Due to his grey fur, beard, and scruffy appearance I've named the kitten Gandalf, after Gandalf the grey from Lord of the Rings. I think he likes the name; he always turns his head when it's called.
What do Vanilla Coke, Vanilla Pepsi, and Jones Vanilla Cola all have in common? None of them taste like cola. They all seem to think that if they put vanilla in the name then they have to make the vanilla overpowering, and artificial tasting. What's so hard about making a cola with a hint of vanilla flavor?
Just last weekend I saw Hamburger Mary's for the first time, and with a strange twist of timing someone also raved about the place on Chowhound this week. It was enough to convince me to try their hamburgers, and today I got a barbecue bacon cheeseburger. It was large and juicy, but I wasn't quite impressed with it. The burger seemed like it needed some salt, and it was a little on the greasy side for me (the fact that I just had some excellent burgers at a friend's house the night before probably had some influence). I also couldn't taste the barbecue sauce until I put ketchup on the burger. Very odd. What I was impressed with were the fries; they had that perfectly blistered crispiness that very few places seem to take the trouble to make, and the paprika on top added a unique touch.
Even though I wasn't impressed with the burger at Hamburger Mary's I'll give them another try to make sure that my slight dissatisfaction wasn't due to hamburger burnout. One thing Hamburger Mary's has going for it is that they're also a bar so they're probably open a lot later than your average hamburger joint. (My two favorite hamburger places, the BBQ Company and Tommy's Burger Place, both suffer from limited hours.)
Yesterday I went to Boston's for lunch. Their pizza was just as good as always, but the Caesar salad came with some stuff on it that looks like the grated Kraft parmesan you get at the supermarket. Whose stupid idea was that? One of the reasons I like Caesar salads is because of the grated or shaved parmesan cheese on top. Even Wendy's has the good sense to put grated parmesan on their 99 cent Caesar salads. Someone at Boston's needs to stop smoking dope.
El Campo is a restaurant very near where Lynn and I live, so I made a mental note to eat there sometime. We ate there for the first time last week, and went back there again this week. The first time we stopped there I got a carne asada and enchilada plate while Lynn went for the carne asada plate. The enchilada sauce had a sweet flavor to it that I thought was weird. It wasn't bad, but it was a little too weird for me to wrap my head around. Lynn enjoyed it. The carne asada was pretty tasty, but the carne asada at Tacos el Caporal is still my current favorite. The big surprise of the meal was that the Spanish rice was actually good. (Normally I hate Spanish rice so there's only one or two places where I actually bother eating it, El Charro being the only place I can think of off the top of my head.) This rice had a little more tomato flavor than like in my Spanish rice, but that was easily covered up by the refried beans. I know it doesn't seem like I really liked the place, but everything proved to be good enough to merit a return visit. Besides, their lemonade was great (it tasted exactly like Vietnamese lemonade).
The second time we went to El Campo was last night. I was having trouble deciding what to order so I got three tacos (one al pastor, one carnitas, and one chicken) to try out their meats. Lynn tried the green chicken enchiladas. Lynn loved her enchiladas. I tried them and found them a little too plain for my tastes (if you've had the green enchiladas at El Tlacoyo and enjoyed them in their full spiciness, then you'd understand completely). Normally carnitas are pretty underwhelming because most places seem to feel that they don't really have spice their pork so that it actually tastes good. Luckily the people at El Campo know better; the meat was not only moist on the inside and somewhat crispy on the outside, but it was also well spiced. It was definitely one of the best carnitas I've ever had. That being said, I'm not sure if I could eat it in quantity. By the time I had finished my taco (which cost $2, but had a very healthy [or perhaps unhealthy] portion of meat in it) I felt I had eaten as much of the carnitas as I could take. The pastor was also very good, and on the spicy side. The chicken in the chicken taco tasted like it might have been roasted, and it had a pleasant flavor, but I felt it needed salt (which is typical of almost every chicken taco I've ever had). Lynn and I were once again happy with the food at El Campo. Someday soon I'm going to have to try one of their tortas, and the shrimp in mojo de ajo.
I hope El Campo makes it; they make more than one dish that I like, they're located pretty close to the apartment, and they never seem to be pissed at us for showing up at 8:45 when they close at 9 on most Mondays and Wednesdays. Oh yeah, and their lemonade kicks butt.
A class I should take, but probably won't: Avoiding Procrastination.
Lynn and I have classes Monday and Wednesday nights so we tend to eat out for the first three nights of the week. One night after class we went to Lin Chinese Dining for dinner. Lynn surprised me because she wanted to try the spicy noodle soup (if Lynn ever goes for a soup at a Chinese restaurant you can bet it's hot and sour soup). I've had the spicy noodle soup at Lin once before so I knew it would be tasty, but it would be a challenge to find an entree that went well with it. It didn't take long to zero in on the special soy sauce duck. Lynn chose the tomato beef (I once had a similar dish in London, and it was quite a bit tastier than it sounded). When we ordered the waiter mentioned that the soy sauce duck was served cold and asked if that would be a problem. It wasn't a problem, but it did occur to me a couple of moments later that it sounded awfully similar to a Chinese duck dish I don't like. When I asked if it was like Peking duck the waiter told me it wasn't and he was going to recommend something else, but I stopped him saying that I didn't like Peking duck. I don't think the waiter was a Peking duck fan either because he looked pretty happy when I said that.
Our soup came, and pile of noodles stood a couple of inches above the rim of the bowl! It was huge. The soup was also very spicy with a pleasant earthiness to it; we were both very pleased with it. The waiter then brought out the tomato beef and special soy sauce duck. The beef had a mild flavor, but it was tasty, and went perfectly with the soup. While I was digging into the tomato beef the waiter came by to see how I liked the duck. Unfortunately I hadn't had a chance to try the duck yet. The waiter waited 20 minutes before he came back again to ask. The duck was compliments by the soy sauce without being overpowered, and had a very savory flavor. Overall it was a very tasty affair, and it wasn't difficult to tell the waiter that it was great. Once again the waiter seemed pretty happy.
When we were done with our meal I was impressed with our ordering; the flavors of all the different dishes traveled seamlessly from sweet to savory to spicy and earthy. The meal as a whole was much better experience than the sum of its delicious parts. Lynn wanted to see if they had dessert. I've had yet to find a Chinese dessert I really like, but it was a good night so maybe a red bean cake wouldn't be a bad thing? Lynn asked the waiter, who told us they didn't serve dessert, but he would bring us something. The waiter came back with a bowl of ice with some odd white looking things on top with tooth picks sticking out of them. He told us they were fresh lychee, and that they were on the house. Nice. Maybe the waiter was as impressed with our ordering as I was, or it may have been that I made his day by telling him how great the duck was, but whatever the reason it was pretty cool. The waiter didn't know how cool a thing that was for us because neither me or Lynn had had fresh lychee before so it was a completely new experience. The lychees had a perfumy quality to their flavor that reminded me of rose water. I found them highly enjoyable, and while Lynn found their unusual flavor interesting (she said she could taste various disparate fruits with every bite) she didn't like the texture of them at all. I didn't have a problem with the slightly fibrous texture so I finished off the bowl.
