I had just heard about La Guadalupana a week or two ago on Chowhound, and I was intrigued because of their pumpkin blossom quesadilla. Lynn and I went there last week to give it a try. We were seated in the modest dining room and given a bowl of grocery store chips and two tasty, spicy salsas. The salsas were good to make us overlook the chips. I also had a glass of horchata, which was mild and slightly sweet; not a bad horchata by any means.
We got the pumpkin blossom quesadilla for an appetizer, a combination plate with carne asada and an enchilada for me, and the shrimp al mojo de ajo [garlic sauce] for Lynn. The pumpkin blossom quesadilla looked very tasty when it arrived, but the appetizing appearance on top hid the greasy bottom. The quesadilla had a unique flavor, but it was muted by the grease. My carne asada was especially chewy without providing any real flavor payoff. I'll be sure to avoid it in the future. The enchilada was a complete surprise; the flavor of the enchilada sauce was exactly like the red salsa, and had a smokey flavor that made the enchilada superb. It was the best plain cheese enchilada I've ever had! Lynn's shrimp were served shell on (including the legs) and split down the middle. The flavor of the marinade (or sauce) on the shrimp was so good that I ate the shrimp shells, legs, and all just so I could taste it. I'm constantly amazed how different various Mexican restaurants make their shrimp al mojo de ajo, and how delicious each and every one of them are.
Lynn's sharp eyes noticed fried plantains on the back of the menu, and being Belizean I had to try them. The plantains were ripe, and served with sweetened condensed milk in case you wanted them sweeter. A few of the plantain chips were fried a little too dark, but the dessert was delicious enough to appeal to someone who doesn't have fond recollections of fried ripe plantains at family dinners. Lynn and I decided that the only thing that would have made them better was some cajeta [goat's milk caramel].
The fact that I had a difficult time only choosing one entree at La Guadalupana combined with how great their enchiladas and shrimp al mojo de ajo were make me enthusiastic to return. I hope they have other things just as good.
Two weeks ago Murray and I were going to The BBQ Co., but they were too packed for our lunch hour. We then tried The Farm, which neither one of us had been to for at least a couple of years. The Farm Kitchen (which makes tasty sandwiches) was closed, but we learned that they also had a fine dining establishment by the name of Quiessence. At that point we had already driven around for half an hour and didn't have time for a sit down lunch. We decided we'd return in a week when we had more time. "What does all this have to do with Taco Nazo?" you may ask. Well, Murray and I went to Quiessence last Thursday only to find them closed. We had to find something to eat and when Murray drove by the old location of Tacos de Mexico (one of my favorite taco places, which closed when the strip mall they were in renovated) I noticed another Mexican restaurant in their spot. The name of this place was Taco Nazo, and I had hoped that it was run by the people from Tacos de Mexico.
I treated their menu to my usual five different taco routine (carne asada, carnitas, pastor, chicken, and green chile) to work out their menu. The carne asada and carnitas were average. The green chile was actually pretty good, and I'd order it again. I knew when I bit into the chicken taco that Taco Nazo was Tacos de Mexico reborn; the chicken was kind of buttery and spicy. It's the best non-barbecue chicken in any Mexican restaurant that I know. The pastor was also pretty good, which was consistent with Tacos de Mexico. I had also ordered a tamarindo, which had the mild flavor that was exactly what I was hoping for.
Normally I have to write about a restaurant I like that has closed (like the Yoshi's location at Guadalupe and McClintock, which I just found out about yesterday), but it's nice, for once, to actually write about a restaurant that's back in business. I'm glad Taco Nazo is in business and I'll definitely be back for a chicken torta (which was my favorite thing at Tacos de Mexico).
As an aside, Murray was really curious about the "Nazo" part of their name so he asked one of the guys at work about it. It turns out that Taco Nazo is a play on the Spanish "taconazo". Taconazo (tacon [heel] and azo [stomp]) is the shuffle/stomp that is done in many mexican dances. The explanation was a lot more interesting than I thought it would be.
Last night we had reservations for an omakase [chef's choice] dinner at Shinbay. When we got there we had to wait about twenty minutes to half an hour before we were served because the chef only serves six people at a time, and there were six people there still eating. To kill the time we got a sake tasting of three sakes. I enjoyed two out of the three sakes we were served. The one thing I didn't like about the restaurant was that the only real seating was at the bar. There were a couple of small tables, but they weren't large enough to seat four people.
The first course had four items: uni [sea urchin roe] wrapped in some sort of thinly sliced vegetable with a spicy sauce; monkfish liver pate with a spicy grated vegetable (radish?); thinly sliced white fish [blowfish, which is what I swear I heard the lady say, but the version of this on the menu is made with fluke so it may have been fluke] with olive oil, chives, and parmesan; and two raw oysters with a spicy sauce. My favorite of the four was actually the uni; it wasn't at all nasty (like the first time I had it), had an interesting fine texture, and a pleasant "taste of the ocean" type flavor. The pate had an interesting flavor, but it was a little too fishy for my tastes. The white fish itself was tasteless, but the parmesan and olive oil made for a nice combination in both texture and flavor. The oysters tasted too fishy for me, but the spicy sauce helped make them bearable.
The second course was clams with two types of mushrooms (inoki and somethingelse). It was absolutely sublime; the texture of the mushrooms were firm to match the clams, and the flavor of both the mushrooms and the broth was amazing. I don't even like clams and I cleaned my bowl.
The third course was a salad with seared tuna and a gingery ponzu sauce. The tuna had a great flavor and the sauce punched things up. It was every bit as good as the great tuna tataki I had at Horinoya.
The fourth course was thinly slice okoze [a white fish] served in hot oil and topped with scallions. My description will never do this item justice; this dish had such an amazing flavor that it was one of the best fish dishes I've ever had! If I ever ordered a la carte at Shinbay I'd have to order this dish every time.
The fifth course was a sushi plate that had salmon and scallop nigiri sushi, and four pieces of tuna roll. The salmon had an amazing buttery flavor that I totally loved. The scallop was topped with a sweet sauce, but the chef had put too much wasabi on it, and it felt like my nose was going to melt off. It was my only negative experience of the night. The tuna roll was a reverse roll (with the rice on the outside) with toasted sesame seeds and filled with minced tuna and cucumber. The flavor was excellent, and I loved the texture of the cucumber with the tuna.
The meal ended with a small plate of mixed fruits: mango, strawberry, grape, and pear. It was simple and not bad.
If I had the omakase at Horinoya I might have eaten this well, but this was the best food I've ever had at a Japanese restaurant. The omakase is definitely an experience worth repeating at Shinbay, but it seems like even ordering sushi or a la carte will get you a great meal.
Yesterday Lynn and I went to Sportsman's for their "Wines of Tuscany" wine tasting. The store was absolutely packed with people when we arrived; more people than I feel comfortable rubbing up against. They had 15 Tuscan red wines there, and we actually managed to get through 13 of them before we couldn't drink anymore. It was an educational experience. I learned that I don't like Tuscan wines, and I don't like Sangiovese. Of the 13 wines we had, I only enjoyed one of them (the Ca'Marcanda "Promis 2002"), and it turns out that was a Merlot-Syrah blend (I haven't been a fan of the Merlot, but Syrah seems to be my red grape.) Of the 13, Lynn only liked two of the wines; the one I liked, and another wine by Ca'Marcanda, the "Margari 2001". The most interesting wine we had was the Col d'Orcia "Olmaia 1999", which was 100% Cabernet Sauvignon. The scent reminded me of panna cotta with a berry coulis, and the flavor was actually kind of creamy with a berry flavor too.
Overall I enjoyed the wine tasting, but there were really too many people there for my tastes (Lynn's too). If they have another special event it'll have to be pretty compelling for me to go there again. (Of course I find almost everything compelling, so who am I kidding?)
Due to circumstances beyond my control I missed my deadline at work today. That sucks because now I'll be extremely busy until Wednesday.
I got my car back from the insurance company Tuesday. They returned it clean, and you couldn't tell it had been involved in an accident. I should probably wash my car more often, but now that my car is nice and shiny you can really see the dings in the paint job.
Work has owned me this week; the project I've been working on for the last two months is supposed to be finished today. Between the other programmer working on the project, vague specifications, and changes to the functional specification, a large portion of my job has been clarifying and coordinating. I'll be happy when my programming portion is complete.
This Saturday should be great. Early in the afternoon we'll be going to Sportman's Fine Wine & Spirits for their Super Tuscan wine tasting (featuring 15 different wines and food from Tomaso's). I figure I should be able to find at least one Italian wine I like in that crowd. Then, later that night, we'll be eating omakase ["in the chef's hands"] at Shinbay. At least one of us will be sure to get the sake pairing too. I can't wait to see if Shinbay is as good as Horinoya in New Orleans.
One Sunday I was hungry and remembered that Filipino food existed in the neighborhood. I tried going to Dina's Cafe and Manila Cafe, but both of them are closed on Sunday. Instead I went to Aloha Kitchen, which I hadn't been to in forever. I hoped they had kalbi (which is my favorite dish at Aloha Kitchen, but it's not a regular dish), but they didn't. I also wanted a manapua [a barbecue pork filled bun], but Sunday is the only day they don't offer them. I settled for a combination plate of bool kogi [Korean barbecue beef] and chicken katsu [Japanese fried chicken] with a side of macaroni salad. The bool kogi was good, but not as tasty as the kalbi. The chicken katsu would have been good if they didn't use fatty pieces of chicken (the same problem I have with the Hunan special chicken at Hunan Express), but the chicken fat made a good portion of the chicken inedible. The macaroni salad was the thick and overly creamy variety, and not bad despite the fact that I don't like my macaroni salad thick and overly creamy. I think I'll stick with the green salad (the iceberg lettuce salad *grimace*) in the future.
I think I need to eat at Aloha Kitchen more often to figure out what else is good besides the Korean dishes.
I hadn't been to Oregano's in forever, mainly due to my aversion to waiting to be seated. We went on a week night last week, and the wait was still about 45 minutes. We sat at the bar while we waited and had the guaca-tony (guacamole with garlic and basil). I also had a Four Peaks "Kilt Lifter". The guaca-tony came with a small thin crust pizza topped with melted cheese that was pretty tasty without the guacamole, and even better with the guacamole. It turns out that basil and avocados are a good match (although it's not much of a surprise). The Four Peaks "Kilt Lifter" reminded me of the Stone "Ruination" I had a couple of weeks ago without all of the hoppy aggression. The flavor was unique and tasty; I'll definitely look for it again.
