Model Pharmacy

Lomas at Carlisle,
Albuquerque, NM
505-255-8686

Not just another kitschy restaurant in a pharmacy place, where one usually finds nursing home quality cuisine: runny eggs, skinny burnt bacon, over buttered wonder bread toast. This pharmacy actually serves really good FRESH food.

Set up like a typical diner, a bar full of stools, and a handful of tables to match, Model Pharmacy sells typical fountain drinks and malts as well as freshly baked cobblers and pies. I don't know if they have a grandma in the kitchen hand baking everything, but there were three cobblers on deck right out of the oven the last time I went- a peach, blackberry, and cherry! I had the blackberry cobbler served with whipped cream, unbelievably delicious! The food here is MADE WITH LOVE, and after days of eating in a town where all the restaurants have a theme of pre-frozen re-heat sometimes served on plastic, I am thankful. The Reuben, Brisket sandwich, tuna salad, and chicken salad plate have all proved satisfying. For those that can't go a day without eating New Mexican cuisine, they always have a pot of green chili stew brewing in the back. Most sandwiches are served with a pickle, homemade apple/blueberry sauce, and a seasonal pasta salad.

When you're done eating walk back through the pharmacy and purchase any of the fine fragrances they sell, along with a fancy fountain pen, novelty hair brushes, postcards, and then...get your prescription filled. Leave looking and feeling like a true model.

Pedro's Mexican Food

2010 W 3rd St
Elk City, OK 73644

(580) 225-3644

Don't ever stop in Elk City, Oklahoma unless you need to buy drugs in a parking lot. The town is run down, depressed, has crappy hotels at high prices, and reeks of myth addiction. But, if for some cursed reason you do land here the place to go to is Pedro's Mexican Food on West 3rd Street. They serve you chips and salsa and liquid nacho cheese like at the skating rink. The food isn't all that great-white people mexican-beans and rice with lots of cheese, iceberg lettuce, tomato etc. But it seems like the friendliest place in town...the only place the locals go-as it was packed with families and rodeo dudes. You can catch a novel glance at a rodeo guy munching on a burrito. I ordered one enchilada and a taco-both tasted the same, the ingredients of each were just placed on the plate in a different order. Basically, if you don't want to eat at a chain, this is the safest place you can eat in town.

BRASA Rotisserie

Brasa Rotisserie

600 E. Hennepin Ave.

Minneapolis, MN.

55414

tel (612) 379-3030

www.brasa.us



The family scooted up to the twin cities for a coupl'a days so that I could take my engineer license re-certification tests. My employer was nice enough to make sure that I had to drive up on Mother's Day. My mother-in-law happens to live outside St. Paul so we took her out to dinner as soon as we got in to town. We had a disappointing meal at a suburban Thai restaurant.
Monday's studies left me ready for a decent meal. My niece, who attends college in Minneapolis, came out to eat with us and suggested that we go out for "Mexican" food. As we headed for Mpls's east side I was getting my enzymes revved up for such fare as we pulled up to Brasa Rotisserie.
I'm not sure why my niece thought this was a Mexican restaurant, but I could quickly tell it wasn't. Exactly what Brasa served was yet a mystery. It looked at first glance like everyone was eating barbecue.
The restuarant was a former mechanic's garage. The original garage doors opened up onto an outdoor patio space. The smallish indooor eating space and the patio were packed with guests. My niece said that it gets rather crowded inside during the winter months. The interior was painted a pleasant yellow and the tables & chairs harmonized well with their walnut finish.
We arrived at 8:30 P.M. which was a half hour before they stop serving at 9 P.M. I thought this to be a rather early closing time for east side Minneapolis. (They are open until 10 P.M. on Fri & Sat). Were were graciously seated and I felt less stressed about our late seating.
We sat insde at a 'four-top' and perused the menu. Brasa takes it's inspiration from Caribbean & South American cuisine and features slow cooked meats. There are only a small handful of well prepared entrees along with a larger list of side orders. These can all be served a la carte or entrees can be served with a choice of two sides. Sandwiches are also served. The beverage menu was a bit skimpy in the beer dept. but had a decent selection of Mexican sodas, as well as fairly traded tea & coffee. BTW - Brasa sources all its meats, eggs & dairy from free range and/or pasture raised farms. They also attempt to use as much local products in their meals as possible. Organic & fair trade products are used whenever they can be.
I selected the Pulled Chicken with Smoked Pepper Sauce ($7.50) along with a side of Guacamole & Chips and Fried Sweet Plantains ($3.75 each). The pulled chicken was reminscent of Chicken Ala King in it's creamy, peppery sauce and was quite tasty. The plantains were similar to the Costa Rican Style I've had in the past; very ripe, sweet plantains are fried until dark brown and caramelized. Simply delicious. The guacamole was decent too. Some of the other entrees sampled at our table included Creole Style Roasted Chicken (1/4 chicken = $5.00, 1/2 chicken = $9.00, whole chicken = $16.50). The Twelve Hour Slow Roasted Pork (Three sized portions $5.00 - $16.50) looked like a real winner. Don't forget to try the Corn Bread With Honey Butter ($2.00) as a side. Other side dishes that stood out were the Crispy Yucca tossed with Citrus & Olive Oil (3.75 / 7.50), Roasted Yams with Andouille Sausage ($4.75/$9.50), and the Slow Cooked Collard Greens with Smoked Turkey ($4.50/$9.00).
We declined on dessert because of the time, but if/when I return to Minneapolis, I would like to go back to Brasa again and sample their Apple & Olive Oil Streusel Cake with Dulce de Leche ($5.50).
All in all, a fine meal awaits at Brasa Rotisserie.

