Boo!

After a nice long break, time to start writing some again. Though now, I'll be doing it here.

Yeah I Know It's Been a Month

I apologize, for I have been too extremely busy to do much on the blog. Sorry!

Here are some pics from my Columbus, Ohio, trip:

It's 12:41AM, And I Just Ate 30 Cloves Of Roasted Garlic

Due to my skillful (or ignorant) scheduling, my boss and I landed in Columbus, Ohio, at the ripe hour of 10:45PM. Good thing we didn't try and come earlier, as there were people on our ATL-Columbus flight who were supposed to fly here at 11AM this morning. Instead of a bitch post, you get a non-bitch post. Ugh the verbiage is not flowing at this ungodly hour.

We missed dinner due to the crazy flight schedule (we were in ATL for about 10 minutes, including a bathroom stop), so we ordered from Pharaoh's Pizza on the recommendation of the desk clerk at the Drury Inn downtown (please, no groupies). The desk clerk, as I type this, is calling Hillary Clinton "girl" out loud as CNN plays repeats of bloviations past.

We got a margherita pizza and medium chicken wings, because apparently neither of us wants to sleep well. The margherita was pretty good, especially for midnight in snowy and cold Columbus, Ohio.

Oh yeah, it's snowing. And cold. The rental car company offered me a brand new (34 miles) 4x4 Jeep Compass for $50 a day. I told him I was stuck to the corporate rate. He upgraded us for free.

The crust was slightly doughy (or toothy maybe, but there weren't any teeth in it) and had good flavor. The fresh mozz on it was good but not super plentiful. The fresh tomatoes that had been baked on top were very flavorful and sweetened up nicely in the oven. But what go me were the plentiful roasted garlic cloves along with the mix that tasted like fresh-pressed garlic with parmesan and Italian seasoning also sprinkled on top. So I'm burping up garlic, but I'm a happy camper.

I'm also happy because we got a suite so I have my own room.

The chicken wings were just ok -- they were cooked well but the sauce wasn't very spicy (yeah it was medium...was looking out for my boss who likes spice but isn't into torture like I am) and it was also very oily. Extremely messy, and not something I'd go out of my way for.

Overall a good meal at an ungodly hour to be eating such things.

Tomorrow: hotel breakfast and two meals of banquet food. Wish me luck.

Off To Columbus, Ohio

I'm off to Columbus, Ohio for work. Woohoo! Apparently it's in the 20s and snowing there. Faaaaantastic!

Hopefully there will be some good stuff to write up -- I'm having banquet food for lunch and dinner tomorrow, but will try and do something good for the two breakfasts and lunch on Thursday.

Martha Stewart Buys Emeril

Well only the book and show half...

Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc. is bringing in a new celebrity: popular TV chef Emeril Lagasse. The New York-based media and merchandising company founded by domesticity maven Martha Stewart announced Tuesday that it bought the rights to Lagasse's franchise of cookbooks, television shows and kitchen products from him for $45 million in cash and $5 million in stock.

The final price could rise to up to $70 million if certain benchmarks are achieved.

Martha Stewart did not acquire Emeril's Homebase, which includes Lagasse's 11 restaurants and corporate office.

Whole story here.

The Waffle And The Duck

I'm going to try and actually get my trip recap done before the trip is even done! I'm sitting at the airport in Columbia, South Carolina, and have some time and laptop battery available to do some typing.

I don't know how good a picture of Columbia I could paint based on the 24 hours or so I effectively spent here. Plus, given that it was a Monday and Tuesday night stay, it's not like I could tell you how the weekend nightlife is anyway. But we will push on nevertheless.

I stayed on the northwest side of town, about 6 miles away from downtown, on Bush River Road. Bush River Road is mostly commercial businesses, ranging from department stores to strip clubs. There were no 24-hour stores that I saw with the exception of the Waffle House next to my hotel. But what a Waffle House it was! I had breakfast there both days, and while I ordered the same both days I got different food each time. The BRR Waffle House is definitely in the friendly and clean group of WHs and it appears that at least half of the morning crowd eats there several times a week, as on the first visit I was the only person I saw actually order for myself. Everyone else was "***some menu item***, right?" as asked by the staff.

