got this from my older brother, jmc, who turns 30 today. its a sweet read by cartoonist tim kreider in the times. here is a little clip from the article that made me smile at my desk, scratch my head, and wonder if I could miss work and head to a super early happy hour.
There is really no drinking half as enjoyable as daytime drinking, when the sun is out, the bars are empty of dilettantes, and the afternoon stretches ahead of you like summer vacation. The gleeful complicity you and your drinking buddies share in the excellent decision to have one more ill-advised round, knowing full well you’re forfeiting the day — you can almost physically feel something lifted from you at this moment, even if you know it will fall back more heavily later on. We used to raise a toast: “Gentlemen — our lives are unbelievably great.”
happy 30th jm.
8/16/2009
restaurant week installment #2, happy birthday gran ...
so with the weekend upon us and with restaurant week in full swing it was out to another local destination for 3 more courses. (i want to step out right now and let you all know that i have been playing a fair amount of quash these past couple of weeks in preparation for my week and a half gluttonous bacchanal, so i am not 600lbs right now). my 2nd destination for restaurant week was crush restaurant in the belvedere market area off of york rd.
this was an atypical saturday excursion to crush. we were booked in a private room for 14 people to celebrate my maternal grandmothers 85th birthday. for her present the 3 boys (my brothers - jmc & jhb, and myself) were going to show up as a surprise. in order to complete the surprise i had to pick jmc up from a bus and that meant we had time to kill, and when you have time to kill in that area on a hot day then i highly recommend ducking into the grand cru to gulp, slurp, schwill, and sip some tasty white wine to assist in combatting the humid august evening. that is exactly what jmc and i did. Gewurztraminer for me and an NZ sauv blanc for the older bro. (there is a serious lack of whit wine in my life, and this pit stop to grad cru reminded me that i need to remedy that situation). feeling refreshed and ready to surprise we wandered across the square and entered crush with to things on our mind; give gran a hug and eat.
the highlight was definitely the birthday celebration, but the food at crush was the perfect fit for all who attended from my 85 year old grandmother to my 'adopted' sister from malawi who is 14. there was nothing on the menu that was too extravagant, intimidating, or polarizing. everything was playful new american cooking. starters around the table ranged from shrimp and grits, to truffled risotto with a poached egg, and the seasonal heirloom tomato salad. these were all simple flavors with a light variety in terms of technique and the mains that followed were more simple. seared salmon, rib-eye steaks, penne pasta, and crab cakes. dessert was the simplest and wasnt really anything super special, but by that time we had had 4 bottles of wine at the table and the funny family stories were flying around the table, and we werent really concerned with the dessert at that point.
my recommendation save crush for the family functions. good food, good environment, but not a place i would say you need to go or a place that i would say take a date. on the flip side though if you are looking for a place to take some on a low key causal but palate pleasing date and you are in the area than i would highly recommend the grand cru.
this was an atypical saturday excursion to crush. we were booked in a private room for 14 people to celebrate my maternal grandmothers 85th birthday. for her present the 3 boys (my brothers - jmc & jhb, and myself) were going to show up as a surprise. in order to complete the surprise i had to pick jmc up from a bus and that meant we had time to kill, and when you have time to kill in that area on a hot day then i highly recommend ducking into the grand cru to gulp, slurp, schwill, and sip some tasty white wine to assist in combatting the humid august evening. that is exactly what jmc and i did. Gewurztraminer for me and an NZ sauv blanc for the older bro. (there is a serious lack of whit wine in my life, and this pit stop to grad cru reminded me that i need to remedy that situation). feeling refreshed and ready to surprise we wandered across the square and entered crush with to things on our mind; give gran a hug and eat.