The Slanted Door

The Slanted Door
1 FERRY bldg.
#3
San Francisco, Ca.
94111


First a small disclaimer, my daughter spilled her juicebox into my keyboard a while back, so I may get a couple of "DOUBLE CAPITALS" while the shift button decides to release itself from it's sticky grave and re-exhume itself on occasion.
NOW, my rather wealthy in laws decided to take us out to the Slanted Door on San Francisco's wonderfully (re?) developed Embarcadero. My wife & I each brought a pair of decent clothes on our vacation for such an occasion, but we got unexpectedly scooped up at my aunt's place. So as we walked into the swanky front bar / reception area, I felt like a pauper of sorts. We were toting along a 2 year old child which was met with a tolerant grimace from the hostess. As she led us to our Large-Marge seating in the very back corner of the restaurant, past all the black turtlenecks, I was feeling like this would not be such a great fit. I kept thinking of the Woody Woodpecker cartoon where the City Wolf invited his country Cousin to the city. Maybe you remember that one....
In retrospect, the corner was the absolute best place for us. We had the glass windows towards the bay on one side and a large plate glass wall enclosing a private dining room on the other. My daughter had a perfect little zone to roam around in and not escape. Plus I though it was hilarious every time she would knock on the windows of the private dining room. The exclusive party in there was getting off on seeing us common folk pressed up against the glass, staring in at their private luxury.
THose of you who perused my Third Ward Cafe blog may recall my amazement at the casual blowing of lots of money there. The Slanted Door had the same vibe, but on a much larger scale. This was just a casual place to go out if you were freekin RICH. My sense of what is considered formal is obviously skewed from watching too many Jeeves & Wooster episodes. I mean, if this place isn't considered formal what is??
All ranting aside, the food was some of the best I've ever tasted. Now, I'll let you link to the website posted above for the full story, which IS interesting and doesn't bear repeating here. The Slanted Door's menu has a Vietnamese-fusion theme, but the dishes we ordered were strongly influenced by CHinese cookery instead.
We started off with several appetizers. First up was the barbecued Niman Ranch pork spareribs with honey-hoisin sauce ($13). These had an obvious CHinese pedigree. Let me say, this was one of the best dishes I have ever tasted in my life. The freshness and quality of the locally produced, organically raised pok was fantastic. They were prepared to perfection and the sauce was a masterful combination of sweet & savory.
Next up was kabocha squash rice cakes with fresh coconut and sesame ($11). The small bite sized rice cakes were topeed with pureed squash, coconut and chopped herbs such as cilantro. This was probably the most Vietnamese inspired dish we ordered, but the coconut-milk soaked rice cakes also reminded me of South Indian CHAT style snack foods.
The entrees were served family style and all arrived at once, as requested. More Chinese style fare arrived in the form of chicken claypot with caramel sauce, chilies and fresh ginger ($16) The Bubbling-hot sauce was full of complex flavor and the freshness of the chicken was excellent...well worth the price.
cellophane noodles with fresh dungeness crab meat ($18) was a bit of a disappointment. I detected very little, if any, crab meat and the noodles were drenched in sesame oil and seemingly very little else. I could have made this dish in my Riverwest kitchen for about 35 cents. Incidentally, the cents sign is not included on a keyboard any more. Also... Blackberry's have a specially located shift key exclusively for the dollar sign. Incidentally, I'd never seen as many Blackberry's in one place as I saw on the corner of FIllmore & Union in Pacific Heights.
Our main entree, steamed whole striped bass with ginger, scallion and soy ($33) was a fantastic specimen. I am assuming the striped bass was farmed in some ecologically guiltless fashion, but no pedigree was supplied. Nevertheless I had a swell time stuffing my proletariat face with this dish. THe creamy flesh was succulent and deeply infused with the flavors of it's undoubtedly Chinese inspired ingredients.
Star Route Farm baby spinach with garlic and caramelized shallots ($11) was our choice for a vegetable accompaniment. It was much like the snow pea-pod greens that can be found on virtually any chinese restaurant menu. The spinach was wilted in a wok with sesame oil & minced garlic. Surely I was the only one looking at the price tag. I should relax, I'm on vacation, right???
Several interesting beverages were consumed such as Affligem tripel creamy, strong Belgian abbey ale (750 ml [$12]) You can do the metric / U.S. conversion math, but I will say that this bottle of beer was about level with my forhead as it sat on the table. Interestingly, it was served in a wine glass. I expected a Chimay style footed goblet, instead.
The Elderflower spritzer [seltzer sisters' soda water with Nikolaihof biodynamic elderflower syrup] ($4) required a wetting of the whistle after merely pronouncing it's name. It was served over ice in a frosted highball glass. Elderflower has a Lychee-like taste, but it was mixed in such a way as to not be overly sweet, PHEW, I need another drink.
We declined on desert and deferred to GHIRARDELLI SQUARE, where I pigged out on a DOMINGO. But that of course, is another blog.
All told, we had a splendid evening at the Slanted Door. The food was excellent Our worries of bringing a child to a seemingly adult establishment was washed away in it's surprisingly egalitarian atmosphere. And last but not least, the service was friendly, prompt and detail oriented to an impressive degree for such a large establishment.
Many people back at home had, to my amazement, heard of this fine establishment. The Slanted Door is worthy of their good reputation. I'm going to recommend it as a must-visit if you go to San Francisco.

Pancho Villa Taqueria

Pancho Villa Taqueria
3071 16TH ST,
SAN FRANCISCO, CA.
94103

"The enlargement of the burrito to humongous, Americanized proportions may be the Mission's supreme contribution to Western civilization..."