R made me a convert to over easy eggs and WH is like a church to me now -- both times I ordered 2 eggs over easy, white toast, and hash browns smothered (onions) and peppered (jalapenos), extra crispy. Day 1 they nailed it, and even gave me double hash browns for 25 cents extra (half price on the upgrade.) There's nothing quite like the egg yolk running over the buttered and slightly salty toast. Day 2 I ordered the same thing, but the two staff were trying to get out a to-go order so by the time the waitress called mine she substituted cheese for the jalapenos. Still very good, but the hash browns with the onions and jalapenos are certainly superior. It was also 5:20am when I ate, and I wasn't awake enough to try for corrections.

Service was excellent on both trips, and the iced tea was refilled appropriately and tasted good.

There are alot of WHs in Columbia, and I can only vouch for the BRR location (near I-20 between I-20 and I-26), and if you're a WH fan, it's a good one.

I went with Muffler and the Independent to lunch at the Fuddruckers near our meeting site (almost everyone else from the meeting showed up there as well. Popular spot.) This location was also on BRR, about 2 doors down from the above WH. Small world.

I ordered the half-pound cheeseburger, medium, with onion rings and tea. The cheeseburger was a very good sample of what Fuddruckers can do with beef and bun, as the meat was cooked perfectly, tasty and juicy, and the bun was exceptional buttery goodness. The pico and jalapenos made it a winner. The tea was good too and refilled appropriately by your's truly. Overall a good location of that chain (to recap...good locations: BRR in Columbia, Rogers, AR...lesser location: Branson, MO.)

The real adventure was for last night's dinner. The Independent and I, on my executive decision, headed downtown to the Congaree Vista district, which is a gentrified/revitalized/yuppified warehouse neighborhood near the state capital. Think of 6th St in Austin -- I think that's where they're trying to head. One impressive piece of work is the Publix supermarket which is located in an old block-long warehouse. Cool way to use the old building.

I had actually seen the website and menu for Gervais and Vine before I headed down here, and I thought that would be a good place to try. I was a little nervous when the Independent told me his favorite restaurant is Cracker Barrel, but apparently he also likes all other sorts of foods. Gervais and Vine is a tapas bar.

*** time to board plane ***

*** on the ground in Atlanta ***

Our pilot altered us before we took off in Columbia that we were the only flight in the southeast released to fly into Atlanta. Apparently the storms that killed 47 overnight were going through the Atlanta – absolutely horrible and very scary. As I type this, we’re under a tornado watch, and hopefully I can get out of here today.

Back to Gervais and Vine…

G&V is a tapas restaurant and wine bar, to update my characterization of it a few paragraphs north of here. See I could just edit myself, but how excited would that be?

The menu is pretty broad – hot tapas, cold tapas, spreads, and pizzas. The sort of thing where only the most picky of eaters wouldn’t be able to find something to try. Items tend to be in the $6-8 range, and pizzas are about $7.50.

One big attraction for us to the restaurant was its outdoor seating, as the night was about 70F and we had spent the day in a less than well-ventilated room with 100 other people. The patio atmosphere was very relaxed – a student with laptop, a girl with small puppy, working folk, etc.

I chose a marghertia pizza (hey the menu says the oven runs at 700F, may as well give it a go) and the spicy sausage with romesco sauce. The Independent ordered the asparagus with romesco sauce and the duck with a honey glaze. He also did something very bold – he ordered his food and asked the waitress (who, while wearing a “wine goddess” tshirt wasn’t all that helpful with wine selections) to tell whoever was running the wine bar to pick out a wine for him.

He was quite pleased, as the white Austrian wine, who’s name I can’t remember right now, went perfectly with his two items, and he loved the wine on its own as well. Romesco sauce has red peppers and a bunch of nuts and spices (sort of like a Spanish mole, but not really), and theirs’ had a slight kick to it. The asparagus was cooked perfectly to my tastes, at a nice al dente. There were actually a bunch of stalks – about 10 – which was surprising given the market prices for asparagus right now (at least in Arkansas.) Throw labor, sauce ingredients, and overhead on top, I’m a little bit amazed they could make money on it.