the highlight was definitely the birthday celebration, but the food at crush was the perfect fit for all who attended from my 85 year old grandmother to my 'adopted' sister from malawi who is 14. there was nothing on the menu that was too extravagant, intimidating, or polarizing. everything was playful new american cooking. starters around the table ranged from shrimp and grits, to truffled risotto with a poached egg, and the seasonal heirloom tomato salad. these were all simple flavors with a light variety in terms of technique and the mains that followed were more simple. seared salmon, rib-eye steaks, penne pasta, and crab cakes. dessert was the simplest and wasnt really anything super special, but by that time we had had 4 bottles of wine at the table and the funny family stories were flying around the table, and we werent really concerned with the dessert at that point.
my recommendation save crush for the family functions. good food, good environment, but not a place i would say you need to go or a place that i would say take a date. on the flip side though if you are looking for a place to take some on a low key causal but palate pleasing date and you are in the area than i would highly recommend the grand cru.
8/14/2009
restaurant week installment #1 ...
so its the beginning (actually the middle of) the month of august which means the blistering heat, trips to ocean city, preseason football, and of course its restaurant week.
restaurant week is a beautiful thing. its a win win situation all participating parties.
as a diner you get a cornucopia of restaurt choices where you can lounge, sp[end time with friends, and get down on a 3 course tasting menu for $30. and for restaurants they get booked up and generate an unusually large amount of revenue during the slowest part of the year.
so i plan on hitting up at least 3 places for 2009s restaurant week and on wednesday i took a bite out of restuarant #1; minato sushi bar in mt. vernon. minato has been a place that i have been looking for an excuse to go to. ive heard only good things and i have often day dreamed of the fresh sushi, tender udon noodles, and warm sake that i could enjoy with the marble step background of mt. vernon. well restaurant week was the perfect excuse.
upon entering minato i was taken aback by the interior of this ground level space in a the stereotypically converted high ceiling row house on charles street. stained hard wood floors, minimal wall coverings, light colors (yellow, soft greens, and pastels), and lack of tables. a lot of thought had gone into this decoration, and i thought to myself 'this is pretty east asian'.
the resaurant week menu offered a selection of 4 courses.
there were four of us at the table so we decided to do some mixing and matching in order to cover most of the menu. for starters we had a delicate seaweed salad with cucumber that was the perfect palate teaser, flavorful, fresh, and crunchy. there was also flash fried calamari with a wasabi mayonnaise dipping sauce that was tender, crunchy, salty, and spicy. the final starter was the house made shrimp dumplings that were tightly packed and and very tasty. our 2nd course was the special sushi rolls. wow. there were combinations there that left me with chopsticks open grabbing for more. the sushi was all spectacular, but the real winner was the spicy tuna matched with fresh avocado and mango. 3rd courses came with great delight and amazement at the portion sizes. there was pan seared snapper with a delicious crust in a soy reduction which probably won the battle for best of table in the third course. there was flash fried shrimp ebi and salmon teriyaki that was very delicious, but the loser of the night by a land slide was the sesame chicken. before our red bean, coffee, and green tea ice cream came we were already discussing when we would return. the ice cream was great, and we will 100% be back.
if you want to go then go on wednesday because its $3 martinis (we found this out be surprise ... score!) and i highly recommend the sake-tinis (martinis made with the sake).
restaurant week is a beautiful thing. its a win win situation all participating parties.
as a diner you get a cornucopia of restaurt choices where you can lounge, sp[end time with friends, and get down on a 3 course tasting menu for $30. and for restaurants they get booked up and generate an unusually large amount of revenue during the slowest part of the year.so i plan on hitting up at least 3 places for 2009s restaurant week and on wednesday i took a bite out of restuarant #1; minato sushi bar in mt. vernon. minato has been a place that i have been looking for an excuse to go to. ive heard only good things and i have often day dreamed of the fresh sushi, tender udon noodles, and warm sake that i could enjoy with the marble step background of mt. vernon. well restaurant week was the perfect excuse.
upon entering minato i was taken aback by the interior of this ground level space in a the stereotypically converted high ceiling row house on charles street. stained hard wood floors, minimal wall coverings, light colors (yellow, soft greens, and pastels), and lack of tables. a lot of thought had gone into this decoration, and i thought to myself 'this is pretty east asian'.