John Krich, 'San Francisco's Real Mission'

Well, the whole fam-Damnily went on a whale watching trip in Monterrey and we ALL got seasick. Not just our party of seven, mind you, but every paying passenger on board. Even the co-captain was sick by the end of it.
I got a bad feeling about the tour right from the start. The other, more expensive whale watching tour company in town was a bona fide outfit. They had a big, cushy ferryboat looking thing that cruised by us out of the harbor. Meanwhile, our bargain $35 tour was a hack attempt to gain some revenue off an unused fishing vessel. It featured the "SEA WOLF II"... a craft similar to the one used in the last scene of JAWS.
The trip started off innocently enough, we coasted out of the harbor past the break wall full of precocious sea lions. We glided past schools of sea bass and jellyfish. However, after we passed the marine layer, we began to encounter extremely large sea swells. The SEA WOLF II was tossed about like a plastic duck in the spray. I felt like I was in the SEARS TOWER express elevator jockeying between the 1st & 10th floors over & over & over & over again.
The only two passengers that didn't get ill were the Marine biologists aboard. They narrated the tour. They were some kind of freaks of nature which inspired the thought: 'Many a Ms. America hopeful has dreamed of becoming a marine biologist only to have their dreams dashed in a bout of sickness aboard the SEA WOLF II'.
As I sat on a bench with my head slumped to the side, one of the biologists approached me and said, "You're missing the whales! They're over there at 3 O'clock!!" I leered at him from underneath half closed eyelids and reminded myself under my breath 'That's right, we ARE here to see whales aren't we?' I summoned up my ears & stomach and stumbled to the railing as the SEA WOLF swung hard to starboard. The sea sickness became more pronounced as the boat ground to a halt. The humpback whales were disappointing black semicircles about 200 yards away. I thought we would be right alongside them, petting the big critters and pulling krill outta their freekin baleen. Note to self and anyone else who wants to listen: watch the whales on Public Television instead.
What does this all have to do with a San Francisco Mission taqueria? Please bear with me, I'm getting there. See, this whale of a tale is only the middle of the story. Before we even got to Monterrey, my sister in-law requested that we stop at a Vietnamese bakery in San Jose. This request was met with silence in the car. Nobody wanted to challenge my high maintenance legal relative, though we were all thinking the same thing: Vietnamese sandwiches aren't that great, and maybe we should pick up some more neutral food, at least out of respect for my 70 year old aunt who probably doesn't want to experience pork loaf with jalapenos right at this moment.
The awkward silence was broken by my sister in law defensively answering herself. She said 'the bread was very fresh there.' I had no doubt about that. It was the freshness of everything else in the sandwiches that concerned me. My Bro-in-law gritted his teeth, smiled at his wife and pulled off HWY 101 and made his way through heavy traffic to the Vietnamese strip mall.
I ordered two turkey sandwiches and one Chinese BBQ sandwich. They were all filled with the same mystery meat and mine had a strange pate' smeared across the yellowish - brown "turkey". I could not finish my sandwich and instead, I tried to eat one of the dim-sum-like vietnamese buns that my sis in law purchased. These consisted of the typical white bread - like outer dumpling and contained a tasty morsel of sausage, a piece of hard boiled egg and a not-so-tasty lump of chinese style sausage which I discarded.
The vision of the pate' was stuck in my head every time the SEA WOLF lurched off the crest of a wave. I returned to my seat as the boat suddenly jerked into motion. We picked up speed rather quickly & the biologists got all excited and busted out their cameras. Apparently we were following a large school of extremely rare Pacific White Sided Dolphins. One of the biologists sais she had never seen this species of dolphin in 25 years of observation. Just figures, right??? Seriously though, the dolphins were awesome. The boat picked up speed and the dolphins cruised right along side us. I didn't feel as seasick when we cruised along at 30 mph. BUT, I did feel like I wanted this trip to be done. The contents of my stomach, as well as 14 other kind folks, were evenly distributed across the greater monterrey Bay...
We finally returned to land and I nearly kissed the pelican ridden dock. Our family unit split up and my wife & daughter & I made it back to our SF hotel room. The next morning we woke up realizing that we had no food in our stomach for about 24 hours. I said "Why don't we go to the Mission & get a burrito???" So, alas, begins the end of my story. We boarded the #22 bus and headed to 16th & Valencia, the venerable heart of the SF Mission taqueria.
Back when I lived here in the early 90's, I loved going to eat in the Mission. I'd usually be as high as the Georgia pines and would head down there after band practice & snarf a Burrito and maybe a(n) HORCHATA. Once while walking down Mission after practice, my friend Clark & I saw someone quickly stumbling backwards out of a steep stairway. He fell backwards down onto the sidewalk, and then was shot with a .38 by someone chasing him down the stairs. We finished that evening by going to PANCHO VILLA.
It took me a minute to get my bearings as I hadn't been there in a good fifteen years, but AHHH-HA!!! there was PANCHO VILLA. It is easily distinguishable by its white stucco facade and tall windows with circular tops. The chairs are low slung leather stools and there is always a cook front & center doing a number on the steak griddle with two large cleavers. Although LA CUMBRE is arguably the original, PANCHO VILLA was always my favorite. It was even voted one of SF's best in BON APPETIT magazine.
Now, the San Francisco Mission Burrito is a serious affair. It even has it's own article at WIKIPEDIA http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco_burrito In additon, there are a number of serious blogs dedicated to the mission style burrito. Any fan of this blog should check out the BURRITO EATER web site http://www.burritoeater.com/ This site has reviewed hundreds of SF burritos and grades them on a complex scale using such categories as "BURSTAGE ABATEMENT" and "INTANGIBILITY BONUS POINTS".
We were extremely happy with our food due to our hunger. I ordered the SUPER VEGETARIAN BURRITO with PINTO BEANS, which consisted of rice, pintos, tomato, lettuce onion, avocado cheese & crema. My wife ordered the #1 COMBO w/ CHICKEN, which contained one flauta, one enchilada and one taco plus a side of rice & beans. We strolled to the back of the restaurant to the salsa bar & filled a couple of portion cups from the impressive variety. I remember being in total extasy as I devoured the savory dish. My daughter inhaled a good amount of rice, beans & tortilla as well.
Once I returned to Wisconsin, I was confused to find many negative reviews regarding PANCHO VILLA. Most of the complaints had to do with the food not being hot enough. Even a foodservice sanitation tracking website gave PANCHO VILLA low scores on keeping hot foods at the proper temperature http://www.cleanscores.com/168056/PANCHO+VILLA
Anyhow, I do not remember anything about the temperature of my food. All I know is that it was a superb dining experience, and as I held up my HORCHATA in a toast, we clinked our styrofoam cups together and said "Here's to dry land."