The Independent also loved the duck, and I thought it was good too. I will admit this was the first time I’d ever eaten duck, and good thing it was good. It was cooked about medium and the fat, while not crispy, was good too. The glaze added a nice sweetness which, as far as the whole meal was concerned, balanced nicely with the spice from my sausage.

The Independent also later ordered a rioja, which he loved (and even wrote down for future purchase.)

The pizza was good. High quality sauce and fresh mozz cheese, and they were generous with the basil. The crust was crisp but not crackery and it had a good buttery flavor. I can’t point to a specific spice in it, but I really enjoyed the sauce on it. Certainly a good pizza, especially for a state that isn’t know for its pizza.

The sausage was great. Very spicy and the romesco sauce was a nice complement – almost mustardy when both were eaten together but not quite. I could eat a lot of this dish.

Complaints? Only one. They don’t brew their own tea. WHAT????? This is the south right? Weird for them to go through the trouble to put in a pizza oven that runs at 700F but not a tea pot to fresh brew the most popular drink in the south.

Service was excellent, and my diet Pepsi was refilled appropriately (if no tea, then cola with pizza.)

I don’t know the next time I’ll be in Columbia, but when I am I will be eating at G&V again. The Independent was equally excited about it. All in all, worth a try if you’re in that fair city.

Now back to waiting for my flight…

Writings From My SC Trip: Part 2

Blogging in its very essence is an exercise in narcissism. Writing blog posts while not even connected to the internet has got to be an even greater exercise in self-importance, because not only do you think people care what you think, you think people will care what you think, on your schedule.

And with that I'll let you know that I'm not connected to the internet while writing this. I'm bored off my ass, with just under another hour of my delay left to go, assuming that the delay doesn't grow even longer.

Here are some random thoughts, published on my schedule for you to care about:

* It is already old news, but the Eli Manning to David Tyree pass in the Super Bowl was possibly the most amazing play I have ever witnessed with my own eyes as it happened. Or to be honest, as it happened on DVR playback, about 15 minutes behind reality.

* The airport terminal is blasting CNN. Unfortunately it's Lou Dobbs and his crew of screaming bloviators, which is bearable for about 10 minutes at current volumes. I now have on the mp3 player with the headphones set for noise reduction.

* There is a bird hopping around the terminal floor. Hop hop hop.

* I'm not from Nebraska, but my blue tshirt that says "NEBRASKA" in white letters makes everyone think I'm a Husker (even though a Husker would wear a red shirt with white letters), and I hear it every time I wear the shirt. I'm starting to wonder what the people from Nebraska have done to everyone else.

* During my last business trip, a tornadic storm hit Bentonville and I spent an hour on the phone with R while she huddled in the closet with the kids. This just in -- a tornadic storm is supposed to go through the area while I spend the night in South Carolina.

* In a food-related post, thumbs up on the location of the Flying Burrito that's near the Walton Arts Center near the University of Arkansas campus. We passed on the North College location due to a large crowd and gave the other one a try on Sunday. The burritos were just as good and the ambiance reminded me of my college days in Texas.

* Another food-related note. Hey why not, it's a food blog right? While the food isn't anything to write long blog posts about (but the fresh brewed tea is quite good), Chik-Fil-A has grabbed the crown of "fast food place you can bring the kids to" for us. We've gone to the Pleasant Crossing location in Rogers a couple of times -- decent food for fast food, lots of tea, good kids meals that the kids like, prizes like books and flip thingies about the first 12 presidents of the USA, extremely prompt and courteous staff (polite? what?), indoor playground (because we've learned that wind chill is a big deal here), and most of all, extremely clean. McDonalds hasn't got a thing on them.

40 more minutes left in the delay. Hopefully.

Writings From My SC Trip: Part 1

I know I don't rant a whole lot on here -- as you know I am always very measured in my opinions -- but I must express my opinion on one topic that has come to affect my life in a profound way.

Terminal C in the Cinncinnati airport has no Cinncinnati chili restaurant. No Skyline. No whoever the hell else does that style of chili. Subway? Yes. McD's? Yes. A few sit-down places? Yes. But no chili! Cinncinnati's sole major contribution to the world's culinary scene (there may be others, but who gives a shit right now), and it has no representation in a fairly well-equipped and modern airport terminal. Pathetic.