We had a Frisco (feta, bacon, diced tomato, mozzarella, and cheddar with tomato cream sauce) thin crust pizza for dinner. There was too much feta and bacon on the pizza for my tastes to begin with (bacon is more like a spice than a meat so it should be used sparingly), and there wasn't enough diced tomato or tomato sauce to balance the saltiness or meatiness. The lack of tomato sauce also made the pizza very dry; that was fine for the pizza that came with the guacamole since you were eating it with guacamole, but for the Frisco it didn't work. The pizza was good, but it could have so easily been better.
I had heard that the pizza cookie was an amazing dessert so I had to give it a try. We got the chocolate chip cookie dough version. It was half cooked in a deep dish pizza pan and topped with three scoops of vanilla ice cream. The cookie dough was gooey and sweet, but the vanilla ice cream was disturbingly cheap; it almost ruined the dessert for me.
The best things I had at Oregano's was the guacamole and the beer so the next time I get the urge to go to there I'll just sit at the bar and avoid the wait.
I'm not sure what I find more amazing about the flower in the article "UConn Botanists Cultivate 'Corpse Flower'". Is it the fact that a six foot tall flower that smells like rotting meat even exists, or the fact that The Simpsons featured it in one of their old episodes?
I'm glad I'm no longer with Progressive Insurance. I dropped my car off at the Progressive service center last Tuesday for them to repair the damage from my accident. The estimate they gave me for completion of the repair was between the 18th and 22nd. I wish I could give estimates that vague at my job.
Well, it's the 21st and I still don't have my car. I would have been much happier dropping my car off at the dealership and having them take forever. At least I would have known the repair was taking the "industry standard" amount of time.
Today we had to turn in the first part of our business plan. It included the Introduction, Company Analysis, Customer Analysis, and Industry Analysis. I thought we did pretty well with the Introduction and Company Analysis, but I felt the Customer Analysis and Industry Analysis were weak. I think we needed more time to work on both of them, but one of the problems with the summer semester is that it's only half as long as a regular semester. That and Lynn and I are both terrible procrastinators.
Yesterday we visited Red Kangaroo Wines as part of our research since they'll probably be our closest direct competition. We both didn't care for the shop (and I'm not just saying that because they'll be a competitor), but they had some wines I wanted to try. Well, there wasn't anyone in the shop when we entered, and in the ten minutes or so it took me to pick out our wines no one ever showed up. I called into the back of the store, but I never got a response. We left the wines on the counter, and went next door to check out Matchstix Fine Cigars. I browsed the entire inventory at Matchstix, and I didn't care for some of their prices, but I did get a couple of their more reasonably priced cigars. We returned to Red Kangaroo and there still wasn't anyone in the store! This time I called into the back of the shop even louder, and still didn't get a response. I left the bottles on the counter and Lynn left them a note that said we would have bought the bottles if there was anyone at the shop.
The experience was so odd I couldn't get it out of my head. During the drive home I wondered if someone was in the back tied up (after being robbed or something). Lynn asked if I wanted to call 911, but I figured the most likely explanation was somebody just took an extra long smoke break or something. I did search Arizona Central this afternoon to make sure there weren't any news stories about it though.
Today I wanted to stop at Karl's Quality Bakery and Arai to compare the bavarian fruit tart at Karl's Quality Bakery to the fruit tart at Arai. When I got to Karl's this morning I found them closed because they were on vacation. When I stopped at Arai they still had ten minutes before they opened. While I was waiting for Arai other people were waiting for Fujiya Market (the Japanese market next door to Arai) to open. The market opened first and those people headed straight for the deli case. I guess there's something there worth eating at Fujiya Market so I'll have to check it out sometime.
Arai opened and I was disappointed because they didn't have any fruit tarts. Instead I settled for an eclair, a slice of chocolate cake, and an "an pan" (a baked roll filled with red bean paste, but I didn't remember that at the time or I wouldn't have ordered it). The eclair didn't taste good. The chocolate cake was tasty without being too sweet. I'd get it again. The an pan was better than I expected; the red bean paste was sweet rather than being starchy. (I guess that's the difference between Japanese red bean paste and Chinese red bean paste.)
I'll have to return to Arai for their fruit tart, and some of their other rolls (like niku pan or curry pan).
Copper Kettle is one of my favorite restaurants, but I only eat there about once every couple of months. It's not for a lack of selection, but plain forgetfulness. Friday night Lynn wanted to eat there. She got her usual chicken boti sultani and I got the chicken balti. (I would have gotten the ginger chicken balti, but I had enough of ginger from the lo mein at lunch.) We also got an order of hummus and two nimbu panis [lemonade]. The nimbu pani at Copper Kettle is usually too sweet for me so I asked for it "not sweet". Apparently not sweet translated to salty because that's how it tasted when I got it. It was just as bad as the salt brown lemonade I had at a Vietnamese restaurant in the past.
I'm not a fan of hummus, but the hummus at Copper Kettle (dry and topped with black pepper) tastes really good with their excellent naan. The chicken boti sultani and the chicken balti were both spicy, but balanced. I enjoyed everything. At least everything but the salty nimbu pani. With food like this why do I keep forgetting to eat at Copper Kettle?
Friday Long was in the mood for Khai Hoan for lunch, but I wasn't in the mood for Vietnamese. Thankfully, Khai Hoan has long held the title "The Only Vietnamese Restaurant Where I'll Order Chinese". Khai Hoan seriously makes some Chinese food (like fried rice) better than most Chinese restaurants. My recent experiences with lo mein put me in a mood to try the lo mein at Khai Hoan again. The noodles were normal sized, and tasty with a mild wok flavor. There was a little more ginger flavor than I prefer, but it wasn't unbearable. Amazingly—I think the Vietnamese pork dishes at Khai Hoan are terrible—I found the pork in the lo mein tasty. I need to remember to eat at Khai Hoan more often.
I was in the mood for barbecue ribs last week, and not the ribs at Honey Bear's so I went with the only other rib option I know, El Paso Bar-B-Que Company. We started with an order of barbecue wings. They were smoked then fried and smothered in barbecue sauce. The wings were pretty tasty, but I would have liked them better if they had some heat to them. I had a rib combo with a half rack of babyback ribs and a half rack of spare ribs. Normally both types of ribs are tasty, but maybe due to how late we were at the restaurant both types of ribs had something wrong. The spare ribs were tough and the babyback ribs were almost over smoked. Lynn ordered the brisket, and that actually was too smoky. The brisket was also cut too thin to taste really beefy. By the thickness alone I'd know the brisket wasn't from Joe's Real BBQ, The BBQ Co., or Honey Bear's, all of which serve excellent brisket.
Overall I was disappointed with the dinner we had at El Paso Bar-B-Que Company, but they're normally they're very consistent. The meal was probably an aberration, but it'll be about six months before I feel like eating at El Paso again to find out. Incidentally, I noticed L & L Hawaiian BBQ in the same strip mall as El Paso Bar-B-Que Company. I've never had Hawaiian barbecue before so I can't wait to give them a try sometime.
The last time I went to Korean Garden for lunch (which was about two or three months ago) I discovered that they must have been sold again; almost all the food was completely different, and usually not for the better. None of the condiments were good, and the seaweed condiment was quite possibly the worst thing I'd ever tasted at any Korean restaurant. The spicy salad dressing was replaced was with something that was heavy with soy sauce and not very good. The broiled mackerel for my entree was decent.
I was sad that I had only discovered that Korean Garden was good to have them be sold and go downhill in less than two months.
The other night Lynn and I were at the grocery store gathering ingredients for cheese burgers. When we hit the cheese isle I noticed an habanero cheddar. I never knew such an animal existed! It was Fry's store brand so it seemed of dubious quality, but it was intriguing enough for me not to care.
Lynn tried the cheese before I did, and I heard her yell from the kitchen how hot it was. I couldn't wait to try it. The cheese was impressively hot and it still had a nice cheddar flavor at the same time. Who knew Fry's cheese could be that good?
In an effort to find (hopefully good) bahn mi in the east valley I tried Binh Minh at Southern and Dobson for lunch. I tried a fresh lemonade with club soda and two bahn mi: one barbecue pork (Chinese style) and one charbroiled pork. The club soda added an interesting element to the lemonade until club soda was all I could taste when I was only halfway through with the drink. It felt like a rip off compared to regular lemonade. I should have known better than to the try the Chinese style barbecue pork since I find Chinese style barbecue pork at Vietnamese restaurants repulsive, but I didn't know that's what it was when I ordered it. My fault for not asking. The pork (dry with an odd sweetness) wasn't good and while the sandwich had all the usual condiments it was dry. The charbroiled pork was moister and had a much better flavor, but the pork wasn't nearly as tasty as the charbroiled pork at Da Vang in Phoenix.
The sandwiches were decent, but they don't merit a return visit. Long tried the pho and his assessment of Binh Minh was the same as mine. Some folks at Chowhound did recommend the bahn mi at the Vietnamese restaurant in Lee Lee so there's still hope for east side bahn mi.
I don't know why I'm compelled to watch the Harry Potter series of movies since I've never even read the books. I didn't even really like the first movie so watching the second one seemed unlikely. While I did find "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" more entertaining than the first, I still didn't think it was above simple entertainment. "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" has easily been the best Harry Potter movie in the series. The story didn't seem as empty as the other two movies, and it seemed like it was actually driven by the characters instead of pulling the characters along. I guess I shouldn't have expected anything less from the director of "Y tu mama tambien" (thankfully there weren't any questionable interactions between Harry Potter and Ron Weasley).
I had a couple of reviews for Classic Italian Pizza that I never got around to writing so now you get them all at once.
Before we left for vacation one of the restaurants we had to eat at was Classic Italian Pizza. We squeezed in a lunch. We started with a caprese salad that had the mozzarella, tomato, and basil conveniently shuffled together with a bottle of balsamic vinegar on the side. The tomatoes could have been ripe, but the salad was pretty good. I was also happy with the bread sticks that came with the salad.
While we were eating lunch a Noceto representative offered us a couple of glasses of wine. We accepted and I had a glass of Sangiovese while Lynn had the Frivolo (Moscato Bianco). The Sangiovese actually wasn't too bad. The Frivolo was pretty damn tasty with a light sweet flavor and slight effervescence. We were both impressed.
We ordered a Four Seasons pizza. The toppings listed for the pizza were prosciutto, artichoke hearts, black olives, fresh tomato, and mushrooms so we were wondering how that would turn out since all the ingredients didn't sound like they would work together. When the pizza arrived the toppings were divided up into four different sections with one vegetable covering each section. My favorite section was actually the one with black olives (fall?). This was the first time I've ever enjoyed black olives, and I think it was because the olives didn't taste too much like olives. The fresh tomato section was pretty good too, but fresh tomatoes on pizza always taste a little odd to me. The mushroom section didn't taste as good as I thought it would considering how good the mushrooms were on the Italian sausage pizza. The only topping I disliked was the artichoke hearts because they gave the pizza a sort of vinegar flavor. Naturally, the artichoke heart section was Lynn's favorite.
