) |
Pinot Blanc (St. Helena, CA) |
Worst Service |
Mustards Grill (Napa, CA) |
Mustards Grill (Napa, CA) |
Best Meal Experience |
Dinner at Ristorante Bacco (San Francisco, CA) with Dani (Lynn's friend) |
Tapas at Zuzu (Napa, CA) |
Worst Meal Experience |
Nasty sushi at Hakusan Sake Gardens (Napa, CA) |
Sending the terrible flat iron steak back in exchange for the equally terrible sauteed mushrooms at Zuzu (Napa, CA) |
Best Trip Experience |
The entire day of Saturday (in Napa and Sonoma Valleys) |
Cheese shopping at Dean & Deluca (St. Helena, CA) |
Worst Trip Experience |
Not sitting together on the flight home |
Not finding Gallo of Sonoma (Healdsburg, CA) |
Best Wine |
St. Barthelemy "Petite Sirah Port 2001" |
St. Barthelemy "Petite Sirah Port 2001" |
Best Wine Tasting |
White Oak Vineyards and Winery (Healdsburg, CA) Prager Port Works and Winery (St. Helena, CA) |
White Oak Vineyards and Winery (Healdsburg, CA) |
Honorable Mention: the great continental breakfast and very nice room at the River Terrace Inn (Napa, CA); the great apple and puff pastry thing with vanilla gelato at Ristorante Bacco (San Francisco, CA); all the food at Pink Dawn Chinese Restaurant (Vallejo, CA); and the amazingly tender lamb chops at Zuzu (Napa, CA).
Here's the list of what Lynn and I liked and hated the most on our honeymoon in New Orleans. There aren't any explanations for anything so you'll have to wait until I write up my trip page if that's what you want.
Category |
Lynn's Pick(s) |
Mario's Pick(s) |
|---|---|---|
Best Appetizer |
Fondue for 2 - Marisol Crab au gratin - Irene's Cuisine |
Wasabi taco - NOLA Jambalaya - K-Paul's |
Worst Appetizer |
4 cheese sausage - K-Paul's |
Duck with butternut squash - NOLA |
Best Soup |
Crab and mirliton bisque - Lee Circle Restaurant |
Crab and mirliton bisque - Lee Circle Restaurant Thai coconut-crab soup - Marisol |
Worst Soup |
Cheddar-Broccoli - Mr. B's Bistro |
Cuban black bean - Marisol Soup de poisson - Bayona Butternut squash - Bacco |
Best Salad |
Bacco Bayona |
Bacco |
Worst Salad |
Ceaser salad - K-Paul's |
Dinner salad - Lee Circle Restaurant |
Best Side Dish |
Haricot vert & lobster salad - Marisol Chorizo Spanish rice - Bayona |
Haricot vert & lobster salad - Marisol Chorizo Spanish rice - Bayona Garlic mashed potatoes - Irene's |
Worst Side Dish |
Greens - Lee Circle Restaurant Spoonbread - Lee Circle Restaurant |
Herbed polenta - Lee Circle Restaurant |
Best Entree |
Beef tenderloin with bacon and roasted rutabaga - NOLA Chicken stracci - Bacco |
Rack of lamb - Irene's Cuisine Blacked tenderloin with "debris" sauce - K-Paul's |
Worst Entree |
Walnut crusted venison - Hunt Room Grill |
Grilled swordfish - NOLA |
Best Dessert |
Hot chocolate cake - Marisol Root beer marble cake - NOLA |
Hot chocolate cake - Marisol Apple-rosemary clafoutis with sour cream sorbet - Bayona |
Worst Dessert |
White chocolate mousse - Lee Circle Restaurant |
Chocolate cupcake - Mr. B's Bistro Chocolate 5 spice delice - Bayona |
Best Lunch |
Bacco Bennachin |
Bacco Bayona |
Worst Lunch |
Mr B's Bistro |
Mr B's Bistro |
Best Dinner |
Marisol |
Marisol Horinoya |
Worst Dinner |
K-Paul's |
K-Paul's |
Best Atmosphere |
Marisol Irene's |
Marisol |
Worst Atmosphere |
K-Paul's |
N/A - I didn't mind the atmosphere at any restaurant |
Best Service |
Bacco |
Bacco |
Worst Service |
Mr. B's Bistro Lee Circle Restaurant |
Mr. B's Bistro Lee Circle Restaurant |
Best Meal Experience |
The Reveillon dinner at Hunt Club Grill |
The Reveillon dinner at Hunt Club Grill |
Worst Meal Experience |
Puking at Mr. B's Bistro possibly due to food poisoning |
Experiencing possible symptoms of food poisoning that I highly suspect came from Mr. B's Bistro |
Best Trip Experience |
Talking to the French piano player at Irene's Talking to the Southern tour guide at the Beauregard House |
Talking to the French piano player at Irene's Corset shopping |
Worst Trip Experience |
Cigarette smoke seeping into hotel room at Plaza Suite Hotel and the complete lack of natural light in the same hotel room |
Lynn doing her best to avoid going to bars to listen to music with me |
Honorable Mention: the shrimp remoulade salad at Joey-K's; Lynn's beef dish at Bennachin (I don't remember its name); all the food at ACME oyster house; the baked Alaska at Irene's Cuisine; the smoked duck appetizer, salad, and hazelnut creme brulee at Hunt Room Grill; the goat cheese crouton at Bayona; the Christmas decorations in the lobby of the Fairmont; the key lime semifreddo at Bacco; the gumbo at K-Paul's (Lynn's honorable mention, I disagree); the biscuits at K-Paul's; the pork rillettes amuse at Lee Circle Restaurant; the shrimp and oyster in butter sauce at Hunt Room Grill; the classic brie filled puff pastry with cherries and walnut amuse at NOLA; the tour of the Beauregard-Keyes House; the amaretto sour at Marisol; the hot cider at Bayona; and Abita Turbodog beer.
