Disco Files

getting all arty with the sandwich

2011-09-05T12:12:00.000-04:00

stumbled upon this beauty of a website. its dedicated to tastefully depicting the color, design, texture, shape, and image of one of my favorite things in the world ... the sandwich

scanwiches.com

food that fell off a truck ... vol. 2

2011-08-24T13:12:00.001-04:00

people please do not worry, i'm still eating sandwiches, and i am still on our ever evolving sandwich quest. i'm just a little side tracked this summer with all the delicious summer bbq's, my new excuse to eat pizza all the time, the summer happy hours where dinner is just a blurry afterthought soaked in spirits, and of course with all the hip and happening food trucks that are popping up all around town. so here's another sandwich quest distraction post ...

at first it was a small blip on twitter. then it became noticeable via facebook. but now, baltimore food truck fervor has reached new summer highs, and these trucks are all around town, infecting bored lunch crowds, adventuresome diners, and the baltimore foodie scene with “the non malignant street food fever". it seems like these trucks are breeding like rabbits. it used to be just the burger wagon from koopers, now there's a wagon for crepes and even a truck for grilled cheese sandwiches (could this be an elusive double post in the culinary making ???). i personally believe it's getting a little out of hand, but at the same time i am in love with the idea of inventive mobile food distribution vehicles pushing the proverbial palate of the entire city. it's creative, quirky, fun, and as i'm finding out, a good source for great cheap eats.

what!? now you really have my attention

most of these trucks have a weekly schedule of places where you can find them, or if you are a glutton for long lines, big crowds, and slower service, then there is always the newly created monthly food truck gathering. seriously, these gatherings are kind of out of control. since i am all over the place slinging pastries and cakes during lunch time, it's hard to nail down a visit to a truck. and since i hate the mob scene, i avoid the gatherings. this leaves me with a fantastic option for indulging in these four wheeled food dispensaries, the wednesday night food truck food court on central and eastern ave in little italy/fells point.

there aren't as many trucks at the food court as there are at gatherings. less choices and less fanfare mean short lines, interaction with the chefs, food not running out, and an all-around nice mid week evening activity. this week there were only 2 trucks at the food court. there was probably my favorite, the gypsy queen, and the 'permanent fixture' at the food court, the silver platter. since i had had already pigged out with the gueen i decided i was going to be all about the platter. the first thing that grabs you about the latest venture of the czar of fells point is that plastered on its jetstream silver exterior is a giant sign that shouts 'lobster rolls & pit beef'.

ooops, i think i was supposed to take
a before, not after ....

now if you know me at all, you know that if you need to pique my interest or get me all hot and bothered, all you need to do is mention lobster rolls or pit beef. but here is the kicker ... upon reading the silver platters menu i realized that there was more on the menu that i wanted to try besides the pit beef and lobster. what instantly jumped out at me was the sweet chili bbq ribs. what!?!? ribs from a truck? i needed to see this and, more importantly: needed to eat it!

seeing how the ribs were of the sweet chili bbq variety it was a pleasant surprise to see them served up with an over-the-top asian theme. there were 4 ribs that were piping hot, covered in that all telling, orange hue of thai sweet chili. to add to the asian theme they were garnished with sesame seeds and finely chopped green onion, and they were stuffed into a chinese takeout box! the ribs were still on the bone, which had me wondering about how tender they would be, but when i was handed the rib filled chinese take away box with a plastic fork, i got excited. and these bad boys needed a fork. there was no way i was going to be able to eat these with my hands, because they were the exact definition of "fall off the bone". they had a nice spice to them, and despite being so soft and tender they had a little crunch on the outside, as a result of a quick pan fry to re-heat and subtle pop of the sesame seeds. but there was even more crunch in my take away box. underneath my sweet and spicy asian ribs was a bed of onion straws that were super thin, breaded, and fried to a golden brown. trust me, these were the best possible compliment to the juicy, fatty, sweet, and spicy ribs. the only critique i have towards these bad boys is that i would not recommend eating these during your lunch hour, because these ribs will bring on an instant onset of the 'itus' ... can you say: nap under the desk!?!

in case you are keeping score at home, its 2-0 in favor of the food trucks ....

baltimore pizza institutions: 'the far eastides pizza pie' ...

2011-08-10T11:52:00.002-04:00

this summer has been a very successful food based summer for this sandwich loving blogger. lobsters in maine, surprisingly outrageous sandwiches in st. croix, some tasty eats off food trucks around town, and the occasional pop up downtown bbq with good friends. while all of these are truly wonderful summertime culinary sensations, last week i traveled due east from downtown baltimore and crossed over to year round generational culinary sensation; pizza johns in essex, md.

up until last tuesday pizza johns had been merely a folk legend. a place that people talk about in undescriptive absolutes like, 'its amazing' or 'i love that place' and my favorite 'you have to go there.' dont get me wrong its all great publicity, but lacking in description or a seriously convincing or compelling reason (does this have to do with its location? i kid, i kid) to travel from the pizza rich environment that is baltimore city and venture all the way out to essex for a pie. so after being on my urbanspoon wishlist for nearly a year, i finally hopped in the mazda with a reoccurring culinary adventurist companion, dj g:/ (read: gee prompt), and struck out for this essex pizza institution of legend.

essex is amazing. eastern ave goes on forever, there are no turns. main street is an actual main street. there is water, boats, and docks everywhere. crabs arent $200 a bushel. and we even saw a green dodge challenger, like for real! drunk with our newly discovered affinity for all things essex (full disclosure: after opening up our zillow app, there have been a couple of inquiries into the essex waterfront real estate market) we were only thrown into a deeper stage of giddy inebriation when we pulled onto back river neck road and were quickly greeted by a larger than life 'pizza john' who stood out front of an italian-american chic villa/restaurant mega complex.

'italian-american essex villa chic'

instantly upon entrance we were greeted with table after table of patrons gobbling pizza, wolfing down sandwiches, and slugging tall sodas on this blistering summer day. excitement and hunger were brewing and i my lunch time essex traveling companion and i werent going to let the army of all white dressed 1960s era johnny rocket looking counter staff get the best of us, we were going to order big! there isnt any waitress service at p.j. its an old school trow back. you order everything at the counter, get a number, and take your own seat in one of the three massive dinning areas they have for pizza smashing. after little debate we decided to go with a pepperoni and green pepper pie and a half chicken parm sub to split. with a couple of large drinks our lunch cam out to $11 and change for each person. score another for essex.

before we could make ourselves too comfortable in our over sized booth that could a fit a family of 6 our first number was called. the chicken parm was first at bat. the parm was one large chicken cutlet fried, drenched in sauce, covered with cheese, and slapped on a white roll. the chicken had a crunch and was still a bit juicy, the sauce was fantastic (foreshadowing of the pizza perhaps?). the cheese was a mozzarella and there was a lot of it and it had been melted to allow for it to reach optimal stringy-ness. and finally the sub roll had been toasted to perfection; golden brown. this allowed for the sub to pack a little more crunch, absorb some of the sensational sauce, and not compromise with over the top sogginess. solid 1st at bat for pizza john.

now batting clean up ... pizza john!

a couple of bites into the sub our other number was called. our pizza kind of sauntered to our table like a clean up hitter. it knew it was the star, and it look every bit like one. golden brown crust flecked with tiny bits of over cooked cheese. green peppers glistening with the oils of cooked pepperoni. cheese that looked like it could stretch all the way back to baltimore, well at least back to dundalk. the pizza was the star. after doctoring a slice up with the usual, crushed red pepper, oregano, and a dash of salt, i took a bite of the piping hot pie. wow. the crust was crunchy and had an oven taste to it, but not over the top. the sauce was the star with a good zip to it, but at the same time an amazing tomato feel as well. the cheese could of streted back to dundalk, and the toppings were the perfect size and as a result didnt drag the cheese off the pie at all.

pizza johns was a total success. worth the trip down eastern ave and it truely deserves to be considered a baltimore pizza institution. from now on, anyone who asks me how i feel about pizza john's im going to simply tell them something like ....... 'its amazing', 'i love that place', or 'you have to go there.'

hold the pickle vol. 16 ...

2011-07-20T18:09:00.036-04:00

summer has besieged us. its hot. its humid. air conditioners are running non stop. pools, always at a premium, are over crowded. however the days are longer. work is slower. beers quickly overflow coolers. and most importantly the searing sizzle of meat on the grill can be heard all over. and since bbq'd meat is kind of a passion of mine, its the focus of this weeks sandwich quest.

after my most recent endevours of crossing land, mountains, seas, and valleys all in the name of the mighty sandwich, i decided to do the exact opposite. i went 6 blocks down the street to a relatively new take out shop in fells point called hungry andys. hungry andys recently sprung up on the fells point north-south bisecting broadway street just above the water, across from the much maligned, barren, and neglected broadway market. this is what i always assumed was not an ideal location when it came to foot traffic. with that all taken into consideration over the past three months since h.a. (w/r/t the abbreviation i apologize, but ive been reading a lot of d.f.w.¹) has been open i have heard multiple endorsements from sources that i feel posses a lot of sandwich street cred which in my book warranted a sandwich quest stop.

heres a little sandwich quest inside info, i normally despise going into places that i want to blog about during the actual lunch hour. sandwich places by their very nature are designed for the lunch crowd, so are naturally the busiest during said hour. but on this particular day, a skipped breakfast and a hectic morning of pastry selling/delivering meant the lunch hour was unavoidable. this turned out to be a not so terrible thing. i walked into h.a. right around 1215 on a wednesday and was immediately greeted by big and bright retro-ish decor. a hanging mcdonoalds style menu board that had everything you would think a characterless local sub shop would normally have. wings, poppers, fries, burgers, wraps, a couple of sandwiches, and some fried seafood platters. it didnt look promising. but there was a substantial line of folks waiting to place their order. each one stepped up individually looked to a 'specials' chalk board on the righ hand wall and began barking out aurally delicious orders.

'pulled texas beef, on white, horseradish, and onion'

'pulled pork, roll, bqq sauce'

'beef brisket, bbq sauce, horseradish and onion on the side'

whooooa! after glancing to my right to see where the orgin of these orders was coming from i quickly went from disappointment to excitement. hungary andys is a sneaky bbq joint! it all started unfolding like reverse origami. the line of 7 people ahead of me were all men. the 4 people sitting were all eating bbq'd pork, beef, ham, or turkey. and of course were all men. the chalk board read that the daily special was a sandwich of either pulled pork, texas pulled beef , bbq ham, bbq brisket, or bbq turkey with horseradish, onion, and/or bbq sauce all with a side of fries and a drink for $7.50. yahtzee.

it was my turn to order. decisions, decisions. as i stated before bbq is a favorite of mine (3 stops so far on the quest, not including this one, have been bbq stops) and i didnt have a companion (no halfsies) so i had to choose carefully. while i was in the decision making process 3 more men walked in for lunch. i dediced to throw a bit of a curve ball to andy (and subsequently my taste buds) and ordered the bbq'd turkey combo with bbq sauce and onions to go (the place is small and was quickly shrinking with the entrance of what seemed like half of fells points male population).

it was upon my arrival at home that i realized thoughtfulness and quality that is hungry andys. the fries tell this story. the fries were still hot and crispy w/o any soggyness when i took them out of the bag. someone had taped the containers shut and then poked 6 holes in the top with a toothpick. this was pure genious. the holes allowed for the steam to escape which meant there was zippy condensation which meant zippy moisture which lead to zippy soggyness.

hello bbq turkey, meet crispy fries ...

the sandwich was still warm and wrapped tight in heat retaining aluminum foil. it was a soft white bun which contained the small mountain of translucent white shavings that were coated with just a faint squirt of bbq sauce. the bbq sauce squirt meant that there was a sauce aspect to the sandwich that didnt get you messy and that didnt drown out the pit turkeys bold smokey flavor. the onions were shaved white onions and were pretty pungent, but provided a little kick in contrast to the smokey turkey flavor and the sweeter bbq sauce flavor.

it was an almost perfect bbq sandwich. the turkey, like a blank canvas, had soaked up the smokey flavor to creat a bbq master piece. the onions didnt over power and were there in a perfect supporting role (and also sliced the right way to accompany any sandwich). the bbq sauce was a bit on the sweet side, but didnt mute the turkeys flavor. but the roll was was not good. it was soft and it was white, but it was on the dry side, had some mealy qualities to it and just simply couldnt stand up to the sandwich.

with one minor change, different bread, h.a. could become a must for undercover food in fells, a quick $7 lunch special, or the go to spot after a couple of pints on thames street.

david foster wallace see attached

food that fell off of a truck ...

2011-07-04T20:58:00.002-04:00

unless you live underneath a culinary rock you are sure to know that the food truck craze is sweeping across america with pandemic like speed and fervor. here in baltimore we are not immune. weve got a burger truck, a burrito truck, a bbq truck, a cupcake truck, a soup truck, a hot dog truck, a grilled cheese truck, and even a crepe truck. in other words we have a bunch of trucks. and last sunday after over indulging on saturday i awoke with a craving for something greasy, filling, cheap, and fast ... in other words i was looking for some truck food.

lucky for me the gypsy queen food truck (follow her on twitter for info and locales) just happened to be parked at the can company building which is a 3 block stroll (all downhill) for me. it was just what i wanted. the menu was broad with quirky items like the crab cone, little crab balls in a cone a la belgium frites style, there were truffled sliders, and a falafel sandwich (this is next on my list to get from this four wheeled food dispensary). not exactly sure on what to get (there were easily 10 items to choose from) i decided to go for 'the chubbie'. the chubbie was a burger, two slices of neon yellow american cheese, fried onions, and mustard all on grilled texas toast (thick buttery white bread). the chubbie was exactly what this pretty hunger over food enthusiast needed to get back on track, salvage a sunday, and to pique my curiosity about all the food trucks in town!

the 1st bite

perfection!

and for all of you baltimore food truck groupies, enthusiasts, skeptics, curious, doubters, and lovers please note that next friday - harbor east will be the home of an entire parking lot filled with trucks that will be filled with food. im pretty excited for this food truck rally

hold the pickle vol. 15 ... sandwiches from other places

2011-06-23T12:25:00.000-04:00

in this weeks edition of your beloved sandwich quest, you will find that the protagonist has been quite busy during the early weeks of summer. humidity, nuptials, work, and general vacationing have thrown our sandwichian hero all over the map. but do not fear because displacement upon ones journey does not always mean distraction from ones ultimate goal. and since the goal of this quest is to find badass sandwiches and the people that serve them, a change in locale provided this protagonist with an awesome opportunity to partake in some non-baltimore culinary treats.

this entry is special for two reasons. the first reason (alluded to in my 'grabber' paragraph) is this will be the first post where sandwiches were consumed outside the great baltimore metro area. and the second reason is that this post focuses on 2 different sandwich shacks in opposite corners of the northeastern hemisphere. hey when you are on a quest you will inevitably cover lots of map.

maine: the way life should be

the first out of state stop on quest brought your hero to a familiar sandwich dispensery in the great state of maine. maine is a special state. frontier in character, breathtakingly verdant, boasting a state slogan that states that the state of maine is, 'the way life should be', and its also littered with the bounty of the northern atlantic. the most sought after seafood bounty in maine is the lobster, also affectionately known as bugs. the plump red and white meat can be found just about anywhere. roadside stands, fancy restaurants in portland, and even in mcdonalds. one of the most popular ways to enjoy a bug while on the run is the lobster roll. and one of the best places to enjoy one of these buttered hot dog bun stuffed sensations is on the main street pier in freeport (home of ll bean) at harraseeket lunch & lobster. harraseeket is everything you picture when you think of a maine pier. boats docked and on moorings, lobster pots stacked on the pier, red picnic tables with plastic checkered table cloths, and folks of all ages and sizes ooogling over a menu that has everything from lobster to clams to strawberry ruhbarb pie. tons of people pick the whole lobster supper, and most who dont definitely pick the lobster roll. ive been coming here for years and with these 2 items carrying a $21.95 and $14 price tag respectfully i opt for hands down the best value on the menu; the fresh fish sandwich for a whopping $6.50.