Texas Road House

Our car broke down in West Haven Connecticut, trapped off of exit 57 on I95. A tow truck took the car and left us stranded in a no man's land middle America highway exit for over 29 hours. Trapped and helpless on labor day weekend.

Waiting patiently our visit started out at the Subway for a veggie foot long, then after a good night sleep at a Best Western we hit Denny's for breakfast. We decided to go for a walk so we did laps around the Walmart, then Dunkin Donuts for a pick me up and three hours of crosswords. Still no phone call about the health of our car. Time to eat again, I guess, so we headed to The Texas Roadhouse.

We had been walking from one parking lot to the next all day long-most of the lots were about 1/3 full-but when we came over the parking lot hill of the Hampton Hotel we could see that The Texas Roadhouse was an oasis in this deep abyss. It was 5:30 and this parking lot was packed.

Never in my life would I have stopped to eat at a Texas Roadhouse, I don't enjoy chain restaurants-but I think this was fate-the car break down is what brought me and this upscale fast food establishment together.

We walked in past the large locals waiting for their table. Greeted by 3 teenage girls standing behind a fake wood shack like stand, asking, "Have you ever been to the Texas Road House before?"

"No." I say

They write this information down and hand me a number. Explaining that there are tv monitors all over the restaurant and to look for my number there. We head to the bar to wait and notice peanut shells all over the floor, at The Texas Roadhouse it's customary to eat the free peanuts they give you, and throw the shells on the floor.

Everything is neon, and loud, and painted plywood.

Our number is called and the hostess lights up and says,

"So, you've never been here before?!"

"Nope."

"Well let me show you that right here (pointing to an oven station) we bake all are own bread that comes out of fresh every two minutes, and it comes with our signature cinnamon butter! And here, (points to a cooler filled with meat) you can choose your own cut of beef to be served with your choice of side!"

"Thank you."

We are led to a table in an area called "Willie's Corner". There's a large neon likeness of Willie Nelson playing the guitar hanging on the wall.

Another teenage girl brings us the bread with the signature butter, and takes our order. The cinnamon butter is probably the wrongest thing I've ever tasted in my life. I would have killed for some just regular salty butter-this was sweet and possibly filled with corn syrup and fake cinnamon flavoring.

As we wait for our food to come, I notice plastic cacti everywhere, and the kids at the next table throwing peanut shells at their large uncle as they all laugh. I decide that this would be fun and throw a few shells at my partner, he throws some back, and all is well.

Our dinner arrives- we split one large Dallas Fillet with mushrooms on top, side of mashed potatoes with gravy, and baked beans. The fillet was medium rare and really good. The cut of meat was fantastic and large enough for two people to split, and it was only $16! In fact, all the food was really reasonably priced on the menu-probably the cheapest place you can get a good cut of beef without personally knowing your waitress. Of course, I don't want to know how many antibiotics went into these cows, or how much corn they were force fed-because that night I agreed with myself to dine leaving my food phobias behind in the parking lot.

The baked beans were boring, and I wouldn't recommend them. I think you can get like 50 oz. of beer in a glass for like $6-although I just had a Corona light with a lime for $4. I do want to add that it's a little weird seeing so many teenagers basically running a large business. The wait staff were all under 19, the hosts were about 16, even the bartender looked about 19.

We did eventually get our car fixed and brought to us a 2am. When I pass their neon signs on the interstate, I will look fondly back at my brief affair with Texas Roadhouse.

Third Ward Cafe

Third Ward Cafe
225 E. St. Paul
Milwaukee, WI.

The Third Ward Cafe is located directly across the street from the MILWAUKEE PUBLIC MARKET which, by the way, the letter "L" in "PUBLIC" has been burned out on their big neon sign for almost a year, which has not gone unnoticed by me. I keep wondering if anyone over there is going to take notice of what a huge public relations blunder this is (Or maybe I should say PUBIC RELATIONS)?
The occasion for visiting the Third Ward Cafe was my wife's & my birthday. We decided to park the daughter with my sister in-law and head out for a fancy date. No reservation was necessary.
The food served here is Italian Bistro Style. There is a rather brightly lit dining room with an olive & beechwood theme reminiscent of a WILLIAMS SONOMA store. It is flanked by an Italian Deli & small Italian grocery which is all part of the same enterprise. A rather casual meal can be had to go from the deli, including pasta salads, panini and pizza or, an entire picnic could be planned, right down to the basket, from the grocery store.
From my perspective, I was treating this as a fancy night out and I expected the staff to reciprocate though, to my surprise the service (except for the hostess) was very brusque and short. I got no sense from the wait staff that they gave a durn that this was a fancy experience for us. It seemed that, for most 3rd Ward residents who appear to have the best of everything, this was just a casual place to blow 150 dollars on a meal.
This aside, the food was well prepared and straighforward. For starters we had two different salads. A Spinach, Peach, Strawberry Salad with Pralines and a Pear Gorgonzola Salad with Door County Cherrries. The ingredients were fresh and excellent. The salads lugged along a 10 - 12 dollar price tag. An appetizer of mussels and several soup selections also caught my eye.
For our entrees I had the Chicken Piccata. This consisted of two chicken breasts pan fried with a tangy lemon caper sauce. It was served with a simple side of steamed carrots, broccoli, and zucchini. My partner had Pasta Livorno in Tomato Cream Sauce with Salmon. The salmon was cooked medium well and served in chunks on top of the pasta & sauce which was infused with the flavor of dill. Both of these dishes carried hefty 22 & 19 dollar price tags, respectively.
Some other menu items which looked tempting were the Braised Beef Short Ribs (24 dollars) and the Seared Scallops with Cannellini Beans and Pancetta (25 Dollars). Several of the entrees could be made with either chicken or veal. There was also a pizza section and a create your own pasta dish section. I still couldn't get over the prices of the fare, which seemed to be marked up about 25 to 30 percent more than it should have been.
Dessert consisted of Lemon Gelato with Limoncello Liqueur served in a flute glass, and Mandarin Orange Gelato, which was served in a hollowed out mandarin orange hull. The desserts were quite tasty. They carried a price tag in the neighborhood of 10 dollars each.
Throw in one glass of Pinot Noir and a Peroni and the bill came out to one hundred dollars. I guess they gotta pay the exorbitant rent somehow.
Well, I must say the food was nicely prepared, but I will not be going back. My cooking skills are good enough that I could prepare these dishes just as well at home for a fraction of the cost. If you have the hankering for Italian home-style cooking, save your money. Just go to the library and get Lidia Bastianich's cookbook & prepare it yourself.