We had tiramisu for dessert with a glass of Prosek "Dioklecijan" (a Dalmatian dessert wine). The tiramisu was very good with a little more expresso flavor than I prefer. The Prosek had a flavor that reminded me of the Taylor Fladgate "Twenty Year Tawny Port". I'm not a big fan of the Taylor Fladgate, but Lynn enjoys it so she liked the Prosek.
After that visit I realized that Classic Italian Pizza feels like home to me. There's something about the place that makes me feel comfortable in a way most other restaurants don't.
Our second most recent visit to Classic Italian Pizza had us ordering two different pizzas: a Toscano (salami and olives) and a smoked mozzarella, fresh tomato, and garlic pizza. I thought I'd enjoy the Toscano, but the salami was cut too thick to be enjoyable and the olives tasted especially like olives. The pizza with smoked mozzarella was brilliant! The combination of smokiness, garlic, and the occasional tomato slice worked extremely well. For some reason Lynn didn't like the pizza.
Our most recent visit was last night. I wanted the bread sticks, but I wasn't willing to pay $5 for them. I noticed that the salads were about $6 and $7 so I got a caprese salad, which included bread sticks. We couldn't agree on a single pizza (because Lynn doesn't like the two pizzas that I think are great at Classic Italian) so we got two pizzas: an Italian sausage pizza (one of my favorites) and a Margherita (Lynn's favorite). The Italian sausage pizza had less mushrooms on it than the first time I had it so the flavors weren't balanced. The sausage was somewhat spicy and the other toppings were good so it was still a pretty tasty pizza. We both noticed an odd flavor (I thought it was fishy) in Lynn's Margherita pizza last night. It kept me from wanting to finish the slice Lynn shared with me. The flavor was absent when we reheated the pizza today.
Now that I've been to Pizzeria Bianco and Classic Italian Pizza, I think Classic Italian is the better pizza place. But not by much.
Last night we went to Sun Devil Liquors for their Banfi wine tasting. I was looking forward to it because my previous experience with Italian wine hasn't been positive. The wine tasting actually started with a Rodney Strong "Sonoma County Chardonnay 2002". The flavor was very similar to the Firepeak Chardonnay (smokey, custard apple, and crisp), only not as strong. I liked the Firepeak better, but Lynn preferred the Rodney Strong.
The Banfi wines started with started with a Chardonnay-Pinot Grigio blend by Castello Banfi. It had the same flavors as other Italian Pinot Grigios I've had. So far I hate Pinot Grigios. The next four wines were red: a Sangiovese-Cabernet Sauvignon blend, a Sangiovese-Cabernet Sauvignon-Merlot blend, a Chainti Riserva, and a Rosso di Montalcino. All of them were either bland or vinegary to me, also true to my previous experience.
The last wine was a sparkling wine by Vigne Regali named "Rosa Regale Brachetto d'Acqui 2003". It was a beautiful purplish-red color with a very creamy head. The flavor was strongly raspberry and sweet, but the effervescence made the finish seem crisp and short (which was a good thing since you didn't want that sweetness to stay in your mouth). It was a very good wine, but a little too sweet for my tastes. Lynn loved it.
I'm still not a fan of Italian wines, but I'll keep trying them from time to time to see if there isn't something I can enjoy. In the meantime, if anyone knows of an Italian wine that'll make me a convert, email me.
Yesterday Long and I tried to go to Via Marie for lunch. We even went later than normal so they'd actually be open when we got there (12:30 seems to be the time they say they'll be open most often). Sure enough, when we got to Via Marie there was a sign saying they'd be back at one. I wanted to leave them a note saying I'd never be back; they've been closed the last five times I've been there. They are one of my favorite restaurants, but a restaurant is only good if you can actually eat there so I'm through with Via Marie.
We were once again put in the position of having to find some food elsewhere in the neighborhood. We spotted a small place named Las Brazas in the strip mall on the north side of Thomas and decided to try it. I ordered four tacos (carnitas, carne asada, "shredded", and adobada) and a melon agua fresca. The melon agua fresca tasted like bubble gum flavored water. I would have liked it if it didn't taste so watery. Long got a horchata and said it was pretty tasty. Of the four tacos the carnitas were the best; the meat had a really nice flavor even if it wasn't crispy like I like it. The carne asada and adobada were so-so. I'm used to carne asada being indifferent, but I was surprised that the adobada lacked impact since the whole reason I order adobada is because it tends to be aggressively spiced. The "shredded" was stewed beef that tasted a lot like corned beef hash. It wasn't a bad flavor, but not one I enjoyed either. Long's torta looked delicious so I'll have to try a carnitas torta there sometime.
This morning I was making a left turn when some guy pulled up on my right side and was waving his hand to get my attention. I thought he might need directions so I rolled down my window. (I've noticed that strangers never seem to approach me for small talk [like in class or other social type situations], but strangers always seem to ask me for directions. I wonder if that means that I look approachable, but boring.) What happened next was something I would have never expected; the guy says to me, "I just had to let you know that that's the most clever license plate I've seen recently." That cracked me up and made for a good start to the day.
I did have to wonder what the guy was thinking when he saw my poor dirty car with its cracked windshield and mangled fender. In my mind I heard the following exchange from "Fight Club".
Tyler: "Oh, I get it. It's very clever."
Jack: "Thank you."
Tyler: "How's that working out for you?"
Jack: "What?"
Tyler: "Being clever."
Looking at my car I would say not very well.
To make up for the terrible lo mein at Best Hong Kong Dining I wanted to get good lo mein somewhere. Lynn suggested Lin Chinese Dining, but I didn't remember their lo mein being good (which I could be wrong about since it's been so long since I last had it there). I didn't think anything would get me to go to Tao Garden again, but the possibility of good noodles was enough to get me in the door. I got in there about 30 minutes before closing, and they got my order out about five minutes after I ordered it. I had the sauteed green beans and pepper beef chow mein. The green beans were pretty tasty, but there's always been a flavor in the Tao Garden green beans I never liked. It wasn't bad enough to keep me from ordering the green beans, but it did annoy not knowing what it was. This time I finally figured out that the flavor was from tiny dried shrimp. The pepper beef chow mein had a lot of black pepper and fat noodles with a little bit of wok flavor. It was good enough to order again, but it does make me want to try the lo mein at Lin Chinese Dining again.
Last week I was in the mood for lo mein so I went to Best Hong Kong Dining for lunch. It was one of the worst lo meins I've ever had; it was what you would get if you ordered lo mein at a Vietnamese restaurant. The noodles were really thin and were lucky if they ever saw a wok. There was also an odd, mild sweet flavor that's indicative of Vietnamese "Chinese" noodle dishes I've had before (hence the reason I don't usually order Chinese food at Vietnamese restaurants). What I hated most was the fact that Long ordered the seafood chow fun, and his food was really tasty. It was like the two dishes were made by completely different restaurants.
Last week we went to see "Bon Voyage" because Lynn heard it was good. I didn't think it sounded interesting, but it was French so I thought it might surprise me (like would guess a musical about "8 Women" could have such an intricate implied back story). "Bon Voyage" was an entertaining movie that had a few funny moments, but it wasn't anything new. I wouldn't recommend it to other people; whoever told Lynn about it knew their audience though because she totally dug the movie.
Tonight on my way home I glancingly rear ended a car. I was changing lanes, and while I checked to make sure the other lane was clear my lane had come to a complete stop. The accident left a medium sized smudge (that could be possibly buffed out, but that's probably not going to happen) on the lady's car I rear ended, but it really crumpled my passenger side fender. There goes my accident free record. On top of that I got a ticket for failing to control my speed to avoid an accident. Brother. The cop who ticketed me was funny; after we were finished he told me, "Hope you have a better day."
I wonder if it's possible to have a car that's bad luck. My current car has been hit while sitting in parking lots at least six times by various people (only one of whom actually left a note), and now it's been involved in my first accident. It's not logical, but I almost feel like trading my car in for something a little less collision prone.
I couldn't make up stuff as weird as "Brooklyn Cheese Artist Makes Bed of Ham". If I did I would have been rather pleased with myself for the quote, "I was cloaking myself in cheese."
Last weekend Steve and I went to a puppet slam at the Great Arizona Puppet Company in downtown Phoenix. It was five different skits with puppets that took about 30 minutes dragged out over an hour and a half. Not all of the skits were entertaining either, but the price was right at $8. I'd do it again, if I didn't have anything better to do.
When I wrote about Madstone Theaters in May I didn't think they'd close their doors less than a month later, but that's what happened last week. Madstone seemed like they had a solid concept and fulfilled a need in Phoenix so I wish I knew the reason the theater never caught on. Was it poor advertising? Was there not enough interest in foreign and independent films to support that kind of theater? Was it poor choices in films to carry? (I do have to admit that as much as I like foreign films, they picked a ton of foreign films I wasn't interested in watching.)
I did appreciate what they were trying to do, and it was my favorite theater, so I'm sad to see Madstone go. Now my only source for foreign films is the Harkins Camelview 5. At least they won't be closing anytime soon, but I do hope they start carrying more interesting movies in the near future.
We made reservations for the Wine, Dine, and Learn event at Christopher's Fermier Brasserie a week before the event. It was a good thing because there were a dozen couples at the event, which seemed like a full house. A glass of Montsarra "Brut" Cava was poured for everyone and Sommelier Paolo Gross spoke about it and sparkling wines in general. Paolo was educational (in addition to being pretty damn attractive). The Cava had a musty apple scent and a crisp musty apple flavor; it was pretty typical of the good Champanges I've tasted. The flavor did get a little better when the wine warmed up, but I've never been a fan of good Champanges (I only seem to have a taste for the great ones).
A glass of Laetitia "Estate Chardonnay 1999" was then poured for everyone. It had an impressive gold color. The scent of the wine was like custard apple with a hint of oak. The flavor was oaky and custard apple with a long buttery finish. I totally dug it. Paolo had talked about Chardonnays, legs, and aged wines. Chef Christopher Gross then came out and demonstrated our first course, the cote de salmon salad with roasted pepper sauce. Chef Chris was also educational. After Chef Chris' demonstration the first course was brought out to everyone to eat. The salmon was perfectly cooked (basically undercooked, which is how I like all my seafood), and the roasted pepper sauce was perfect. The salad had a tangy vinaigrette, but could have used something to provide some flavor and texture contrast. After the salmon and sauce the Chardonnay tasted a lot fruitier, and still plenty tasty.