Lin is located so close to our apartment I often forget that convenience isn't the only reason we eat there so it's that much better when I find a new dish I love there. One thing that puzzles me is that I hardly see Chinese people eating at Lin, even though there's a ton of Chinese people at Tao Garden (which is probably only a quarter of a mile away). I've eaten at both restaurants and can't really say one is significantly better than the other in any way other than one may make a particular dish better than the other. If anyone knows the secret, please let me in on it.
Wednesday I expected to write about the unusual and amazing food Lynn and I had at Cafe ah PWAH on Tuesday night, but instead I get to write about a dead cat. Lynn and I both got home about the same time Tuesday night, and all we had to do at the apartment was drop our stuff off before heading to ah PWAH. Lynn found Tiger (the male cat) sprawled out behind the door. It wasn't unusual for Tiger to be sprawled out behind the door, or for him to not get out of the door's way, but he wasn't moving at all, and he had peed himself. We took him to the emergency veternary clinic, but he was already dead. Lynn's been pretty broken up since. She said that to her it feels like she's lost a child. I can't claim to empathize because I'm cold and practical, and Tiger was a cat, but I do hope that Lynn feels better soon.
Last night Lynn and I finally finished some of our wedding invitations. We should be finished with the remainder this weekend, which is good because they've been one of the most aggravating things I've had to deal with in a long time. Anyway, my life should return to normal once the invitations are finished.
Tonight Lynn and I are going to Cafe ah PWAH for a special tasting menu. We tried to set it for last Tuesday (my birthday), but they decided to rent the place out for a private party that night. Mark comes up with some interesting stuff for the menu normally so I can't wait to see what he comes up with without any thought towards daily feasibility.
I hate the half billion pronunciation rules for French. Tomorrow there's a "small test" that covers everything we've learned in class thus far. It wouldn't be so bad if I didn't have to memorize how to spell all the French words in my conversational French class.
Today I had the mojo de ajo combination plate (shrimp and fish) at San Carlos Bay, and I have say it was a lot tastier than the last time I had it. The garlic sauce was so good that everything that touched it easily became 10 times more delicious. I just thought it was worth mentioning.
Also worth mentioning is a couple of weekends ago Lynn and I went to Tommy's Burger Place to get a couple of burgers to go. When I walked in the first thing I noticed was that the lady who usually works the register on Saturdays wasn't there. As soon as I saw the cook I knew the place had been sold. I immediately felt as if Tommy's wasn't Tommy's anymore; like its soul had been sucked out. I looked around and all the kitschy country accents now seemed out of place. I'd grown rather attached to Tommy's, having eaten there since they opened under that name, and as the Lenny's Burger Shop on 7th Avenue before that. I talked with the new owner for a bit, and he had owned the place for a couple of months. I knew it had been a while since my last visit, but I didn't realize it was over two months. The new owner was friendly, and I wished him success in my mind, but I wasn't sure if I'd be back again. I started in on the burger as soon as I got back into the car, and it turns out the burger was juicer! Looks like I'll be returning to Tommy's again.
These days I've been too busy working on wedding invitations, and French class to write anything. The invitations should be done this week so I should be able to get back to writing soon.
Last night's game kicked off the NFL season, and the fantasy football season I got roped into. I don't watch much football, but being a competitive person I want win my first fantasy football season and have found myself a lot more interested in football. It's doubtful I'll even have a winning season, but we'll see how it all works out.
Yesterday I was tightening the screw on my glasses when my glasses slipped out of my hand. I instinctively grabbed for them and caught them, but in the process I had also bent them slightly out of shape. It wasn't obvious how they were bent, but as soon as I put my glasses on it was obvious something was wrong. I tried to bend them back into shape, but since I couldn't figure out how they were bent it was impossible for me to fix. I spent a good part of yesterday replacing my glasses. The new ones look a lot sharper than the old ones did, but everything still looks a little weird out of the new glasses. Hopefully I'll get past this oddness quickly.
Figures, I cancel my account with Atlantic.net last week, and now they get my web site back up. I can't say how long my site will remain up until everything gets switched over to my new host so I'll let you know when my site should be trouble free. Hopefully the change over will go off without interrupting my site any more than it already has been.
The first time Lynn and I went Tacos el Caporal Lynn noticed a sign for La Flor de Michoacan, whose sign read paletaria and ice cream. (A paletaria sells paletas, which are tasty frozen fruit bars that you normally buy from guys who sell them from pushcarts.) Lynn and I have been to Tacos el Caporal a couple of times, but I kept forgetting about La Flor de Michoacan. Luckily, today, Lynn remembered the place existed and we went in to grab a paleta. The selection at La Flor de Michoacan was pretty good, with a lot of flavors I recognized (such as pineapple, coconut, lime, and strawberry), unusual combinations with chile, and more than I few flavors that I didn't recognize. (All of the names are written in Spanish with only a few English translations so the only names I recognized were from past experience. I was surprised to discover that the Spanish word for raspberry, frambuesa, is similar to the French word for raspberry, framboise.) I went for an orange one labeled "melon" since I couldn't recall any orange melons so I thought it might be exotic. It turned out to be cantaloupe, which I'm not fond of, but found pretty tasty. Now I want to go back and eat through all the fruit flavors I couldn't recognize. Maybe I'll be able to work the good looking ice creams and gelatos into the rotation.
It's official, in addition to going to New Orleans in December Lynn and I will also be going to San Francisco and Napa Valley (thanks to the amazing fare sale from Southwest Airlines) for a couple of days in December. I get to eat at French Laundry!
Since I have nothing better to do I thought I'd finish up the restaurant reviews from the last time Lynn and I went to Flagstaff.
Me and Lynn drove through Oak Creek on our way back from Flagstaff, and Lynn wanted to stop at Mandarin House, Lynn's favorite Chinese restaurant, for lunch. We ordered more appetizers than entrees; usually a very successful system for a positive ordering experience at any restaurant. We had hot and sour soup (Lynn's favorite), crab puffs, aromatic crispy duck (a special of the day), and Mandarin sizzling pork. I normally don't like hot and sour soup, but the soup at Mandarin House is pretty tasty; lots of flavor with the right balance of white pepper and vinegar. The crab puffs actually had real crab in them so they were pretty decent. The aromatic crispy duck was excellent; it was perfectly crispy without a hint of gaminess. The flavor was mild for something that contained "aromatic" in its name, but the flavor was interesting with a hint of lemon in it. Finally, the Mandarin sizzling pork was well worth eating.
Mandarin House is Lynn's favorite Chinese restaurant pretty much because it serves her favorite hot and sour soup. It's not my favorite Chinese restaurant, but there are definitely good items on the menu. It does fill a hole for me since Asian Gourmet in Flagstaff went out of business.
Thanks to Murray I experienced a Jones cream soda for the first time today. I was surprised to find out that it didn't taste so much like a cream soda as a creme brulee soda. It was pretty good, but it gave me a strong urge to eat strawberries with it. I wonder if the creme brulee flavor was intentional?