Harraseeket Lobster Shack

Okay so I went Kayaking for the first time in my life in the waters of Freeport, Maine. I lasted about 45 minutes-and then I was STARVING. So, we docked right at the Harraseeket Lobster Shack, and then we entered heaven. There were butter crusted napkins blowing around the teams of local Maine families tearing into their plated seafood. We got the special "Lobster Delight" 1 pound fresh lobster, 1 dozen steamed clams, and one ear of corn for $22. They wrote our order on a Styrofoam tray, then handed us a number. A few minutes later we were handed back the same tray filled with our food and told if we wanted beer, we'd have to bring our own.

I've never eaten a lobster whole like this before. It comes with several small plastic pitch forks so you can grab the meat out of the little legs-sort of stab it, and then rip it out. The lobster tail was delicious, esp. when you dipped it in melted butter. The clams were fresh-but very sandy. There was a strange liquid on the plate that we kept tasting but couldn't figure out what it was, until after we were all done with the meal and one of the locals said, "that's hot water there, for dipping the clams to get the sand off."

After sharing the above with my partner, I was still hungry. So I ordered the fried haddock fillet sandwich-like a fillet-o-fish, but fresh from the ocean. So f**cking good! I think the best thing about Maine is not the lobster-but the fish sandwiches, they are in abundance and out of this world. Although take note-they often call them "fish rolls" as they call anything in between two pieces of bread that lives in the ocean there.
Ie. Clam rolls (fried clams in a bun), lobster roll (raw chopped lobster w/mayo in a hot dog bun, and shrimp roll (fried shrimp in a bum-oops I mean bun.)

Dessert was standard strawberry cheesecake served in a Styrofoam bowl. Back down the dirt road to our hotel to fall asleep with full bellies watching the democratic convention.

Park Luncheonette

This is where the Myspace crowd hangs out.
334 Driggs Ave
Brooklyn, NY 11222

Park Luncheonette is like being stuck on an elevator with a bad pair of black jeans.

In the movie "The Departed" Leonardo DiCaprio punches someone at the very counter of Park Luncheonette. That movie, a Hollywood blockbuster by a director that once was good, and actors that have more name than talent, is about as memorable as this restaurant.

The brunch menu is standard overpriced white people brunch food. Lots and lots of eggs with desperate house salads clinging to the sides. My benedict was served congealed. For $10/plate you could get a better brunch in Baltimore.

Steakout

Located on Outlaw Hill
101 Stakeout Drive
P.O Box 453
Ranchos De Taos
NM 87557
Tel: 505.758.2042

So you drive down HWY 68 in Taos until you start to feel like you're in the middle of nowhere, then you'll see a small sign that says "Steakout". You turn in and drive for about 3 minutes up a dirt road-until you reach a white spaceship adobe-like structure.
It's a surf and turf type place with a few local delicacies offered. Unlike most every northern New Mexico restaurant it was more than just some "green chili on top"-Steakout has unique local treats like an Elk Carpaccio (raw Elk) appetizer-which, sigh, I now totally regret not trying. The problem was everything was a bit overpriced for taste testing-but people pay not really for the food but for the sunset. This restaurant has one of the best views, perched high up on Outlaw Hill, great for watching the sunset as you eat.

One funny thing I had never encountered before was a half bottle of wine. You would think perhaps that this would come in a carafe, or would be a bottle of wine half full-but it actually was a midget sized bottle of wine. Alas it was the perfect amount to give a happy couple a slight buzz-but still okay to drive back down that dirt road.

We ate crab filled ravioli and rib eye steak(sadly, not the best piece of meat I've ever been served) and watched the sun turn the mountains purple at 7:38. If you want to enjoy the sunset check the local sundown time and make reservations for the window seat if you can-or try to sit out on the patio...but the patio is where the couples that ordered the full bottle of wine go out to smoke and make out.

The Steakout has a little bit of a grandma/grandpa supper club feel-so try to show up classy-in an 80's sort of way...perhaps sunglasses and white breathable pants.