how 'bout that filet o' fish?!?

i apologize about the lobster roll tease, but at harraseeket the sandwich to get is 1000% the fresh fish sandwich. its super simple. and its simplicity allows whomever is eating it to revel in the seafood taste sensation that is the 'ffs'. this humble creation consists of 3 evenly cut rectangular chunks (think french toast stick size) of fresh white fish (normally cod) that has been breaded and fried. the breading is simple and these cod crunchies are fried to perfection which results in flaky fish cubes encapsulated in golden brown crunchie goodness. these crispy poisson pillows are placed (maybe thrown) onto a toasted sesame bun, covered with tartar sauce and then topped with a piece of melted american. yes you are correct, its a 'filet o fish'. only this 'filet o fish' is the freaking rolls royce of fish sandwiches. packed with seafood freshly plucked from the ocean, prepared by main-e-aks who have been cooking fish for generations, and served on a picture-esque waterfront pier. dont believe me? then book a flight and go to harraseeket.

after firmly placing a conquering sandwich flag on the shores of maine, one week later it was time to turn my conquesting gaze towards the south. towards the us virgin islands. more specifically st croix. st croix was the sight of what could be declared as the most international/cross cultural gathering since the last failed round of the doha development talks, only this gathering was for a wedding celebration not an argument of domestic agricultural subsides and/or protection of patented technology. with a wedding in cards, golden sands all around, reuniting with friends from all over the globe, and rum that was practially free never in my mind did i think i would find time let alone an opportunity to sandwich quest in the islands. i was totally wrong.

front porch

the entire wedding population (people from the west coast, mid west, east coast, and nyc coupled with folks from europe, turkey, and japan .... like i said a cross cultural orgy of fun in the sun!) stayed at a lovely beachside 'resort' called 'cottages by the sea' which is located in the town of frederiksted. frederiksted is tiny. and by tiny i mean microscopic, but its authentic islands. 19th century buildings, bright colors, and cobblestones on the beach front. behind the nice veneer even more authentic islands ... extreme poverty, serious unemployment, chickens running all over the place, and terrible infrastructure.

and just right between these two separate worlds lies a little culinary oasis in the tropics called turtles deli. turtles is everything i could ever ask for in a beach side deli. old ex pat couple running the shop. no shoes required. a dog leashed to the pole that holds the sign which clearly reads 'no dogs allowed'. a menu that includes both hot and cold sandwiches. and it was the closest place to grab a quick (nothing is really quick when you are in the islands) bite.

half-sies: smoking chix & there is a blt
on top of my turkey sammy!

i was introduced to turtles upon arrival at 'cottages' after my odyssey to the island which include ninja like exit from baltimore, flying out of the wrong airport, running through another airport (i guess i thought i was too cool for the intra-terminal train), being the last one on the plane, and catching a ride from the airport with unknown turkish people. there waiting for me in my older brothers refrigerator was a sight for sore eyes ... the 'turtle sub'. the thing was massive! over a foot of soft white roll that had been sliced at the equator and stuffed with (breath) turkey, salami, capicola, meunster cheese, american cheese, peppers, onions, cucumber, lettuce, tomato, hots, mayo, and mustard. again this thing was massive and i swear it had nuclear half life characteristics. with each bite there was a half bite regenerated. it took 2 people and multiple hours to eat the sub.

with my first turtles experience a success i was determined to go to the source for a late brunch after a night of multiple bottles of rum in the ocean with turkish people. brunch was a blt. straight forward, but the bacon was beautiful and the bread was toasted rosemary bread. the blt performance earned the deli another return trip for lunch the following day. only on this trip i deployed the half-sie technique with the older brother. the half-sie'wich was comprised of the turtles turkey club and the smokin chix. the turkey club was like most things at turtles, large. essentially it was a blt the a turkey sandwich underneath. amazing. and the smokin chix (confession: i went back to turtles for a 4th time to get this bad boy again) was a taste sensation! soft sourdough bread that cradled sliced chicken, crispy bacon, tangy cole slaw, 1000 island dressing, and smoked gouda cheese. yep it was a good as it sounds and 100% warranted the 4th trip.

turtles and harraseeket, two sandwich spots in completely different states/territories/worlds, but both slinging sandwiches that are more than worthy of mention on this sammy conquest!

**up next a fells point, md 'hidden gem'**

hold the pickle vol. 14 ...

2011-05-23T11:31:00.002-04:00

again this one happened a couple of weeks ago. since the inception of this project wedged between two slices of bread, ive had a 'cousin' who has been quietly recommending a sandwich shop thats no more than half a mile from my door step. he would come over for dinner (i live with his brother; another 'cousin') and matter of factly ask, 'have you checked out rosina gourmet yet?' we would run into each other on thames street, he diligently walking his dog and me smoking a cigarette and 3 magners deep at half time of a surely to be disappointing arsenal game, 'read your last blog. good stuff. been to rosina yet?' or i would post a link of facebook or twitter and then have the audacity to ask folks 'where should i go next?' his persistence would float to the surface again with a simple post/reply 'rosina gourmet'.

well i am happy to let you know that my 'cousin' finally achieved his goal of ultimate temptation/persuasion when he very simply sent a picture text of a magazine cover (see photo). as a semi pro sandwich super fan/aficionado/explorer i could not resist it anymore, so i made a lunch appointment with my 'cousin' and set out to place another stake in the rolling sandwich landscape of baltimore.

we went to the canton location of rosina, which sits opposite of a den of ill spoken about actions that most people simply refer to as portside. upon walking into rosina i instantly realized that just because there is only an alley entrance way separating these two places, there couldnt of be a bigger gap between these two neighbors. the portside tavern reminds me of crowded spaces, playlists from 104.3fm, soco and limes, and possessing an equal to or greater amount of bud light bottles than number of hands. rosina on the other hand is outlined with quaint tables for parties of 2-4. the walls a littered with local art and pictures of delicious foods, including a gigantic picture of the baltimore magazine cover that pushed me over the edge. the smell of toast/meats/spreads/veggies tickle the nostrils instantly. and a small battalion of women behind the counter greet you as you enter and make you feel like you just walked into a room full of moms, sisters, aunts, nieces, grandmothers (note: if any of you ladies from rosina read this i dont mean you look like grandmas, just that that maternal spirit was seriously permeating through the air) who wanted nothing more than to satisfy any sandwich hunger you might have.

on that sun splashed afternoon in canton i did in fact have a serious case of sandwich hunger and instantly began to wage my internal sandwich decision war with rosina gourmet's menu. i could tell this was going to be a drawn out war of attrition. there were/are 21 sammies on their menu and 3 specials. 24 sandwich options?!? how can you pick just one when you have choices like 'basil pesto chicken salad', 'parma ham & fresh mozz', 'over roast beef', 'grilled veggie', and the special 'roasted red pepper chicken'?!?! quickly realizing that in this overwhelming initial skirmish with the menu could easily turn into brutal trench like warfare i quickly enlisted the help on my 'cousin' and we formed an alliance, also known as going half-sies. after much back and forth the special 'roasted red pepper chicken' and the 'rustic italian' were selected.

rosina is an order at the counter, take your seat, and the staff will bring it to your table. i like this approach best when it comes to a sandwich store. no congestions. no paper wrapping at the table. these are all positives for a superior sandwich experience. and my experience this time was highlighted by the clerk who took or order, delivered it to our table, and without prompting had placed a 1/2 of each sandwich on our respective plates (a woman after my heart!) the sandwiches were not jumbo, over stuffed, or piled high like i had imagined (the baltimore mag cover probably had something to do with this preconceived notion). they were simple and understated. the roasted red pepper chicken was on a diagonally sliced ciabatta roll (note ... well actually more of a rant. people who know me know that i have a couple of unconventional culinary quirks. like my disdain for pickles or my love of pizza in bed. but one of these quirks that not many people know is that i dont believe in slicing any sandwiches on a diagonal axis unless its a grilled cheese and in that case a grilled cheese is always supposed to be cut on a diagonal axis. the club sandwich is a double diagonal cut, but thats a whole 'nother bag of chips in and of itself) and the rustic italian was served on a crunchy baguette.

the chicken was first because it was a warm sandwich. the ciabatta was lightly crunchy with a soft pull to it. the chicken was skinless breast meat that (i think) had been lightly seasoned, roasted off in the oven, and then chopped for serving on the ciabatta. the chicken was then topped with paper thin slices of red onion (thats how they are supposed to be on all sandwiches people!) and thin sliced tomato. i mention all of these ingredients first because for me these were all pretty standard, but of me the real star of the sandwich was the roasted red pepper sauce. i love roasted red peppers right off the grill, but will also settle for a high quality canned or jarred pepper. i feel like the base of the sauce was the latter, but it was light, very red pepper-ie, and a perfect viscosity. if they sold it by the jar, id buy a jar. the sandwich as a whole was pretty pleasant, very fresh, the sauce had flavor to spare, but fell short of being a perfect sandwich. however, the italian stepped in and made a pretty persuading argument for perfection.

the baguette for our rustic italian was the perfect medium for this sandwich. it 100% encapsulated the feel of a rustic italian/peasant sandwich. it was firm with some pull, but also with a significant amount of crunch. it had the strength to hoist up the layers of dried salami, provolone, tomato, and paper thin slices of red onion (yes!). the theme of rustic simplicity continued in this easy bust sophisticated sandwich with the light drizzle of a tasy olive oil over the dried meat. but again there was one aspect of the sandwich that stood tall on the shoulders of all the other ingredients, and on this sandwich it was the olive tapenade that was the buffer zone between the meat & cheese and the bottom of the baguette. its saltiness was the perfect seasoning to the mild cheese and the dried meat. its smooth texture provided a good balance to the hard crunch of the baguette. and please lets just face it, a good tapenade is really really hard to beat. and this tapenade helped to seal the deal on this rustic italian being a top notch sandwich.

as a little bonus the role of side kick/companion to our sandwiches was played by a small scoop of fresh pasta salad with a dab of cheese, diced onions, peppers, and some olives. this was a nice touch not because it was 'the worlds best' or 'grandmas secret recipe' pasta salad, but rather because it wasnt fries or chips. it was fresh, no frills, not too much, and just the right thing to balance a plate of tasty sandwiches that were understated, but overstuffed with flavor.

hold the pickle vol. 13 ...

2011-04-20T14:45:00.001-04:00

its been forever.

your sandwich-ian hero was sidetracked along his quest. there was a change in job title, there was a trip abroad, and a trip to the big easy for a most triumphant weekend of debauchery, sunshine, orioles, and surprise birthdays. the quest had fallen to the way side. material in hand (actually on a smartphone), motivation was lacking. but just like quixote needed sancho panza, skywalker needed solo, and bill needed ted to complete these seemingly insurmountable feats; i needed to rely on others. there was a video game designer, a god-brother, a frat star, and a west coast tech exec, all of whom came up along side and triumphantly asked ... 'where f#cks your next blog dude?'

it was the poking and the prodding from the ones closest to me that have me here clicking out another (my 13th) sandwich quest blog for you to enjoy. (note: this took place in march. when i arrive at a new sandwich location i take extensive notes on my smartphone so that i can remember those little one liners or smells or quirky people that are there so that you can get the full experience and feel. this is a little tough because its weeks old, but the notes are good ... bare with me) this 'x' on the baltimore sandwich quest map came about in an interesting way because it was headed by the inter-web phenomenon that is groupon, and the deal wasnt for a sandwich shop; it was for soup's on in hampden. being a child of 'the avenue' i knew this deal would come in handy the next time i found myself on 36th street. i know soups on is an interesting stop for a sandwich quest i know, but to be honest i had heard good things, knew a person who used to work there, and well knew that the $7 investment (for $15 bucks worth of food) wouldnt be a high risk purchase ... also i had an inside scoop; soup wasnt the only thing on the menu!

soup's on is located towards the chestnut ave side of 36th and if i am not mistaken is where the original golden west cafe was housed (that was when food came out on time from waiters who cared). so upon arriving there was some nostalgia of good food and good dining experiences and that nostalgia was soon paired with excitement as i realized there was a line that was out the door. i normally am not one to do backflips or cartwheels over having to wait to be fed, but when trying out a new place, this is 100% the type of foreshadowing that i hope for. once i got in the store i realized why there was a line, there were 6 tables and really only 14 people could eat there at once. the line moved fast though. there were a lot of 'take out-ers' in front of me and as i mentioned before ... the place specializes in soup. soup doesnt take long to serve.

my time in line allowed me to peruse the chalkboard menu and start to formulate an order in my mind. soups were listed 1st. damnit! it was brisk outside and the soups sounded freakishly desirable in written form, smelled delectable wafting in aromatic form, and looked belly satisfying delicious as a glanced from table 1 to table 6. reading the chalkboard a little more i found the sandwiches. oh no! there were only 2 sandwich selections. a fruity chicken salad and ... wait ... whats this? a self proclaimed 'ultimate tuna salad Gmail - Inbox - spclare@gmail.comsandwich'?!?!?! challenge accepted! but i couldnt pass up the soup, could i? but then in a feat of marketing genius, as i approached the register i saw the sign stating that soup and full sandwich was $12. problem solved.

ultimate tuna sandwich and a white tuscan bean soup with kale was on the docket, and after swapping my groupon code for a 4 of hearts playing card i made my way to a cozy corner of the restaurant (really just a shop front) and waited in a puddle of anticipation. the smells were amazing, the laughs and smiles from other customers were loud and bright, and then when things couldnt get any better, the playlist segwayed (sp??) to omc classic, 'how bizzare' .... ahhh i knew the sandwich gods were with me that afternoon for sure.

soup and sandwich came plated together. the plate looked fresh, had a rustic charm, smell phenominal, and looked like way too much food for lunch. well not being one who is afraid of over eating, especially on food that looked like this, i dove in without hesitation. The tuscan white bean soup with kale had paper thin slices of parmesean cheese on top of it that with the heat had melted ever so slightly to provide a nice fatty (in a good way; think lipids in wine and the whatnot) feel to the soup. the kale was small and not overly leafy which allowed for the veggie to be cooked properly allowing for just a hint of texture to the dish. the broth with the bean had an almost perfect viscosity and was soft and light which lent to me eating the entire bowl on the spot. only draw back on the soup was that it was served warm and not piping hot. im a soup piping hot kind of guy. that being said i did crush that soup like no other!

the sandwich had a lot to live up to, but just by the looks of the sammie, it looked like there would be some serious competition for best food on plate. the 'ultimate tuna' was served on a fresh crunchy roll that had been hallowed out so that the tuna salad (chunky, light on the mayo, and seasoned pretty darn well) rested perfectly in a bread canoe. this tuna kayak was topped generously with some arugala, avocado, and thinly sliced jalapenos, and the roof of the sandwich had a a smattering of some sort of zesty dressing/vinaigrette. this seems like normal sandwich toppings, but there were levels of thought here people. the bread added some serious crunch and some pull which helped play off the soft and smooth tuna salad. the arugala increased the crunch as well, but at the same time added a little bitterness to the sandwich. the avocado shared the same texture as the tuna, but it was there to provide a bit of fattiness (again think good fatty) and to also help cut the heat of the jalapeno that was there to provide some kick, but to also play off the zestiness of the dressing/vinaigrette. did you get that? it was kind of like trying to explain 'inception' .... but all i really wanted to say was i was pleasantly pleased with this stop on the quest!

ambiguously gay sandwich lovers are awesome ...

2011-03-15T18:29:00.002-04:00

hold the pickle vol. 12 ...