I don't read Chowhound nearly as much as I used to these days because it seems like it's the same thing every time: some person asks a question that was already asked five days earlier, and people respond by recommending the exact same restaurants they recommended five days earlier. It doesn't feel like there's anything new being said, or any new restaurants being explored. Maybe I just feel that way because I'm in a grumpy mood because my web site is still down. I decided to just cancel my Atlantic.net account since it's been down almost two weeks now. Bastards.
If you've tried to access my web site in the last week you know that my site has been down. I called Atlantic about it and all they could say is that one of their servers was down, and they didn't know when it would be brought back up again. Bastards. Reliability should be the last thing I should have to worry about with a web host, but the last two web hosts have driven home the point of how unreliable a web host can be.
I just found out today that Papa Jay's, my favorite pizza place, is closed. They'll be missed.
My web host is sucking right now; the whole weekend they've been having intermittent ftp problems that haven't allowed me to upload my files to the web server. Saturday I tried to upload my homepage and it not only wasn't uploaded, but the copy on the web server was deleted leaving nothing for my homepage until their ftp server started working properly again. Why is it so difficult to find a web host that works properly?
Tonkatsu is a Japanese dish of pork cutlet coated in panko (bread crumbs made with rice flour) and deep fried. It was really popular in the area of Japan I visited, and I was hoping to find a restaurant around here that makes it. Unable to get a recommendation for tonkatsu I did the next best thing, I made it myself. It was pretty easy, and it was quite delicious. We also made croquettes and salad with a Japanese style vinaigrette (heavy on the vinegar with a little sesame oil). The salad was also good, but my croquettes weren't nearly as good as the ones I had in Japan. Hopefully I'll find a good recipe for Japanese style potato croquettes someday.
One night I finally got back to Tacos el Caporal to sample their tortas. I got one carne asada and one milanesa (which I couldn't remember what was in it, but nothing wrong with taking a chance). The milanesa torta turned out to be a type of chicken fried steak which was very plain. The carne asada torta was much better, but I knew the carne asada was good from my first visit to Tacos el Caporal. Both tortas shared good bread, avocado, lettuce, cabbage, and pickled jalapenos. I'd definitely order the carne asada torta again.
Today I got some great news; Lynn's mom was able to get us a week's stay at a hotel in downtown New Orleans for free. (Free for us, not Lynn's parents, but that's ok since it was all part of a Christmas present they gave to Lynn a couple of years ago that Lynn hadn't tried to use until our honeymoon.) I was planning on paying for our hotel so I'm extremely happy to find out that I don't have to.
On top of that Lynn also got around to calling Southwest Airlines today about her missing frequent flyer ticket, and it was actually straightened out. She now has a free ticket coming to her in the mail.
Yesterday I was paying for a week's hotel stay in New Orleans and one plane ticket (I already had my free ticket from Southwest), and today the only honeymoon expense I'll have is food... in my favorite city to eat well in, New Orleans. I'm excited.
There's one particular cigar (the Indian Tabac Limited Reserve "Buffalo") I like to smoke that has a flavor that always reminds me of beef. I would have never guessed that that unlikely flavor might actually be real. And have a name, especially a name like umami. The article "Umami, the Fifth Taste" explains it all. It's possible that the "Buffalo" might be unusually high in umami for a cigar so it has a beefy flavor.
I truly believe a great sandwich starts with great bread. J.P. McGurkee's Sandwich Shop (central Phoenix, AZ), Neilson's Frozen Custard (Mesa, AZ), and every great torta, panini, and bahn mi remind me of that every time I eat one. The other day at Chandler Mall I was starving and looking for a snack to tide me over until dinner. Nothing in the food court looked appetizing (big surprise there) so I staggered along too hungry to think until I saw Wildflower Bread Company. I'd never eaten there before, but I'd been meaning to eat at the one in Tempe for a while. I tried to order their "Any Two", which is supposed to be your choice of any two half sandwiches, soups, or salads on their list, but when I tried to order a roast beef and gorgonzola sandwich, and a chicken salad sandwich I was told I couldn't. I think they should rename it to "Any Two (unless you actually wanted two sandwiches)" to be more accurate. If I had to settle for only one full sandwich I decided the pork sandwich with an apple-leek spread sounded the tastiest. When the sandwich arrived I immediately noticed that the bread was toasted, which can make all the difference in the world (the best Whopper I've ever had was served on a toasted bun). The pork was sliced paper thin, which kept it from being nearly as satisfying as it could have been, but the apple-leek spread and toasted bread more than made up for it. Lynn didn't care for the sandwich because the bread had caraway seeds in it. Normally I don't like caraway, but I thought it matched pretty nicely with the pork and the spread. The sandwich also came with a salad of sorts; it was a combination of bread, roasted red peppers, herbs, and other miscellaneous items. The flavors were good, but the bread seemed out of place. (You're a bakery. I get it, but that doesn't mean you have to put bread in everything.) I think the salad would have been better with Israeli cous cous, or even regular cous cous instead of bread. Naturally Lynn loved the salad even though she hates stuffing.
If the meat in the sandwich only tasted like real meat instead of meat flavored fluff I'd have thought the sandwich at Wildflower Bread Company was great instead of above average. The Tempe location isn't too far from my work so I might go there some time soon to try a couple of the other sandwiches (like the roast beef and gorgonzola I was denied).
There isn't very much on tv that I actually go out of my way to watch, but The Restaurant on NBC has me looking for it on Sundays. I don't find the concept of watching the day to day events at a real restaurant very interesting, but this show is like watching a train wreck, or the more entertaining restaurant version of the Anna Nicole Show. After watching a couple of episodes I'm surprised Rocco (the chef - who comes off as a total ass) hasn't tried to pull the plug on the show.
This Tuesday, the 18th, Steve returns to Phoenix after his leisurely year in Japan. Hopefully he'll remember how to work full time.
In preparation for our trip to Europe next spring me and Lynn are taking French. Monday the 25th is our first day of conversational French class. Of course Lynn took like four years of French in high school so this is all just a refresher for her, but I've never taken any French so I'll have to actually study. So long as I learn how to ask the two most useful questions in any language, "How much is it?" and "Where is the bathroom?", in French I'll be happy. (You don't want to learn, "What did I just eat?" because the answer will probably only upset you.)
Addendum: Friday "Shaolin Soccer" is supposed to be released in American theaters, but it doesn't appear to be showing in Phoenix. The movie combines soccer and kung fu; can you get any funnier than that? At least I can fill some time waiting for it by watching "Dirty Pretty Things" (which stars Audrey Tautou from "Amelie").
The next couple of days are going to be really busy at work so I probably won't get a chance to update the site until this weekend (like I ever really update the site on the weekend), or next week.
Steve started a tradition with me and Lynn of checking out independent movies at The Monkey Show. When The Monkey Show closed we moved the tradition to Harkins Camelview 5, occasionally watching the random foreign film. Well, since Steve's been in Japan I haven't watched too many mainstream movies, much less random foreign ones. I decided I should get back into the practice so I looked at the movie listings to see if any of the movies at the Camelview looked interesting. Naturally the movie with the fine chick on the poster ("Swimming Pool") caught my attention. The plot didn't sound too bad either.