Wow that's a lot of stuff.
One of the most interesting things I've had at El Tlacoyo are chilaquiles. I didn't know what they were, but I vaguely remember Rick Bayless mentioning them on one of his "Mexico One Plate at a Time" shows. When I got it I was surprised that it was corn chips smothered in some sort of sauce made with onion, cilantro, lime, and tomatillo(?). I didn't think I would care for it, but as the sauce soaked into the chips the combination of corn and the sauce was pretty good. I'm not sure I'd order it again (since I love the carne asada torta, enchiladas suizas, and I still want to try their seafood), but it was a good experience.
Yesterday was a bad day for my budget because I ended up blowing my all of my eating out money for the next two weeks at Bangkok Express and Lin Chinese Dining. It was almost worth it, but I should have spaced them out better.
We started dinner with the sizzling rice soup which always has a good mild flavor. I was in the mood for some scallops, so I went with what might be the best dish in Lin's menu, the yui-shan spicy scallops. There was a special menu for Chinese New Year so Lynn got the same dish she got last year, black pepper beef with asparagus soup, fried rice, and vegetables. I didn't like the asparagus soup the last time we had, and I didn't like it this time. All it really tasted like was asparagus, and while asparagus is fine whole, it's not something that should be used to flavor other things. The yui-shan sauce was a little sweet, spicy, and a perfect compliment for the scallops. The black pepper beef had quite a black pepper kick to it, but this time the black pepper beef had black beans in it, which weren't a good addition. The fried rice that came with the beef was mediocre. The best part of the dish was actually the vegetables. They were wok fried with a slightly sweet sauce. My reaction to them was, "Wow," and Lynn was very impressed with them too.
I asked the waitress how we could order the vegetables again when they didn't have the special Chinese New Year menu, and she said they were on the regular menu as Lin's vegetable delight. Good to know. Lynn mentioned that she really likes the black pepper beef, but only gets to eat it once a year when the waitress mentioned that it was on the menu. Lynn said she's never seen it on the menu, and the waitress came back a smaller menu and showed it to us. I couldn't believe Lin's had a Chinese menu; I've been going there for years, and had never seen it once. There was a combination of things not on the regular menu, and things that were, so it was interesting to look at. There were definitely things I would try, like fish maw soup. I was disappointed that I had never seen the menu before, but now that I know of its existance it only expands my options at Lin's.
When I heard about Kai the thing that got my attention was that Janos Wilder was hired as a consultant to help design the menu for the restaurant. The dinner I had at Janos (Janos Wilder's restaurant in Tucson) was impressive, and one of the few perfect dinners I've ever had so I was hoping that Kai would be my Phoenix alternative to Janos (which is just a little out of my neighborhood). The sample menu items I read about certainly had Janos Wilder's trademark combination of French and Southwest cuisines. I had wanted to go to Kai for a while, but I wanted to get a tasting menu at Cafe ah PWAH first. I had set up a reservation at Cafe ah PWAH for my birthday, so my birthday dinner could be special, but it got canceled. That happened a couple of times for various reasons. The last time Cafe ah PWAH canceled my reservation (at the end of October) I made my mind up to go to Kai instead. Lynn made a reservation in November, which was two months late for my birthday dinner.
We got the wine list and didn't find any glasses of wine that sounded interesting so we went with a reasonably price half bottle of E. Guigal "Cote-Rotie Brune et Blonde 1997". I wasn't sure what to expect from a French red, since I'm still very new to wines, but I was surprised by the subtle oak. It seemed to lack flavor though so I didn't really care for it. Lynn tasted a lot more flavor than I did so she dug it.
The meal started with an amuse of some vegetable salsa like thing with a little piece of beef on it. The vegetable salsa had a really nice flavor, but the beef added an off note to the mix. It would have been much better without the beef. They also brought out some apricot bread and pumpkin seed bread. The crust of both breads were crispy and tasty. I was honestly surprised to get crusty bread that good in Phoenix. (I'm sure I've had some somewhere, but it had been such a long time that I obviously couldn't remember when.) The pumpkin seed bread was nice, but you'd have to be a real fan of pumpkin seeds to really enjoy the bread. The apricot bread was absolutely delicious, and the only reason I ignored the pumpkin seed bread. It was dense and would have made a nice lunch with some good cheese. The dinner was starting off pretty well.