2011-02-28T17:07:00.001-05:00

so with changes a brewing with work and with spring time around the corner i figured it was high time that like don quioxte i hop on my proverbial donkey, hit the rolling hills of baltimore, and continue this mofo sandwich quest. actually this all happened by complete accident.

today i was riding through northern baltimore county with a sales rep whos territory i will be taking over. the usual parking at back doors and loading docks, walk throughs of bustling kitchens, and handshakes with chefs who apologize for their hands being dirty. afterwards i dropped the fellow im replacing off at his home and headed down hartford rd hoping to get home as quick as possible to rest after a hectic weekend. well as fate would have it i would be making an unscheduled pit stop.

while driving southbound through the rain on a road i do not spend much time on, a little yellow building (more of a shack actually) on the left hand side caught my attention. it was a quick blur, but i had made out the red stenciling on the front, it was big bad wolfs bbq. if you know me you know i have a certain affinity for the uniquely american style of cooking called barbeque. if you dont know me, just scroll through some of my previous post and youll see. when talking with friends, fellow bbq lovers, and sandwich enthusiasts big bad wolf has come up multiple times. i had never been, so there was a turn into a different pizza/sandwich shop down the road so i could make a 3 point turn and head to the huff and puff bbq shack.

one counter, 6 chairs, one lady, one large bearded bbq master, a stack of maybe 9 menus ... thats big bad wolfs. minimal everything that isnt bbq. looking at the menu i was bombarded with saliva inducing ribs and 1/4 chickens, but i knew that the sandwich gods had brought me to this little bbq oasis in hamilton for one reason and one reason only ... 'the big bad wolf'. cant decided on brisket or pulled pork? why not just have both, on the same sandwich, and why dont we just add some hickory smoked bacon? freaking brilliant! upon ordering this ron swanson-esque sandwich sensation i was instantly met with a question from the girl behind the counter; 'what kind of sauce do you want?'

damnit i now had a sauce conundrum to over come. my head was mush from the weekend, the new clients, and now a sauce problem that needed to be solved. it couldnt be over looked. there were 7 different sauces on the menu a specail sauce. obviously big bad wolf likes his sauces which means i had to pick carefully. i couldnt. so i did what you always should do in that type of situation. i asked the bearded bbq master behind the counter to my left what he would have on triple threat meat tornado of a sandwich. 'kc spicy' was what he blurted out without fully turning around, and if that recommendation wasnt enough the 2 guys who were sitting at the counter (they looked like they knew their 'que too) both vocally endorsed the meat masters suggestion by telling me how the kc spicy was a the perfect sauce.

so i plunked down at the end of the counter large arnold palmer in hand and began the wait. the city paper wasnt interesting, the smells of slow cooked meat were too distracting. the 2 gents got their ribs, i was giddy with anticipation. then the bbq master himself came over with a small styrofoam container, a napkin, and a plastic fork and knife. i was about to have my house blown down.

upon opening the container the 1st thing one notices is that the combo of the juicy pork, the tender brisket, and the crispy smoked bacon has saturated the bottom half of the kaiser roll with a meaty equivalent of liquid gold. that liquid meat gold is also starting to mix with the spicy kc bbq sauce that is dripping down the sandwich, and all this liquid just ends up on the bottom of the container. now i realize why the bearded bastion of bbq had preemptively given me a fork and a knife. i cut the sandwich in half making it much more manageable with my hands. the first bit was salty, spicy, crunchy, chewy, and fatty all at the same time. i know that sounds like a lot of conflict, but every flavor had its part to play and they all delivered a colin firth worthy performance. the pork was soft and chewy but not overly fatty. the bacon crunched with each chewing stroke of my teeth providing the saltiness that the sandwich required. the sauce was spectacular, bold with a kick but also having a serious depth to the flavor that allowed for the heat to mellow out quickly. the brisket was good, but in my opinion it was not the lead and 100% played a supporting role to the bacon, pork, and the sauce.

you will be the one huffing and puffing!

success! the sandwich gods intervened on this sunny then gloomy monday to provide me with a 4,000+ calorie (total guess and intentional over estimation) piece of sandwich paradise. the free refill of my arnold palmer for the road was an amazing touch as well. note: do not eat at big bad wolfs if you do not have an hour to slip in and out of a meat comma where youre already planning you next trip up hartford rd.

1st sandwich of the year; hold the pickle vol. 11...

2011-01-14T11:40:00.001-05:00

so throughout the holidays i stuffed my face with everything from fudge, to venison, to shrimp, to more ham than even a crazed carnivorous cannibal pig could possibly handle. all this delicious and festive food from the end of november and well into the beginning of december kept me totally satisfied, but also left a void in my life.

you know what i am talking about. im talking about that void that can only be filled with meats, cheeses, veggies, and bread all stacked together in different combinations and in different shapes and sizes to form the beloved entity that we all call sandwiches. well i am happy to report that as of know winter break is over and the sandwich quest is back on!

so to start the new year off sandwich quest style i found myself at a loss for where to go. this insecurity and indecision lead to even more procrastination, but then i remembered a couple of wyld childs who are often referred to as 'the colonel' & 'shorty' explaining to me on a fall night at the orioles game that i was insane for not trying the taneytown deli. now im not going to lie, but the name really didnt do it for me. i mean places like grilled cheese & co, or dipasquales, or atwaters just seem to have a little more flare, a little more flash, a little more je ne sais quoi. but alas i found myself at the top of york road near hunt valley, and thats when this sandwich-ian hero decided it was time to again embark on this quest of sandwich enlightenment.

the taneytown deli looks kind of like it sounds; quaint, forgettable, and lacking in any sort of 'wow' factor. however, its plain exterior in a shopping strip (if you can call 3 store fronts a strip) and its lack of bells, whistles, and pizazz are totally made up for in this sandwicherie's love of everything sandwich.

upon waling into the deli ones attention is immediately drawn to the fact that there are no more than 8 tables, the kitchen counter takes up 75% of the floor plan, the menu board is easy 3 feet by 3 feet, and it is littered with more sandwich combinations than any other destination that weve discussed. there is breakfast, platters, combos, clubs, submarines, reubens, toasted sandwiches, and their classic overstuffed sandwiches. wow talk about a torrential down pouring of sandwich options!

im not going to lie, the overwhelming amount of options put me on tilt, and not to mention the holiday sandwich inactivity coupled with the fact that i had zippy companions only made things worse. i was in a near panic. there were people behind me and people calling in carry out orders; i knew i needed to act fast, but could i make a good decision or was i seriously not in good form?

first things first, i knew in needed to narrow down my decision to a single category. i went with the classic overstuffed sandwiches. now thins were a little easier, i only had to choose from 29 options ... dear lord! well it was cold outside at the time, and as i recall breakfast was something seriously inconsequential which had me longing for a kick ass sandwich. hmmm maybe some roast beef? ah yes there it is. maybe they can make it a hot roast beef? maybe they can put meunster cheese on it? maybe they can toast the roll? well in fact to my delight all of those maybes turned out to be truths. so after forking over my $10 i received a pink lemonade, some change, and the promise of a hot roast beef overstuffed sandwich with tomato and meunster cheese.

the wait wasnt long, and i decided to eat on premise. the sandwich was a little on the small side, but that could of been expected since it carrys a $4.95 price tag. the roll was toasted on the flat top without any butter, so it was a little dry, but boy was it overstuffed. the meat to bread ratio was seriously out of proportion ... in the diners favor. the roast beef had been shaved thin, thrown on the flat top, and chopped. there was a lot of this chopped beef in my sandwich, but it caught me off guard. i was really hoping that the thinly slice beef would of just kissed the grill ever so slightly then piled together with fresh slices of tomato and meunster cheese that would just start to loosen up and melt once it was introduced to the warm roast beef. my preconceived notion was not to be a reality.

i think that because i had high expectations, because i was out of sandwich shape, because i was overwhelmed with options, and because i was flying solo (instead of getting either 'shorty' or 'the colonel' to come with) i didnt have the best experience at the tawneytown deli. with all of that being said my sandwich was not expensive nor was it terrible. it just didnt meet the hype & expectations of being the first sandwich out of the gate for 2011. but fear not this is why we are on a quest!

dinner time ...

2011-01-03T21:06:00.001-05:00

after the aboundant over indulgence that was this past weekend i found myself yesterday ready to finish the festivities and move forward into 2011. that had me motivated today. i was all sorts of motivated for all sorts of things, but the 2 things that were the driving force today were a.) using the cuisinart i got for christmas and b.) how i needed to some how have a culinary repentance for the sin i committed over the weekend (just so you know that is a papa johns pizza with a chicken finger, mac & cheese and garlic sauce on it ... we are talking 2006 over indulgence!). this meant i was going to make a healthy (relatively speaking) dinner for the first monday of the year. here is what i ended up with ...

Roasted Butternut Squash Risotto

Chive, Nutmeg, Cinnamon, Lemon Oil

ingredients:

1 whole butternut squash (2-3lbs) (roasted and purreed)
2 cans veggie stock/broth (kept warm, added to the rice for absorption)
4 c. arborio rice (dry sauteed, then covered with stock, reduced, and repeated)
3/4 stick unsalted butter (cubed, mounted into the rice)
1 triangle of parmesean cheese (grated, added in to bind at the end)
chives (chopped, folded in for garnish and flavor)
lemon oil (drizzled on top for acidic balance)

end of the year treat

2011-01-02T20:18:00.000-05:00

vegetarians advert your eyes!

this was from a year end/new baby/friends from abroad in town mid week party.

prime rib anyone?

there is a new post en route ...

2010-12-27T08:36:00.000-05:00

when i refer to the holidays i am really talking about a period of time that starts roughly in the 3rd week of november and runs until the 1st of the year. there is a lot contained in this time frame. my birthday, thanksgiving with 2 sides of the family, work, work, work, work, work, work, almost christmas, work, work, work, work, christmas eve, work, christmas with 3 sides (i know is this even possible) of the family. pretty much thats just a long winded way of me saying i have been flat out. i have been eating sandwiches, taking pictures of sandwiches, jotting down sandwich related notes, but i havent been putting them on the blog. i apologize.

but alas my friends, my faithful sandwich blog readers i would like to announce that this week there will be 2 'sandwich' posts (spoiler 1 & spoiler 2)! so be on the look out once you get back into your respective office/work areas and are looking to scratch that literary culinary sandwich-ian itch. i got you covered.

hold the pickle vol. 10 ...

2010-12-06T13:33:00.002-05:00

10 stops into this quest and i would have to admit that there have been some early success. ive traveled all over. ive partaken in delicious meals with good people. and i have started to compile & document the 1st staged of the baltimore sandwich quest. to achieve success on this quest ive braved i695, traveled side streets on the west and east sides of town, and for my latest installment i found myself in parkville on the urging of everyones favorite amateur poker player and everyones favorite left handed spiker for the salisbury universitys lady sea gulls volleyball team. their recommended eatery of sandwich notoriety was mastellones deli.

mastellones, as you can probably make out, is an italian deli. early on in journey of sandwich self discovery ive have stumbled upon a small handful of italian delis. one could almost argue that the italian deli in baltimore (the jewish deli could rival) is the gold standard for sandwich shops. fresh breads, cured meats, imported cheeses, exotic olive oils, salads of all colors, flavors, and variations. so my excursion to this parkville insititution was something that i was really looking forward to. in addition to being excited to try out another one of baltimores gold standard bearing italian delis, there was an added excitment factor because i had 2 companions on this excursion who were traveling to parkvilee for their 1st sandwich quest. my companions were the youngest rice brother and the west coast clare. our steed for this journey was the trusty mazda 3. with erdman ave and harford road in our sights we set out in search of some delicious northern baltimore italian sandwiches.

freshie

the exterior of mastellones is everything youre looking for in a hidden gem of a place. old signs, piles of leaves, and posters of italian soccer teams. with the expectation bar set high we went in to get our eat on. mastellones is set up as a hybrid deli/italian grocer/wine shop like the other 2 italian delis ive already visited, dipasquales and trinacria. working our way past the wine and through the imported oils we made our way to the deli counter and proceeded to order 5 sandwiches. (note: we were planning on returning to our familys house to have a post thanksgiving sandwich thanksgiving) we ordered the bora bora, the old world, porchetta, the meatball sub, and the fresh mozzarella and proscuitto. the menu was small, and these probably comprised of 50% of the sandwiches on the menu. in defense they were more than willing to accommodate a 'make your own' if we had so desired. but the journeyman of sandwiches likes to take it straight off the menu.

old world

the 4 sandwiches took a long time to be prepared. 1st way to kill time was to cross the street and head to another institution in parkville, the fenwick bakery. being in the bakery business i was intregued and needed to check it out. the cheese danish was awesome, the marshmallow doughnuts are the sugary-iest thing you will ever eat, and the coffee cake is very forgettable. (note: these were consumed after the sandwiches. i am not one to spoil my appetite when there is a sandwich on the line.)

sandwiches still werent ready. the west coast clare and the youngest rice brother spent a while in the wine area, then moved to the oils, then the pastas. sandwiches still werent ready. now normally i would be pissed if 20 minutes had passed and i hadnt got my sandwich, but i was with good company and was able to wander around the shop. and wandering around the shop is where we all transformed from sandwich questers to amateur gumshoes. in mastellones there were shirts for sale that were the same ones for sale at dipasquales. coincidence? in mastellones they had the same pastas and sauces on display as they do at dipasquales. coincidence? in mastellones they have a picture of the dipasquales brothers. coincidence? in mastellones they take half a loaf of italian bread rip out the stuffing, fill it with meatballs, and then stuff the stuffing back inside just like they do at dipasquales. coincidence? no. mastellones was purchased 12 years ago by the dipasquale family.

post thanksgiving sandwich thanksgiving

i have to admit i was a little disappointed. it felt like i was robbed of a sandwich quest experience. but then we got to our desired location. sat down with family and friends and proceeded to enjoy every last bite of italian bread, fresh mozzarella, sopressata, pork, meatballs, and proscuitto there was to have. it was then that i had the complete 180 on my feelings. the food was delicious, and it was fitting that on the 10th installment and the post thanksgiving sandwich thanksgiving was some how tied into the catalyst for my self appointed quest to find the most outrageous, unique, tastiest, and enjoyable sandwiches in baltimore.

**im always looking for folks to go and eat sandwiches with, so get in touch. also please send me your recommendations/demands of where i need to eat my next sandwich!**

hold the pickle vol. 9 ....