I wasn't sure what to expect from the movie, besides maybe a little nudity (which I got in spades), but it was interesting. The story started out a little slow, but it sped up with the meeting of the two main characters. Towards the end of the movie the story took a decidedly odd turn for the worst, but the ending explained it. Sort of. It took me a couple of minutes to make sense of the ending, and after talking to Lynn about it I realized that my original thoughts on the ending were slightly incorrect. I enjoy movies that require some thought afterward, and this one seemed worth the time it took to go back and reexamine some of the details.
While Lynn and I enjoyed the movie I wouldn't recommend it for everyone. I read the reviews on IMDB and there are too many people who didn't get the ending, and there are those who actually got it and just thought it was a cop out. I could easily see how both those outcomes are possible.
The other day Lynn was flipping through tv channels when she stopped at the Independent Film Channel (IFC) where there was some sort of music video playing. I heard it in the kitchen and thought it sounded pretty cool so, of course, Lynn changed the channel. I came out of the kitchen and had her change it back. The song had a campy lounge sound to it (a la Ursula 1000), and it took me a while to realize that all the music for the song was being produced by string instruments. It was quite a feat considering the range of sounds that had to be created. The credits at the end of the video said it was Kronos Quartet "Mini Skirt". I hardly know any classical groups by name, but I actually saw Kronos Quartet at Gammage one Halloween at a showing of the original Dracula movie, in which they performed the music. It was an interesting time.
Impressed with the song "Mini Skirt" I decided to see if I could find any information about it online. I actually found a page on the National Public Radio (NPR) site which covered the making of "Mini Skirt", and the final version. I love hearing new developments in classical music; given its age it's amazing that new things can still be done with it. I still remember the night I heard Radar and the Concerto for Turntable. I wish there was a recording of that somewhere.
Today I found out that our manager (the same manager who tried to tell me I couldn't take my trip to Japan after I had already scheduled the time off and purchased my plane ticket, then wrote me up for insubordination because my reaction wasn't positive) is no longer employed with us. I don't know if she was fired or if she quit, but either way I'm happy. She was a low level nuisance, poor decision maker, liar, and a detriment to our productivity. Hopefully we'll have better luck when they hire a new manager.
Gloomy reminds me of a cat; cute, but vicious. If you want to see more Gloomy then go to the Chax web site and click on the "Chax" link on the left.
I was going to write yesterday, but Long just got back from his trip to Vancouver so I had to listen to his travel stories. I wanted to go to Vancouver before Long told me about his trip, but he's definitely reinforced the desire. Hopefully I'll get to Vancouver sometime in the next couple of years.
Anyway, I should be getting back to writing today.
I'm not a big fan of watching sports on tv (even though I do enjoy Wimbledon), and the sports I do enjoy watching (sumo and muy thai) aren't popular on American tv. I don't care much for game shows either unless, like Dog Eat Dog, there's some obvious visual appeal to the show. Well something I started watching recently, which surprised me more than anyone, is the World Poker Tour on the Travel channel. It's amazing how engrossing a good round of Texas Hold'em can be. Watching a skilled player bluff when he doesn't have anything makes for amazing drama. Will the other player call or fold? If he calls will the bluffer keep working the bluff or give up on it? Watching someone go all in, and seeing the community cards being laid out is more exciting than any game of baseball or football. And a lot more satisfying too. Watching advantage appear and disappear with the flip of a card is immediately gratifying. The only thing I don't like about watching the World Poker Tour is the urge it creates for you to play too. I mean, I'm sure if I played Texas Hold'em I'd be really good at it...
I normally don't read the Arizona Republic restaurant reviews, but Ken sent me a review of Cyclo (which I still have yet to eat at) on their web site. After I was finished reading the glowing review I decided to check out their Eating & Drinking section (which I figured would be the web equivalent to the very well edited Food & Drink section in the Republic). The first thing I noticed was Howard Seftel's review of Frank & Charlie's, which I've eaten at more than a few times. I figured reading his review of a restaurant I'm familiar with would give me an idea of how similar our tastes were. Did it ever. I don't order the steak at Frank & Charlie's (because, with the exception of the steak at Morimoto in Philly and Emeril's New Orleans Fish House in Vegas, I make the best steak, or at least the steak I enjoy eating the most) so I can't comment on that, but Howard Seftel called the ribs indifferent and the chicken boring. The whole reason I go to Frank & Charlie's is the ribs (which are excellent), and Lynn's favorite dish there is the chicken (which saves me from having to order it because I really like it too). Now it's been a few months since we've been to Frank & Charlie's, but I doubt the quality of their food has changed that dramatically. I think it's safe to say that my tastes and Howard Seftel's vary more than a little.
I think I'll stick with occasionally reading Carey Sweet's reviews in the New Times. (Check out her amusing review of Cafe Citron to see why I like her.)
One night I was in the mood for fried chicken, and since It's About Time is no longer open I was at a loss for a source of fried chicken. I couldn't remember if Iguana Mack's had fried chicken on their menu, but it sounded like something they'd make. It turned out they didn't, but they did have a crab and avocado soup as their soup of the day, and that sounded delicious. The soup had a good flavor, but I was disappointed to discover that the crab in the soup was fake. (There may have been some real crab meat in the soup, but I might have eaten it before I noticed the imitation crab.) Even though the soup was delicious I wouldn't reorder it on principle.
Even though I couldn't get fried chicken I was able to get a "chick in a blanket" (chicken breast with cheese and spinach baked in puff pastry, otherwise known as chicken en croute [which sounds much better to me, but probably sounds a little too sophisticated to fit into Iguana Mack's roadhouse theme]) with paprika cream sauce, and potato salad. Lynn had a tamale pie with beans and rice. My potato salad was a little strange as I think it's the first potato salad I've ever had with dill. I like dill under normal circumstances, but I learned that I don't like it in my potato salad. It's a good thing the "chick in a blanket" was excellent, and my biggest complaint about it was that I couldn't get enough of the paprika cream sauce. The masa on Lynn's tamale pie was tough, and there were too many olives in it for my tastes, but I really enjoyed the flavor of the pie. Lynn liked it too, but it was too spicy for her. Since the spice was a little mild to me I ate more than my fair share of it. The beans that came with the tamale pie were smokey and delicious, and matched quite well with it.
Iguana Mack's has an odd mix of food styles, but it would seem there are some good things to be had on their menu. I would definitely recommend the "chick in a blanket", especially if you're as crazy about anything baked in puff pastry as I am.
Murray lent me "Voices of a Distant Star" (an anime) to watch. I looked at the runtime and noticed it was only 30 minutes so I thought that the story wouldn't be that good. I was wrong. The story was about the relationship of two teenagers whose lives take very different paths, but are still connected through email. The feelings seemed realistic, and the animation wasn't bad (even though I didn't care for the animation style of the characters it wasn't bad enough to make me dislike the film). Overall I'd say it was a well done movie, especially considering the animator practically did everything on his home computer.
Recently I went to lunch at Diamond's in Phoenix with my heart set on their pot stickers (because of their unique pot sticker sauce) only to find out they don't make pot stickers during the summer. That disappointment may have colored the rest of my experience.