Our third glass of wine was brought out, Clos Mimi "Petite Rousse 2002". The scent was interesting with sharp berries, but the wine had a thin body and a unique fruity flavor that I absolutely hated. Paola said something about the wine, but I wasn't listening (probably because of how much I hated the wine). Chef Chris came out and prepared a filet au poivre [a New York strip with a black pepper crust]. When we got our filet au poivre I was impressed; the beef was rare and crusty, and the veal sauce was amazing. The creamy mashed potatoes that came with the dish were a great accompaniment since they helped cool down the heat from the pepper crust on the steak. Lynn really liked the wine with the steak, but it only made the wine taste peppery to me.
A dark glass of Fonseca "Bin 27" port was brought to the table. The scent was highly alcoholic, but the flavor was pretty decent. Paola talked about ports, but at that time we were having too much fun talking to our table mates about Australian tawny ports. Chef Christopher came out and demonstrated how to make the profiteroles au chocolate. The profiteroles were filled with vanilla ice cream, chocolate ice cream, and chocolate sorbet. All of them were great, and the chocolate sauce on top of them was tasty too. I didn't try the port with the profiteroles because I was the one driving and I had to take it easy on the wine. During and after dessert we talked to a couple of the couples and had a good time.
Overall we had a great time at Christopher's and the food was excellent. We'll definitely be back for dinner or another Wine, Dine, and Learn event.
Last night was the first night of our Owning and Operating a Small Business class. It looks like the class will be quite educational, and the more I talk to people about the idea the more convinced I am that this is going to be successful. The final project for the class is a business plan so it looks like we'll have a head start in getting the business started too.
Lynn and my weekend of visiting Arizona wineries started Friday night when we drove down to Tucson. I didn't care where we stayed in Tucson so long as it was cheap, so I made our hotel reservation through Priceline. We ended up at the Courtyard by Mariott hotel by the airport. It was pretty damn cheap, and actually convenient to where we were going Saturday. The one thing I didn't like about the Courtyard was that there was only ever one person at the front desk. That may be fine for a hotel with 16 rooms, but it's really poor customer service for a hotel with 116 rooms. I was glad I didn't pay any more for the room than I did.
We got up a little later Saturday morning than I wanted to, but I knew it wouldn't affect our schedule. We were both hungry and decided to eat a late breakfast at Denny's. Breakfast was large, which was a good thing considering how much wine we were going to be drinking.
Only about thirty minutes outside of Tucson we hit our first winery, Charron Vineyards. It was an unlikely location for a vineyard, in a tiny desert town. We pulled into the small vineyard and met the owner and vintner, Leo Cox, and his wife Rhea. They were a nice couple and Leo taught us a little about viniculture. They spent entirely too long talking to us considering I only bought three bottles of wine.
Leo only makes one kind of wine, a white Merlot. I was surprised when he brought it out and it was actually white; I thought it was going to be rose. The wine was fruity and lightly sweet, and very unlike any Merlot I'd had before. It was a most unique and delicious wine. Leo invited us to help him pick grapes in August with his family, and I'm actually considering doing it because who knows if I'll ever get a chance like that again.
Our next stop was Callaghan Vineyards. Kent and Lisa Callaghan were both there pouring wines to a crowd that was larger than I expected. They had seven wines available (three whites, four reds, and a port!) for tasting, and we tried them all! The first wine ("Kevin's Cuvee 2001") actually tasted exactly like the description they had supplied ("smoky, nut/popcorn, lime nose"). It had a smoke component, and I've learned that I really like smoky white wines. I didn't care too much for the other whites, but Lynn liked the floral element of "Kevin's Cuvee 2002". The four reds varied from things I totally hated to some pretty good stuff. We ended up getting one each of three of the reds. The high point of the entire tasting was "Claire's Spirited Selection 1999", which was one of the best ruby ports I've ever tasted. The wine has a balanced sweetness, complexity, and a chocolate finish. I can't wait until we open up one of these bottles.
Not far from Callaghan was The Village of Elgin. They had an interesting list of wines, unfortunately all the interesting ones were sold out. It seemed the thirsty crowd of people at Callaghan had visited The Village of Elgin before we got there. I'm not too sure if my tastebuds were shot, but all of the dry wines I had at The Village of Elgin were almost tasteless to me. They did make some good sweet wines though; they were sweet, but light in body without being too thin. We walked away with a couple of bottles: one Syrah and one sweet rose.
The last vineyard we planned on visiting Saturday was Sonoita Vineyards. At this point I'm sure my tastebuds were shot because I had already tried fifteen different wines, and I didn't find anything to like at Sonoita Vineyards. There were also too many people there for our comfort.
We had had enough of wine and were ready to head back to Phoenix. It was after three in the afternoon so we decided to eat lunch in Tucson before we returned home. We had an excellent late lunch at Cafe Poca Cosa, and returned home with our wine.
It was an excellent day, and Lynn wants to do it again since we missed Fort Bowie Vineyards. Maybe next time we'll get to eat at J-Bar too.
Friday night Steve, Lynn, and I went to Sun Devil Liquors to taste Ironstone wines. The Ironstone representative was there with one white, two reds, and two sweet wines. The Cabernet Sauvignon wasn't bad, but Cabernet Sauvignon isn't my thing. The Cabernet Franc was dry with a little fruit flavor (kind of boring to me), but I thought it would be good with a cigar. It was worth getting a bottle just to find out. The Petite Sirah had an odd fruit flavor that I didn't like. We finished up with the two sweet wines; the red sweet wine was too sweet for me, and the floral flavor of the white sweet was too strong for me. Lynn liked the white one, despite the beer undertone to the scent, and even bought a bottle.
I wish there were more reds in the tasting, but I understood why the Ironstone rep chose the wines he did. It was nice to get to talk to the rep and get a little insight into the business though. Research.
Lynn and I went to Christopher's Fermier Brasserie for their Wine, Dine, and Learn event last night. It was four glasses of wine with a three course meal, wine education by Sommelier Paolo Gross, and cooking demonstrations of all three courses by Chef Christopher Gross. The experience was fun, educational, delicious, and we even met some interesting people. We'd definitely do the Wine, Dine, and Learn event again, and we both liked the food enough to want to return to Christopher's Fermier Brasserie for lunch or dinner. I'll try to write a restaurant review later today.
Gordon and I went to Via Marie for lunch last week against my better judgement. Sure enough, when we got there they had a sign in the door saying they wouldn't be open until noon. We ended up eating lunch at Chicago Hamburger Co. instead.
I got a slider and a Western cheeseburger. It was my first time eating a slider, but I had a general idea of what to expect (a thin beef patty on a dinner roll). It wasn't bad although the ketchup and pickles seemed to provide all the flavor. Sliders definitely seem more like a comfort food than a "wow" experience. The cheeseburger started out ok, but the cheese grossed me out the longer I ate it; it was a big wad of what tasted like processed cheese. I eventually scraped the cheese off the burger with one of the buns.
Gordon noticed that Chicago Hamburger Co. had won a best of Phoenix for their fries. I wanted to try them, but I didn't want to order them. Luckily fries came with Gordon's hot dog. I tried them and wasn't impressed; they were just typical fat fries that weren't crispy or tasty.
Chicago Hamburger Co. seems like it would be a good place to hang out at night with a beer and all the sliders you can stand, but I'm not sure I'll make it back there for lunch anytime soon.
It wasn't my idea to see "Shrek 2", but I ended up enjoying the movie. It was funny and entertaining. There's not really anything more to say about it.
After our recent dinner at Hodori I had to try the kalbi at Takamatsu again to see why Gordon insisted that Hodori's kalbi was better. I thought the kalbi at Hodori was very good, but I remembered the kalbi at Takamatsu being equally as good.
We had dinner with Steve so I knew we could order a little more food than normal. We started with some sushi: a couple of orders of unagi [fresh water eel], and a tataki [seared tuna with green onion] roll. The unagi came with a mound of bonito shavings on them. Steve ate one piece of unagi and decided that the bonito ruined the flavor. This bonito tasted like smoked bacon instead of having the usual overly fishy flavor; it was a little unusual on the unagi, but it tasted pretty good to me. The tataki roll was plain, and sorely needed wasabi.
In addition to the kalbi and we tried the pork for the first time at Takamatsu. The kalbi was excellent, and every bit as good as Hodori (if not better). I've had the pork at more than a few Korean restaurants, and normally it's a huge disappointment. This pork was sweet and intensely spicy, not for those with a low spice threshold, and I completely dug it. I'd definitely order it again.
I used to love Arisoo, but I have to admit that their food got much better when they became Takamatsu. I wish I would actually go to Takamatsu often enough to order something that's not barbecue though.
Yesterday Lynn and I went to Sun Devil Liquors for their Baileyana wine tasting. Baileyana had four of their wines there: a Sauvignon Blanc, a Pinot Noir, and a Syrah under the Baileyana name, and a Chardonnay under the Firepeak name. The Sauvignon Blanc was very dry, and the flavor tasted like bitter greens to me. I haven't developed a taste for herby wines so I didn't like it, but I could see someone liking it. The Chardonnay was smokey with a long custard apple finish. I totally dug it. The two reds both tasted like generic red wine to me, so naturally Lynn liked the reds the most and the Chardonnay the least (because all she could taste was oak). I haven't been to very many wine tastings, but I already have a pretty good idea how I'd run one.
I wish I could afford to go to The New Orleans Wine & Food Experience Memorial Day weekend, but I can't. At least Lynn and I will get some local wine tasting in during that weekend. We'll be taking a road trip down to southern Arizona to sample wines at various Arizona wineries. I wish we could hit Echo Canyon, but they're located in northern Arizona (and as far as I know they're the only winery in northern Arizona).
For the last two years my only goals were to go to Japan and Europe. When I came back from Europe I found myself without a goal. There was still the whole house and children thing, but I knew Lynn would keep on top of those enough for the both of us. Besides, I wasn't really looking for a new goal anyway because goals have a habit of finding me.
Last week Lynn did her usual "I want another job so I'll suggest a business we could run together" thing, but this time I actually thought she had a good idea. She suggested that we open a wine bar and shop. It was less than a day later when I decided that it was my calling. Finding wine for people to enjoy seems like a good way to make a living. I decided that my new goal was to open a wine bar and shop in about a year's time.
This week Lynn heard that the office she's working might be closing at the end of this year. Lynn might be out of a job by January. That's accelerated my timetable; hopefully Lynn's severance package will provide us with money during the shop's opening. Adversity turned into opportunity. At least that's how I hope it works out.