the resaurant week menu offered a selection of 4 courses.
there were four of us at the table so we decided to do some mixing and matching in order to cover most of the menu. for starters we had a delicate seaweed salad with cucumber that was the perfect palate teaser, flavorful, fresh, and crunchy. there was also flash fried calamari with a wasabi mayonnaise dipping sauce that was tender, crunchy, salty, and spicy. the final starter was the house made shrimp dumplings that were tightly packed and and very tasty. our 2nd course was the special sushi rolls. wow. there were combinations there that left me with chopsticks open grabbing for more. the sushi was all spectacular, but the real winner was the spicy tuna matched with fresh avocado and mango. 3rd courses came with great delight and amazement at the portion sizes. there was pan seared snapper with a delicious crust in a soy reduction which probably won the battle for best of table in the third course. there was flash fried shrimp ebi and salmon teriyaki that was very delicious, but the loser of the night by a land slide was the sesame chicken. before our red bean, coffee, and green tea ice cream came we were already discussing when we would return. the ice cream was great, and we will 100% be back.if you want to go then go on wednesday because its $3 martinis (we found this out be surprise ... score!) and i highly recommend the sake-tinis (martinis made with the sake).
8/05/2009
parisian indie pop at its best ...
i am going to make a conscientious effort to write more about books, music, and film. the whole transition from globe trotter and masters student to pseudo-permanent resident in a basement who commutes 2 hours a day in a tie to convince others that they need more nfl in their life and that they need to pay for it has reeked havoc on my creative input. please do not fear though as i am making serious strides (mostly for my own personal well being) at combating normalcy and ingesting heavy doses on the afore mentioned 3 creative inputs.
tonight, as my topic title alludes to, i want to talk about an awesome album that i have been listening to non stop sense burning a copy off of my favorite music tree, and that disc is phoenix's latest entitled 'wolfgang amedeus phoenix'. i had my 1st brush with this band in early 2007 while in sydney. they played the factory theater and blew the roof off the place. for me these guys were the epitome of what really good indie pop should be. fast, catchy as can be, makes you want to shake, and just for over the top hip factor these guys are from paris! after seeing them in 2007 i was in love with their album 'its never been like that' and it got significant air time during my 1st year in oz. i can totally see this album being the same way.
'wolfgang' is only 9 tracks long, but much like the band it grabs you right away and sends you into an almost carefree mindset.
at various times in the album you sit there wondering where you have heard this tune from before, or you'll remember that you have heard this band before. this album will work perfectly for an early evening with friends and drinks, driving home from work, or preparing a meal for friends. hopefully most of you wont make the mistake that i did and wait a couple of months to download this album! you can get it for $5 right now off amazon ... do it.
listen and have fun with this one.
tonight, as my topic title alludes to, i want to talk about an awesome album that i have been listening to non stop sense burning a copy off of my favorite music tree, and that disc is phoenix's latest entitled 'wolfgang amedeus phoenix'. i had my 1st brush with this band in early 2007 while in sydney. they played the factory theater and blew the roof off the place. for me these guys were the epitome of what really good indie pop should be. fast, catchy as can be, makes you want to shake, and just for over the top hip factor these guys are from paris! after seeing them in 2007 i was in love with their album 'its never been like that' and it got significant air time during my 1st year in oz. i can totally see this album being the same way.
'wolfgang' is only 9 tracks long, but much like the band it grabs you right away and sends you into an almost carefree mindset.
at various times in the album you sit there wondering where you have heard this tune from before, or you'll remember that you have heard this band before. this album will work perfectly for an early evening with friends and drinks, driving home from work, or preparing a meal for friends. hopefully most of you wont make the mistake that i did and wait a couple of months to download this album! you can get it for $5 right now off amazon ... do it. listen and have fun with this one.
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