2010-11-22T15:47:00.001-05:00

when one sets out on a quest one signs up for traveling on a myriad of different paths to face a myriad of different obstacles in order to finally wind up at the ultimate outcome or conclusion. thats kind of like what i am in the process of doing right now on my sandwich quest. sometimes the roads are less traveled and a hidden gem is discovered (think back to the italian sub for $3.29) and sometimes i wind up at the home of a baltimore sandwich institution (can you say chaps?). this weeks journey has carried me to a fork in this proverbial road to enlightenment that just so happens to be paved with sandwiches.

the fork came about in catonsville of all neighborhoods and the dispensary of sandwiches was name the grilled cheese & co. this was not a literal fork, but rather a sandwich based fork that had me pitted with how to approach the pillar of the sandwich pantheon that is the grilled cheese. when one ponders a grilled cheese one is almost always transported to a place like a diner or a kids menu, but not now in the baltimore area. the old school classic grilled cheese now has a much hyped/blogged about/twittered about home at the grilled cheese & co., so naturally it was only going to be a matter of time until i popped in to see what all the fuss was about.

this will bring out the kid in you.

this catonsville sandwich factory is on edmondson ave next to 695 (that numerical speak for the baltimore beltway), and looks more like a catonsville house than the hottest grilled cheese restaurant this side of anywhere. rather than bore you with a cliche, ill bore you with a lofty not too connected metaphor. the plain white exterior at grilled cheese & co. isnt much too look at ... much like the exterior of a grilled cheese sandwich. and like the timeless sandwich the real punch is packed in whats on the inside, and in the case of the grilled cheese & co.s interior it is sleek, clean, understated, dotted with unique flares, and deliciously pungent (much like a propper grilled cheese). the playfulness of the sandwich which the gc&c pays homage to is expressed in the playful chalkboard menus and the fun grilled cheese sandwich facts that cover one of the walls. if getting you excited for a grilled cheese was the vision of this restaurants interior then the designer knew what he/she was doing.

its counter style service with a window for ordering and a window for picking up your sandwich. to be fair to all the other grilled cheese sandwiches that went before me i strayed away from the more exotic flavors and went straight for the ultimate grilled cheese experience; grilled cheese with bacon and tomato. at the gc&c thats simply a 'bct' which is the initials of bacon, cheddar, and tomato. i opted for the sweet potato fry combo and drink for a whopping $8.45. i didnt think that was too expensive. i mean price wise it was on par for the fast lunch options out there, but it was just a grilled cheese, so for the $8.45 the gc&c set my standards kind of high.

i selected a table and realized i had come at the ideal time, 1145 in the morning. i waited no longer than 10 minutes and was greeted by a voice calling out 'number 36, number 36'. bingo! i was back at the table pile of sweet potato fries cascading over a gooey sandwich cradled in a paper basket and the line was now easily 10 people deep.

i was impressed. the fries werent made on premise, but were fried to a perfect crispiness and there were lots of them. the sandwich, covered by the fries was no doubt the star of this show. thick cut italian/white bread that had kissed a flat top stove long enough to blush a perfectly brown color. the cheddar was delicious, thick, gooey, and greasy enough to soften the bread from the inside.

its gooey, its blurry, and its delicious.

here is where thing took a different turn for the better. the bacon and the tomato were 1st diced and then put in the sandwich. this meant that there was less sirface area contact with the bread and the cheese which meant there was no chance of the dreaded 'one bite and the tomato slides out'. genius! it was on my 2nd bite or so that i noticed there was a bottle of crystal hot sauce on my table and well actually on every table. hmmmm grilled cheese and hot sauce? why not? oh yeah winner winner! straight 'a' for my sandwich!

i really did enjoy the sandwich. the price was a little high, but there were a lot of fries and they didnt skimp on the bacon or tomato (although maybe with the dice technique they are actually saving on food costs?!?). the only real draw backs about this up and coming grilled cheese sandwich shop is that it is in catonsville which means a serious car ride for most in the baltimore area. and the other issue is that there might only be 20 -30 seats in the place, and i can see that at lunch time on any day there are going to be people on to of people waiting to eat all the fries from on top of their grilled cheese sandwiches.

when paying homage to such a staple in the sandwich cannon there are over a 1,000 ways/themes/variations one can take. some of these can lead a sandwich visionary astray and land them so far off target. this isnt the case with the grilled cheese & co. this place has taken the humble but detail oriented path that leads its customers to a place of serious grilled cheese satisfaction.

november in baltimore

2010-11-16T18:19:00.001-05:00

another november. another fall season. leaves change. leaves fall. the mornings are dark and the sun swiftly falls in the evenings. the air gets heavy with its annual chill. autumn spices abound. the smell of sweaters permeates. sunshine is at premium. fall means november and november means another year. this one will my 28th. i love it.

being a child of the fall i have an affinity for evenings like the one that transpired here in baltimore. it was wet all day which meant that my windshield was streaky from the back and forth of the wipers. the city was dark, but headlights, brake lights, and the lights from those who had not left the cbd for home provided the lighting for our very gothic urban backdrop. this wet november night in baltimore needed a soundtrack, and on this evening that beautifully self indulgent soundtrack was provided by the national.

here is a little national love for all of you. this is just a taste of the fall mix tape that will be coming out for download next week before you all get your fill of tryptophan.

'terrible love' off of this summers release, high violet. this video is taken from the pitchfork.tv area of the musically elitist musical elite site, pitchfork.com (i actually dont mind it that much anymore)

'start a war' from the 2007 smash hit, boxer. i love this video. i love it bc its from la blogotheque, theres all sorts of french, its shot in a brewers art like pub dungeon in paris, shot in one take, small mics on the table, wine all over the place, and i totally love the cig smoke everywhere.

#40.3 - The National - Start a war
Uploaded by lablogotheque. - Independent web videos.

hold the pickle vol. 8 ...

2010-11-09T11:40:00.001-05:00

the quest continues ladies and gentlemen.

for the foray into the world of sandwich i was set on covering vast tracts of baltimore county. i needed a companion. i found one again in half of the gee bros. we ny eeded a steed. we had one in the form of a scion. we needed a land to conquer. we set our controls for the heart of the sun ... i mean hunt valley. and with hunt valley on the horizon we set our sights on our target; the barbeque mecca that is andy nelsons.

more pork bbq, mom ... please!?!?

nelsons (what many folks affectionately call this beloved bbq joint) is located at the top of york rd right on the boarder between cockeysville and hunt valley. its a relatively non descriptive red shack with little sign-age, but with a large hog on top beckoning those on york rd to stop in and have some of the tastiest pig in town!

there is only one game at nelsons and thats the bbq game. their motto is 'hogs smell better barbequed' and while thats a definite truism, let me pile it on ... andys pigs taste better barbequed! but i digress. when you walk into nelsons you are transplanted into comfortable authentic setting. old photos, awards, and bbq relics adorn the walls. wooden floors tell tales of the bbq seekers that have come before you. and the chalk board menus offer you a wide variety of different parts of different animals that have been raised for the sole purpose of having these particular parts intensely cared for during a 6-12 hour cooking process. thats a flowery way of saying all the meat at nelsons is freaking awesome.

st louis spare ribs, baby back ribs (all things prok bbq ribs found here), chicken, turkey, and beef brisket are all up on the menu with options of how you want them prepared. normally im a dry st louis spare with alabama stlye bbq sauce on the side, but that would not suffice on this daunting quest to document the best sandwich offerings the town/county/state had to offer. i had to go for the brisket or the pork bbq sammy. road block again. decisions decisions. alas i was able to employ the half-sies tactic once again with a gee brother, and thus avoided any let down.

beef brisket ... king of the sandwiches so far?

our order looked like this; 1 pulled pork bbq sandwich, 1 beef brisket sandwich, 1 side of cole slaw, 1 side of corn bread, and 2 large 1/2 sweet teas 1/2 lemonades. now im not from the south, im not a bbq expert, and i never claimed to be ... but from that order i mean you have to garner that im not a rookie by any means. there pork was topped with the house made pig sauce (a thin vinegar based sauce that was sweet but at the same time carried a little heat with it) and then doctored at the table by your hero and his companion for the day with the side of coleslaw. kick ass sandwich. but the ass kicking of the pork sandwich might of been outdone by the brisket sandwich. there was no doctoring of the brisket. just a massive pile of thinly slice beef that was elastic enough to unfold like an accordian, but with the slightest jerk would come apart easily. im talking tender tender tenderoni style.

its true! they smell better bbq'd

i was surprised by the beef brisket, especially since andy is/has/and always will be about the hogs. and in no way am i saying that the pork bbq was not up to par, because it is some of if not the best in the local area/above the mason dixon. all i am saying is that the quality of both the beef brisket and the pork bbq made for a successful stop on my sandwich quest, and will be a big success on any bbq adventure that you set out on.

i need to party with these guys!

2010-11-08T11:24:00.000-05:00

the sandwich quest is in full effect! multiple posts coming this week, so look out ...

hold the pickle vol. 7 ...

2010-11-04T14:26:00.001-04:00

at this point our repeat viewers already know the deal. but for those of you who are just tuning in, or have only recently turned to the channel for our recent programming that focused on baltimores newest sushi and most alternative/punk pizza parlor, i need to review whats happening here. i am on a baltimore based sandwich quest. im traveling the streets and roaming the neighborhoods looking for all things sandwich. so far i have been to some top notch places and had some top notch sandwiches. ive received great feedback and have even been joined by an adventurer or 2 on occasion.

todays stop on the sandwich odyssey was sponsored by livingsocial and took place at lennys delicatessen on lombard street.. livingsocial is in the same jest as groupon (please click the ad on my page. i can almost buy a magners with my revenue), so for dishing out a $10 spot i was entitled to $20 worth of historically delicious baltimore deli goodness. $20 is a lot for a sandwich quest pit stop, so i invited half of the gee bros. (the nerd/dj) and the local celeb chef, chef bill.

mmm .... pastrami

as an alum of mcdonogh school in owings mills i was introduced to lennys early in life. but it wasnt until i started living in downtown baltimore after university that i realized that lennys had migrated south with a location on lombard street. this locale quickly became my favorite (location location loaction) and despite opening in the early 90s it acts as a reminder of when that area was littered with delis/markets/bakeries, and lombard street carried the moniker of 'corned beef row'. there is a reason that so many places have come and gone, but lennys is still there after 20 years; its pretty freaking good!

walking into the large open cafeteria-esque restaurant you immediately feel the gravitational pull of the deli counter. there are slicers thwacking back and forth making mound after mound of corned beef. there are hot dog crisping on the flat top grill. there are all sorts of golden fried goodies resting under a heat lamp. i already knew i was in for a difficult decision. a decision that has plagued man for generations. my decision rested between corned beef or pastrami. its a tough position to be in. the corned beef is pink through out and sliced so thin and piled so high that when you take a bite it kind of just melts away. and the pastrami is seasoned to perfection and not mention its cooked twice; once during the roasting process, then its sliced, then thrown on the flat top grill to order. having to decide between these two is like asking a mother to choose her favorite child. impossible.

beef thats corned

luckily i had a plan. a plan that refer to as half-sies. its an age old technique that is practiced globally. to perfectly execute the half-sies technique you need a willing partner who is also suffering from the what do i order conundrum, and who agrees to order the corresponding sandwich that you want to try. by ordering these two sandwiches between 2 willing participants both are ensured half (hence the name) of a sandwich that they wanted to order. now please note there is risk involved. half-sies has ruined friendships, business relationships, and im pretty sure entire familys. if upon receiving both sandwiches the halves are distributed immediately before the 1st bite is taken there lies the risk that upon sinking his or her teeth into a mouth watering succulent sammy your partner will completely void the half-sies transaction thus leaving you wanting and wondering ... 'how effing good is that sandwich? what an ass hole!' careful people half-sies at your own risk.

well i knew i could trust the nerdy/dj 1/2 of the gee bros so i didnt have to choose sides which meant i was able to enjoy both the corned beef and the pastrami. both sandwiches were on rye. both had swiss cheese. both had mustard. both were freaking awesome. but the general consensus (not general when the consensus exists between 2 people) was that the pastrami ruled the day.

listen you cant go wrong with either. you also cant go wrong with the griddle when breakfast is being served (free insiders info: you have to ask for the turkey sausage). their bakery leaves a little to be desired, but i know people who swear by their jewish baked goods. and in closing you cant go wrong when you hear the elderly jewish man at the table behind you say, 'excuse me ma'am can i please have a fork lift? im having trouble picking up my sandwich!'

baltimores newest johnny dough ...

2010-10-29T14:07:00.002-04:00

ive strayed out of my comfort zone this week for your review. instead of staying focused and keeping to the winding path of the sandwich quest, i found myself making a slight detour last night with a group of guys. there were 6 of us all together; brothers from dallas street, roomates from alicanna street, a luzerne ave roomie, and myself. we had discussed earlier the week our desire to head over to one of our favorite finds for drinking this summer, johhny rads, and partake in their happy hour and dinner menu.

im sure some of you already know (or discovered upon clicking on the link above) that rads is the new pizza bar located on eastern ave and straddling the 2 neighborhoods of patterson park and upper fells. the concept for the place is really summed up with the moniker of pizza bar. its a bar that is focused on serving a wide range of quality pizza pies. but to leave out the 'rad' aspect of this pizza bar would rob johhny rads of its pulse and its character.

rads is one of the restaurants in town that i like to group together and call the punk rock culinary scene. other examples of said scene would include sticky rice, jacks bistro, hamilton tavern, and even a place like holy frijoles. and what i mean with the punk rock tag is that these places have decided in one way or another to swim upstream and do something completely different that can be a bit tongue and cheek, but all the while focusing on food and providing the baltimore culinary world with an exciting, inventive, and less traveled culinary path.

wait till you get a blue corn one of these!

johhny rads fits this mold because it is a throw back to a neighborhood pizza parlor one might see on tv or in the movies. a place that caters to all types. a place that while serving food and drink also focuses on providing a place for friends to meet up, have a bite, and catch up. and at rads this is all achieved amidst a skateboarding/james bond theme that stretches from the front door to the bathroom and all the way back to the old school 720 video game machine (games are free. yes thats right free 720).

hosoi pizza

upon this trip to the neighborhood pizza parlor we were pleasantly surprised to find out that instead of just coming in at the end of happy hour (we showed up at 645) that in fact we had an entire additional hour to enjoy $3 draft lagunitas pale ales or victory pilsners because at rads happy hour goes till 8pm! so with beers smoothly sliding across the table and down the proverbial hatches it was time to tuck into some food. the standard/required starter at johhny rads is 100% the hush puppies, which are called 'huf puppies' on the menu. these hand made yellow and blue corn balls are seasoned, breaded, fried to a golden crisp, and served with a chipolte mayo that is so addictive that it might contain crack.

following the fried corn pillows dipped in spicy crack mustard we moved on to the house specialty, the pizza. now i am not a self proclaimed pizza expert, but i know my stuff. pizza is a top favorite food of mine, and if you are not able to trust my opinion or are looking for an expert let me point you in the direction of baltimores own pizza blogger. i digress. the pizza at rads is all about simple, but playful flavors. the dough is ~~semolina based (i think)~~ 100% caputo 00 flour (i know for a fact) and leans towards the doughy side instead of the crunchy side. with that being said the dough is flavorful and isnt too heavy. in fact it has a soft texture that actss as a great base for the specialty pies. the math was simple on this particular visit; 6 dudes = 3 pizzas. so on the docket for dinner was 3 large pizzas:

a1 meats - a meaty pizza as the name would hint. it had crunchy panchetta, spicy sopressata, and salty proscuitto. olive oil, mozzarella cheese, and chopped basil rounded this one out. definately a tasty pie, but the trio of meats did prove to be a bit heavy for rads' lighter house made pizza dough.
el gato - the understated pizza on the menu. this was a classic white pie base which was garlic & oil on the base. mozzarella and ricotta on top and whole leaves of basil. the garlic oil was divine. folks were sweeping this pizza tray with their crusts until all remnants of the oil was gone. the tray was clean in other words.
hosoi - this was the crowd favorite from a previous trip. this spicy creation has mozzarella, panchetta, and the sweet and spicy duo of pineapple and jalepeno. i can understand why my compatriots were super insistent about ordering on of these.

domo ari ... el gato???

all in all the pizza was really good. not jaw dropping amazing, but solid all around. the prices are super affordable. the beers as mention before were a significant bargain at 3 bucks a pop, and the pizzas were $18/$14/$15 for larges (maybe 14 inches). the tonue and cheek theme, the atmosphere, the laid back accepting attitude all come together to make rads a welcome addition to the neighborhood and definitely a welcome addition to baltimores punk rock culinary scene. if the cheap drinks and quality pizzas arent enough for you to give rads a try, then maybe the punk rock culinary scene isnt for you ...

human/robot ...

2010-10-25T14:45:00.000-04:00

heres a math equation i quite like!

daft punk

+

tron

hold the pickle vol. 6 ...