For appetizers we had the citrus flavored seared scallops with risotto and heirloom tomatoes, and chile rubbed seared ahi tuna with wasabi aioli, srirancha, and crab salad dressed with caviar. The scallops were actually seared nicely and had a good flavor, but I didn't think anything that came with the dish matched them. I didn't like the risotto either. Of course Lynn liked the risotto, and thought everything matched too. The seared ahi tuna with the wasabi aioli was a much better dish. It had a nice combination of flavors (although the flavors almost covered up the flavor of the tuna), and the crab salad was excellent. The appetizers weren't euphoric, but they weren't bad either.
Lynn got the sea bass with mushroom grits and smoked poblano chile sauce for her entree while I got the duck breast with some sort of berry sauce, duck confit tamale, and seared foie gras. The first thing I noticed was that the seared foie gras was overcooked to a shriveled piece of nothing. I set it aside and started on the rest of my entree. The duck breast was gamey, and the berry sauce couldn't compare to the raspberry sauce at Convivo. The waiter noticed that I didn't seem to like my dish and asked if I wanted something else instead. I told him I didn't because I thought I could ignore the gaminess of the duck, and salvage the entree with the confit tamale. The confit tamale was even gamier than the duck breast! I knew then I couldn't ignore the gaminess and sent the whole thing back for the pecan crusted rack of lamb with cornbread and mole. They had the lamb out to me impressively quick. The lamb was well prepared, but it wasn't impressive in any way, and neither was anything that came with it. Lynn was in love with her sea bass. Everything on her plate matched seamlessly, and the sauce was especially tasty with its hot and smoky flavors. I thought it was a very good dish, but I could taste the funkiness that always seems to be present in sea bass.
Lynn told them it was my birthday when she made the reservation, which wasn't technically true, but since it was my birthday dinner it was true in spirit. Well neither of us knew that Kai actually makes a special birthday dessert; a coffee flavored thing with caramel and a chocolate covered timbale with mousse and chocolate cake. The silky mousse, fluffy cake, and rich chocolate were nicely balanced with the coffee item and one of the best caramels I've had since the cajeta at Barrio Cafe. The dessert was amazing, and a great choice for a signature dessert.
That night I was disappointed with Kai. I eventually figured out that I wasn't disappointed with them because their food was bad (it wasn't, except the duck which was terrible), or that their service was bad (it was actually some of the best service I've had), but that I expected it to be like Janos. My experience at Janos was so polished and perfect that Kai had some pretty high expectations to live up to, and they weren't up to that level. I now think that Kai is a good restaurant, but they have a ways to go to become great.
As much as it's pained me over the last two weeks I've actually stuck to my budget. Of course this next two weeks I know I'm not going to be able to make it because I have to do fun stuff like get my oil changed.
One good thing about watching my money though is that I'm actually smoking through the cigars I've already bought instead of buying even more new ones.
Addendum: Since one of the few hobbies I have that I can afford right now is travel writing I have a new enthusiasm for finishing my travel pages. Right now I'm divided between writing about my Japan trip (I need to get to it while I still remember something about it), the last time I was in Vegas (because it's short and I'm already halfway finished), and putting photographs on my newly completed Portland page (which isn't nearly as interesting without photos).
I suppose I should finish up some of the old restaurant reviews I still have to do too.
Read "Teen fights to keep MikeRoweSoft.com" to see how Microsoft threatened 17 year old Mike Rowe with legal action for the similarities in their domain names. At least the kid is doing better than Uzi Nissan, owner of nissan.com. (You can read Uzi Nissan's story at Nissan Motors vs. Nissan Computer.)
My domain is once again under my control! It's a long story about how I got my domain back, and I don't plan on writing about it on the web site, but don't think for a second that the bastards at Atlantic.net had anything to do with it.
If you try http://www.iamjacksbrain.com and it doesn't work, try it again tomorrow. The changes should only take a day to propagate across the internet.
Incidentally, http://www.iamjacksbrain.net should be working too (no thanks to my current web hosts, Hostdime.com, who couldn't even find the server they're using to host my web site).
I decided not to take French this semester, mainly because I'm not interested in taking French Level II. The only reason I want to take French is so I can ask important questions like, "Where's the bathroom?" and I think I'll be able to do that without the class. My mom got me some French immersion cds, and I still have my book from the conversational French class, so if I'm disciplined about it I can learn a few things. We'll see how that works out. I'm sure Lynn will help.
I'm trying to make up my mind whether or not to take French Level I this semester. I dropped conversational French because I hate the language, but part of my irritation with French was probably due to the fact that even though it was a conversation class we still had to know how to spell the French vocabulary correctly even though we never really covered it in class. I also thought the class moved a little too fast for someone without any French language experience whatsoever, such as myself.
I still think the written language does kind of suck, but it would be nice to be able to say a few things in French while we're actually in France. I guess I'll make my mind up tomorrow.
When Bangkok Express changed ownership I was worried that the food would go downhill. It turned out the pad gaprow was just as good as ever. (It even had the same peculiar problem of not being as good when someone else at the same table ordered it too.)