(Interesting side note about the Steakout: I recently read on a blog that the infamous "Taos Hum" (phenomena involving a persistent and invasive low-frequency humming noise not audible to all people http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hum) came from the Steakout's large meat cooler.
more info: "A heating contractor replaced the roof top unit of the walk in cooler at the Steak Out Restaurant on the hill above Taos. The unit has been on the roof for twenty-five years. The new owners wanted one more efficient and Earth Friendly, so they had it replaced last month. Since then there has been no more Taos Hum. The restaurant is up on the hill East of town with kind of an amphitheater of mountains in back of it. The unit had no vibration isolating pads, and every time it turned on the vibration went down into the Earth and was amplified somehow by the mountains behind the restaurant. The hum was always intermittent and some people thought it was some kind of signal from outer space. Turns out, it was the cooling unit turning on and off. The new unit is installed correctly and is very quiet. No more Taos Hum.")

Carroll Gardens Classic Diner

155 Smith Street (at Bergen Street)
Brooklyn, NY 11201

I like the boldness of putting "Classic Diner" in the name of this place (it's like me insistently adding "Genius" after my name) because it's not. It's more of a classic Greek style family restaurant, which is okay if you like that kind of thing. It's a comfortable place to sit, anyway, except for the wide screen TV's. TV's should never EVER be in a restaurant that takes itself seriously at all, and everyone should know that.

The really good thing about this place is that it's open ALWAYS, which to me is a special quality, even if I'm NEVER going to come here in the middle of the night. It's just nice to know, though-- when I wake up from nightmares at 3am, I can think, well, the CGCD is open right now! There is a great deal of comfort in that thought.

Some time ago I adopted the habit of ordering a Cobb Salad, whenever it's on the menu, as a kind of cuisine barometer. While the Cobb Salad here was $9.95, more than I'd prefer to spend on a lite lunch, it was HUGE. I wish it was half as much and half the size. But you know when restaurants DO offer half size entrees, they always price them like one dollar less than the full size, so you have to figure it's just more economical to get the full size one. Anyway, the good thing here was that one of the friendly and accommodating employees wrapped the remainder of my salad in like three layers of container, so when I got home and it had leaked through two layers, it still didn't get the inside of my bookbag soiled beyond repair.

The Cobb Salad itself was very good-- not the best I've ever had, but somewhat unique due to the addition of CORN. I mean, why not. I'm still sorely missing Milwaukee's Comet Cafe's discontinued 13 layer salad which was kind of a Cobb variation that included peas (which is what really made it special). My biggest complaint was that they didn't use the classic Cobb dressing, but instead gave me a choice. I don't like to have a choice. Though-- Cobb dressing is essentially a vinaigrette, which I don't like either, so I guess you just can't please me.

Well-- drunk at 4am, grits and bacon, The Queen of Paris France, The Carroll Gardens Classic Diner with NO TV's-- that would please me!

Conejitos Place rocks

Conejito's Place
539 W Virginia St
Milwaukee, WI 53204

I find myself craving a certain kind of mexican food - the low-key family kind- nothin fancy, no salsa bar, sour cream bar, or fancy-pants fajitas. I can get your standard taco truck fare in New York pretty easily-tacos and tamales that are as good as any i’ve had in the East Bay where I grew up. At Conejitos I was psyched to find the kind of homey Mexican meals I miss. Such meals can be found at places like La Pinata in Hayward or Juan’s in Berkeley and all over the west coast- fluffy rice served with refried pinto beans alongside a saucy entree.

The X-Games were on the big screen tv, and some kid just broke one of his vertebrae on the ramp as we sat down to eat. I ordered beef enchiladas and a Negro Modelo. Usually served on a hot ceramic plate at most places, my beef enchiladas at Conejitos arrived on a standard paper plate. It’s like homey food downplayed by taco-truck-like presentation. But no matter. The enchiladas were delicious- shredded, spiced beef rolled like a fatty in a corn tortilla, covered in an exceptional enchilada sauce and sprinkled with white cheese. I didn’t use any salsa or hot sauce for this meal, though now, after going to a Milwaukee BBQ later that evening and having everyone tell me I should have tried it, I regret not tasting the hot sauce. Anyways, Cold Negro Modela at my side, I dug into that meal, and the next thing I knew I was full. By the time I looked up at my date, she had finished her margarita and chips with guacamole, and our asses were ready to hit the road. Bonus!-The meal was less than $20! BTW, can anyone hook me up with one of those Conejito’s t-shirts? (size Medium).

Markley's

160 Wayne Street
Sandusky, Ohio

This place was originally a "Cupie" restaurant, but it's been Markley's-- with the movable storage container look-- for as long as I can remember, which means since the 1960s. It's a place you might not even consider going into, unless you were attracted by that big "M" which looks like a big upside-down W. If you are in downtown Sandusky, Ohio, though, for any reason, in the morning, this is the place to go. It's just a good solid diner/lunch counter, with pretty good diner food, cheap, and it's an interesting place to sit and observe the locals.

The best thing about Markley's is how little it has changed. There are two sisters who work as waitresses who were working there when I was first a regular in 1980. I stop in only a couple of times a year now, but the one waitress always remembers me and asks how I'm doing. The other best thing is the donut machine, which is near the front door. If you can get there really early, like 4am, you can peek in and see the donuts dropping in the hot fat, being flipped over, and then plopping out to cool. They are not open yet, unfortunately, when the donut machine is running, like they used to be. But maybe that will change.

Markley's is for sale, or was the last time I stopped through. It sounds like they're trying to find a buyer who'll keep running it the same way as always. Maybe that will happen, but I'm a little worried. If I had a spare quarter of a million I'd buy the business and keep it exactly the same-- except I'd open for breakfast while the donut machine is running.