Right now I'm busy trying to get us registered for small business ownership & management, beverage management, and business plan writing courses. I'm also doing research to figure out where to open the shop, what to name it, and most importantly, how to get financing. The fun thing about all this is that I get to visit wine shops and wine bars for research too.
Of course the last time I tried to start a business I never got past writing the business plan. I should get a lot further along this time; the business plan is the final project of the business plan writing course.
The other night we went to Madstone Theaters to see "Rhinoceros Eyes" (which Steve had seen earlier and said was great). The theater had a problem with their projector so they weren't showing "Rhinoceros Eyes". We walked outside to leave, but I really wanted to see a movie. The poster for "Divan" looked interesting; it seemed to be a movie about a couch. We walked back inside to see if "Divan" was actually showing. It was, and they let us in for free.
From the second "Divan" came on it was obvious it was a documentary. The movie turned out to be about a Jewish woman, her relationship with her Hasidic father, and a couch. I don't mind movies about discovering your roots and searching for parental acceptance, but it has to be interesting. There were times I wished this movie was over. I did, however, enjoy the ending (in more than the sarcastic sense), and I was glad that the director seemed to have learned something about herself in the process. The movie wasn't a waste of money, but this is definitely not a movie for everybody.
I still have the notes for our first two visits to Convivo, but I'm not going to write about those visits. There's not much that you'll miss because almost everything was covered in yesterday's review or will be covered in this review. Here are a coupe of things that wouldn't have been mentioned otherwise. The only beef Convivo ever seems to have on the menu is flat iron steak. I told Lynn it wasn't a good cut of meat, but she didn't believe me. On our second visit to Convivo she ordered the flat iron steak in soy-beer sauce. Lynn didn't like the flavor of the exterior of the meat so she ate around it. I didn't think either the interior or exterior of the meat tasted that good. The best entree I've ever had at Convivo was on our first visit; the seared duck breast with raspberry sauce and sweet potato fries. The duck breast was rare, but nicely seared, and the raspberry sauce was intensely fruity. The entree was already great, but the sweet potato fries made it even better. The flavor of the sweet potato fries closer resembled regular potatoes than sweet potatoes, but the flavor was just unique enough to be interesting. I don't think I've seen duck on the menu in our three subsequent visits.
Last night we had four people at dinner, but we didn't order any new appetizers. We go a couple of orders of the lobster tamale and one order of the Convivo collection. The lobster tamale was very good, but there wasn't much lobster in it. (I still haven't decided if that was a bad thing or a good thing.) The Convivo collection was still a waste of money with mostly tasteless vegetables.
We ordered a bottle of the Rosenblum "Jingalu Shiraz" (I'm not sure which year). It was a great bottle of wine; spicy, smokey, and an oak component that worked well. It was definitely a bottle I'd drink again. I did have a problem with our wine service though. One of our guests finished his glass of wine and our waiter (Peter) never came by to fill his glass. Lynn filled his glass, but it seemed like Peter remained absent for quite some time afterward.
Lynn ordered the lemon-pepper sole in a yellow tomato sauce with rice and split peas, and I had the seared scallops in a lobster cream sauce with rice and roasted vegetables. Some of the scallops were nicely seared, and while the searing was inconsistent all the scallops were delicious. The lobster cream sauce was a disappointment; it didn't have the same yummy, buttery flavor as it did the first time I tasted it at Convivo. The oddest thing about my entree was that the roasted vegetables with my scallops tasted much better than the roasted vegetables in the Convivo collection. I'm not sure how they managed to do that, but they did. Lynn took a couple of bites of her dish and asked me if I wanted to switch entrees. I tried the sole, and it was overcooked and chewy. The yellow tomato sauce was the thin, apple wood smoked sauce they use that I don't like. (I believe a smokey flavor requires a thick consistency, otherwise it seems unnatural to me.) I tried the rice with split peas, and the split peas were too chewy to have been fully cooked. Basically, it was the worst entree we'd ever had at Convivo.
Lynn didn't really eat her entree, and when Peter asked how everything was she told him her entree was terrible. He apologized and asked her why she didn't tell him earlier so he could get her something else (like he actually checked on us any earlier after he dropped off our entrees). At that point Lynn had already lost her appetite so she had Peter take the sole away. Lynn wasn't happy with Peter when the bill came because he didn't remove the sole from the bill even though she clearly didn't like it or eat it. Next time we go to Convivo I'll make sure we get the other waiter.
Lynn ordered the ancho chile brownie for dessert for the fourth time in a row. Big surprise. Nothing sounded good to me for dessert, but I ended up ordering the lemon bar since I'd never had it before. It had a good lemon flavor, but it was a little too sweet for me. Plus, it was only a lemon bar.
I was hoping that Convivo would have a significantly different menu from when we were there in March, but the menu was pretty similar to the old one; I might end up having the same boredom issue with Convivo that I have with Cafe ah PWAH. I guess we'll see.
I'm hooked on The Pillows. Yesterday I finally got around to ordering the FLCL (Furi Kuri) soundtrack (which has a lot of songs from The Pillows on it) and a Pillows album with "Subhuman" on it. I wish I could find the video to "Ride on Shooting Star" online; The Pillows website has a thirty second clip of the video, and it looks pretty amusing. I know the video is on one of the FLCL DVDs, but I don't want to buy any of them. At least not yet, although I might actually be getting hooked on FLCL.
I still can't get access to the 150 or so trip photos on the laptop. I've tried everything I can think of, and those files still remain locked. Damn Microsoft and their features/bugs. I'd like to think the problem would be fixed in the next service pack, but the only thing they did to fix the problem in the last service pack was to allow people to delete locked files. I don't want to delete my own pictures: I want them unlocked so I can move them and burn them onto cd!
I've been to Convivo three times that I haven't written about. Well, we have plans to eat there tonight so at least wanted to write about the last time we were there, which was right before our vacation.
We had reservations, but when we arrived our table wasn't ready so we sat at the bar and had a couple of glasses of wine. I had a glass of Whitehall Lane's "Cabernet Sauvignon" and Lynn went with her old favorite, Marietta's "Old Vine Red blend". I got the Whitehall Lane because we passed their winery when we were in Napa so I was curious about their wine. I didn't like the way the Cabernet Sauvignon tasted at first, but it got better the more I drank it. The Marietta tasted as good as ever.
The wife/owner came by the bar and apologized profusely because our table still wasn't ready. She gave us a couple of glasses of wine (the Rosenblum "Jingalu Shiraz", which I was thinking about ordering, and the Rocking Horse "Zinfandel") for the inconvenience. It was completely unnecessary since we weren't in a hurry, but it was appreciated. We had a good time tasting and comparing the different wines.
We were finally seated and all four glasses of wine came with us because we hadn't had enough time to finish even one of them (although I had wanted to finish the Rosenblum). We started dinner with the Convivo combination (roasted vegetables, hummus, and orzo pasta) and the mussels in a white wine and chipotle broth. I didn't find anything in the Convivo combination that I liked; all the vegetables had a sort of generic flavor. I was hoping the Convivo combination would be as tasty as the antipasto plate at Pizzeria Bianco, but it wasn't even close. Lynn liked the hummus and some of the vegetables so she was happy with the plate. I liked the mussels because the smokiness of the chipotle chiles actually made the mussels taste good. (Can you tell I normally don't like mussels?) Lynn didn't like the mussels as much as I did.
For my entree I had the grilled pork chop with mustard sauce and goat cheese potatoes au gratin while Lynn had the cheese and crab stuffed halibut with jalapeno cream sauce. The pork chop and mustard sauce was good, but not impressive. The impressive item on the plate was the goat cheese potatoes au gratin. It was genius how the goat cheese added the perfect bit of tang to add interest to an otherwise bland potato dish. Overall I was quite happy with my entree. I tried Lynn's entree and didn't like it at all. The halibut tasted fishy to me, and the jalapeno cream sauce didn't even contain a hint of jalapeno. Lynn didn't taste any fishiness, and she could taste the jalapeno so she liked her entree.
Lynn loves the ancho chile brownie at Convivo so she orders it every time. This time wasn't any different. The brownie was great as usual; the combination of rich chocolate and a hint of chile is a lot more natural than it sounds. The only gripe we ever have with the ancho chile brownie is the cajeta that's served with it doesn't have a bite. Cajeta should be a little wild and gamey, and it would add an interesting element to the brownie if it was, so I wish Convivo would use a cajeta similar to Barrio Cafe's. I had the squash flan with pumpkin seed brittle. The pumpkin seed brittle was pretty tasty, but the squash flan was even tastier. The flavor of the flan was sort of like pumpkin and butternut squash, and was really nice for a dessert.
There's something about Convivo that grows on me. Part of it is the food. (The only thing there that's consistently great are the desserts, but I've never had a meal there I wasn't happy with.) I guess after a couple of dinners it started to feel like home to us. I just wish they'd replace those uncomfortable chairs.
Before we left for our vacation Lynn wanted to eat at a couple of her favorite places. One of them is Pane Bianco. We ordered their focaccia of the day (tomato, cheese, sweet peas, and basil), and two of their market sandwiches (smoked bacon, gruyere, and escarole). I also tried a Bubble Up soda.
We took our food to the park because sitting on the patio at Pane Bianco never seems as appealing. We tried the focaccia and were both impressed with how well all the flavors went together, even the sweet peas. The market sandwiches were also a study in perfection; three simple ingredients that tasted great together. Lynn thought she would like the sandwich better without the bitter escarole, but she quickly figured out that the bitterness helped balance out the saltiness of the bacon and the thick flavor of the cheese. The only disappointment in the entire lunch was the Bubble Up, which tasted like a cheap 7 Up.
Not everything they do at Pane Bianco works, but they were damn near geniuses the last time we were there. It was an excellent reminder just how good simple food could be.
A couple of days ago I received this email from Murray about the Mexican place that we ate lunch at last week.
Subject: Un-named restaurant, be ye named!
Date: Mon, 10 May 2004
From: Murray
To: Father Mario
We went to "PANADERIA Y TORTILLERIA" on 5-5-04 according to my bank statement. You think that is really their name? Go figure...
-= M =-
I didn't know if that was there name since I didn't remember it when I was there, but "Panaderia y Tortilleria" would be an odd name since it means bakery and tortilla shop. It'd be like naming your bakery "Bakery". Well, I went to eat lunch with Ken at Via Marie today, and they were closed again! (It'll be a while before I return to Via Marie again because it's been closed the last three times I've tried to go there. The owner just can't seem to open on time anymore, and I'm not going to postpone my lunch until 12:30 just to suit him. I really like the food there, but it's not worth the trouble.) Once again I headed across the street, and this time I got the name of the restaurant/bakery. It's Panaderia y Tortilleria Guerrero.