2010-10-20T18:34:00.001-04:00

so here we are with the 6th installment of my new calling in life, the new phenomenon sweeping across the inter webs (mainly to my friends), the sandwich quest. in this installment i want to go over what it is that i am trying to do/achieve with this noblest of noble quests ...

ive set out on a thankless quest to scour the greater baltimore, maryland area for the tastiest, whackiest, most outrageous, and most creative things that you can pile between two slices of bread. i want to meet the people who put so much into something we all take for granted, the sandwich. on my don quixote-esque excursions i will keep you all informed of where the proverbial sandwich x's should be on your sandwich map of baltimore.

alright enough of the blabber. on to the latest stop on the quest. so far ive been to delis, a bbq joint, a heady soup and sandwich place in the county, and an irish pub that i am quite biased towards, but this stop happened to be something a little different. last week i moseyed into a place called south beach sandwicherie. now let me point out the irony that kind of lies in this name. 1st ... this is a sandwich place in baltimore 2nd ... its on saratoga street, not much like any street in south beach, 3rd ... isnt sandwicherie kinda french sounding? is south beach and/or baltimore predominantly dominated by a french culture? (listen bmorefrench ... you might be the only one who thinks there might be some truth to this statemnet, but there isnt mon ami) the name had me confused and this seemed like a dime a dozen sandwich shop catering to city officials, lawyers, and the good folks at mercy hospital. but to my surprise i had a couple of different people suggest that i stop in. so i checked my irony at the door and strolled in for a sammy.

the menu is simple and dressed down. choose a meat. i chose roast beef. chose a bread. 2 were suggested; baguette or croissant. i chose baguette. choose a cheese. i chose mozzarella. choose topping. i chose lettuce, tomato, onions, hots, and the house made vinaigrette. super simple process and super simple menu. not very south beachie, but i didnt order any of the specials which is where all the creativity seemed to poured into. baltimore style chicken salad and turkey, brie, and apple seemed like they would spice up the day for any working professional that found themselves craving a sandwich while near/on/or around saratoga street.

the sandwich was good. not knock your socks off great, but good. the baguette was out of this world. the vinaigrette was amazing. in fact i asked for the bottle and found myself ripping the ends off my baguette and squirting the vinaigrette on top and taking that down for good measure. the mozzarella was tasty, but the roast beef was kind of just plain ordinary. the hots i liked because they werent your stereotypical deli hot spread, but rather hot pickled peppers (i can mess with the pickled pepper) that had been sliced and placed on top.

the sandwiches here are made by hand and made to order. there is definately a lot of care that goes into each one of these crunchy treats. the cheese is sliced to fit your roll. there was the perfect amount of greens. the tomato was not too thick. the hots were tasty and unique. and the vinaigreete should be bottled and sold at giant. this might not be a destination place or a future baltimore insitution, but it still is quality and it still is made with thought, effort, and care. so if your in the mid town area looking for a sammy then by all means make sure you stop by the south beach sandwicherie.

bienvenidos a roast beef & mozz

welcome to sticky baltimore

2010-10-14T21:40:00.100-04:00

on tuesday night i was out to celebrate a good friends first foray into the working world as a rookie barrister (thats a lawyer person to you and me), and found myself at a four top littered with oriental patterned plates, crumbled up chop stick wrappers, and plates left barren minus the molehill like remnants of what once were wasabi mountains.

at first glance you probably would of guessed we were at one of the numerous sushi establishments that baltimore has to offer. were we at the harbor east swankery ra? nope. what about the other place in harbor east, chius, the sushi place that is more japanese paper doll than swanky place? nope. what about asahi in fells? nope. we were actually sitting next to what used to be the old big bar at friends which has recently received a face lift, a new proprietor, and a complete cultural overhaul to become the latest restaurant to open in fells point, sticky rice.

we didnt wind up at sticky rice at random, rather there had been a little buzz about the place for a while and this trip was intentional. the sticky rice in baltimore is the new born little sister of sticky rice in dc. like lots of other newish things coming out of dc, sticky rice was well blogged/tweeted about, so we were very interested to see what the baltimore locale had to offer.

theme and setting. check.

when walking in the bar draws all your attention. its the big bar from friends which in a sushi restaurant does two things instantly. 1.) it disarms you by making you feel comfortable, like youre just walking into any corner bar baltimore, usa. 2.) it boisterously proclaims that this is the sushi joint where youd find mr miyagi. the space was dark, but not too dark. the bar was wood, and the floor was wood. there was some art on the walls and a loud variety of tunes coming from ipods. a very warm space.

like i said the bar grabs your attention, well at least it grabbed our attention because we wound up sitting and enjoying $2 happy hour pbr drafts (note there were plenty of other draft options ... maybe 12 or so, but we were in the pbr mood) so without knowing about the place i wouldve said that we had just walked into a new, thoughtfully re-done, hipster centered, local drinking spot. couldnt of been anymore wrong, because while those are all true aspects of sticky, its the food that dominates here.

rather than walk you through the menu ill just list the prodigious amounts of deliciousness we painstakingly consumed.

starters:

tuna tartar - this wasnt a classic tartar that is cubed then stacked, rather this was blended and left it the consistency of a more terrestrial ground meat. this texture coupled with the quail yoke that was nestled a top of the tartar allowed for a sticky consistency that was very scoopable with chop sticks once blended together. make sure to dip the tips of your sticks in the siracha before scooping. lovely special and an inventive take on a dish thats been made a gizillion times ... will order again, but not every time i dine there.

sticky balls - these came recommended to us by our server (forget the guys name, but he was awesome) who said that sticky balls were sticky rices signature dish. we had these for a starter with the tartar and they were wonderful. light and crisp pack with flavors and not greasy at all. heres the description from the menu 'tuna, crab, siracha rice in an inari pocket fried topped w/scallions, wasabi dressing and eel sauce' ... going to be hard not to order every time i go.

surprise course: these came out as a surprise from the sushi chef (it was a tuesday and we were 1 of 5 tables there and definitely the ones eating the most, so tip of the cap to the sushi chef who saw a captivated audience and pounced)

spincy tuna - like the salmon avocado roll the spicy tuna is offered everywhere and can serve as a pseudo gold standard for sushi comparison. this one did not disappoint. tuna was season with spices, but still fatty cut that wasnt over powered. the rice was thinly layered and the siracha came throuh perfectly ... in a bind and not going for the wow factor i will order this plenty of times.

snap, crackle, pop

crunchy shrimp - tempura shrimp, avocado, and cucs with a dash of spicy mayo? ummmm yes please! ... this along with the sticky balls will be my go to starters, you know start fried then work your way to healthy.

tuna sashimi - great knife work. these were small slices that had been kissed with so soy and some seasame. refreshing ... when im having one of my 'i need to re-examine my life style and start putting more healthy things in my body' i will be eating alot of the sashimi here.

on to the rolls:
drawn n buttered - again our server whos name i cannot recall suggested this roll pretty heavily. i liked the concept of the dran n buttered; tempura shrimp and crab roll with a dish of clarified butter thats been garnished with scallions for dunking. sushi and butter. could this be the pairing thats been missing from the culinary cannon of my life? sadly no. the gimmick was nice and creative, but it falls short. maybe if there was more spice that could be cut with the fattyness of the butter ... will order with large groups, but wont order solo

godzirra - 'oh no they say hes got go ... go, go, go godzirra!' this could easily become their signature roll. its got a quirky name, its 12 pcs, its got shripm, avocado, cream cheese, wasabi mayo, and an amazing crunchy texture throughout ... if i am with more than 1 other person i am 100% going to order this

chili roll - lena, our sandwich slinging (no for real she runs a sandwich shop ... interesting right?!?!) bartender suggested this roll when she was going over her favorite healthy-ish pics from the menu. i got to be honest and say that upon ordering, this was the one i was least excited about. but as we all know the ending, this was the one i enjoyed the most. it consists of tuna, cilantro, jalapeno, and grilled pineapple. at first i was thrown off by the heat of jalapeno, the sweetness of the pineapple, and the bursting freshness of the cilantro in a sushi roll. but after getting involved in the siracha mayo on the side it all came together. sweet, fresh, and spicy ... i will order this every time i go.

snap crackle and pop - i know i know youre probably thinking 'how much freaking food did these dudes eat?' ... the answer is a lot. i told you that already. well the rice crispy themed roll was the only salmon based roll that we had and the origin of it is inventive name comes from; snap of the cucumbers, crackle of the crisp rice, and pop of the jalapeno ... i was honestly 3 quarters of the way into of food comma, so i will have to eat this bad boy the next time i go in to do it justice.

billy goats gruff - we ended up having this roll for dessert. seriously we had talked about ordering it before, but i got lost in the ordering. the table next to us told us that we had missed out on a gem, so before grabbing the check we put in an order. great call. seriously rich bite sized treats that were simply an asparagus spear surrounded by goat cheese wrapped in tuna and then baked with a soy ginger flavoring. contrast for the soft fishy goat cheese pillow was provided by cucumber straws. will order this on a semi regular basis bc of how rich it is.

im excited to have sticky rice here in fells point. it has hints of my favorite restaurant in the world, momofuku saam bar. when i say its like saam bar i am not at all putting them on the same plain, but rather pointing out that they share similar characteristics; bucking the trend, fusion that works, catering to everyone, hip staff, rock and roll chefs, and most importantly food that kicks ass! this is a great step forward in the culinary world of baltimore.

Hold the pickle vol. 5 ...

2010-10-11T13:39:00.001-04:00

i knew this would happen. i started out on my quest with noblest of intentions to stay true to my sandwich quest code. i was only going to go to places that were recommended to me. i was only going to try sandwiches from the menu. i was not going to go to restaurants, only carry out/deli/lunch counters. and for you purists out there, i need to apologize. i broke my code last friday.

last week was a monster week for me work wise. i was at 3 different food shows (1 attending and 2 presenting), introduced 3 new products to my largest account, and put more than 1200 miles on my car. so when lunch time on friday rolled around and i had to make my last drop of the day, my weekly pastry allotment to ceilies water front inn at fell point, the lure of a quick bite and a cold magners at slainte on thames was too difficult to resist.

full disclosure: this wasnt a random visit to a place that i hardly know. in fact quite the opposite. slainte is best known for being open way too early on weekends in order to broadcast live epl matches to thirsty sports fans who come together in order to cheer on their favorite squads and to be there for each other justifications for having a shot of whiskey before 930am. i happen to be one of those looking for justification on saturdays. in addition to frequenting slainte (aka 'the pub') to support arsenal fc, this place also houses one of my best friends, chef bill crouse.

now on this particular friday i knew bill was there and i hadnt seen him all week, so under this false cover i strolled in and popped my head in the kitchen to say 'hey'. after some small talk bill (i think he knew all along) broke the ice by asking if i wanted lunch .... and hoping/longing for this question i promptly gave a simple simple reply:

'only if you make me a sandwich'

well bill delivered (see photo), and what he delivered was his take on a pork sandwich. this wasnt your uncles pork sandwich though. the pork was slow roasted with some earthy spices and then shaved thin and piled way too high (this is a good thing people) on a toasted bun. spread on the bun was one of my favorite components to this dish, and that was a cumin mayo spread. id be lying if i told you that i wont be stealing this and putting it on almost everything. kind of like what i did with david chang and his ginger scallion sauce. but that wasnt it. most all meat sandwiches are indeed artery clogging good, but can sometime be overpowering with meatiness (too much protein can sometimes be an issue), so to combat this chef bill had laid out a small stack of grilled fresh asparagus that cut the meatiness, prevented the bun from getting soggy, and added a distinct texture and flavor contrast to the pork. who knew asparagus on a sandwich is a winner! the only downside to this tasty delight is that you do have to pay restaurant prices ($12-$15) for chef bill sandwiches, but if you want to splurge on a special lunch for you and youre taste buds then this is where you want to be.

without my previously stated biases i would still highly recommend stopping in at slainte. whether its at 9am on a saturday, a ravens game, or for dinner the place has the food (chefs new menu out this month), the ambiance, character, and staff to make you want to stay ..... for a long time.

hold the pickle vol. 4 ...

2010-10-01T16:44:00.003-04:00

it wouldnt be a successful week without another update about my city/county/pseudo-state wide sandwich quest. youre adventurer has been getting some positive feedback which has spurred the quest to go on and on and on. also the deliciousness that i have been experiencing along the way has not hindered my quests progress.

cant judge a sandwich by its wrapper

this weeks stop on my 'quest del bocadillo' (spanish for sandwich quest) led me to another baltimore italian hot spot, but this time i was on the west side of town to indulge in the culinary concoctions created by trinacria foods on paca street. trinacria is a no nonsense and no frill italian bakery/deli/grocer that has been in existance for more than a 100 years, and many of the blogs faithful readers have urged me to stop here on my quest. like any good hero i have to do what the people want .... thanks wily and chas.

this was my 1st time at trinacria, and i had some interesting 1st impressions. upon finding a parking spot directly across the street i noticed the 1960s era exterior, the grates around all of the windows, and for a moment i thought that this was just another vacant building that had seen its hey day, but succumbed to the west baltimore blight. that fleeting thought was quickly banished from my head when a gentleman (pictured with out permission ... shhhh) came barging through the front door in full ravens gear carrying a case of wine and a box of groceries that was nearly overflowing. this guy wasnt you, small, or stupid and right then and there i knew i was in for a treat.

upon walking into the cramped deli/grocery store your eyes cant avoid the rows and rows of italian cookies behind the counter or the rows and rows of house made and bottle sauces to the right. beyond the counter in the front and easily visible in the back half to the store is the deli and sandwich counter, so i headed straight back to gaze at the menu before stepping up to slay one of their culinary beasts. mistake. i waited to be helped only to realize how much of a trinacria noob i was because i didnt grab a number from the ticket machine right at the front door. after that hiccup i was ready to draw my line in the sand and grab a sandwich ....
but wait i cant decide .... so much to choose from ..... '

number 47' ....

oh no! .... 'ummm ill take an italian with everything'

'lettuce, tomato, onions, mayo, and hots?'

'yes please .... and can i also have a fresh mozzarella sandwich'

'you want both?'

'yes ma'am'

ahh sweet compromise. why make set in stone ultimatum filled decisions, when you can order 2 sandwiches. after all its just a sandwich, and i will need something to eat before going to the orioles game tonight. it didnt take long for the sandwiches to come out, but i had no problem killing that small amount of time browsing through their product packed isles. there was marinara sauce, puttanesca sause, fra diavolo sauce, pomodoro sauce, vodka sauce ... you get the idea! there was every shape, color, and size of imported dried pasta. but the best of all were the freezers all the way in the back. these bad boys were chalk full of lasagna, ziti, various parmesans, marsalas, ravioli, and calzones. i made a note to myself that next trip down panca st would result in a tv dinner trinacria style!

the sandwiches came, and i had to take them to go since there is no place to eat at trinacria. i floored it all the way home because a. these little parcels wrapped in deli paper smelled outrageous and b. i hadnt had anything since my special k at 445 in the morning. once at home i was able to unwrap these bad boys and just stare in awe for a while all the time wondering which one i was going to sink my teeth into first. the italian sub won.

best value purchase in baltimore???

this little 6 inch sub roll (dont know if it was baked on premises) was packed full of thinly sliced meats and cheeses, topped with fresh tomatoes, long cut white onions, and smattered with hots, oil, vinegar, and mayo. when you close your eyes and think of an italian sandwich this is what youre thinking about. the lettuce was shredded so it didnt slide everywhere. the hots were not over powering. the oil and vinegar were applied in perfect proportion. the meats and cheeses? forget about it. the only draw back on this sandwich was that there was too much mayo. normally i wouldnt complain, but the sub roll was soft, and italians are moist, and too much mayo really over saturated the roll and made it a little too soggy at times for my liking. this issue can be easily resolved. ask for light on the mayo. oh and let me not forget the best upside to this sandwich, the cost. this might be the best deal in all of baltimore .... its a $3.29 sandwich. bang that just just happened. seriously.

you need to try it ...

even with too much mayo, i had to stop myself at half the italian so i could dive into the fresh mozzarella sandwich. unlike the italian, the mozzarella sammy was served on what was obviously house made tomato foccacia. i need to let you know that i am always a bit hesitant to eat of focaccia sandwich because focaccia tends to dry out easily, and when you through a bunch of other things on it it gets really dry and becomes a hindrance to what should be an enjoyable sandwich experience. well obviously the folks at trinacria have thought this one through. the mozzarella sandwich has three ingredients: mozzarella, proscuitto di parma, and pesto. the 'too dry focaccia syndrome' is easily avoided by the application of the pesto, which wasnt too oily and had a mild basil flavor, on both pieces of bread. next the house made mozzarella was sliced super thin and wasnt too milky and actually had some serious flavor to it. and finally they obviously knew i was going to be talking about this sandwich for weeks to come (no they didnt) because there was easily a quarter pound of di parma on there. this might be the best sandwich ive had so far on this quest (ive had 6). at $5.99 its one of the most expensive sandwiches on the menu, but well worth it. just look at that bad boy.

the long of the short on this adventure ... great place and awesome recommendation from chas and wily. this reminds me of dipasquales, and therefore has been affectionately dubbed the west side dipasquales. but trinacria stands out on its own despite its nickname (that only i use, and have only been using for the past 2 hours). the market selection is similar, but the house made products set is aside. the deli section is stocked with imported meats and cheeses that would make any of the cast on jersey shore proud. the prices on their sandwiches are sooooo affordable that if i worked in or around midtown i would be there at least once a week (man city im looking at you). and finally in all seriousness i think that the best value purchase in baltimore might be the italian cold cut at trinacria for a whopping $3.29 ... thats less than a domestic bottle at field house!