The thing that tipped me off to the ownership change were the unlikely menu additions for a Thai restaurant: beef gyoza [Japanese], bool kogi [Korean], and teriyaki chicken [Japanese but you find it in all sorts of Asian restaurants]. The bool kogi was the first item I tried since it's one of my favorite Korean dishes. It had an excellent flavor, and with a little squirt of sriracha it was even better. Another time I tried the beef gyoza, and they were the little tasty deep fried packets they should have been. Both of those dishes are now on in my regular Bangkok Express rotation. Normally I wouldn't go for teriyaki chicken, but the first two menu additions were so good that I had to try it. It had a thin sauce, and a disappointing flavor. It was unlikely that everything they added could be really good, but two out of three isn't bad.
I was so impressed with the La Flor de Michoacan on Country Club in Mesa that when I saw a La Flor de Michoacan on Arizona Avenue in Chandler I had to stop there. Lynn tried their vanilla ice cream while I tried their chile and mango paleta. The ice cream was nasty with a strange sticky texture that was disturbing. The only things I could taste in the chile and mango paleta was red chile and salt. I couldn't taste any mango and I thought it was nasty. It might be unfair of me to base my evaluation of this location on a paleta flavor that I was unfamiliar with, but I'm pretty sure if I tried the exact same flavor at the other location it would have tasted better. I guess the only thing the two La Flor de Michoacans share is their name because the one in Mesa was much better.
All of this writing about tortas reminded me of one Saturday I tried to eat at Pleaissant Croissant, but missed their closing time (noon) by about five minutes. I was really in the mood for something freshly baked so I went to El Sol Bakery instead. I couldn't remember if I liked their pan dulce or not so I only got two, some apple empanadas, and a carne asada torta. It turns out that I don't like their pan dulce; it's too dry. Their apple empanadas, on the other hand, were excellent. The apple filling was pretty good, and the crust was very flaky and tasty. The carne asada torta was pretty terrible, and something I wouldn't mistake for a torta if I didn't already know it was one. The onions, avocado, and carne asada never seemed to mesh, and the carne asada was unseasoned.
They serve other food at El Sol Bakery, but I won't be trying it any time soon although today I really wanted to stop by there and get some apple empanadas.
On my wedding day I was going to take Steve to Dimonte's Grill so he could try their excellent onion rings, but it was a Saturday and they were closed. We didn't have a lot of time so I didn't want to go far. Luckily there was a brand new Mexican restaurant next to Dimonte's Grill named Los Enchilositos (which you couldn't tell by their sign, because they didn't have one, and still don't). I had never tried them before, but they were new, and close to work, so I was game. The food was good on first visit, and I've been back there several times since.
The best of everything I've had has been the tacos (which are about $2, but they are quite large to account for the price) adovada (nice and spicy), carnitas (with crispy bits of meat), and pastor (also spicy). The worst of what I've had include the fish tacos (which just weren't good) and the tortas (which are made with terrible bread). The oddest thing I've had was the green chile (pork) burro; the green chile was so thick that you could stand a fork up in it. It actually had a good flavor, which was a little heavy on the black pepper, but I found the texture too scary for me want to order it again.
I've also taken Long there for lunch and while he likes the food at Los Enchilositos he said the shrimp cocktail was the worst he'd ever had. I believe him because he's quite the connoisseur of Mexican shrimp cocktails (which are very different from American shrimp cocktails).
This week I've started saving money, but I had to eat lunch out today. I couldn't think of someplace better to eat than Lynn's suggestion of El Tlacoyo, which I hadn't been to in a while, so that's where we went. We were both in the mood for our old favorites so I got a pina [pineapple water], chicken tortilla soup (for Lynn - I can't stand the chicken tortilla soup at El Tlacoyo), a carne asada torta (to split between us), and the enchiladas suizas (for me). The carne asada torta was as amazing as ever. Even though the meat isn't the greatest the combination of ingredients, and the toasted bun, make it one of best sandwiches around. I love the enchiladas suizas too, but the echilada sauce is too spicy for Lynn.
Even though I blew my newly reduced lunch budget for the entire week on today's lunch, it was worth it for the little piece of heaven that comes out of the kitchen at El Tlacoyo.
"American Splendor" follows a portion of the life of comic book writer Harvey Pekar. Harvey didn't have the most exciting life, but it was an interesting story presented in an interesting manner with an excellent soundtrack. One of the things I enjoyed the most about the movie was seeing the real life Harvey and the real life Toby in the film with their movie counterparts.
I wanted to find out what happened to Mika so I did some searching. It took a while, but I found the article "Valley culinary stars head to Napa Valley" which explained that the McDevitts (chefs and owners of Restaurant Hapa and Mika) sold Mika and headed to Napa. The funny thing about that is that their new restaurant is going to be in the hotel that we stayed at in Napa. Small world.
I was in the mood for chicken one night so I thought of Soul in the Hole for fried chicken, but it was past their closing time. The next thing I thought of was the sweet and hot wings at Iguana Mack's, who were open. We were probably the last table seated that night, and everything came out of the kitchen quickly. The standard dinner salad was excellent as usual, and now that Mika is closed the sweet and hot wings at Iguana Mack's really are the best around.