I ordered a couple of tacos al pastor (since I knew I liked the pastor), a barbacoa taco (to try the barbacoa), and a chorizo gordita (to try the chorizo, and see how they make their gorditas). I wasn't in the mood for the pineapple skin drink so I went with a tamarindo. Tamarindo isn't normally too sweet, but this tamarindo made my teeth feel brittle. I could hardly drink it so it was a good thing none of my food was too hot. The tacos al pastor were just as good as the first time. The barbacoa taco lacked flavor. The chorizo gordita I ordered was wrapped in foil when they gave it to me. I wasn't sure this foil wrapped package, which looked suspiciously like a burrito, wasn't a gordita so I waited until Ken got his gordita to verify it. If I had just opened the foil I would have seen it was a burro. I was disappointed with the burro because I got a look at Ken's gordita, and it was a thick deep fried tortilla split in half and filled with some sort of creamy sauce and white cheese. It looked pretty tasty to me. Ultimately all the queso fresca in the world wouldn't have made the chorizo taste good so it wasn't a big loss.
I enjoy the experience of eating at Panaderia y Tortilleria Guerrero, but in two visits the only food I've found worth reordering is the tacos al pastor. I still value good food so it's doubtful I'll be eating there again any time soon, although a pastor gordita does sound good.
Gordon has told me for months how good Hodori is. He went so far as to say they were the best Korean in town. Well, I hadn't been in the mood for Korean for a while so I took my own sweet time going there.
Hodori is in the same shopping center, by Mesa Community College, as Best Hong Kong Dining and right by Toh Zan Nagasaki Grill. In fact it's in the same location that used to be a Vietnamese restaurant I used to eat at every once in a while. The dining room hasn't improved since it was a Vietnamese restaurant. There were plenty of menu items, but I didn't find too much of it interesting (maybe I will some other time). Gordon told me the one thing I had to order was the kalbi, so I made sure to order it. I also went with an appetizer that was described as a seafood pancake with scallions; it sounded intriguing.
Our table was set with about eight different condiments, and two of them stood out for me. The kim chi, which Gordon had told me was great, was a spicy powerhouse, and the cucumbers were sweet and spicy. The only thing I really didn't like was the daikon radish, which tasted like it had been marinated in butane.
Our pancake came and it was the size of the dinner plate it was served on! There should have been a warning on the menu that the seafood pancake was an appetizer for four people, or a full meal for two very hungry people. It was pan fried, crispy, and brown on the edges, but it was a light in the center. I liked the crispy parts and tended to avoid the soft parts. The pancake had shrimp and octopus in it in addition to the green onion, and the pancake was quite tasty. I'm not normally a fan of octopus, but it was good in the dish. There was also a sauce that came with the pancake that I thought tasted too vinegary and covered up the flavor, but Lynn liked.
The kalbi arrived sizzling on a bed of onions. Normally I cook my own kalbi, but I'd give that up for sizzling onions. The kalbi itself was thin sliced right through the bone, sweet, and pretty tasty. I wouldn't say it was the best in Phoenix though, because Takamatsu also makes a damn tasty kalbi.
I was happy with everything at Hodori, but I'm usually pretty happy with Takamatsu too. Maybe I'll split time between the two restaurants in the future.
I finally finished Haruki Murakami's "A Wild Sheep Chase". It was a damn good book, but I've noticed a pattern in Murakami's books now that I've read three of them. All of his protagonists are unhappy in their daily lives, and they're always thrust into surreal situations. The endings aren't happy, or even conclusive. I don't dislike Murakami's type of stories since Murakami is a very good writer, but it can be a little depressing.
Well, depressing or not I'm still looking forward to reading "The Elephant Vanishes", a collection of Murakami's short stories. Hopefully he'll keep the ennui to a minimum.
Ever since Murray told me about Madstone Theaters I knew I'd probably spend a lot of time there since Madstone specializes in foreign and independent films. (The only other theater in town that I know of that does the same thing is the Harkins Camelview 5, which is a little out of my neighborhood in Scottsdale.) I don't go see foreign and independent films as often as I used to, but I try to go to Madstone if I do to support what they're trying to do. I do love going there to see popular movies too, because when we go there the theater is pretty empty, and annoying people tend to be the reason I don't enjoy a movie going experience. While I do enjoy having the theater to myself it does worry me that Madstone will go out of business. I guess the main reason I'm writing about them is to get people to go there, so hopefully, they'll be around for a long time.
Recently I saw "Van Helsing" and "Hellboy". Both were entertaining action movies that got way too mushy towards the end. The special effects were good most of the time, but both movies seemed empty. "Van Helsing" was campy, but it seemed to work for the movie. How could any movie with Dracula, werewolves, and Frankenstein not be campy? "Van Helsing" also had plenty of eye candy: Kate Beckinsale, who looked much better than she did in "Underworld"; Elena Anaya, the cute sprite from "Lucia y el sexo"; and Josie Maran, who hasn't been in anything I've seen before. I would say both movies were worth watching once.
The other night Steve had a gift certificate for Pizza Hut, so we used it on a 4forAll (four little pan pizzas with different toppings if you want them). We didn't think Pizza Hut could ruin pan pizzas (I mean Little Caesars makes decent pan pizzas right!?), and we can hardly agree on toppings, so the 4forAll seemed like a good option. We got a pepperoni, pepperoni and bacon, mushroom, and a supreme pizza. There was still a few dollars left on the gift certificate so we also got an order of hot wings.
The pizza dough was flat and dry, the exact opposite of how I think pan pizza should be. The hot wings, which Steve had ordered hot, weren't hot or crispy. All the food was eatable, but not enjoyable. At least it was free.
My mom wanted to go to Pappadeaux for Mother's Day, so even though I'm not crazy about their entrees that's where I took her. We started with fresh lemonade. I wasn't happy when I saw that the lemonade came in hurricane glasses that were topped with off with ice. We were lucky if we got six ounces of lemonade! The lemonade was a little too sweet too.
I like the appetizers at Pappadeaux so I ordered two of them; the oysters Pappadeaux (baked oysters with crab, spinach, and hollandaise sauce), which I've had before, and the barbecue shrimp. The oysters Pappadeaux were pretty good, but Lynn (who has a thing about finding hard bits in her food) found the only crab shell in the entire dish. The barbecue shrimp was excellent. The shrimp were cooked almost perfectly, and the barbecue sauce was thick with a small bit of spice and a distinctive worcestershire sauce flavor. The sauce was so good that after we had eaten all of the shrimp we mixed the sauce with the plain white rice that came with the dish so we could finish the sauce off. I'd definitely order both appetizers again.
The two times I'd previously ordered fish at Pappadeaux taught me not to order fish at their restaurant, which is ironic they're a seafood restaurant. The problem wasn't the fish, but the sauces which didn't taste good and covered up for the flavor of the fish. So what did I order this time but the blackened opelousas with lemon butter sauce and dirty rice. I figured you can't go wrong with lemon butter sauce, but Pappadeaux found a way. The sauce was kind of orange and creamy, and didn't look or taste a thing like lemon butter sauce. I couldn't even figure out what kind of sauce it was supposed to be! I'd never had opelousas before, so I didn't know what to expect, but the fish didn't really taste that good by itself so it wasn't like it was a big loss. I knew the dirty rice was dry and seasoned with something funky so I wasn't surprised by how bad it was.
Lynn ordered the shrimp creole, and it wasn't bad. The sauce was a chunky tomato sauce with a decent amount of flavor. I would have liked it better if it was cooked down to a thicker consistency, but then it wouldn't have been shrimp creole. Lynn liked it a lot. The best entree was my mom's, the shrimp brochette (bacon wrapped shrimp with cheese). The bacon looked very well done so I thought the shrimp would be overcooked, but the bacon was only cooked on two sides so the shrimp was perfect. The flavors all went together really well too. It was the first entree I've ever liked at Pappadeaux.
I've always thought the desserts at Pappadeaux were very good, especially the creme brulee, which is actually exceptional. Well, my mom got the creme brulee, and I got the praline cheesecake with caramel sauce and walnuts. After some of the great creme brulee I've had since the last time I was at Pappadeaux I wondered if I'd still think their creme brulee was great. I did. Their creme brulee was amazingly creamy and rich without being too rich. The cheesecake was very good too. It had a good flavor on its own, and it was even better with the caramel and walnuts.
I had looked at the wine menu to see what kind of dessert wines they had by the glass. There was the Bonny Doon "Muscat" and Far Niente's "Dolce". I've had the Bonny Doon before, and thought it was excellent, but I knew Dolce's reputation and never had it before so I had to try it. The Dolce was very good, and quite complex, but for the money I'd say the Bonny Doon is a better value.
I still dislike the entrees at Pappadeaux, I'll just be sure never to order them again. I'll never order their lemonade again either. At least there's more than enough good stuff there to make sure I'll return someday.
Yesterday I tried to copy my trip pictures to a computer I could use to burn them onto CD, but I ran into a problem. About 150 of pictures out of the thousand or so we took wouldn't copy over. In fact, I couldn't do anything with those files like view them or rename them. It looked like Windows XP had locked the files, and never bothered to unlock them. I worked for hours last night trying to find a solution, but it didn't happen. I was depressed and aggravated because I hate losing pictures! Last night I spent about an hour recovering 26 of the trip pictures from a corrupt microdrive (it was a good thing I brought a spare) if that gives you any idea how much I value my pictures.
This morning I came into work and had the solution in about five minutes. It felt pretty good. Of course I don't know if what I think is the solution will actually work when I get home. Here's to hoping.
Lately I've been watching Furi Kuri (which goes by the name of Fooly Cooly on the Cartoon Network). It's quite a strange anime, and I'm not even sure I like the show since I've only seen the first two episodes and it's already hard for me to follow. My main attraction to the show isn't the story, but the song that plays during the closing credits, The Pillows "Ride on Shooting Star". It's an upbeat song that has an English pop—like Blur—type of sound. Well today I finally got around to downloading the song, and I feel like I've really accomplished something. The song is disgustingly infectious. You can listen to the song if you have java enabled in your browser, a high speed internet connection, and click on the "Listen Up" link on the right hand side of my homepage. Enjoy.
Today I went to Via Marie (used to be Viva Maria) for lunch with Murray. When we got there there was a little sign in the door that said the restaurant was going to open in an hour. This isn't the first time I've gone to Via Marie to find it closed; San Carlos Bay has gotten more business from me because Via Marie was closed and I had to find somewhere else to eat.
Sharp eyed Murray spotted a restaurant across 32nd Street, and suggested we go there instead. I was up for something new. When we got there we found out that it was a Mexican bakery and restaurant. I wasn't exactly sure where to place my order, but eventually I found the handwritten menu by the register. While I was ordering I spotted a bright orange drink in a large glass container. I didn't know what the drink was, but it looked like an agua fresca of some sort. I asked the lady what the drink was and she said it was made using pineapple skins. I'd never heard of that before, but it sounded interesting.