**always looking for feedback and suggestions. have an awesome weekend and just an fyi, im in love with fall, the season.**

virgin free fest ...

2010-09-28T16:15:00.001-04:00

so my head is just now officially wrapping itself around the activities of last saturday, also known as virgin free fest. i want to share a quick recounting of the music, the atmosphere, the wackiness, and the fun times had on what normally would of been a disheartening weekend.

so saturday stared with arsenal fc losing what would of been a crucial early season home game to a much lesser mid/low table contender in the epl. normally my saturday would of taken a slight turn to the south, but the sun was shining, and i had to race out of the pub to get home, pack the coolers, and head to merriweather post pavilion. 2 car caravan (boy car and girl car), a 15 mintue tailgate ruined by paratrooper-esque howard county police officers, and my group finds themselves frantically stuffing beers in pockets, wolfing down sandwiches, and making the walk to the festival that doesnt cost anything .... to get in.

dance forest dusting it up

like any other festival there are acts that you want to see, acts that you are curious to see, and acts that you could care two bits less about seeing. this festival was no different, and in fact had some potential line up conflicts.

our first stop was the dance forest. ummm amazing. we all walked into this dust filled, tree lined, bass pulsating, dance area dubbed 'the dance forest' right when we got into the venue. wolfgang gartner was just beginning his set and we were eager to hear music and break the festival dancing ice. wolfgang hit the spot. bass, bass, dance beats, and remixes of the bloddy beetroots, yeah yeah yeahs, and mstrkrft all set the tone for our afternoon.

yeasayer on the west stage

after a quick stop at the main stage for some edward sharpe we headed out to the sun backed west stage for a little local flavor provided by yeasayer. these baltimore/brooklyn neaveau indie demi gods came out swinging for the home crowd. their set was high energy, but it was an energy that built with earlier tunes and culminated with the set closers being the 2 singles off of their most recent album, one and ambling alp. my favorites of the set were mondegreen and i remember

looking for something to do next (joan jett was not what i wanted to do next) some of us fell into the default of heading back into the 'ball pit' also known as the dance forest. and in the ball pit/dance forest is where we wound up spending most of the next 3.5 hours.

it was during those 3.5 hours that we were able to listen and boogie to some high and low acts of the day. unfortunately the low act of the day award goes to maximum ballon. they brought some jazz focused/dirty bass/plenty of air horn to the table, but just fell short of dance forest expectations set by wolfgang. the next act, chromeo was one that i really set high expectations for only to have them supersede said expectations.

chrome .... oooo

chromeo has a limited catalog (2 albums) which can be a blessing and a curse, and in this case it was a huge blessing because what ensued was a dance forest inspired dance off/sing along for an hour while the sun set, people rejoiced, and the mood was getting set for the night time finale of the festival. if youre not familiar with chromeo check out a couple of tracks (mommas boy and bonafied lovin) from their album 'fancy footwork'. But without a doubt it was pretty freaking cool getting to see tunes like hot mess and night by night off of their september 2010 release, business casual, played live.

the final act to play the dance forest wasnt exactly a dance act per say, but rather another brooklyn based genre defying duo called sleigh bells. for those who havent heard this summers boy/girl phenomenon they are a mix of karen o like vocals with the ear piercing guitars of someone like dave navvaro latered over top of a dance based drum machine. try out a track or two. these guys with their wall of amps, bright lights, and fist pumping tunes got the dance forest rocking, and that might be an understatement. but alas i left their set a tad early because i wanted to prepare myself and try to get the best spot possible for the festival closer (and the act i have been wanting to see for the longest), lcd soundsystem.

you can get much closer

rather than go into basic lcd info ill just point you to some of my previous posts about the dance/punk.indie rock super group. seeing how their album 'sound of silver' is one of my all time favorites and their summer release, 'this is happening', has been on proverbial repeat for the past 3 months i was bursting with excitement for this set. lucky for us we walked into the pavilion section right when they opened the floor to the general audience. this allowed us to grab amazing floor space to the stage right area (see photo).

from the moment they took the stage for dance yourself clean (best opener ever in my mind) to the last note of home, the band put on a professional high energy fist pumping dance/rock show. to try and describe this show tune by tune would be a futile exercise. all i know is that i was singing along the whole time, dancing with friends, high fiving strangers, and incessantly jumping up and down ... oh and i was sweating as well. im still grinning thinking out that show.

all in all the sun, the dust, the $8 beers, the militant cops, the sweat soaked tee shirts, and the ringing ears were well worth the price of admission to the virgin free fest.

**if you want any of the music mentioned here please post a comment or send me an email.**

hold the pickle vol. 3 .... aka hold the lap dance

2010-09-23T16:01:00.002-04:00

when one sets out on a quest he knows that inevitably there will be trials, trip ups, and snags along the way, and this weeks sickness (aka the flu that has plagued 90% of baltimore) has been the 1st trial in my sandwich quest. but fear not my friends your hero (with thanks to dayquil and gatorade) has stuck to his mission, over come the challenges, and has proceeded on his baltimore sandwich quest.

this week i treated myself with a trip down route 40 to the outer limits of baltimore city to a little slice of heaven that is called chaps charcoal restaurant. chaps is the stuff of baltimore legend. its legendary bbq meats have attracted some of televisions top celeb food-o-philes including anthony bourdain, adam richman, and guy fieri. all of these shows focus on the gritty beauty that is chaps, and that beauty lies in their grilled to perfection meats that are shaved to paper thin slices and then stacked artfully in a heap which we call a sandwich. but there is one legend surrounding chaps (literally) that people dont really like to point out all to often, and thats the fact that chaps is located in the parking lot of the gentlemens gold club, one of the citys biggest strip joints. i have been to both, but never together in the same trip ... that would be an entirely different blog all together. i think i have an idea.

so for this stop on my quest i successfully avoided the lure of expensive drinks, cheap perfume, brass poles, and 60 second clips of eminem and headed into chaps with a carnivorous itch that needed to be scratched. i was not flying solo that afternoon. on this part of my quest i was joined by the brothers gee (aka gee prompt ... :air horn noise) and the local celeb chef, chef bill. when eating a chaps you begin your eating experience immediately with all of your senses. when you walk in the first thing that hits you is the smell of the sweet smokey meat slowly simmering on a massive grill. second you cant help but look at the scene that is unfolding behind the counter. there are enormous chunks and hunks of meat on a large charcoal grill that when teased with the fatty juices of said meat burps the occasional flame. hovering over top of this meat littered grate of fire is a massive dude who is armed only with a bbq mop and a welders glove. this behemoth individual is constantly turning meat, basting meat, and slicing meat with ballerina grace and elegance, but with the sweat factor of an nfl offensive linemen during august 2 a days. time to place an order.

'ill have a pit beef sandwich'

'what temp'

'rare'

'onions?'

'no thanks. the sandwich is all.'

'ok hon. you know where the tiger sauce is? its round the corner in the white bottle.'

i mean that interaction kind of tickled my inner baltimore kids heart. and my inner carnivores heart started thumping when my number was called and i was handed almost of pound of pit beef wedged between a sliced soft kaiser bun with a corm meal dusted top that was wrapped in aluminium foil. im not going to lie, but when you step up to the fixing bar and unwrap your sandwich its kind of like a mini christmas.

get to chaps and get down on the pit beef

after my fixin bar yule tide celebration i proceeded to the table to join my companions. pit beef. check. side of hand cut grease bomb fries. check. tiger sauce (aka horsie sauce). check. alabama style sweet bbq sauce. check. deliciousness. check....

sandwich quest continues. check.

**always looking for suggestions for places. i have an awesome list of suggestions and have been keeping track of who has made said suggestions. i also am always looking for worthy companions to eat these delicious sandwiches with. so please let me know if you have the stomach to join in my quest**

best track of the year ....

2010-09-23T10:59:00.003-04:00

i know i come out and talk about the best film, book, or album of a particular year only to then go and contradict myself when i see, read, or hear something else thats pretty special or unique. well this time i can say it with confidence; mark ronson and the business international with q tip have made the best single of the year. the song is called 'bang bang bang' and its off the soon to be released album record collection.

press play, turn it up, and get down!

Mark Ronson & The Business INTL "Bang Bang Bang" from Warren Fu on Vimeo.

a golden musical nugget; from me to you ...

2010-09-14T12:54:00.000-04:00

so lately i think we are becoming pretty good friends. i like this new relationship, and as a token of my affection i wanted to share something close to me ... im kidding. this isnt a relationship. this is a total one way street, and i just wanted to share a cool website for all you musically inclined folks that stop by here.

in case you havent stumbled upon this before, la blogotheque is a parisian based music blog that is choc full of amazing videos of amazing act making amazing music. the first thing you will notice is that the site is in french (i did say it was a parisian based site ... google chrome will do a somewhat kind of not really all that accurate of a translation for you), so let me steer you safely away from their socialism and towards the music. there are 2 places in particular on this site where the choice music videos reside; concert a emporter (take away shows) and soirees de poche (nights in the pouch ... is that right greg???). i love the content on this site because in my eyes its a perfect demonstration and representation of the modern form of artistic expression. check it out.

The take away section is here. if you are too lazy to go to the site, or mistrusting of of french compatriots then i suggest the wilco, phoenix (kicks beaucoup ass), sigur ros (amazing), seasick steve (if you like the blues/troubadour thing), and my personal favorite beruit.

The soirees section is here. soirees are longer, more in depth, and typically more stripped down. for an example of these i have their latest release below.

la blogotheque presente: 'soirees de poche' avec the walkmen

hold the pickle vol. 2 ....

2010-09-10T15:45:00.001-04:00

i am happy to report that the sandwich quest is well underway and has been a tremendous success. i mean how can going around town eating delicious concoctions that are cradled between two peices of bread not be successful? but seriously i have had lots of folks give me recommendations of places to try, so i should have enough material to make this quest a winner.

atwaters soup & sandwich bar

so the next outpost on 'el questo de bocadillo' was atwaters at belvedere market. for those who arent familiar with this market, its on the corner of york rd and northern parkway in the very northern stretches of baltimore ccity proper. if you are hungry and looking for a place to eat in the area, you need to go no further. the belvedere market hosts some amazing places that offer a wide variety of palate tickling culinary efforts even beyond the sandwich.

the market boast a peanut shop, a sushi bar, neopol smokery for every thing smoked (ummm ... freaking delicious!), a small farmers market, italian deli offerings, and even a small cheese sampling. but there are in my opinion two anchors to this pseudo well kept indoor market secret, and thats atwaters and the grand cru wine bar. want a bottle to go with those groceries, cheese, or sushi you just bought? grand crus got it. want a glass of wine outside on a fall afternoon like this? they got it. want a sixer of brewers arts famous resurrection ale in a can? yep, they got that as well. but i digress. staying focused to the quest at hand i want to talk all about my sandwich experience at the other market anchor, atwaters.

quest guide

atwaters is hard to explain, but before i attempt i want you all to know it kicks ass. they specialize in fresh, simple, flavorful, and hearty food that almost lends itself to a new type of cuisine that i might dub 'refined rustic'. pretty much the menu is constantly changing with the seasons and with whats available, but the menu is almost always broken down into three separate sections; salad, soup, and sandwich.

the beauty of this three tiered approach is that there is something on this menu for everyone. some of the offerings in the salad section included a bib lettuce a watermelon salad, heirloom and burrata salad, and an asian chopped salad. the soup section could of made anyone drool with selections that included a seafood squash and tomato curry, a turkey veggie chowder, and a vegetarian offering of broccoli, ginger, and mushroom (note: they will give you a shot of soup if you want to taste, and well taste away friends). damn it again im getting side tracked...

time to focus the attention on the third and most important tier of atwaters refined rustic menu, the sandwich section. i had 6, maybe 7 choices which made this a very difficult stop. it is nearly impossible to pick just 1 sandwich from the scripturesque menu,but these guy have already thought it through ... they offer half sandwiches all of the sandwiches! so the two i chose were the greek veggie and the turkey avocado. this is a good thing because all the sandwiches on the menu looked like they had been conceptualized by someone whos soul purpose in life is to give you amazing flavor profiles found in many contemporary dishes, but adapted for the sandwich form. for a prime example of what i mean by this, lets look at my first half sandwich ... the greek veggie.

greek veggie & raspberry ice tea

as read on the atwaters menu, a greek veggie sandwich comprises of feta cheese, artichocke hearts, kalamata olives, marinaded cucumber, red onion, lettuce, and local tomato on olive bread. cant go wrong with those ingredients. i took my first bite and intstantly my taste buds fired a message to my brain to confirm that indeed i had just taken a big bite of a fresh greek salad. the feta cheese, artichoke, and olives had all been blended into a texture laden spread. the tomato and the marinaded cucumber provided at lot of moisture that would have drowned most breads in a pool of tasty oily flavor, but not this olive loaf. the fresh bread was thick enough to absorb most of the liquid and the crust was baked so perfectly that it has a crunch texture to it, but it also had a toughness to it that contrasted so well with the soft moisture laden inside of the bread that i found myself in the perfect greek veggie zen like balance. the one draw back, and this is a personal thing, is that there were too many red onions on the sandwich. i feel that red onions place is to provide a back board for flavors. red onions are strong and in the role of a backboard, they allow the person eating the sandwich to have a flavor to compare all the other flavors whipping around their mouth to, but with too many red onions i feel like some of those flavors that are whipping about wind up being muted.

red onions aside i enjoyed my visit to atwaters. i always do. the turkey avocado was intriguing because it took one in a different direction than one might think a turkey avocado should go. this sandwich was served on raisin pumpernickel bread with cole slaw and had a light and zesty basil mayo on it. delicious, but i was still side tracked from my greek veggie experience to fully appreciate this guy.

so if youre looking for a taste bud centered out of downtown adventure i fully suggest you hop in the car, head to york and northern, stroll around the belvedere market, and pig out on some soup, salad, and definitely some sandwiches from atwaters ..... oh and dont sleep on the raspberry ice tea either.

**this is the best quest ever. please send me any and all recommendations in the greater baltimore area**

just finished it ....

2010-09-08T16:53:00.001-04:00

so in keeping with my current trend of letting anyone who accidentally stops by here know all my thoughts and feelings about my current consumption of movies, music, and sandwiches, i want to talk about the book i just finished; michael lewis' 'the big short'.

most here would know that i was abroad from august 2006 to december 2008. lots happened that i missed out on, but nothing more impactful than the american economy, and as a result the global economy, slipping on its proverbial mortgage backed banana peel. it was fascinating watching the deterioration of wall street from my computer screen so far removed, so keenly aware of the significance, but so confused as to what the hell caused all this system to go from record profits to bankruptcy so quickly. looking for answers i turned to the new york times, the economist, and the financial times. these sources contained all the info that i needed, but it was not accessible to the laymen. then one of my favorite things in life, 'this american life' podcasts, presented a tutorial about the crisis featuring the folks from npr's 'planet money'. all of a sudden i was on top of the cdo market, credit default swaps, instantly i knew what deriviatives were, and tranches .... please, thats easy. (note: this is an over exaggeration. planet money just made it easier to understand what had happened and what people were talking about) having this explained to me by the best folks on radio started my desire to read more and more about this man made financial disaster........and thats what lead me to 'the big short'.

i have read lewis before, and if you havent you should. ive read 'liars poker' and 'moneyball', and i know most of you have heard of one of his football based books called 'the blind side'. having been exposed to lewis previously i knew i was in for a great story. he has away of weaving very vivid depictions and personal stories together to form a an elaborate pattern that the reader becomes enamored with and eventually addicted to. 'the big short' is no different.

in this book lewis, like a successful pediatrician, softly greats the child/reader, places him on a stool, asks a couple of questions, rolls up the childs/readers sleeve, cracks a joke, and bam plunges the needle into the unsuspecting arm of his patient/reader. lewis obviously isnt a pediatrician and he isnt giving injections of medicine, but his ability to deliver complicated information, timelines, and market fluctuation to the reader with out them being aware of this occurring is much like the savvy doctor who can successfully stick a needle into a kid without them knowing.

he achieves this by boiling the crisis into little personal vingettes about the people who were involved in the crisis, but were in the unique position of 'chicken little', only they are right. these stories allow lewis to show the reader how obscure, esoteric, and out of touch with reality the financial system had traveled. all of his stories were about guys outside of the wall street sphere (except the deutsche bank trader gregg lippman), which allowed lewis to stand extremely tall on his soap box and point out that everyone on wall street was either a.) the devil on earth who only feed on his/her own greed or b.) a retard. now surely some involved in the system fit those characteristics (and sometimes the same person fit both!), but lewis' attacks really get old after a while.

besides that one little draw back, i did enjoy the book. i learned a lot from it, and i would consider myself to be more informed that the average person on the subject matter, but if you have taken classes from jagdish bhagwati you probably know everything in this book minus the personal stories stitched together by lewis. but if you have read lewis before, you know what youre getting with 'the big short'; an informative and enjoyable read. if you havent read lewis before; read 'the big short', because it will be both informative and enjoyable....