I had a special that night, the breaded pork chop with mashed potatoes, vegetables, and pineapple-shrimp sauce while Lynn had the turkey scallopini with lemon-caper butter sauce and a twice baked potato instead of rice pilaf. The pork chop had a nice garlic flavored crust, just the way I like it. The mashed potatoes had a hint of white pepper, which I didn't like, but they tasted pretty good with the sauce. The shrimp in the sauce were really overcooked little things that weren't worth eating, and there wasn't much pineapple flavor to the sauce, but it was enjoyable. I liked Lynn's turkey because the way they were made didn't taste like turkey, and with the excellent sauce they almost tasted like pork. The best thing on Lynn's plate however was the twice baked potato (which I normally hate). This twice baked had an excellent flavor of bacon, sour cream, and a little melted cheese.
The food at Iguana Mack's isn't great, except the wings, but they do make some pleasant comfort food. If you're in the mood for it then it's pretty good.
So I did some calculations (that I should have done in December), and we can afford to go to Europe. Of course I'll have to live on $75 a week until April to do it, but it'll be worth it. I doubt I'll have a lot of new restaurant reviews to write during that time, but at least I can finish up the old ones.
When you're sick delivery food sounds really good. Lynn liked Red Dragon the one time we went there so she was more than ready for me to order delivery from them. I wasn't in the mood to leave the house so trying them sounded like a good idea to me too.
Lynn got their hot and sour soup, and it was the blandest hot and sour soup we've ever had; it tasted like they forgot the vinegar and the white pepper. Neither one of us was too upset about the bad soup though because the pint of soup only cost $1.
Lynn had the ma-la chicken with basil while I ordered the coral scallops. Lynn's dish actually came with a lot of good vegetables in a mild brown sauce that had a nice flavor. My only complaint was the complete lack of basil, which was part of the dish's name, but not present in any form I could detect. The coral scallops came with broccoli, and a slightly sweet-spicy garlic sauce. The vegetables and the sauce were both very good. The scallops were lightly fried, and perfectly cooked (a pretty amazing feat for delivery). I had a feeling Red Dragon would make really good scallops, and I was happy to discover they do. I'd order the coral scallops again.
I was looking for Red Dragon to make something good, and it didn't take long to find that something. They've definitely won my Chinese delivery business. (For the record, Lin Chinese Dining is still my favorite regular Chinese restaurant.)
New Year's Eve dinner out has become a tradition for me over the last couple of years. I used to have the problem of not knowing where to eat it though. I've eaten at lots of restaurants in Phoenix, but very few restaurants that I'd want to get dressed up to eat at. When I figured out that Cafe ah PWAH was my favorite restaurant it made this New Year's Eve decision easy. Having recently discovered that Mark was no longer working there will force me to reevaluate their "favorite restaurant" status, but it didn't discourage me eating there New Year's Eve. I was interested to see what Karen and the new chef would come up with.
Lynn and I started with a couple of glasses of wine. I had the Hedges "Fume Blanc/Chardonnay" while Lynn was in the mood for a red, so she got the Rosenblum "Vintners Cuvee" Zinfandel (which we had the last time we were there). The Hedges was kind of fruity and acidic. I thought it was decent, but Lynn really liked it. The Rosenblum didn't taste a thing like it did the last time we had it. Lynn used that as proof that Mike mixed up our wines last time.
Dinner started with an amuse of vegetable mousse with smoked ghouda on flatbread. The vegetable mousse tasted like smoked salmon mousse. I found it disturbing, and the presentation was a sloppy lump. Out of all the amuses I've had before only one of them has actually been good, so I wasn't really surprised that this one sucked. Next.
The soup course was a shrimp bisque. It had a thin broth for a bisque, but had an excellent flavor which reminded me of Chinese shrimp chips (in a good way even though I hate Chinese shrimp chips) or potatoes au gratin. We were both in love with the soup, but thought that chopping the chive garnish would have provided some improvement.
The appetizer was a seared scallop in a puff pastry with caramelized onions and roasted garlic. Once again Cafe ah PWAH failed to sear the scallop properly, and the other stuff wasn't bad, but like Lynn said, "It would probably be better if it were hot." As it was (cold) I didn't really care for any of it. Next.
The salad course was a standard mixed green salad with pomegranate vinaigrette, candied panchetta, and feta cheese. The salad had the usual bitter greens which were sweetened up by the vinaigrette and panchetta (which also added a nice chewy texture to the salad). The feta added a welcome bit of saltiness, and altogether the salad was pretty damn good. Lynn didn't like the salad as much as I did because of the "porkiness" of the panchetta.
The intermezzo was a strawberry sorbet. The sorbet was a little sweet without being cloying, which is pretty good for the purpose of an intermezzo.
We had our choice of entree so I picked the roast duck with pickled carrots, bok choy, wasabi infused orzo, and balsamic reduction while Lynn chose the grilled Australian filet mignon topped with shrimp fondue, mashed potatoes, pearl onions, and corn broth truffle sauce. My duck had a nondescript sort of flavor, which wasn't what I expected from ah PWAH. The only thing that compelled me to eat it was the drizzle of balsamic reduction, which was quite tasty on the duck. The pickled carrots were a little sweet and the bok choy was a little salty so they balanced, but neither one was compelling enough to eat either. The orzo was the only thing I really liked on my plate. I couldn't taste the wasabi, but it had a sort of creamy flavor that I enjoyed. Lynn was surprised be the slight gaminess of her beef. I tried it and liked it. (I find it amazing that I don't like gaminess in duck or lamb, but in beef I find it interesting.) Lynn got past her surprise in a couple of bites, and did enjoy the steak. The shrimp fondue on the steak had such a nice flavor that I wished it was the appetizer instead of the seared scallop. The pearl onions were pickled, and tasted like they sat in a Mexican vinegar based sauce that I don't know the name of. It was good, but it was also very sour. During the meal we didn't know what the sauce was with the steak, but every time I tasted it I thought it tasted vaguely Mexican. Lynn got a lot of earthiness from the flavor. She asked Mike what it was, and he told her corn broth with truffles. That explained why I thought it tasted vaguely Mexican; it reminded me of the Mexican corn soup we had in Napa. I didn't like the sauce, but Lynn did.