After I paid the cashier I gave the order the cashier filled out to a lady behind a different counter to fill my order. I then noticed a sign in Spanish advertising a drink made out of pineapple skin, lime juice, and chile. I knew that was the drink I had just ordered, and I regretted ordering it. I like lime juice, and I like chile, but I've never been crazy about the combination of the two. Well before my order came out the cashier came out with a little cup of the drink for me to sample. It was unusual; it tasted like pineapple, but a little like sangria too. I let the cashier bring out a large cup of it for me.
Eventually the lady behind the second counter rang a bell to let me know that my food was ready. I had a carne asada torta and a taco al pastor. The tortilla for the taco had been on the griddle long enough so that the edges were crispy, and the meat was spicy and tasty. Unfortunately the torta wasn't nearly as good as the taco. The torta itself was average, and the carne asada in the torta was only ok too. Murray had a couple of carnitas tacos and chicken tacos. I tried a little bit of each. The carnitas were bland, and the chicken could have used some salt (although there was a good roast chicken flavor to the chicken). I wasn't impressed with the food.
Since it was a bakery I picked up a plate and a pair of tongs and selected some baked items. I had hoped they were a better bakery than restaurant. I tried a pastry horn, a pan dulce, and an empanada. The pastry horn and pan dolce were both decent, but they didn't stand out. The empanada had some sort of custard filling with a hint of lemon in it. Now that was interesting.
I never saw the name of the bakery/restaurant, but I did enjoy the experience of eating there. I'll probably be back, and not just because Via Marie is closed again.
Yesterday I found out that Club Freedom in Tempe will be closing down at the end of the month. Kind Friday's at Club Freedom was the only local venue I would usually see djs live; there weren't really any other choices. With Club Freedom's passing the electronic music scene in Phoenix will get a lot smaller.
The crab puffs at Dara Thai in Flagstaff made me want really good crab puffs. House of C-Fu in Tempe used to make the best crab puffs around with just the right amount of real crab and a bit of green onion. When I went to House of C-Fu on Sunday I found out they were out of business and there was a new restaurant in it's place named China Max. It was almost depressing.
Tonight I went to C-Fu Gourmet for some crab puffs, and found them somewhat disappointing. They had plenty of real crab, but they were missing that crucial bit of green onion. I need to find a restaurant that makes good crab puffs.
Today I had heard that Zipangu, a Japanese restaurant with some tasty katsu that I only discovered fairly recently, is out of business. Now that is depressing.
I didn't get a chance to read Lynn's Europe trip report tonight, but I did finish up the list of the best and worst of the trip. Enjoy.
Category |
Lynn's Pick(s) |
Mario's Pick(s) |
|---|---|---|
Best Appetizer |
Blue lobster with tomato puree and lentils - L'Assiette Champenoise, Reims, France Goat cheese with sun dried tomatoes and greens - La Fountaine de Mars, Paris, France |
Blue lobster with tomato puree and lentils - L'Assiette Champenoise, Reims, France |
Worst Appetizer |
Foie gras - Les Elysees du Vernet, Paris, France |
Foie gras - Les Elysees du Vernet, Paris, France |
Best Soup |
Tomato bread soup - Kornhauskeller, Bern, Switzerland Cream of mushroom soup - La Fountaine de Mars, Paris, France |
French onion soup - Brasserie Bofinger, Paris, France |
Worst Soup |
French onion soup - La Rotonde, Paris, France |
French onion soup - La Rotonde, Paris, France |
Best Salad |
Lettuce with gruyere, ham, and a fried egg - creperie (can't remember name), Paris, France |
Tomato, goat cheese, bacon, and lettuce salad - La Rotonde, Paris, France |
Worst Salad |
N/A |
Lettuce with potatoes and bacon - creperie (can't remember name), Paris, France |
Best Seafood Entree |
Sea bass with almond cream sauce and onions - L'Assiette Champenoise, Reims, France |
Sea bass with almond cream sauce and onions - L'Assiette Champenoise, Reims, France |
Worst Seafood Entree |
N/A |
Langoustines with seafood mousse in a celery infusion - Le Meurice, Paris, France |
Best Meat Entree |
Lamb chops - Les Elysees du Vernet, Paris, France |
Baked lamb with ratatouille - Kornhauskeller, Bern, Switzerland Lamb curry - Indian restaurant (can't remember name), Bern, Switzerland Bratwurst with onion rosti and sauerkraut - Theresien Brau, Innsbruck, Austria |
Worst Meat Entree |
Beef dish - Chez Camille, Arnay-le-Duc, France |
Coq au vin - L'Ete en Pente Douce, Paris, France |
Best Dessert |
Wild strawberries with creme brulee ice cream - Le Meurice, Paris, France Chocolate caramel cake - Bateaux Parisiens, Paris, France All the desserts - Les Elysees du Vernet, Paris, France Pot au creme - La Fountaine de Mars, Paris, France Panna cotta with amaretto - Le Palme, Heidelberg, Germany |
Wild strawberries with creme brulee ice cream - Le Meurice, Paris, France The chocolate thing with vanilla ice cream - L'Assiette Champenoise, Reims, France Apricot and violet clafoutis - Bateaux Parisiens, Paris, France Strawberries with pistachio sabayon and vanilla ice cream - La Fountaine de Mars, Paris, France |
Worst Dessert |
Tarte tatin - La Rotonde, Paris, France |
Salzburger Nockerl - Restaurant Goldener Adler, Innsbruck, Austria Rice pudding with berry sauce - Hotel Bellevue, Brunnen, Switzerland |
Best Lunch |
L'Ete en Pente Douce - Paris, France |
Indian restaurant (can't remember name) - Bern, Switzerland cafe (can't remember name) - Beaune, France |
Worst Lunch |
The Louvre Cafeteria - Paris, France |
The Louvre Cafeteria - Paris, France |
Best Dinner |
L'Assiette Champenoise - Reims, France Kornhauskeller - Bern, Switzerland |
L'Assiette Champenoise - Reims, France |
Worst Dinner |
Chez Camille - Arnay-le-Duc, France |
Chez Camille - Arnay-le-Duc, France |
Best Atmosphere |
Kornhauskeller - Bern, Switzerland |
Kornhauskeller - Bern, Switzerland |
Worst Atmosphere |
The Louvre Cafeteria - Paris, France |
The Louvre Cafeteria - Paris, France |
Best Service |
L'Assiette Champenoise - Reims, France Le Meurice - Paris, France |
Anker Restaurant - Bern, Switzerland Kornhauskeller - Bern, Switzerland |
Worst Service |
Sawasdee - Heidelberg, Germany |
Theresien Brau - Innsbruck, Austria |
Best Meal Experience |
Bateaux Parisiens - Paris, France |
Bateaux Parisiens - Paris, France |
Worst Meal Experience |
Finishing the degustation menu at the two star Les Elysees du Vernet in Paris, France by herself because I was sick. |
Getting severe food poisoning from the Louvre Cafeteria in Paris, France. |
Best Hotel Breakfast |
Goldener Hecht - Heidelberg, Germany |
Goldener Hecht - Heidelberg, Germany (A great German breakfast at our own little table.) |
Worst Hotel Breakfast |
N/A |
Breakfast at French hotels because they're skimpy and they want to charge you for them. |
Best Hotel Room |
Goldener Hecht - Heidelberg, Germany |
Goldener Hecht - Heidelberg, Germany L'Assiette Champenoise - Reims, France |
Worst Hotel Room |
Hotel Ibis Wein Mariahilf - Vienna, Austria |
Hotel Ibis Wein Mariahilf - Vienna, Austria |
Best View from a Hotel Room |
The lake and town from Hotel Pickwick, Luzern, Switzerland |
The lake from Hotel Bellevue in Brunnen, Switzerland |
Worst View from a Hotel Room |
The building next to Hotel Langois in Paris, France |
The building next to Hotel Langois in Paris, France |
Best Hotel Experience |
Hotel Eiffel Londres - Paris, France (Arnaud, the concierge, was the best.) |
Goldener Hecht - Heidelberg, Germany (They called around to get us a hotel room for the day before our reservation with them because they were full!) |
Worst Hotel Experience |
Hotel Ibis Wein Mariahilf - Vienna, Austria |
K & T Boarding House - Vienna, Austria (Called me a liar and got mad at me for canceling my reservation even though they got to charge my credit card for two nights. Bastards.) |
Favorite City |
Heidelberg, Germany |
Heidelberg, Germany Innsbruck, Austria |
Least Favorite City |
Arnay-le-Duc, France |
Paris, France Vienna, Austria |
Best Trip Experience |
The entire day of her birthday. |
Eating fine German food at the Anker Restaurant in Bern, Switzerland after having to deal with French food for more than a week. |
Worst Trip Experience |
Getting violently ill in Arnay-le-Duc. Getting lost in Vienna, Austria. |
Severe food poisoning in Paris, France. Being unable to find the K & T Boarding House in Vienna, Austria at night in the rain after searching for almost two and a half hours, and the lady at the hotel telling me I was lying about it when I called to cancel our reservation. |
Honorable Mention: the room at Chez Camille in Arnay-le-Duc, France; the sea bass with tomato puree at Le Meurice in Paris, France (Lynn's); the steak at La Fountaine de Mars in Paris, France; the beef Bourguignon with fries at the cafe whose name I can't remember in Beaune, France; the lunch at Theresien Brau in Innsbruck, Austria (Lynn's); the dinners at Anker Restaurant in Bern, Switzerland, Kornhauskeller in Bern, Switzerland (mine), and Le Palme in Heidelberg, Germany; the service at the Anker Restaurant in Bern, Switzerland (Lynn's); the atmosphere at Le Meurice in Paris, France; the meal experience at Kornhauskeller in Bern, Switzerland; the hotel breakfast at the Hotel am Schloss in Heidelberg, Germany and the Hotel Ibis Wein Mariahilf in Vienna, Austria; the hotel room at Chez Camille in Arnay-le-Duc, France; the view of the lake from the Hotel Bellevue in Brunnen, Switzerland (Lynn's), the river and town from Hotel PickWick in Luzern, Switzerland (mine), the river and town from Goldener Hecht in Heidelberg, Germany, and the Eiffel Tower from Hotel Eiffel Londres in Paris, France; the hotel experience at the Goldener Hetch in Heidelberg, Germany (Lynn's), the Hotel Eiffel Londres in Paris, France (mine), and L'Assiette Champenoise in Reims, France; the city of Luzern, Switzerland.