We had the wor wonton soup, seafood chow fun, and beef with long beans. The wor wonton soup was full of meat, but wasn't impressive in any way other than the amount of meat in it. The seafood chow fun and beef both had dull sauces that didn't seem to add to the flavor of the dishes. I was disappointed in the entire meal so it'll probably be October before I go back there again.
Today I was sitting out on my patio (after a fine lunch at Mika) in the sweltering heat smoking a cigar while reading about a bacon themed road trip in "Food & Wine" magazine when I thought to myself that I really like my life. It's good to remember that every once in a while.
Me and Murray didn't have a specific destination in mind for lunch today so we went to try out the bhan mi at the restaurant Long told me about yesterday (which is named Da Vang). I had a lemonade, and we split an order of egg rolls and four different bhan mi (I don't know the Vietnamese names so you get the English translations from the menu): barbecue pork, shredded pork, red pork, and pork meat (which turned out to be pork meat balls liberally seasoned with black pepper). The lemonade was good, but it's expected at a Vietnamese place. I wouldn't order the egg rolls again; they were greasy and had too many carrots in them. Three of the sandwiches had the full compliment of pickled vegetables, mayonnaise, cilantro, and cucumbers while the meatball sandwich came with two meatballs in a bowl and a loaf of bread. Of the four sandwiches Murray and I liked the barbecue pork sandwich the best. My description will not do the barbecue pork justice, but it was tender, sweet, delicious, and fatty, but the fat was so tasty that fatty wasn't a bad thing. The red pork (which I was hoping was like the pork on the "Nhat special") was similar to Chinese barbecue pork, except that there was an odd sweetness to it that isn't present in Chinese barbecue pork. It was eatable, but I wouldn't order it again. The shredded pork was bland, and that's all that needs to be said about that. The meatballs tasted ok by themselves, but without the condiments on the sandwich they weren't really worth eating.
Other than offering bhan mi, the other thing that differentiates Da Vang from other Vietnamese restaurants is great service. I couldn't believe it. Other Vietnamese restaurants better beware, I might actually get used to the idea of having my water glass being refilled without having to chase down a waiter to do it.
I told Long about the bhan mi Murray and I had at Da Vang, and somehow we missed Long's favorite which has pate and some sort of cold cuts on it. I guess I'll have to try it the next time I go to Da Vang. (I know it sounds like a panned the place, but Da Vang does offer something unusual and tasty so I will be back there again. Long also assured me that the other food there is really good too. It may be a while before I verify that.)
I keep trying to get caught up on my writing, but new things keep popping up. It's not a complaint; if I didn't have anything new to write about I'd probably be pretty bored with life because I wasn't doing anything. As I work my way through the backlog of my restaurant reviews you can look forward to reading about fine dining (like Convivo, Cafe ah PWAH, and The Cottage Place Restaurant), and ethnic places (like Takamatsu, Royal Taj, and Mandarin House). Hopefully it'll be worth the wait. (Maybe some day I'll even get around to finishing one of my trip pages.)
After my recent experience with Mika and their bhan mi I remembered Nhat (a Vietnamese restaurant I've been to once before which had good pork, but was not very good otherwise) had them on their menu too. Despite my somewhat negative feelings about the restaurant, I decided to give their bhan mi a try this week. Today I went there with Long for lunch and ordered their grilled pork sandwich, "Nhat special" sandwich, and a lemonade. The lemonade tasted pretty watery, and it was the first lemonade I've ever had at a Vietnamese restaurant that I didn't like. The sandwiches were pretty bare; the only ingredients I could see were pork, cucumbers, and mayonnaise. It turned out there was a little pickled cabbage in the sandwich too, but not enough to make up for the absence of pickled carrots and daikon radish, and cilantro. The grilled pork was good, and the pork in the "Nhat special" sandwich, which tasted almost exactly like my homemade bool kogi (which I make with pork instead of beef), was great. The meat in the sandwiches couldn't make up for the lack of flavor or complexity that typify bhan mi, but I would be very happy with that spicy pork on top of rice or noodles.
Incidentally, Long told me about a Vietnamese restaurant in Phoenix (he doesn't know the name, but he said it's located on 19th Avenue south of Camelback) that makes really great bhan mi so I'll have to give them a try some time soon.
Today I had the day off so I met Lynn at work so we could have lunch together. I told Lynn that I was in the mood for something new, but she didn't have any idea where to go. I decided to drive around the neighborhood until something caught my. We were on Country Club when I saw the sign for Tacos el Caporal. It sounded like a real Mexican restaurant, which usually means cheap, fast, and delicious, so it sounded perfect to me. The place was small, and the menu was limited (or focused depending on how you look at it), but there wasn't any shortage of things for me to try. Lynn had a couple of carne asada tacos while I had four different tacos with carne asada, barbacoa, chorizo verde, and al pastor. The carne asada was tender and had a really good flavor. The barbacoa was also pretty good, but I couldn't see eating very much of it. The chorizo verde was the first time I've ever had green chorizo, and it was a good experience. (Chorizo verde and eggs sounds like a really great breakfast to me.) The pastor was on the dry side, but it matched perfectly with the thick, slightly smokey salsa they had available.
I didn't have anything I was disappointed with, but the carne asada was definitely my favorite. The next time I'm at Tacos el Caporal I'll have to try a carne asada torta. (Since Tacos el Caporal is open until 10 p.m. on weekdays and 1 a.m. on the weekend the next time I'll be there will probably be later at night.)
Lynn and I were looking for breakfast in Flagstaff on a Sunday, and our options were limited. Lynn suggested Cafe Express, which I didn't remember liking, but I was too hungry to think of anything else. I had a cheese danish, pancakes, and a "strawberry sunrise" (orange juice, strawberry juice, and seltzer water) while Lynn had biscuits with sausage gravy, potatoes, and eggs. The pastry for the cheese danish was very good, but the cream cheese needed to be sweeter. The pancakes were quite bland. The "strawberry sunrise" tasted great, but I thought it was a little overpriced at $3.50. Lynn's biscuits with sausage gravy tasted too much like flour, and didn't have enough flavor for me, but Lynn really enjoyed them. The potatoes (which I remember being pretty bad the last time I was at Cafe Express) were very flavorful and delicious, much better than the eggs (which I also remember being pretty terrible). I still didn't like the eggs either since they had some sort of odd fluffy texture, but Lynn liked them so they fit someone's ideal of good eggs.
I thought Cafe Express was decent, but in the future I'll probably be eating my Flagstaff Sunday breakfast at Perkin's.
I was watching tv when heard that the chef from Restaurant Hapa opened a new restaurant. I wasn't really interested, but I was curious. Some of the food looked like straightforward Japanese food (udon with dashi was what got my attention), and I was just commenting to Murray the other day that I wish there were some Japanese restaurants in Phoenix that made more than just sushi and teppanyaki so I was very interested. Less than a week later Lynn and I had lunch at Mika.
We had a couple of glasses of lemongrass lemonade mainly because we love fresh lemonade, but also because it sounded pretty exotic. The lemonade had a great lemon flavor, but we couldn't taste the lemongrass. Maybe that's not a bad thing since too much lemongrass would have probably spoiled the lemonade.