**if you are in baltimore i will lend you this book if you want to read it ... email me**

hold the pickle ... sandwich adventure? ...

2010-09-04T15:22:00.001-04:00

like a lot of my saturdays that wind up a little dusty from my fridays, i awoke around 8am knowing that i would need to dedicate today to eating awesome food. i started with an everything bagel, scallion cream cheese, and smoked salmon from thb south, and knew i was going to have to really come through in the clutch for lunch. not only did my lunch deliver in the clutch, but it gave me a clutch idea; im going to eat sandwiches (maybe like 3 a week) all over town and post here about the bread, dressings, cheeses, meats, and everything else sandwich-ie ... except the pickles (my achilles heel)

so here is my 1st installment ...

the bar is going to be set pretty high pretty early with this sandwich experience. todays installment comes from di pasquales italian market in highlandtown in east baltimore. most of you living in baltimore should have heard of this market before, and if youve heard of it before you might of stopped by this gough st mecca, and if youve stopped by then youve eaten there, and if youve eaten there youre in love with the place. seriously its that simple. mathematics.

the market has plenty of quirky italian things all over the place from pink 'the godmother' tee shirts, to espresso soda, to fresh fennel, imported sardines, oils, and pastas of every shape/size/name.

the deli/prepared food sections is where you want to be though. in the glass cases you will find a variety of salads; potato salads, pasta salads, roasted veggie salads, and salad salads. there is also a wood oven for their pizzas in this section, but lets talk about the sandwiches.

these sandwiches are served on house made fresh bread with the simple ingredients that pack a flavorful punch in a typical italian style. understated but freaking delicious. i went with the old stand by today: the porcchetta sammy. this is a serious sandwich (see photo below) served hot with tomato, paper thin red onions that remind me of the scene in 'goodfellas' when paulie is slicing garlic with a razor blade, and grated cheese that melts when the sandwich is toasted. the pork is shaved and the rosemary and thmye scented hog is piled high on that fresh baked bread that when toasted provides the best crunchy textural contrast to the pillowy soft pork. the only down side to this sandwich is that it is kinda pricey, $8.95, and it is heavy (i wouldnt recommend eating this and then returning to an office to stare at a computer screen ... you will fall asleep!) but luckily i had a $10 spot and i dont have anything else to do today except watch notre dame football. cheer cheer brian kelly

127 degrees of bliss in charles village ...

2010-09-03T13:57:00.002-04:00

so last night i got to go to the explosions in the sky concert at the 2640 space in charles village, a small neighborhood in north baltimore, and was treated to a stunning live performance by the fellows from austin, tx.

i am not a self proclaimed explosions fan, my primary exposure to the bad came from a group of underclassmen at the university of sydney that i lived with. they forced it down my throat, and to my surprise the esoteric sounds of these post rock juggernauts tasted pretty good. so duh i was going to check em out in baltimore, and im awfully glad i did.

rather than write a detailed review (i am not intimately familiar with their music and think some one who was at the show probably could do a much more thorough job) im just going to give some pop corn thoughts on the show ...

2640 is beautiful. old church space, hardwood floors, exposed bricks, arches, stained glass, and very good acoustics. on the other side of the coin there is no air circulation which lead to sauna like conditions at the show (hence the title of the post). i think this venue would be ideal for one of those crisp mid november nights here in baltimore.

this band is really good at playing their music. before you blast me, hear me out. not a lot of acts transfer from recorded album to live show with extreme ease (passion pit comes to mind right away), and especially an act that relies so heavily on subtle sound changes, reverb, dissonance, and coordinated chaotic sounds coming together in harmony. these guys pulled it off to a tee. i mean the entire 1st tune, 'first breath after a coma' was exactly like the album version, which allowed you as an audience member to stand (sweating) with mouth open, staring in an almost stage of disbelief at what is involved to create such a beautiful piece of music.

these guys know how to push the guitar to places i have never really seen the instrument go. there was lots of times where the 3 guitarists would be kneeling, fidgiting with effects, standing, playing, kneeling, repeating ... which again made for a heightened appreciation of the overall composition of some of there larger pieces like 'your hand in mine'

the track below was my favorite song of the evening, and i think the clip from austin city limits gives a pretty accurate representation of what these guys are all about

if some one asks you what exactly post rock is .... point them towards explosions in the sky

explosions in the sky - 'catastrophe and the cure'

**on a completely different note: ive started a musical email list. if you want in just comment below with your email and ill sort it out**

coffee, arsenal fc, and matisse

2010-08-28T07:25:00.000-04:00

off to do what brings me joy early on saturdays; head to the pub for food, coffee, a couple of drinks, good people and arsenal fc.

i wish you all could join, but since you cant i wanted share something else that brings me joy; henri matisse (great web site) so in lieu of joining me for arsenal chants, scrapple, and some inappropriate behavior on a saturday before 8am please enjoy one of my favorite prints below, 'interior with dog'

end of the summer party mix ...

2010-08-23T21:39:00.000-04:00

alas summer is coming to an end.

its not a fun feeling. the euphoria that was once poised on the dreams of endless possibilities of weekend escapes, sun tan lotion, havaianas, day drinking affairs, and sunglasses is fading early like the laste august sun. its the same feeling you had when mom took you to buy school clothes. the same feeling at the end of the night when the party has already begun to descend from the summit, and you just dont want to hit base camp quite yet.

if only we could prevent the invetiable.

well before the roof decks get chilly, beaches get traded for mountains, and the summer party is finally over i wanted to share this mix 'tape'. i dont want you all to say good bye to the sunny season with out one last huuurah. so download this, grab some friends, fill a cooler, find a rooftop/boat/beach/living room/street corner and fight the unavoidable end of summer with us!!!

end of summer mix 'tape' (note: if you dont know how to/cant download from rapid share let me know ... or if on the off chance the mix reaches its max downloads, but that means all 4 of you who read will have to download twice and then some)

1. dance yrself clean - lcd soundsystem
2. alone again - teenager
3. fire it up - modest mouse
4. soft shock - yeah yeah yeahs
5. half light ii (no celebration) - arcade fire
6. fader - temper trap
7. kim & jesse - m83
8. unforgettable season - cut copy
9. dancing on my own - robyn
10. enjoy the silence - depeche mode

just 10 tracks to keep the party going. hope you enjoy, and if you have an end of summer song or two then throw it our way and ill update the 'tape'

sunsets & moonrises

broken embraces ...

2010-08-22T16:02:00.000-04:00

so in a proper sunday fashion, ive watched multiple movies that are on demand/netflix queue (add me!) that ive been eying up for a while. rather than give you a complete run down of the movies that have helped me top off a pretty decent weekend, i just wanted to make a quick recommendation of the one the got me most involved; 'broken embraces'.

'broken embraces' (warning: if you arent into foreign films you dont need to check out anymore of this post) is a spanish film made by pedro almodovar. i remember this film caught my eye because of how much i enjoyed 'volver', but i never got to the charles to see almodovars latest when it was around last fall.

heres my stream of consciousness regarding the movie:

almodovar has a real knack for the detail. the colors in this film are very bright, but not offensive
it has a classic hollywood feel to it, but in no way is it overt
the film relies on the idea of reflection; self reflection being the obvious form taking place in the film and this is accented even more when you think that almodovar wrote and directed this and its about a former filmaker and writer.
reflection is even employed as a videography tactic. there are shots from mirrors, windows, doors, and even impeccably polished furniture
i think he captures the feel of spain like a spanaird does. this is contrasted with another spanish centered movie i like, vicki, christina, barcelona
im in love with penelope cruz
its a bit long (2 hours +), but worth your time on a sunday

'broken embraces' by pedro almodovar 2009

'great scott' ...

2010-08-19T21:21:00.000-04:00

so lets get back on the musical side of this blog. the side where it belongs. if not familiar i love turning folks onto all sorts of music, and i love having this platform to do it. remember mandatory mondays (look to your right) ...

well i just wanted to turn you onto one of my personal favorites of this summer. the 'back to the future' title reference is to the new band delorean that hails from spain and whose new album 'subiza' should be spinning in your cars cd player on every late summer afternoon (note: if you have a roof top sound system it should probably be playing on that as well).

delorean nips at the heels of bands like mgmt and passion pit, except they avoid the pop production and bring a distinct muffled yet relaxed european style to there music. its smooth with out trying to be. its upbeat, but not obtrusive. the lyrics are soft, but not feminine (note: feminine is not always a bad thing). its not ground breaking, its just fun. fun like late summer afternoons/evenings should be.

this album isnt going to get a room full of beer pong players to start fist pumping. but when played for a large room full of friends who are enjoying each others company heads will bop, toes will tap, and smiles will appear.

delorean - 'real love'

i got a hunch ...

2010-08-18T17:08:00.000-04:00

at the end of last month i got the opportunity to visit my friends 'future mr & mrs lawyer' at their blue country lake house in michigan. i wont bore you with the vintage cars, boozey brunches, scooters that went 60 mph, or cabana chairs dipped in lake michigan. what i really want to talk to you about is the airport news stand.

i really enjoy print media, so therefore i love magazines. at said stand i came face to face with the old dilemma of what magazine to purchase. gq, the old stand by, was my choice for the 1st leg of this jaunt sponsored by southwest airlines, so i was left out on a limb when it came for decision time. fantasy football magazine? no way im smarter than those dudes (note: finished in playoffs of both my leagues in 2009/10). the economist? no, have a subscription ... what to pick what to pick?? wired magazine?!?! the fuck is that? will farrell on the cover? ... articles on iphones v. at&t and the science behind roadside bombs (ied's). two waaaay unrelated topics, but both topics im interested in. could this be a 'post z generational' (you know what im trying to say) magazine?!!? well needless to say i got the magazine and really enjoyed it. in my new desire to marry my life with the modern age, also known as trying to stay 'hip with it, you feel me dawg diggity', i decided to get a subscription, so i can learn about new tech stuff, trends, music, and feel kind of cool doing it. wow that makes me sound like a total badass...

im happy so far and i want to talk about my 'wired mag' lead trip further down the new technolgoy worm hole (a 2010 resolution that was about 7 months late)which brought me to hunch. hunch.com is something like twitter making love to amazon marketplace while facebook and a whacky online survey kind of creep in the background. translation: its a community based (add friends, comments, etc.) approach to defining ones personal preferences on a wide variety of categories/things by linking friends together and asking you a wide variety of questions and then generating responses. its like amazons 'people who bought this also bought this', except it coveres all of that and then gives you suggestions on what you can cook for dinner, places to go on vacation, vintage toys, new york museums, and other super fun and quirky topics. it hasnt defined me, but it kind of knows me ...

ive only been playing around with this for a couple of days, but here are some of the suggestions ive had plus some of the questions ive been asked.

suggestions:

magazines - 'gq' (agree); 'in style' (ummm did check that i was male)
books - 'spent: sex, evolution, and consumer behavior' (interested); infinate jest (intimidated)
vintage toys - legos (duh!); etch a sketch (still dont understand the appeal)
professions - artist (i wasnt that good at glass blowing); ad exec (must be my don draper looks)

questions:

what type of fries do you prefer?
mac or pc?
can you do 10 pull ups?
would you set up a home entertainment system yourself?
what type of lettuce do you prefer?

interesting to say the least. if you sing up friend me (hahaha) ... no seriously @discosaturday

ok ok ok, the masses have spoken ...

2010-08-18T15:30:00.002-04:00

well like 3 people have asked me (one of them being my aunt sammie) why i have let the blog die, and i wanted to address that issue with all 14 of you who have ever opened this page; that includes you the creepy guy in japan!

i havent let this blog die at all, ive just been doing a really good job at neglecting it. its kind of like that house plant my mom got for me at the beginning of my senior year at college. that thing was a beast. it would grow and provide oxygen for us at rapid rates, then id go on a bender/vacation/work week/glass blowing tirade that would inevitably leave that plant seriously neglected. it would sit parched in its arid soil and naked showing only its trunk (ehh more like stalk) eeking out yelps for attention.

eventually i would snap out of whatever i was doing that was way more important and make it my job for the next month to nurse that baby back to health. I never threw it away/let it die off completely ... oh wait until i moved from college ...

maybe that wasnt the best metaphor.

eff it i want write more, so if youre looking to kill time in a cubical, checking on a friend from australia, searching for music, want interesting links, have ever wondered what its like to sell desserts for a living, pictures of food from around town then id invite you to come on back folks!

cheers,
hey steve

eating season is upon us ...

2010-03-11T15:16:00.002-05:00

you have been under a rock for the past couple of weeks if you havent stumbled across one the 2010 eating guides/readers polls/best restaurant lists that have come out recently. this means only 1 thing. its time to get to the gym, eat small lunches, and pig out for dinner bc we have a lot of places to check out.

here is a short list of places where i can be found in the upcoming weeks (ill write about the worthy ones). if you want to join in discovering any of these places then just let me know.

'b', 'mary louise bistro', 'rosas grill', 'the dogwood', 'bluehill tavern', 'henningers', 'peters inn', and 'sams kid'

1st up is peters inn tonight!

2010 the musical juggernaut ... highlights so far

2010-03-01T11:49:00.004-05:00

cycles are curious things. round and round. changes occur, we are denied things we like for times, and then as the cycle continues we are given an abundance of what we enjoy. think of the seasons. winter has come and smacked us around with hellish weather, but the sunshine of the 1st of march reminds us of what is to come.

the same can be said about the musical cycles. i dont want to totally discount 2k9 musically, but the glimpses of the early 2k10 musical sunshine is just too much for me to handle, and i am totally pumped for what else is to come.

very quickly here are groups/albums/videos of what you need to check out (no particular order):

yeasayer's album 'odd blood' is off to an early lead to make yearly top 10 lists. here is the official video for their single 'ambling alp'

continuing to embrace your inner weird, or rather your inner tech nerd dance pop enthusiast you need to check out the latest from the UK wonders, hot chip and their 2010 release 'one life stand'. here are links to 'hand me down your love' and a bbc recording of the title track, 'one life stand'.

staying digital, but moving from the dance floors to the clouds of esoteric brings us to german producer/dj pantha du prince. here is a cut off of his album 'black noise'. this has quickly become a very influential album in my musical evolution. its brought me to a new level of appreciation for composition, and had an instant effect on me similar to the 1st time i heard 'takk' by sigur ros.

going very indie and very local (baltimore) i have to say that this album is awesome! its the one i have listened to the most so far, and i think it is a very pretty (the kind of pretty that doesnt need make up) and very warm album. so please do yourself a favor and go grab 'teen dream' by http://www.myspace.com/beachhousemusic. im sure you have heard 'norway' at some point, but the album needs to be taken in as a whole. it can be perfect for a heartfelt moment, a cerebral break, a hung over saturday, or a long road trip with 3 friends.
here is the 1st track 'zebra':

other bands that have new albums that have helped make this an amazing 60 days of music include broken bells (not offically released until march 9, 2010), gorillaz (not released until March 8), memory tapes, and spoon to name a small handful.

i threw together a quick mix cd of the musical bouquet that has blossomed in 2k10. if you want a link to download the sampler let me know via facebook, email, or comment on here.

the big thaw ...