Melissa's Curried Califlower with Couscous

1 large head of cauliflower-chopped into florets
1 cup fresh tomato-chopped
3/4 tablespoon mustard seeds
1/2 tablespoon cumin
3/4 tablespoon graham masala(available at any middle eastern store)
1/2 tablespoon turmeric
one cinnamon stick
one small onion-chopped
2 cloves garlic-chopped
1 tablespoon fresh ginger minced
4 tablespoons olive oil (or whatever oil you want)
1/4 lemon
1 cup water
4 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon brown sugar

Heat oil in pan and add mustard seeds. Cook the mustard seeds until they pop,(they will start jumping out of the pan at you.) Add a few tablespoons of water to cool it down, then add the onions and garlic over a medium heat and cook until onions become translucent usually about 8 minutes, stir them around so they dont get stuck and burnt in the pan. Once onions are translucent add 1/2 cup water, cauliflower, cinnamon, cumin, graham masala, sugar, soy sauce, and ginger. Cover and let cook for 5 minutes, if you run out of water add more. Then add tomatoes cook until everything is tender. Stir everything around and taste, see what flavors are missing and then correct it, does it need more soy sauce, masala powder etc. Squirt one lemon wedge over the dish and serve with couscous...and whatever else you want.
dont eat the cinnamon stick!

For the couscous I usually make about one cup of Tri-color couscous made by the brand Rice Select. It's duram wheat with sundried tomato and spinach flavor, and it's tasty, and will take you less than a few minutes to make, you just add boiling water and butter to it.

An added zip to this dish is to put a dollop of Face greek strained 2% plain yogurt on the top. It's so good.

Cup Of Joe's

6 Cleveland Street
Lily Dale, New York 14752
716.595.3775

An Experience

Lily Dale is a spiritualist community of the "Modern Spiritualist Movement" in Western New York, an hour south of Buffalo, 25 minutes east of Lake Erie. Psychic mediums live here in story book houses set close together on dirt roads. They stick pieces of paper on the front doors for visitors to sign up for private readings. The town (only about 4 acres square) is on a lake and has it's own beach, a small (haunted) hotel you can stay in for $50/night, a town library (filled with books about new age crafts, astrology, ghost sitings etc.), a town historical museum, pet cemetary, two swans named Lily and Dale, and many make shift chapels "for the national religion of spiritual healing".

There are 3 restaurants in town, and the most unique of the eateries is a cafe called Cup of Joe's. Cup of Joe's is located inside Joseph Shiel's home, Joesph Shiel is a registered medium in the town of Lily dale and has his own website http://www.joeshiel.com/. His historic house is located on Cleveland St., the main dirt road. Inside, the living room has tables for seating and wall space for curated art shows. The current show housed watercolors of mandalas with titles like "New Energy". Through the living room is the kitchen and Joe's wife standing behind huge stacks of trays filled with fresh homemade baked goods- peach ginger scones, chocolate covered black current biscotti. The kitchen was beautiful and smelled like a hot oven baking. Everything was delicious, and the coffee was strong. Probably the best cup of coffee you can get in Lily Dale, and while you are there you can sign up with Joe for a reading. They also have live music.

After our coffee we headed down to the woods for a scheduled meeting at the Inspiration Stump, believed to be an ENERGY VORTEX. There were about 10 long benches set up around the stump, and many people (mostly middle aged woman) joined us on the benches. The town's local mediums were shuttled in on golf carts, and stood close to the stump. The mediums began talking to the crowd, picking people at random and telling them that dead people from their past were communicating to them.

"Lady with the hat there, do you have a woman with gray hair from your past? She misses you, she had a dog and was very kind".

"Lady there in the red shirt and glasses, I see that you feel stuck in your life, you need a career change, or a life change, something new, perhaps a move?".

"Woman in the robe, your husband is still in love with you."

Gene's New Orlean's Style Poboys and Deli

1209 East 11th Street
Austin, Texas 78702
512-477-6600



I was walking my new dog around my new neighborhood in my new city when I came across Gene's Poboys (okay, so the dog is my roommate's but when he's at work I pretend Sparks is all mine). It's a tiny spot and I was immediately enticed by the thought of a poboy, a type of New Orlean's style hoagie sandwich often stuffed with shrimp or roast beef and laid out fat on crusty French bread. Having enjoyed only one poboy in my life, I was intrigued, and declared to Sparks that I would visit Gene's the next day for lunch.

Yoga was excruciating the next morning as I fantasized about my impending lunch at Gene's. While everyone else om-ed and said their blessings to a new day, I sat there with one single thought: fried shrimp on bread. I ran home, showered, and rushed over to Gene's.

The ambiance was nice--down home, checkered tablecloths, yet, seemingly no air conditioning. There was a cluster of hipster boys in a corner. The man at the counter told me to sit and soon I would be waited on. I waited and waited and waited (of course this waiting was only made worse by my dire need for a poboy sandwich). Finally a young cute boy came over to take my order: shrimp poboy, diet coke, and a side of fries. My poboy was $7 and the fries just $.99. I perused the menu and made a mental note to return on Thursday for their daily special: smothered pork chops, collard greens, sweet potatoes, and corn bread (oh yummy).

The food came out relatively fast and the sandwich was just as tasty as I imagined. Two big baguettes filled with fried shrimp, lettuce, tomato, and special sauce (tasted like mayo to me). The fries were so-so and I didn't finish them but even though I was so full half-way through, the poboy was so delicious I ate every last bite.

It's both dangerous and amazing that this joint is just mere minutes from my new residence.

DeMore's Fish Den

(Ohio's Seafood)
1400 E Perry St (HWY 163)
Port Clinton, OH 43452

I was heading towards Cleveland along Highway 163, the coast of Lake Erie to my left, when my traveling partner decides he needs food ASAP in Port Clinton. We pass a Wendy's and a Burger King, and I refuse to stop determined to find some sort of home grown Ohio Cuisine. We spot a sign with a blue fish, letters below spelling out "1 POUND PERCH DINNER...$8.99". Perch! Fried Perch. I hadn't had perch in years. I convinced my partner (someone who'd grown up in San Fransisco, never hearing of "a perch" before) that perch is basically the lobster of the Great Lakes, he must not miss the opportunity to try it. We pull in.