We also had our choice of desserts, but since there were only two choices I got one (the creme brulee) and Lynn got the other (the chocolate mousse). The creme brulee was a smaller serving than normal, and it was overcooked (probably because of the smaller size). It wasn't bad, but it wasn't good either. The chocolate mousse was rich with a fine chocolate flavor. It wasn't perfectly smooth, but it was ok once you got past the expectation that it should be perfectly smooth. We both tucked into it with abandon (especially since I hardly touched the creme brulee), and we may have finished half of it.
The wine list at Cafe ah PWAH was new that night, and a wine both of us noticed on the new list was the Consilience "Zinfandel Port". I didn't think it would be good, as other Zinfandel ports we've had haven't been very interesting, but Lynn wanted to try it anyway. This Zinfandel port was impressive. It was St. Barthelemy "Petite Sirah Port" impressive. The flavor started peppery on the edge of my tongue, and developed into an amazing fruitiness. In addition to being tasty it was also perfect with the chocolate mousse; the alcohol cut through the richness of the mousse and the fruitiness was complimentary to the chocolate. It was a great way to end the meal.
If this were a regular meal I wouldn't have been happy with it, but I'm pretty mellow about my New Year's Eve dinner, and we had a good time with dinner so I wasn't unhappy with it. There were some definite winners on the New Year's Eve menu, and I hope they make their way onto the regular menu. (Hopefully they change their menu someday soon because I'd really like to see something new.)
Lynn and I planned on going to Europe in April, but I wasn't entirely convinced that we were. We planned on spending three weeks, mostly in France, but I didn't think we would be able to afford it being less than six months after the wedding. I'm still not sure we can, but now I don't have much of a choice because today I put a deposit down on a one week tour of Paris for our first week in Europe. (Lynn's not much of a traveler, and she's never been out of the country, so the prospect of "doing whatever" in Europe for three weeks was a little scary to her. To help get her acclimated I agreed to take a one week tour of Paris at the beginning of our trip. We both agree that after being led around for a week she shouldn't have any problem wandering around on our own.)
After my last tour experience with EF Tours (which wasn't bad for the money, just not my sort of thing) I wasn't in a hurry to take another tour. This particular tour is a Rick Steves' tour, and I've heard very good things about their tours, so I'm really looking forward to it.
Me and Lynn were both deathly ill (in our own ways), but we had to drop our wedding pictures off at our photographer's place so he could start work on our wedding album. We headed to north Scottsdale (one of my least favorite parts of town), and afterwards we needed someplace to eat. I've been wanting to go to Mika for some time so that was my destination. When we got there we discovered they were no longer in business. I was very disappointed because Mika had potential, and I'll miss their honey sambal wings and Thai basil short ribs. I drove down Scottsdale road and tried to think of a new restaurant. Lynn's stomach was bothering her so she didn't want to eat much. That made me think of Cowboy Ciao, which I hadn't been to in over a year, but wanted to return to for a selection of appetizers. Since appetizers were the only things I wanted to order at Cowboy Ciao I could order the right balance of food for my healthy appetite and Lynn's depressed appetite.
We got to Cowboy Ciao and they looked full. (One of the reasons I hate Scottsdale restaurants is they're always full.) We talked to the hostess, and she said a table wouldn't be available for 45 minutes. She asked if we wanted to sit at the bar. That was cool since I suggested to Lynn we sit at the bar anyway. I wasn't planning on drinking, and shouldn't have been considering we were both sick, but the selection of wine flights were too intriguing. I decided on a wine flight of Arizona wines from Callaghan Vineyards: the Callaghan "Kitchen Sink 2000", Callaghan "Cabernet Sauvignon 2001", and Callaghan "Zinfandel 2001". The Callaghan "Kitchen Sink 2000" had a fruity scent, but an overly aggressive oak flavor. We both disliked this wine. The Callaghan "Cabernet Sauvignon 2001" had a musty grape and oak scent with a fruity start to the flavor followed by oak, and a long nutty finish. The nutty finish impressed me; I'd never had a wine taste nutty that wasn't a tawny port. After a couple of sips I got past the oak flavor to consider it one of the best Cabernet Sauvignons I've ever had. The Callaghan "Zinfandel 2001" had an odd scent that I couldn't place, and a bitey oak flavor followed by a very mild nutty finish. The nutty finish in the Zinfandel was nice, but not nice enough to get me to like the oak. The Zinfandel was Lynn's favorite of the wines.
We started with the TM soup, which was a cream of potato with bacon. When we ate it we could also detect a rosemary or sage flavor too. It was really damn good, and we ate the whole thing. There was a drizzle of truffle oil on the soup that Lynn didn't care for, but I couldn't really taste it.