The answer may be, however, that the Cinncinnati airport isn't in Cinncinnati. It's not even if Ohio. As I sit here waiting for my delayed flight in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, I think back to a trip to the alternate reality created by our modern transport system --

"If you left a bag plane-side in Fayetteville, you can pick it up at the gate in Cinncinnati" -- flight attendant. The first part has actually been a big news item recently in the NWA news...Northwest Arkansas Regional Ariport is located in Highfill, in Benton County, not Fayetteville, which is about 20 miles away. Because Fayetteville is probably the most well-known town in the region (whereas Bentonville is relegated to only "most important" status), this is an understandable mistake. I think there are a fair number of people who live in the region who don't know what town the airport is in. But the big problem isn't the locals, it's the out-of-towners who hear "Fayetteville" and think "I'll tell my driver that I'm going to Fayetteville airport." Why? Fayetteville has an airport -- Drake Field -- which I don't believe carries any commercial traffic anymore. So people end up at the Arkansas air museum or some such and whoops! their flight is taking off at XNA in Highfill before they can make it to the right airport. I think a few airlines have agreed in principal to change how they refer to XNA, obviously the attendant on Delta, operated by Chataquah Airlines, who was wearing a Republic Airlines lanyard, missed the memo.

And the other side I already covered -- after flying out of "Fayetteville" I landed in "Cinncinnati," which of course is across the river in another state. If Nick Lachey can't claim it as his hometown, it ain't Cincinnati. And that's reflected in the food choices apparently.

I noticed during my dinner that Lou Dobbs with no sound on a tv is like watching someone taking a challenging dump.

So I ended up at Moe's, a sit-down place. They should just rename the place "Meh's."

I should have known from the start -- spigot Nestea, not fresh brewed, in my glass.

In my trying to be good (and because I had a good lunch at On the Border in Rogers), I ordered the Tuscan sandwich. How can someone mess up fresh mozz, basil, tomato, and some other veggies with balsalmic vinegar? Well it can happen. Soggy sad French bun. I didn't know fresh mozz came in shreds. The veggies were fine, but when the starting point is half-melted shreds, really what heights can that sandwich reach?

The seasoned waffle fries were fine, though they would have risen to good had they been hot. The ketchup, from a Heinz bottle, was on the watery side. I didn't touch the cole slaw.

Overall a sad meal. The saving grace is that in this alternate travel reality, the experience gets chalked to the expense account, not to my bank account, so the only real damage to me was inflicted on my taste buds.

Off To The Palmetto State

While you wait anxiously for some word on the Rocking Horse Cafe in New York, I'm off tomorrow for Columbia, South Carolina, for a little bit of work fun (actually my work is always fun...yes I'm a little bit off.) In all of my travels I've been to or through South Carolina many times (mostly along I-85 or I-95), but I've never been to Columbia, so I'm interested to see what I find.

Cheap Thai: Eating In Chelsea

The Chelsea neighborhood in NYC has a ton of restaurants, which is a boon for the traveler but also a challenge. Even if one is generous and allows the quality of restaurants to be represented by a bell curve, with equal numbers of excellent and terrible places to eat, having several hundred options not too far away means that while there are several that will be great, there are several that will leave you feeling sad and alone. And in reality, the curve is probably skewed to the left for most places, so recommendations come in very handy.

We arrived at our hotel right before 11am and by the time we checked in and dropped of bags it was 11:15. We'd both been up for hours -- he picked me up at 4:30am to make a 6am flight -- so we were both hungry. The desk clerk at the hotel recommended Pongsri, a Thai place just a block away from the hotel (see picture above taken from my room -- it's on the far right), saying that the hotel staff eats there all the time. The idea was certainly intriguing, as the Demographer and Captain had made allusions in the past to the general dearth of good Thai in the city.

We got to the restaurant at about 11:25, but they weren't open yet. Obviously not Bentonvillians, as people around here are ready for lunch at 10:30 (which is why I fit in so well).

My boss, however, is not a man to be stopped. He opened the door and said "can we come in? It's cold out" and the staff relented and let us in a couple of minutes early.