There were a lot of things that sounded good, but we got it narrowed down to cold cucumber-avocado soup and spicy honey sambal wings (the udon would have to wait for some other time). The soup had a runny custard consistency, and a light cucumber flavor that was quickly covered up by a persistent basil flavor. Neither Lynn or I thought the soup was worth eating; the whole didn't seem to rise above its parts. The wings, on the other hand, were great! They were sweet, crispy, spicy, and juicy, basically everything I want hot wings to be. The spiciness had me liking them better than maple hot wings at The Vine (except that the wings at The Vine are priced at $3 per dozen as opposed to $4 for 7 at Mika).
Lynn had a bento box with rice, mixed vegetables, soba, and seared diver scallops with a black pepper-soy sauce while I had a bhan mi (a Vietnamese sandwich - which you hardly see in Phoenix) with grilled pork tenderloin and taro chips. The bhan mi was so good, the meat, pickled vegetables, and cilantro all gave it a light, complex flavor that could be addictive. After my first bite I knew I'd be back to Mika; the wings and the sandwich were more than enough to motivate me to return. The grilled pork tenderloin wasn't as good as the pork at a good Vietnamese restaurant, but it was still pretty good. Lynn's seared scallops were prepared perfectly, and the black pepper-soy sauce gave the scallops a meaty flavor. The soba noodles were good, but it was served Vietnamese style (with bean sprouts, cilantro, and peanuts) so it was a little unusual. I was hoping for a straight, Japanese approach. I also noticed that the soba had some sort of heavy dressing (not Vietnamese) that made it fatiguing to my tastebuds. Overall it was good, but not something I could in quantity. The mixed vegetables featured a wide variety of vegetables (some cooked, some uncooked) that Lynn enjoyed more than I did.
There were some things I didn't care for at Mika, but the things I did enjoy are good enough to make me return. Maybe next time I'll actually get some of the Japanese food that attracted me to the restaurant in the first place. To to my credit though, I ordered the edamame and they were out of it.
I would guess that in an attempt not to be outdone by Foveon and Fuji "Sony announce new RGBE CCD". It sounds like Sony is taking their regular sensors and tweaking them a bit, and changing the processing of their digital images to try and get a more accurate image. Whether these will result in better pictures remains to be seen, but I always believe that digital camera manufacturers questioning the status quo of digital imaging technology is a good thing.
When Lynn and I were in Flagstaff we were going for a light lunch so we only ordered the beef sate and tom ka gai at Little Thai Kitchen. The beef sate was odd; it was slathered in some sort of sauce, but it didn't have any flavor. The beef sate at Little Thai Kitchen used to be so good that it was what originally got me started on eating beef sate, but this sate wasn't worth eating. The tom ka gai was good, but the flavors were more subdued than they used to be. At least merely good tom ka gai is still worth eating though.
One of the dishes I get at Little Thai Kitchen that doesn't seem to be offered at other Thai restaurants is fried bananas (slices of banana wrapped up in rice paper, deep fried, then covered with a little sugar, and a drizzle of honey), and theirs is perfect with their coconut ice cream. I ordered both, and I noticed that they were different too; the coconut ice cream was topped with some sort of hard, crunchy bits instead of the usual roasted cashews, and the fried bananas were topped with toasted sesame seeds instead of sugar. I have to admit that I liked the sesame seeds with the fried bananas, but the hard, crunchy bits couldn't come anywhere near replacing the roasted cashews.
The food at Little Thai Kitchen obviously changed so I kept peeking at the kitchen to see if I could see the little old lady who used to cook there. I couldn't. I'm pretty sure that explains the difference in the food because whenever the little old man/woman who cooks in the back leaves the food goes downhill because no one else really knew how to cook the dishes. Hopefully it's not a permanent problem.
The other day I was on Steve's web site looking at some pictures I had taken with his camera (when I was visiting him in Japan) when I remembered I needed to start work on my Japan trip page. Yesterday I tried to find some notes, and I realized, to my horror, that I hadn't written anything down! Now I have to go back and read through emails I sent, look at the pictures I took, and reread Steve's site from that time and try to piece my trip back together.
No one ever has to remind me to write notes again.
 so Lynn stopped on the side of the road so I could take a picture for her.',399,480,396,416,'#000000','#FFFFCC'))
I wanted go to
Flagstaff to eat, and sleep in the woods, and that's what we did. Of course I don't know of anything
else to do in Flag except eat, and sleep in the woods so I really couldn't do anything else anyway.
We got into town and had a light lunch at an old favorite of mine, Little Thai Kitchen. It would
appear to me that the food at Little Thai Kitchen
isn't as good as it used to be. I noticed that the little old lady that used to cook there isn't there
anymore, so that might have had something to do with it. Later we walked around Flag and saw "The
Italian Job". Afterwards we went to The Cottage Place Restaurant, which was the reason for the light
lunch. Lynn and I both had the five course prix fixe menu (Lynn with the wine pairings, me without).
I had heard good things (I'm not sure from where) about Cottage Place, and their menu looked good, but
I wasn't really impressed with the food. Next time I'm in the mood for French style food I'll go back
to Janos in Tucson. After our very large meal we went back to our campsite, which was surprisingly
warmer than Flagstaff was. The temperature finally cooled down at about 3 in the morning.
The tent was just uncomfortably warm when I woke up in the morning. I think I'll excuse myself from ever camping in Flagstaff in July again. Tasty breakfast in Flagstaff on a Sunday morning is a difficult prospect because there are so few places open. We ended up eating at Cafe Express, which I distinctly remember disliking the last time I ate breakfast there. Their food was much better this time around, but I'd still avoid their eggs (which have an odd spongy texture which I don't like). On our way out of town I spotted a sign for an antique show and wine tasting at the fairgrounds. It sounded interesting so I spent almost the last of my cash on the entry tickets. We didn't find any antiques we liked, but we didn't have any cash on us so it didn't matter. The wines being tasted were from Fort Bowie Vineyard from Bowie, Arizona. They had a fruity red wine that Lynn and I both enjoyed, and enough interesting wines to make the tasting worthwhile. Lynn bought three different bottles when we were finished tasting. I think the wine tasting alone made the stop worthwhile since I love finding good Arizona wines since this seems like the last place you'd find a good wine. Our trip concluded with a drive through Oak Creek Canyon, and a lunch at Mandarin House in Sedona that included a great aromatic crispy duck.
One of the things Lynn and I did while in Flagstaff was go to the movies. I wanted to see something cheesy like "Terminator 3" (which really looks like a remake of Terminator 2 to me) or something even cheesier like "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen", but both were sold out so we settled for "The Italian Job". It was the typical "big heist" type movie, lacking any kind of originality. I would have enjoyed watching "Ocean's Eleven" for the third time more than "The Italian Job".
Read "Bizarre Game Targets Women: Hunting for Bambi" for the rest of the quote. I'm amazed that there are guys willing to pay for this, and women willing to participate.
Well me and Lynn are back from Flagstaff and back to work today. We had a fun time despite the heat. Hopefully I'll get some time today to write the abridged version of the trip.