I wanted to try the buffalo carpaccio, but Lynn wasn't up for it so we went with a couple of dishes that didn't involve anything raw: the rock shrimp bruschetta and sweet chile prawns with Asian coleslaw. We had the chile prawns the last time we were at Cowboy Ciao, and they were impressive. They were impressive this time too with an excellent combination of seasonings on the shrimp, and a great sesame oil flavor to the coleslaw. The rock shrimp bruschetta had a garlic heavy tomato sauce with shredded cheese (romano?) and fresh basil. Everything went together beautifully, and I would definitely order the rock shrimp bruschetta again.
The last time we were at Cowboy Ciao we were extremely disappointed in the entrees so I made it a point not to order any. We did need one more dish to fill both of us up so we ordered the crab enchiladas (Dungeness crab with papaya salsa and cumin enchilada sauce), which I believe was an entree of sorts. I would have went with another appetizer, but we couldn't agree on a third one. It's too bad we didn't because the flavors of the crab enchiladas seemed very poorly mismatched. None of the crab, corn tortillas, papaya, or enchilada sauce seemed to go with each other. I was beginning to think that crab and corn tortillas weren't meant to go together, but then I remembered the excellent enchiladas del Mar at Barrio Cafe and scrapped the thought. Lynn asked me if I wanted to send the crab enchiladas back, but I told her no; I felt that the dish was a matter of taste, not execution. (I don't believe a restaurant should have to comp a dish because I ordered something I didn't like, but if they didn't prepare the dish properly they should take it off the bill and offer something else.) I ate as much of the enchiladas as I could stand, but it was still a little less than half the dish. Our waiter (one of the bartenders) noticed that we ate all of our other dishes, but didn't come close to finishing the enchiladas, so he asked us how they were. We both said they were alright, and I thought that would satisfy him.
We had the Mexican pot de creme for dessert, which we also had the last time we were there. The chocolate was rich, bitter sweet, and had a nice cinnamon flavor to it. We still didn't taste any chipotle in the chipotle cream sauce, but the dessert was excellent without it. The dessert was so rich that even though we both loved it we could still only finished about half of it.
Our waiter (the bartender) brought us our check and apologized for the crab enchiladas, took them off the bill, and also took care of dessert. We thanked him, and I told him it was completely unnecessary. He said he knew that, but he could do it so he did. His service was pretty good all night (except for refilling my water glass), and I was shocked that he took the enchiladas and the dessert off the bill, so I gave him a very healthy tip. Lynn gave him the bill as we were walking out, and he must have looked at it because he caught Lynn before we got out the door and thanked us and told her it was unnecessary. He deserved it though.
Cowboy Ciao really does have a fun feel to it, and the selection of wine flights are great. There menu doesn't change enough for my tastes (it was almost, if not, the exact same menu we saw the last time we were there), but there are things definitely worth reordering. This last time I even saw a couple of entrees that looked good so maybe I'll give one of them a try next time.
"Frida" was entertaining and educational. Salma Hayek, in addition to being super fine, did a great job portraying Frida Kahlo, as did the rest of the cast with their characters. I think it was a good movie, even for people who don't enjoy Frida's paintings (I liked Diego Rivera's [her husband] work much better myself).
Today I was in the mood for a hamburger, but none of the places I like for burgers were either open or in the neighborhood. Lynn suggested we make hamburgers ourselves, but I didn't like that idea; I've never been much of a fan of homemade burgers because they always seem to be missing something in their flavor or execution. As I slowly lost my mind from hunger, and nothing else came to mind I reluctantly agreed.
We went to Fry's, and purchased our ingredients: ground sirloin, a sweet onion, pepper jack cheese, and kaiser rolls. We returned home and I sauteed some of the sweet onion, and Lynn seasoned the ground sirloin with salt, pepper, Merlot sauce (which contains Merlot, Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, and other stuff), and the sauteed sweet onion. Lynn also formed the patties to about a half inch thick. I had the cast iron frying pan on medium high so I could get both sides of the patties seared and crusty (a good crust is the only real advantage I think homemade burgers have over restaurant made). While the burgers were cooking I toasted the split kaiser rolls with butter in the pan I sauteed the sweet onion. Finally I placed slices of pepper jack on top of the hot patties, and put the frying pan in the stove to melt the cheese.
I put the burger together with thick sliced pepper bacon, and barbecue sauce (on my burger only). It was very good eating, and reminded me of the gourmet burger at Josephine's in Flagstaff, only much better in execution and flavor. I'm always glad when we can make something as good, or better than I can get at my favorite restaurants.
The last time I was at Silver Dragon was just after the wedding. I took my mom, my aunt, and Lynn to dinner there. I wasn't sure what was good there so I tried to remember what Gordon told me and called Ken to see what he suggested. We ordered the crab meat winter melon soup, which wasn't anybodies recommendation, but we were curious about it because we've never had winter melon soup before. I thought it would be flavorful, but it had a mild egg drop soup type flavor and fake crab in it. Despite all that I didn't hate it.