The parking lot was empty, so was the restaurant. At the register two Indian women, a mother and daughter greeted us by explaining the lunch special was over, but we could still have it because they had forgotten to wipe it off the chalk board. We explained we didn't want a whole pound, or a half a pound of perch, but maybe just like a fourth a pound. They suggested we order a perch sandwich meal $4.99, and they would take off the bun. Agreed.

This is the type of restaurant that would close it's doors immediately if the world took away freezers and plastic. Absolutely nothing was fresh, even the lemon was in plastic packages. The fish was terrible. Frozen, not fresh, tough, and the "breading" was a soggy case the fish had been stuck into. This was not the perch I remembered from my childhood. Perhaps DeMore had collected the dead perch washed up on shore of Lake Erie across the street from the Restaurant?

While dousing the fish with tarter sauce, preserved lemon juice, and malt vinegar to kill the taste, I told tales of my dad fishing in the lakes of northern Wisconsin, catching fresh perch, gutting it, and then pan frying it with his secret spices(salt and black pepper), flour, and milk. The breading would stick to the fish. The fish itself would be light and flaky, falling off the bone.

We threw half the meal away and walked over to the shore. The smell of goose poop had us running to the car before the perch came back up. We took off back down 163 and about 2 minutes down the road were a cluster of perch restaurants, each with packed parking lots.

Road Rule #1 Don't stop at a restaurant in an unknown area unless there are at least three vehicles or bikes in the parking lot.

Melissa's SOBA NOODLES WITH BOK CHOY

Filled with enzymes.

Ingredients:

6 oz. Buck Wheat Soba Noodles
1 large head of Bok Choy, or 2 small heads
1 medium sized carrot
2 medium garlic cloves
1 small chunk of ginger, about 2 table spoons (I never really measure, I usually go by my feeling towards ginger that day)
2 tablespoons olive oil (seasame is good too)
2 tablespoons Bragg's Liquid Aminos (available at any health food store)
2-3 tablespoons dry white wine, or rice wine
1.5 tablespoons brown sugar
3/4 cup water
1/2 small lemon
dash of soy sauce
1 potato peeler

Boil the Soba Noodles for 5 minutes, drain and set aside.

Take a potato peeler and peel the ginger into thin slices. Peel the carrot with the potato peeler, then when you have a pile of thin strips of carrots chop them once or twice with a knife just to make the strips a little shorter. Chop, don't crush, the garlic into chunks. Put the oil in a wide cooking pan, and bring to a medium-high heat. Toss the garlic in for a minute, just to get the garlic cooked a little. Add water, wine, liquid amino's, soy sauce, brown sugar, ginger, and carrot. Cook for 4 minutes. Add the bok choy. The bok choy cooks fast, about 3 minutes, don't overcook-just until it begins to wilt. Throw in the cooked soba noodles and stir over a medium heat. Squeeze the lemon over everything, and toss some more. Make sure to get everything mixed up good, then taste. Does it need more vinegar, soy sauce, lemon etc. ?Make it to your taste.

Serve in a nice big bowl. Feeds two. You can also add a nice chunk of ginger marinated tofu on the side....

This dish was inspired by Katie.

Lomzynianka

646 Manhattan Ave
Brooklyn, NY
718-389-9439

Open 7 days from noon until 9pm

Until that gate in front opens, this place looks like a place you might not even venture into, because if you don't speak Polish you can't pronounce the name, and you might ASSUME that "Restauracja" means restaurant, but that's the kind of assumption that can get a traveler into big trouble. But this in not a foreign land, it's Greenpoint, and this place is right where Bedford meets Manhattan Avenue. The gate in the picture is halfway open, no doubt, to let air in while they cook lunch, or perhaps breakfast for very short people.

As soon as it's noon and you can walk in the door, however, you might forget about foreign lands-- you could be in Ohio, or Iowa, or Idaho. This is the kind of diner interior I LIVE for-- it's not a restaurant-- it's somebody's HOME!

The thing that is next most striking is not that you have traveled to a different place, but to a different TIME. Those prices on the menu can't be correct, can they? But they are. They even have a website-- http://www.lomzynianka.com/ --but even that looks like it came from some other time before websites.

I was very sad about not being able to order pierogies or blintzes, but there was so much else to eat anyway-- I accidentally ordered twice as much food as I could eat, because it was inexpensive, and the portions were so large. I had an amazing huge bowl of cold red borscht with sour cream. Also, a side of shredded beets, which I will keep thinking about daily until I can return. The man who took my order, who may have been the owner, gave me a funny look when I ordered those two things, as if in recognition of a "beethead." Maybe I am, I don't know. How could those shredded beets be so good-- something so simple? It's called HOME COOKING.

The menu on the website looks nothing as interesting as the menu I remember. You have to go to see it for yourself. I almost don't want to write a review of this place. It's the kind of secret you want to keep for yourself. But there are no secret restaurants these days. Who am I fooling? I'll see you there when I make a trip back to New York just for this place!

Dia:Beacon Cafe'

3 Beekman Street
Beacon, NY 12508
T: 845.440.0100

PACK A LUNCH!

The Dia:Beacon is one of the largest museums in the country with one of the worst cafes. The gourmet menu is overpriced and stale. A small side plate of air aged pasta was $5.95. I ordered cold cream of potato leek soup for $5, and it turned out to be half and half with 4 croutons on top. The Reuben sounded decent, but they were out, so I was stuck with the leftover portabella and mozzarella sandwiches rejected on a plate for who knows how many days. The sandwich tasted like refrigerator and it was $7. Not only was the food bad but the girl that rang my order up was being trained by a large townie that did nothing but correct the trainee for every wrong move. I threw half of the sandwich in the outdoor seating area designed by Robert Irwin and didn't look back.