Soul food restaurants that I frequent seem to come and go in Phoenix. First, Down Home Soul Food (masters of the smothered pork chops) closed, and more recently, It's About Time (fried chicken maestros) closed. Well not too long after I found out that It's About Time closed my mom invited me and Lynn to lunch with the family at another soul food restaurant that I never knew existed, J.D. Hoggs. The reason I never knew it existed is because its location of 16th Street and Buckeye is pretty far from my usual haunts of Chandler and Central/North Central Phoenix.
Two things on the menu piqued my interest; the smothered pork chops and the barbecue. In the end I chose the smothered pork chops because great barbecue is rare, but smothered pork chops are even rarer. I got some black eye peas and braised cabbage to go with my smothered pork chops. Lynn had the fried chicken breast (hoping for fried chicken good enough to take the place of It's About Time) with cole slaw and rice and gravy. The smothered pork chops were pretty good; I couldn't think of any way they could be improved. The black eye peas were pretty tasteless, but the braised cabbage, which was really tasty, made up for it. Lynn's fried chicken had a nice crispness to it, but it needed to be seasoned. Normally I complain about a lack of salt, but this lacked salt, pepper, garlic, and anything else that might taste good on fried chicken. (My cousin's favorite dish at J.D. Hoggs is the smothered chicken, and I'm sure it's because the sauce gives the chicken some much needed flavor.) Neither me or Lynn liked the coleslaw or the rice and gravy.
I also had a chance to sample some potato salad and rib tips because others at our table ordered them. The potato salad had a little too much mustard in it for my tastes, and my mom wasn't impressed by it either. My aunt didn't seem to care for the barbecue she ordered so I tried a rib tip. I agreed with everything my aunt didn't like the barbecue: it hardly had an smoke flavor, the meat wasn't tender, and basically, it wasn't good barbecue.
I was full, and even had some leftovers to take home, but when the waitress mentioned peach cobbler with cinnamon ice cream I had to try it. The cobbler was great; from the pastry to the spices in the filling I was happy with it. Everyone at our table agreed it was pretty damn good.
Overall, I enjoyed my meal at J.D. Hoggs. There were some good things and some not-so-good things on the menu, but having lunch with the family definitely cut through the learning curve. Now that I know what I like there, I'll definitely return for it... if they don't go out of business sometime soon.
DJ looked like he enjoyed the barbecue chicken at Joe's so much that I had to try it. It had a nice smoky flavor, but I swear parts of it also tasted like gas. I also had the brisket, and it confirmed that the brisket is the reason to eat at Joe's.
My original domain is working again, and is once again under my ownership. The sad thing is I didn't find any of this out because my web host responded to any of my email, but because I checked my domain this morning. My web host's communication leaves a lot to be desired.
I get to go camping in Flagstaff this weekend, but it doesn't look like I'll be escaping the heat. The high today in Flagstaff is supposed to be 95 degrees. That's pretty hot, but the sad thing is that Flagstaff is one of the coolest locations in the entire state of Arizona. Steve, are you sure you miss this weather?
My recent experiences with Newpotato2 and my current web host (Atlantic.net) have shown me that customer service truly separates the good businesses from the bad. Great prices don't mean anything if the business is unresponsive when a customer needs to resolve something. I've sent about six or seven different emails to Atlantic.net (who inherited all the domains from Feature Price when they bought the company) about renewing my domain and transferring it back to me, but they haven't responded to anything even though they've had a week. If they don't respond some time soon I will cancel my account, and I will definitely tell everyone how much Atlantic.net sucks.
Due to the problem with my current domain (basically, the current domain owners [the host that bought Feature Price] not responding to any of my emails) I just purchased iamjacksbrain.net. It should be working by the time you read this. I'll let you know when iamjacksbrain.com is working again.
It's seems like every time I go to Cafe ah PWAH I always end up with something to talk about (in a good way), and this time wasn't any different.
We started with two glasses of wine: a Bargetto "Pinot Grigio", and KWV "Steen [Chenin Blanc]". The Bargetto had a pear scent, and a very light flavor with a tiny bit of bitterness. The KWV had a pineapple scent, and a fruity flavor with some bitterness in the back of the throat, but Lynn didn't taste the bitterness. I liked the KWV while Lynn liked both of them.
We had an appetizer of crab cake with tomato ratatouille, oysters, and parmesan crisp. The crab cake didn't taste as good as the first time we had it, but it was plenty tasty. The oysters added a pleasant taste of the ocean to the crab cake, and the parmesan crisp worked on both flavor and texture levels. Lynn thought the Bargetto went well with crab cake (I didn't try it with the crab cake), and we both agreed that the KWV matched the crab cake.
The usual peach sorbet was replaced by a mango sorbet, which in our opinions, was a good decision. The peach sorbet had an astringent quality, and a flavor that seemed to lack some sweetness that was supposed to be there. The mango on the other hand seemed balanced with a flavor that was good enough to eat more than two spoons worth.
Lynn spotted an ingredient on the menu we'd never tried before, escolar tuna, served on top of Israeli cous cous. We were intrigued so Lynn ordered it. I ordered the seared scallops on potatoes gratin, and it was actually available (every other time we've tried ordering the seared scallops they've been sold out). After a while the waiter came back from the kitchen and asked me how fond of potatoes gratin I was because it would take the chef about twenty minutes to make up a new batch. I love good potatoes gratin, but I asked the waiter what the chef had in mind to replace them. He said Israeli cous cous, but I wanted to find out how they'd be seasoned before committing to them. The waiter didn't know, but he asked the chef and came back listing: butter, scallions, and parmesan. It sounded delicious to me, and it was exteremly similar to the seared scallops with Israeli cous cous Lynn had at Bayona in New Orleans (I love comparing dishes from different restaurants so this was an added bonus). We prefer our tuna on the rare side so I was worried that the escolar would be overcooked since I had seen it on the grill for a long time before it was plated. When it was served the escolar was fully cooked, but the texture of the meat was not like any other fish I've ever had before; it was more like very fine strings than flakes. We thought it was amazing! In addition to the novel texture, the flavor was unique too, with a great meaty flavor which really didn't taste like fish to either of us. It was all so good that it made me rethink salmon as my favorite fish. The Israeli cous cous that came with the fish was a little herby, and accentuated the flavor of the fish. The scallops weren't seared. That's the only complaint I had about the dish. The Israeli cous cous with the scallops was a tiny bit astringent and almost a little too strong for the scallops, but it was easily the best overall seared scallop dish I've had. The scallops were tasty (even if they weren't really seared), and the cous cous would have made a good dish on its own. The little bits of melted parmesan were genius; every time I tasted a bit of the parmesan in the cous cous it made me want to eat more of the cous cous. Lynn tried the wines with the escolar and the scallops, and she thought the KWV matched the escolar.
For dessert we chose the vanilla bean and orange cheesecake. The waiter said it tasted like a dreamcicle. Me and Lynn disagreed; I personally thought the orange flavor was too strong, but Lynn really liked the orange flavor.
Every time I go to Cafe ah PWAH I end up loving the place more and more. The food is impressive every time, and easily my favorite restaurant in Arizona.
Afterward: I was so impressed by the escolar that I wanted to find out more about it. I looked it up and never found anything that said it was a type of tuna so I don't know if it really is a tuna or not. Restaurant wine menus tend not to be the most accurate things committed to paper so I don't know how accurate I can expect a menu to be.