Ken said the chow fun, chow mein (Hong Kong style), and steamed scallops were good so I went with the barbecue pork chow fun (dry). I told everyone about Ken's recommendations so my mom got the house lo mein (not Hong Kong style) because she only half listened to what I said. Lynn went with scallops in garlic sauce because she couldn't find steamed scallops on the menu. My aunt wanted something mild and seafoodish so she went with the cashew shrimp. The barbecue pork chow fun was excellent and well worth ordering again. The house lo mein tasted exactly like every other house lo mein I've ever had. The scallops had a great flavor, but somehow the garlic sauce didn't have any flavor. Seriously, I tried the sauce on my rice and all I tasted was the rice. The scallops were good enough that I'd order them again, only in a different sauce. The cashew shrimp were in a mild sauce, but the shrimp had a good flavor, and the sauce worked pretty well for the dish. The cashews were nice too.
There were enough good dishes that night that I saw that Silver Dragon's potential and couldn't wait to eat there again. Recently I did with Lynn, Ken, and Steve. Lynn wasn't feeling well so the only thing she wanted was soup. She thought the dried scallop winter melon soup would be better than the fake crab version. It wasn't. Either the winter melon soup was made with a lot more egg than last time or the dried scallops really emphasized the egg scent and flavor because the only discernible flavor in the soup was egg. We didn't like it.
Long told me the scallops in XO sauce were really good so I got an order. Ken and Steve went with the beef chow mein (Hong Kong style). The waitress warned me that the scallop dish was hot, but I didn't believe her because the last place I expect to get a spicy dish is a Chinese restaurant. Well, it was actually hot. Tasty too. The scallops were made with green beans and both of them held up very well to the spicy XO sauce. Long was right about the dish. The beef chow mein (Hong Kong style) had thin noodles that were pan fried and a decent brown sauce. The overall dish was great and I actually liked the beef.
This was the best meal I've had at Silver Dragon and now that I've found a set of dishes there I really like I'll be back more often.
All of my recent writing about Japanese food made me, surprisingly, want Japanese food. We tried to go to Zipangu (which we'd never tried before), but they were closed. Lynn heard about Tsunami from a friend of hers and wanted to see if they were the same Tsunami as the one in Las Vegas. I didn't think they would be, and they weren't. Turns out Tsunami is owned by a family member of the same people who own Ninja (Lynn's favorite Japanese restaurant). The family ownership also explains why the menu at Tsunami had almost the exact same dishes as the menu at Ninja.
We started our meal with tea and miso soup. The tea was Japanese green tea with toasted rice, and it was pretty tasty. I probably had six cups of the stuff. The miso soup was a little salty and tasted like it might have had a little soy sauce in it. It wasn't bad, but I hardly ever think miso soup is impressive. I ordered an appetizer portion of tempura vegetables and shrimp. The vegetables had a good flavor, but some of them were oily, and the tempura sauce really didn't taste like anything. (Looks like the Ichi Ban on Rural and Southern is still my "go to" place for tempura.)
I also had to try some sushi while I was at Tsunami. We got an order of shiromi [some sort of white fish], unagi [barbecued freshwater eel] (my favorite), tuna tataki [seared tuna with ponzu sauce] (to compare with the excellent tuna tataki at Horinoya in New Orleans), and a guacamole shrimp roll (tempura shrimp and avocado topped with shrimp in a spicy cream sauce). The shiromi had a firm texture and slight fishiness that wasn't really in the flavor so much as in the scent, which was kind of freaky and resulted in only half a piece being eaten. The unagi was fatty, and while it had a milder flavor than I'm used to, it was pretty good. The tuna tataki wasn't properly seared, and tasted like it was missing something important from the flavor. The guacamole shrimp roll was the surprise of the meal; the texture combination of the tempura shrimp with everything else, and the flavor combination of the shrimp, spicy cream sauce, and soy sauce all made for an excellent eating experience. I did have two complaints though: one, the pieces of roll were a little big to be stuffing whole into your mouth, and two, the rice was all mashed together like some sort of store bought sushi. Neither was a large problem, but I would hope they improve their sushi rice in the future.
I didn't order an entree because I had a feeling I'd eat most of the sushi, and I was correct. Lynn ordered the spicy chicken for her entree. It was a grilled flattened chicken breast covered with a sweet sauce. Lynn thought there was a little spiciness to the sauce, but I didn't taste it. Either way we both enjoyed the dish.
It'd been a while since I last tried green tea ice cream, and I thought it was time I tried it again. The ice cream definitely had the flavor of bitter Japanese green tea, but I liked it. The fact that I've developed a taste for that kind of tea probably helped.
Tsunami wasn't bad, but I was in the mood for something more along the lines of Japanese curry or tonkatsu. Hopefully I'll find that kind restaurant someday.
After we got home from the restaurant I started feeling strange; my nerves felt a little on edge (like they all vaguely hurt), and I felt overwhelmingly sleepy. This morning when Lynn woke up her stomach felt nauseous. A couple of weeks ago Long told me that he thought Silver Dragon made him and his girlfriend sick (with flu like symptoms), and I thought he was being ridiculous. Now that I've gone through an entire day with flu like symptoms I understand how he feels because I think Tsunami may have had something to do with how I feel even though it doesn't fit with what I know about food poisoning. Hell, I probably caught it from Long.