Lynn gave me the final version of her trip report last night. I started reading it expecting to only have to do some light proofreading and discovered that it needed heavy editing. It's not like it's illegible, but there are definitely things that need to be rewritten. I was hoping not to have to rewrite anything so that you'd get Lynn's unadulterated voice. I mentioned some of the issues I had with the report to Lynn, so she could take care of them herself, in her own style, and she naturally didn't think anything I pointed out was a real problem. I'm not her teacher so I can't force her to break up the run on sentences, declare subjects before she uses pronouns, or make sure her verb tenses are in agreement, but reading something in desperate need of editing bothers me a lot (which is why I don't read my old trip reports, otherwise I'd be forced to rewrite them).
Well, there are two ways I can handle this: one, link to the report directly (because Lynn's starting her own web site), or two, edit the hell out of it and put it on my site. Option one appeals to my lazy side, but if I was going to show it to anyone I'd feel obligated to make it clearer, and at least somewhat proper grammatically.
I guess I'll read it over tonight and figure out what I want to do with it.
Not less than a week after we came back from vacation I decided I wanted to go to Flagstaff. What I really wanted to do was go camping, but Lynn wasn't up for it yet so we made it a day trip. We were starving when we arrived in Flagstaff so we ate lunch. I hadn't been to Dara Thai (one of the two Thai restaurants in Flagstaff I hadn't been to yet) so I wanted to try it out. Dara Thai was ok, but we both liked My Thai Kitchen better.
After lunch we then went to find the erotic Indian painting that was originally supposed to be my Christmas present. When we got to the shop where it was I couldn't find it on any of the walls. Lynn found it on propped up on the floor by the door. The shop owner had it on consignment, and was returning it (along with all the really cool thangkas he had in the shop) back to the gallery he had it on consignment from. If we had waited another week the painting probably wouldn't have been there.
With the painting in my possession we went to The Wine Loft for a glass of wine. It was the first Saturday of the month so they were having a wine tasting. Lynn had a flight of three French whites while I had the wine tasting of six American reds. Lynn didn't like her whites, but I enjoyed three of the six reds. One was a Pinot Noir (a surprise for me since I don't like Pinot Noirs) from the Willamet Valley in Washington (I can't remember the name of the winery), and one was a Barbera from Norman (a Napa winery) that I found interesting, but too aggressively cedary. The best wine I had that night was a classic red blend from Echo Canyon, an Arizona winery. The wine was tasty, complex, and interesting all at the same time. Definitely a wine worth buying, and that much better since it's local.
With far too much drinking behind us we decided to have dinner in Flagstaff. In the last year every place we've been to in Flagstaff (Pasto, Josephine's, The Cottage Place Restaurant) has been disappointing, but I had a plan. Pasto has a habit of making great appetizers only to follow them up with terrible entrees so we had an all appetizer meal. That was some of the best dinner eating we've done in Flagstaff.
We returned home exhausted from the drive and the wine, but it was worth it.
There are four Thai restaurants that I know of in Flagstaff that are all within a couple of miles of each other. The first one I ate at was Little Thai Kitchen over two years ago. It was good, but the quality of their food seemed to be going down hill. The next one was My Thai Kitchen, which I accidentally ran across one day. Their food is pretty good, and I still eat there when I have the opportunity. I just wanted to try Dara Thai just to be different.
I ordered a Thai iced tea, and I was disappointed with how watery and tasteless it was. I haven't had much luck with Thai iced teas lately. Lunch came with the choice of soup or salad, and Lynn got the soup while I got the salad. The chicken and spinach soup Lynn had tasted like soy sauce and chicken fat. It was pretty nasty. The salad had a peanut sauce type dressing with a small bit of heat to it. That was pretty tasty. We also got an order of crab puffs. The crab puffs had a little bit of green onion mixed into the cream cheese, and they were pretty tasty. I couldn't taste the crab though. Lynn said she could taste the crab, and that it was real crab too. Either way I'd still order them again.
Lynn ordered her usual yardstick, gaeng kari [yellow curry with chicken and potatoes], while I had pork fried rice with red chile paste. Lynn's curry was pretty good, and the potatoes were creamy. She liked it almost as much as the gaeng kari at My Thai Kitchen. I didn't like the fried rice; there was something about the red chile paste that didn't taste quite right.
Dara Thai was decent, but nothing about the restaurant convinced me to eat there instead of My Thai Kitchen.
The two times Lynn and I have eaten at Pasto we've had great appetizers and so-so or terrible entrees. I didn't think I'd eat there again after the terrible and poorly cooked entrees we had last time, but the promise of their appetizers called me back. This time I planned on only eating appetizers though.
We started with the soup of the day, the shrimp bisque with sherry. The flavor was mild with sherry in the start and shrimp in the finish. I didn't really care for the soup, but Lynn did.
Next we had the grilled shrimp with aioli and some sort of vegetable thing. Now this was one of those amazing appetizers like I'd come to expect from Pasto. The shrimp was nicely seasoned, and cooked perfectly being just a little raw. The aioli was a perfect match, adding flavor without overpowering the shrimp. The vegetable thing had capers and some pickled vegetables. It was terrible, but it didn't affect how much I enjoyed the shrimp.
The portobello en crute (portobello mushroom, gorgonzola, and roasted red peppers baked in puff pastry on top of a bed of spinach with a balsamic reduction) sounded like a variation on the amazing portobello with gorgonzola we had there last time so I was looking forward to it. This portobello mushroom wasn't large enough and didn't have nearly enough gorgonzola to be as good as original, but it was decent and there were greens with this dish.
Lynn had to have the spinach and artichoke dip. The dip was thick, and had a little tang to it from the pickled artichoke. I thought it was decent, and Lynn really dug it.
We finished our meal up with a house salad with rosemary ranch dressing. I love their rosemary ranch dressing because the rosemary is distinctive without being obnoxious. The salad was a good finish to the meal since it was light.
I was tempted by a couple of the entrees, but we probably ate a lot better sticking to the plan, and to the appetizers.
My experience with Cuban cigars before my European vacation was extremely limited, but one of the goals of vacation was to rectify that. I knew the cigars were going to taste different from what I was familiar with, but other than that I didn't know what to expect. Well, Cuban cigars did taste different from what I was used to, but what surprised me is how similar to each other they tasted. I didn't really notice a difference between the Cohibas, Montecristos, Bolivars, Partagas, El Rey del Mundos, and Punchs. Maybe my taste buds lack the sensitivity to detect the subtle nuances between the different brands, but American brands do a much better job blending their cigars to actually taste different. I was impressed by the smoothness of Cuban tobacco (I only had one Cuban cigar on this trip that wasn't smooth, and it was overhumidified), but their cigar construction needs to improve since I ran into a couple of poorly rolled cigars.
Cuban cigars would make a good addition to anyone's cigar rotation, but it does make me appreciate American cigar brands and the great variety they provide. What I would like to see someday (and who knows when the Cuban embargo will be lifted) is a cigar blended with Cuban, Nicaraguan, and Brazilian tobacco. I think that would be pretty tasty.
I took this week off so I could deal with the jet lag, and try and get some things done. To my surprise I haven't suffered from jet lag. I haven't really accomplished anything either though. I have at least unpacked (which normally takes me a week or longer), got the apartment moderately cleaner than when we left, and started reading Haruki Murakami's "A Wild Sheep Chase". I actually started reading "A Wild Sheep Chase" on the flight to Europe, but the book went from extremely interesting to extremely boring. It's done that a couple of times since I started reading it again too, but it's still a good book.
Today I had my oil changed, and when they finished with my car it was making a lot of noise when it accelerated that it wasn't making before I took it in. I took my car back and they found the problem. Turns out that my "throttle body came loose" meaning they forgot to tighten it. It didn't do any damage, but it did take up time I wish it didn't.
I've only have a couple of days left to do anything worthwhile so helpfully the rest of my week will be more effective.
While I enjoyed "Kill Bill: Volume One" I was surprised how much I didn't care for "Kill Bill: Volume Two". Most of the humor that was present in Volume One was absent in Volume Two, making Volume Two a lot less fun. In fact they seemed like two almost completely different movies. It also made the cheesy '70s soundtrack and some of the more corny kung fu moments seem oddly out of place. There was also about five minutes too screen time of an overly cute kid that I found annoying. The only thing I liked better about Volume Two than Volume One was that Volume Two was much better paced. I was hoping that Volume Two wouldn't have the problems of Volume One, and it didn't, but instead of being a better movie it had a different set of problems that were far from an improvement.
Lynn and I got back into Phoenix Saturday night from our trip to Europe. It was an interesting time and Lynn learned that three weeks is far too long for her to be away from home. I, of course, don't agree, but it is nice to be back.
Here are some of the highlights and lowlights from the trip in no particular order. I got severe food poisoning in Paris and Lynn claims she got food poisoning in Arney-le-Duc, France. Lynn had more than one hangover. Our rental car broke down in downtown Luzern, Switzerland while I was driving it. I had the best champagne (Taittinger 1995 Blanc de Blancs) and the second best champagne (Krug Brut NV) of my life. (I thought $40 bottles of champagne were expensive, but now that I've learned that I like $140 bottles of champagne I'm depressed.) Smoking Cuban cigars. (I smoked about ten Cuban cigars and learned that I only needed to smoke a couple to know that they aren't any better than the regular cigars I smoke, only different.) Lynn and I both almost had nervous breakdowns trying to find the hotel I had made reservations at in Vienna, Austria. I convinced Lynn that food in German speaking countries is superior to French food (which is far too contrived in my opinion). The romantic dinner on the river Seine for Lynn's birthday actually turned out to be one of the best dinners of the trip. Shopping in Innsbruck, Austria. Getting our business class upgrade for the plane trip from Paris to Philadelphia. Smoking cigars with Lynn on our balcony with a view of the lake in Brunnen, Switzerland. Finally, finding an amazing piece of erotic Indian art in the unlikely location of Heidelberg, Germany.
Hopefully I'll have Lynn's trip report up in a couple of days. She's already written it so all she has to do is proofread it. My trip report probably won't be ready for a year or something.
Steve had sent me a link to "Tokyo Godfathers". I read the first sentence or two of the plot summary and agreed to see it. I was surprised when I got there and Steve told me it was animated. He didn't realize it was at first either, but had a sneaking suspicion it was, then looked on IMDB and saw the movie poster. Either way I didn't care. The animation was on the ugly side, but since the story was about three homeless people it fit. There was a lot more humor (some of which I think only people familiar with Japan will really enjoy) in the movie than I would have expected, and it helped keep the movie from being too serious. The story was cute, and the movie was definitely worth at least one viewing.