One very good thing about Pongsri is that it's not expensive for lunch. The lunch menu items all range from $6.95 to $7.95, which seems like a good price for a meal in NYC that doesn't involve dough, cheese, and sauce.

My boss got his favorite Thai dish, masaman (going with the menu spelling) curry with beef, default spicing (this is the same dish he got my first day at work when he took me out to lunch.) He thought it was very good and also thought the portion was a good size. He got a Thai iced tea to go with it and liked it though he noted (as I did and will tell you soon) that the tea was on the strong side. Overall he was very happy with his meal.

I went outside my comfort zone and ordered the number 19, tao-hoo pad-ped, or in English, fried tofu with green beans, onion, carrots, and chili paste. Tofu??? Yeah I know, weird. But with the increase in my travel schedule for work, I'm realizing that many pounds can be gained if one isn't careful in those situations, so I'm trying to broaden my protein horizons and also trying to focus on dishes with more veggies in them. In all, I realized that I shouldn't be doing my Reno menu every time I travel.

I ordered the dish "extremely hot and spicy." No I don't get up, grunt loudly, and flex when I order Thai food. Jeese.

The dish was quite good, perhaps too many carrots, though not extremely spicy. It had a kick, yes, but my strong Thai iced tea was never needed for a rescue. The tofu was good, on the firm side, and fried enough to give it some texture. The sauce was fairly standard stir-fry (slightly gelatenous, though not a Chinese sugar bomb), and thinking back I'm wishing I had gotten the number 20, which is similar but has Thai basil, as the basil would have put the dish over the top. Strong but not spectacular, but a good lunch overall.

Pongsri is certainly someplace I'd hit again to try some of the other menu items -- their menu is huge, so two dishes are best to be used as a gauge, not a deciding factor, and the quality of the food was high enough to warrant a return visit.

I'm Still Behind, So Enjoy Some Shots From NYC

I will get to those two pesky NYC restaurants soon. Here are some shots from a walk I took...

Yes Virginia, New York Really Does Have A Sesame Street!

Proof? Elmo has a restaurant.

Reno, Day 2, Land O'Mexican Food

Finally got my pictures back, so I can finish up my Reno writing. I know you've been waiting with baited breath.

Day 2 of my journey started out with the leftovers of the snow storm and the associated ice left behind in places where people didn't care to do anything about it. Such as the parking lot of my motel.


And to make things a little bit weirder, even with all of that ice and snow, not too far east of Reno there was a canal breach and massive flood in Fernley, NV.


But because of the nature of the work I do, what was important on this trip wasn't the goings-on in Reno. I had a target further south, and bright and early in the morning I made my way to Carson City to take in the state government surroundings. Carson City reminded me a bit of Salem, only with desert scenery and less to do. I also learned that when driving on the highways, don't get too close to the sanding truck.


I got to Carson City in time for breakfast, but after some driving around I didn't come across what one would consider a bevy of breakfast options. I ended up selecting Jimboy's, which I actually silently ridiculed in my head when driving by one in Reno the night before -- cheesy graphics, poor lighting, and a generally unwelcoming presence.


The location in Carson wasn't as bad, though it was also daytime, so the outward appearance of the lighting wasn't such a factor. Plus, once I went inside, the food was cheap and Mexican (always a good thing on my travel budget.)

One very bright spot of the experience was the woman at the counter -- extremely friendly and patient while I stood there trying to figure out what to get. I decided on a breakfast burrito with egg and potato and orange juice (I don't think their tea was fresh brewed, so I skipped it.) The burrito, with the addition of the green salsa from the salsa bar and some jalapenos, was actually very good. The tortilla, if not made in house, tasted as close to made in house as a delivered tortilla can taste. Eggs and potatoes were well cooked (and the thing was HOT! Imagine that.) The green salsa I'm thinking was a mix of a tomatillo sauce and a green chile and had a little bit of heat and a very good taste. Overall a very good and very cheap breakfast, and it held me over until lunch, which is always nice.


I will remember for the next time I'm in Reno and/or Carson (which will probably be this summer) -- it's ok to eat at Jimboy's and I will try some of the regular menu food.