The other day I was listening to the NPR program All Things Considered and I heard a segment about an American who became a Japanese citizen. It's interesting to me since Steve may someday go through the process (even though it's unlikely), but I think it's interesting enough in general to share. Click on "New Yorker in Japan" to listen to the segment.
I had heard a lot of good things about House of Tricks so my expectations were a little high. I would find out they were higher than they deserved to be. When we drove to the restaurant I was surprised to discover that it was on a street that I've been down quite a few times, but I never noticed the restaurant before. The restaurant isn't hidden, but they don't go out of their way to appear obvious either. We sat on the patio (as this was a while ago, and it was early enough in the year to actually be a nice night in Phoenix), and we did enjoy the atmosphere.
We started with two appetizers: herbed scallops with roasted eggplant and white miso sauce, and crispy duck ravioli (ravioli filled with duck confit) with mango sauce. The herbed scallops were ok, but the white miso overpowered the scallops and the eggplant. The duck confit in the ravioli didn't have much flavor, but the flavor it did have wasn't very appealing. The mango sauce was also too powerful for the ravioli. Overpowering sauces seemed to be a running theme of House of Tricks.
Lynn had the lavender covered ahi tuna with risotto cake and red curry sauce while I had the garlic encrusted rack of lamb with soba noodles and garlic-ginger sauce. The lamb was very good, and matched very well with the garlic-ginger sauce, but the soba noodles were overcooked. Lynn's ahi tuna was very unusual; the lavender gave it a nice perfumy flavor. The risotto went well with the tuna, but even though the tuna, red curry, and lavender combination matched well the red curry overpowered the tuna. I think the tuna needed to have a stronger flavor (basically to be cooked closer to medium than to rare) to hold its own against the curry.
There were several desserts that looked good, but the chocolate cake with hazelnut mousse sounded too good not to order. When it arrived we were surprised to see that the cake was covered with milk chocolate instead of frosting. The cake was great; it had a rich luxurious taste that could be a bit much, but when it was too much it was easy to eat the cake without the milk chocolate. I would say the cake was the best thing we had all night.
The food at House of Tricks reminded of Cafe ah PWAH because both restaurants seem to find interesting flavor combinations, but the flavors at House of Tricks didn't seem as refined as Cafe ah PWAH. I'm sure there are some things on the House of Tricks menu that are probably perfected, but I didn't feel like I had any of them that night (except the cake of course).
Me and Lynn have eaten more than a few meals from Lin Chinese Dining, and some dishes have been great while others have been pretty bad. Here's a quick summary of the recent dishes we've tried. The yui-shan spicy scallops had to be one of the best things I've eaten at a Chinese restaurant; the sauce was spicy, but still complimented the scallops well. The dragon phoenix is another great dish actually featuring two dishes, a spicy chicken dish and a mild shrimp dish, both delicious. The twice cooked pork at Lin was pretty good, but I can't seem to remember anything about it. I guess that says it all. The hunan chicken was a disappointing dish with a weak sauce. The hunan chicken at Hunan Express (a Chinese fast food restaurant) is actually better. The spicy lemon chicken was another disappointing dish with a weak sauce. I never did taste anything spicy in it either. The absolutely worst dish I've ever had at Lin was the pork fried rice, which had a funky flavor that kept me from wanting to go anywhere near it, much less eat it.
So Newpotato2 finally decided to leave me negative feedback. What really pissed me off about it is that he left me negative feedback for an auction that I left him positive feedback for. I think that shows exactly what type of ass he is (not that the boldface lying didn't make him a total ass anyway). Lynn told me I should have never left him positive feedback for it, but I believe in accurate feedback (positive for good experiences and negative for bad) even if the guy doesn't seem worth honesty.
Anyway, here's the feedback currently on my feedback page.
newpotato2 Jul-05-03 11:59:44 PDT Auction ID: 3131953467
Complaint: Bad buyer, will not listen to reason or accept resolution
Response by imbobii - Seller retaliating to neg feedback left because he sold cards not NM/M as statednewpotato2 Jul-05-03 11:59:44 PDT Auction ID: 3131950633
Complaint: Bad buyer, will not listen to reason or accept resolution
Response by imbobii - Seller never responded with a resolution for HIS fraudulent auctions.newpotato2 Jul-05-03 11:59:44 PDT Auction ID: 3131950330
Complaint: Bad buyer, will not listen to reason or accept resolution
Response by imbobii - Seller had over 30 days to respond to my many return cards for refund requests.newpotato2 Jul-05-03 11:59:44 PDT Auction ID: 3131950237
Complaint: Bad buyer, will not listen to reason or accept resolution
Response by imbobii - Seller left me neg. feedback on auction I left positive feedback for him.
I checked eBay today and Newpotato2 lied in his responses to my negative feedback. It doesn't surprise me that he lied in his response to my negative feedback since it seemed to me reading his other responses that he's that type of person. I am surprised by the fact that he hasn't left me retaliatory negative feedback since he seems like that type of person too, especially since he threatened me with it in his email on 6/19.
So for your viewing pleasure here's what's actually on eBay right now on Newpotato2's feedback page. (Keep in mind that feedback is limited to 80 characters so it has to be overly concise. I wish I could have written a couple of paragraphs about the guy.)
imbobii Jun-30-03 17:57:07 PDT Auction ID: 3131953467
Complaint: Cards NOT NM/M, seller never responded to my many refund requests
Response by newpotato2 - CARDS WERE STRAIGHT FROM A PACK!! Was away for a week, emailed you saying that!!
Follow-up by imbobii - First refund request was on 5/28. You had over 30 days to respond.
imbobii Jun-30-03 17:57:07 PDT Auction ID: 3131950633
Complaint: Card NOT NM/M, seller admitted but never responded to my many refund requests
Response by newpotato2 - Was away for a week, emailed you saying that!!
Follow-up by imbobii - First refund request was on 5/28. You had over 30 days to respond.
imbobii Jun-30-03 17:57:07 PDT Auction ID: 3131950330
Complaint: Card NOT NM/M, seller admitted but never responded to my many refund requests
Response by newpotato2 - Was away for a week, emailed you saying that!!
Follow-up by imbobii - First refund request was on 5/28. You had over 30 days to respond.
I got a new web host yesterday, but in the process of pointing my domain to the new dns servers I discovered that Feature Price stole my domain! I gave them permission to transfer my domain to their registrar, not permission to take ownership of my domain, which is what they did. No wonder customers had problems with them.
Right now I'm trying to work with my host to get my domain transferred back to my name. Hopefully it won't take long, and my domain will be working again, and my domain will once again belong to me.
My former web host cut my hosting without warning so I had to find another host quickly. Hopefully it didn't take you too long to find the site active again.
Yesterday I left negative feedback for Newpotato2, and this morning I found this in my mailbox.
Welcome to the world of getting burned by Newpotato2. There are many of us that have been so cheated of money and cards. Make sure you contact Paypal as soon as possible to see about getting a refund. Also, contact your credit card company and ask them for help. If he cannot prove he sent the merchandise, his account will be debited. Contact the Fraud link as well and turn him in. This individual should never sell on Ebay again.