My meeting in Carson City didn't take as long as I thought it would, so I headed back to Reno for lunch, as again, CC doesn't seem like a real hopping restaurant town. If you know otherwise, please leave a comment as I'd love to check out some places in town on my next trip out.


For lunch I landed almost accidentally at El Adobe Cafe. I was trying to go to Miguel's, a spot I had eaten at in December 2006 when I was out there, but they were closed for lunch. After passing Miguel's on South Virginia, I decided I would turn around and head back for the chains near my hotel as I had a business call in the not too distant future and didn't want to be searching upper South Virginia for someplace to eat.

I turned onto West Arroyo and BOOM! there was a Mexican place calling my name (yes I ate Mexican food for every meal on this trip.) When I noticed that they had a sign for wireless internet access, I made the decision that El Adobe was where I needed to be. If you don't remember, the Super 8, where I stayed, had shit for internet services -- no wireless (and no nearby wireless to grab onto), no ethernet that I could find, and no business center.

The chips, salsa, and iced tea turned what started out as a convenience into heaven. The chips were fresh. The salsa was brick red, with a dried chile base and nice kick. Great flavor overall (I can't remember the specifics right now.) The tea was fresh brewed, tasted good, and was refilled appropriately (the service was great overall.) All this while I was connected on my laptop. This may be the best restaurant ever.

Or just one of them...I got the chile colorado plate for lunch, which was chunks of beef stewed in a red chile colorado sauce. Like most other chile colorados I've had, the chile flavor was good but it wasn't spicy at all. However, the salsa made life better, as the two different chile flavors melded together perfectly and the salsa's heat kicked up the tame colorado sauce. The corn tortillas were piping hot but I don't believe they were made in house. However, my tacos were still very good. Rice and beans were stronger than average. Overall a good plate, though I just wish the colorado had more oomph to it.

But! As a complete meal/experience, this is certainly a place I will return to. They made my mouth happy, my tummy full, and my life easier. I can't ask for much more than that.


For the LSU-Ohio State game, I headed to the sport book at the Grand Sierra Resort. Let's just say there were about 40 million too many Ohio State fans there. But no matter, as the Tigers took care of business. I actually spent much of the game on the phone with R, who was trying to figure out what to do during the storm that spawned numerous tornado sirens and a few twisters back home.

For dinner I ended back up at El Pollo Loco. Another tasty meal there, much like the first one the night before. Again, remember, cheap is good! And I do like their chicken and BBQ black beans quite a bit.

Back From New York

My 24 hours in New York is done and I am back in NW Arkansas, waiting for the temps to get down to 10F tonight (it's 26F at 8:45 with a clear sky out there.) Anyhow, it was a whirlwind of a trip and I'll do my write-ups of Pongsri and Rocking Horse Cafe soon.

I saw this story on sushi tuna over the shoulder of someone today -- if you're a big tuna sushi eater it's a story you should read it.

We stayed in Chelsea, which is a neighborhood in the low 20s on the map, west of Park Avenue (I don't know the specific boundaries, but that was the general area.) It's arty and alternative and not particularly touristy (the only souvenier shops I could find were of the sex toy variety.) We were there as our business brought us to the general area and the Chelsea Savoy was the cheapest hotel we could find. No Ritz-Carlton for us.

Today's food was less noteworthy. Breakfast for me was a bagel and egg at Chelsea Papaya, which was cheap and conveniently located catty-corner to our hotel. My boss got an egg on wheat bread. The sandwiches were unexciting (they don't have a ton of condiments out either), but my boss liked his papaya juice and I liked the mango juice. Not sure if it's worthy of the Food Network praise I seem to remember. Also, the cook tried to upsell -- "egg and bagel?" "yeah" "two eggs?" "no, one egg" *pause* "one more minute on your two eggs and bacon bagel" "no I want one egg" etc etc.

Lunch was at Laguardia Airport. If you are hungry at LGA, be sure to eat before you go through security, as there ain't shit past security in terminal C. And with my boss's reconstructed knees setting off security, thus requiring additional checks each time, there was no way we were going to go back out to the main terminal. Anyhow, I found some soba noodles and jalapeno chips and they were fine, but not worth writing anything more about.