2010-02-12T08:26:00.006-05:00

now that the sun is out, the bars are empty, and the roads are cleared our winter wonderland of make believe has given way to an icy and wet reality of a return back to normal trudger-ie.

hopefully this will be short lived since there just happens to be a MOBRODER show tonight at sonar. $10 to take in the sweaty, bass nasty, beat happy throw down of mc spank rock and dj hoff. if you like fun you need to be there. if you dont like fun please stay at home.

here is a little taste of what a spank rock side project can come up with ...

its been a while...

2010-02-01T12:08:00.003-05:00

between work (trying to get folks to eat sweets after the holiday is difficult), having to purchase a new computer, and moving to my new location in the city i have been doing zippy blogging. i apologize.

so a quick note that i will be more active now and thats my february resolution. now that i have a computer i can talk to you about new music like broken bells, beach house, and yeasayer.

now that i live in the city i can talk to you about the local bar specials that exist, but very few folks know about like wednesday night half priced bottled german and belgium beers (hello delirium!) at the hudson street stackhouse, as well as the much heralded 12 buck rack of ribs at the gin mill on wednesdays. also i cant wait to talk about the out of the way places like piedegrotta and dipasquales while using the blog as an excuse for why i eat at these places all the time.

in other words keep checking back from time to time to see what i have been looking at, thinking about, listening to, and consuming ...

i need to see this ...

2010-01-07T09:01:00.002-05:00

living in baltimore has its perks like natty bohs, cheap rent, the ottobar, and a new mayor in the beginning of february. but living in charm city has its draw backs for sure, and in terms of draw backs right behind our astronomical murder rate comes the fact that we are a secondary market for movie releases.

this means that when you read reviews online or in papers like the times or the post you get excited for a movie that you inevitably have to wait months to see. i am currently in this purgatory like situation with the new film, 'crazy heart'. i mean this movie looks like it has it all. the washed out boozed soaked troubadour who has seen it all, the dust covered southwest usa where tough life exists and soft stories permeate, robert fucking duval, and a soundtrack that has a new ryan bingham track! it seems like the pairing of bingham and bridges in this film is like a nice braised short rib and a smooth barolo.

i want to see this right now but i have to wait. and it kills me, but i think i can hold out for a little bit knowing that this oscar studded film will live up to its musical and theatrical hype ...

here is the trailer

and here is a taste of bingham ... 'tell my mother i miss her so' off of ryan bingham & the dead horses 'roadhouse sun'. also check out 'mescalito' one hell of an album

happy new year ... take 7:49 out of your day for this one

2010-01-07T08:30:00.002-05:00

stumbled upon this the other day ... enjoy.

another one gone at his own time with his own hands...

2009-12-30T11:08:00.002-05:00

i just found out last night from a good buddy of mine named 'l-train' that singer/songwriter vic chesnutt killed himself on christmas this year. its super sad to realize that the tortured brilliance that brewed inside of this dude finally caught up to him and not being able to see through despair he took his own life like david foster wallace, hunter s thompson, and kurt cobain .

i got turned on to chesnutt through widespread panic and their covers of some of his tunes. here is on entitled 'aunt avis' and him playing one of his own tunes entitled 'independence day' ... you can feel the passion marred with the pain.

'aunt avis' covered by widespread panic featuring vic chesnutt

'independence day'

music and hollywood ...boy and girl ... folkster and starlet

2009-11-24T17:59:00.004-05:00

last year i was very impressed with a seemingly unlikely collaboration that occurred between folk singer songwriter m. ward and the independent film starlet, zooey deschanel called 'she and him'. zooey and m. released their album entitled 'volume 1', a 12 track album filled with the twangy sounds of m. wards guitar and covering zooeys singing talents with the spotlight.

well like with all good things (software, signature dinner dishes, and movies) a successful idea has been replicated, built upon, and released as a slightly different version. this september has brought us another indie folk star teaming up with another leading lady. our 2009 starlet-folkster collaboration is between pete yorn and scarlett johansson with their september release 'break up'.

i was skeptical of this album when i first heard about the album and collaboration on the radio and then upon its release saw it in starbucks as the 'album of the week' or something like that. after seeing the album while drinking my milky late i can recall thinking to myself 'robert plant and alison krauss win one grammy and now the guy with the guitar and the girl with the voice = instant success, and throw in a movie star and this bitch is going platinum ... geez get an original idea people', but i got my hands on the album anyway.

i like it. i dont want to, but i actually enjoy it. where 'she and him are' stripped back 'pete and scarlett' are over produced, but it adds to the sound and lends to his songwriting and her voice. she can sing. where on the screen she brings an over the top beauty and an amazing bust ... on this album she is understated and a tad bit vulnerable which makes her warm, accessible, and someone you can understand. the breaking up theme is very cliched, and i applaud 'she and him' for approaching and exploring those themes (along with others) without hitting the listener over the head with it. with that being said yorn's song writing is all just throw away cliched turns of phrase - there is some substance underneath all the heart ache (check out the tracks 'wear and tear' and 'shampoo' for an example of this).

all in all its worth a try. go to last.fm and listen to the single 'relator' (miserable name), check out there stuff on youtube (See below), and decide for yourself if you should give it a try. while i dont like it more than the other duets listed above, my low expectations have been exceeded and has left me wondering if i am a sucker for a scruff guitarist and pretty voice starlet combo ...

pete yorn and scarlett johansson - 'shampoo'

she and him - 'you really got a hold on me'

and you think you take sports seriously ...

2009-11-19T15:46:00.002-05:00

the irish government is now getting involved in the world cup qualifying debacle

in no particular order ...

2009-11-18T18:42:00.002-05:00

i am love music and i love sharing it with other people. these 2 aspects of my musical life come together in an art form know as the mix (tapes evolved into cds). i am am not quite the ocd mixologist that rob gordon or barry from high fidelity are, but i love to dabble in the art of putting songs together in a clever order that makes people go hmmmmm 'this guy knows what hes doing'.

with my love of the mix being established, i want to start throwing out clips of tunes that would make it on my 'steves mix tape of life'. this is obviously totally subjective and you can play barry and comment on the lameness, but its mine so deal with it.

like the title says ... this is in no particular order

band of horses - 'our swords'

happy early birthday to me ... love david chang

2009-11-11T14:48:00.008-05:00

i turn 27 in a week and a half and i just received my 1st present in the mail today, and i have a sneaking suspicion that the amazon.com box came via 2nd ave in new york city (the abode of my older brother). il just let you all know that he has set the bar and i really dont think anything will top this - that being said please i still will entertain all presents offered and fain excitement if it doesnt surpass what i have in my hands right now.

so whats in the box? well only the latest and greatest thing to come from david chang, my (and the rest of new york citys) favorite chef ... momofuku the cook book. i am giddy with anticipation to dive into this textbook sized and strength nonfictional glimpse into the world of the coolest chef around and his mini downtown new york city food empire.

the book is co-authored by peter meehan who is like the david chang of newspapers. he is understated but knows his shit just as well as anyone else. oh and hes really young and is all over the new york times. from just thumbing through these pages and watching this video (embedded below as well) i am know that i am going to be thrust into the world of the lucky peach and i am going to love every last picture, word, and bite that this book has to offer!

album of the year ...?

2009-11-10T17:04:00.003-05:00

its getting close to the end of the year, and like the past couple of years there has been some wonderful albums that have surfaced this year. there is one album in particular that has the college radio, indie alternative, and musically criticals talking like its a lock for pitchforks top album, and thats grizzly bears 'veckatimest'. i like it a fair bit, but im not obsessed with it like i was with say the fleet foxes 2008 self titled album that swept the alternative music scene last year. with that said grizzly bears 2009 album is beautifully simple with nodes of complexity that allow you to get lost in the musical landscape of carved out by this indie folk avant garde album ... here is a live cut and the official clip for my favorite track off the album 'ready, able' ...

holy jet lag batman ...

2009-11-10T05:39:00.003-05:00

so i am back on the east coast of the us after a quick 8 days on the east coast of my home away from home, australia. the reason for my brief jaunt was the wedding of 2 wonderful aussie friends steve and airlie. it was a beautiful service and a perfect portrait of a romantic wedding set in green hill of south east new south wales right outside of nowra.

with all the reconnections, sunshine, and wonderful time spent in sydney, i now get to go through the vicious jet lag caused from two stepping the planet.

have a full more day off of work where i wll be catching up on this blog, my dvr, and the laudry i didnt do before i left.

pablos is coming up in the world of sydney coffee culture ...

2009-09-22T11:26:00.006-04:00

so if you have been to australia or are australian then you know that coffee means serious business. beans are imported from all over the world, roasted with care by aussie bohemians with caffeine addictions, and filtered through espresso machines by the 'rockstar' baristas who measure there status in terms of coffee art. the coffee world in sydney is serious.

the long standing palace of this coffee world has been and is campos coffee. campos was right next to university for me, so it became a 2nd home of sorts when i was at school. but if campos was my 2nd home, then pablo and rusts was my 1st home. 'pablos' as it is affectionately called was only 1 train stop away from my house and was my place of part time employment. i have wrote about pablos before, and i wanted to let you all now that the 'little store that could' (fair trade coffee, dedication to service, community, and personal connection with customers) has finally got some props from the sydney morning herald.

So please take 60 seconds and give the review a read ... and remember the next time you have a mass brewed coffee or a latte without any coffee art that there are folks out there who are dying to give you a better cup of coffee - just look for them.

i'm in love ...

2009-09-18T15:16:00.001-04:00

hbo's redemption begins next week...

2009-09-01T12:41:00.010-04:00

with the 1st season of the appealing overtly sexually charged series 'hung' over and with the 5th season (about 2 seasons too long) of 'entourage' dragging itself across a cheezy finishline in the next couple of weeks means that hbo sunday night is ready to roll out some fall-tastic shows.

sunday night hbo in the fall, ahh its synonymous with the changing on the leaves, the crispness of the september air, and football. it brings me back to the days of college when on a typical sunday in fall you could find me on the couch of 915 hanover street from roughly 12pm until 12am glued to the television. 3 football games and then the icing on the sunday cake ... the westcoast broadcast of hbo's pro-bowl sunday line up. and starting on sunday spetember 20th (week 2 in the nfl) they are back with what looks to be 2 stellar additions to the team which should help the much deflated hbo sunday night entourage.

now is the time we have all been waiting for. the much anticipated 7th season of 'curb your enthusiasm'. to say that im not excited for this show would be like saying that seinfeld can get to a punchline of joke and keep a straight face. larry, jeff, and jerry's kidney will definitely brighten up ones sunday evening. with the awesomeness of 'curb' understood and aside, what i am really looking forward to is hbo's newest 30 minute comedy noir called 'bored to death'. i am eagerly anticipating the jason schwartzman, zach galifianakis, and ted danson new york city stoner/private eye detective flick. this looks to be a thoughful, ironic, playful and very funny show.

hilarity will ensue with hbo's new line up and i for one wont have an issue moseying up to the television on sundays for the old 1-2 combo of 'curb' and 'bored'

hbo's 'bored to deat' trailer

an homage to drinking, aging, and a 30th birthday ...

2009-08-25T09:20:00.004-04:00

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.

restaurant week installment #2, happy birthday gran ...

2009-08-16T14:43:00.005-04:00

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.

restaurant week installment #1 ...

2009-08-14T11:39:00.007-04:00

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).

parisian indie pop at its best ...

2009-08-05T21:18:00.005-04:00

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.

a little soul rest for my head ...

2009-07-30T11:38:00.003-04:00

off to maine for a much needed looooong weekend. going to good old great pond in the belgrade lakes region outside of waterville. simple, relaxing, unwinding, slow, and exactly what i need right now

how about an original idea ...

2009-07-27T15:28:00.003-04:00

tinsel town is about to ruin a couple of classics for all little boys and girls. this fall we are going to see the release of the films for 2 of my all time favorite childrens books, 'cloudy with a chance of meatballs' and 'where the wild things are'.

im not really all that excited about the prospect of having some of my favorite books that focus on the different aspects of make believe and imagination are going to be realized on the big screen. sentimentality surely plays a big part in my disgust at the un-originality of the current film making biz because i am much more upset at the thought of an animated version of my favorite childhood story directed by the actor/star of 'clone high' than i am at the thought of a cgi saturated 'wild things' from spike jonze. im just really not excited about a high school clone tackling the 'land of chew and swallow'. where/how can justice be served to this amazing piece of childrens literatur??

please please please do me (and more importantly yourself) a favor and buy or borrow these books in the coming weeks and read them to yourself, a child, nephew, niece, grandchild, cat, or dog so you can experience incredible imagination, creativity, and originality before someone else's interpretation is thrusted onto you this fall at the movies.

confession and concession of the consummate carnivore ...

2009-07-22T12:27:00.002-04:00

with all the buzz surrounding the recent (relatively) release of the film 'food, inc.' ive begun to dig a bit into the whole anti-factory farm, pro-sustainability, anti-processed food movements. for anyone who knows me you would know that i have spent serious time with all things meat; both in a professional sense and in a consumer sense. cheeks, loins, tails, toungues, ribs, stomachs, and of corse livers have all been on my plate at one point or another, so immediately i went into this investigative process with a healthy dose of skepticism.

what i found was interesting. the 'slow food' movement has gone mainstream. the basic principles of 'slow food' is fresh, healthy, and natural production of all foods. this toally includes meat. fish, beef, pork, and poultry are key elements in 'slow food' and are staple diests for all americans. the problem that 'food, inc.' is trying to pinpoint and tackle isnt cant be found in the 'slow food' movement, the problem is found in the consumption driven commercial food industry.

ive never been a big advocate of fast food or chain restaurants, but even the most basic research reveals that these are the main industries that have the greatest amount of influence over the way farms are run. with this in hand i spent the last weekend in the nations capitol with a good friend of mine who turned me onto the eco-concious, uber liberal, but rather pratical movement called 'meatless mondays'. its simple: obstain from meat on mondays and you help cut down on the use of water, gas, emissions, antibiotics, etc ...

i figured id take my friends advice and try out what it woul be like to be a veggie for a day. it wasnt so bad. very do-ible, but something that i would only want to keep doing for a day. the other six weeks ill be eating beef, assorted poultry products, and anything else i can get my hands on. ill let you know how it goes ... 1 meatless monday is already in the record books.

1st meatless monday ingedients included: peanutbutter, squash, eggplant, fettuccine, arugala, mozzarella, and pinenuts.

here is a video from earth day that had something to do with the meatless monday movement

band of more brothers ....?

2009-07-20T15:42:00.008-04:00

holy crap ... i mean anyone who hasnt lived under a rock and was born after like 1995 should have seen the result of these filmmakers/producers foray into the historical miniseries genere: 'band of brothers'. this is one of the best miniseries of all times and i am a little excited to see what they have in store for us with 'the pacific'. marines instead of airbourne? blistering beaches instead of snow covered fields? guadalcanal instead of bastogne? the only miserable thing about this is that we have to wait until 2010. i think it will be worth it though.

NPR-ockstars ...

2009-07-06T17:11:00.006-04:00

since ive made it back to the states, and now find myslef in my car for nearly 10 hours a week fighting traffic between the baltimore and dc beltways, ive been treating my ears and mind to some wonderful new tunes, catchy mixes, and a plethera of podcasts from good ole 'ivan the ipod'. i find myself dabbling in ira glass's weekly radio powerhouse 'this american life' evey monday on my way to and from work, and its because of mr glass an co. that i stumbled upon the subject of this post and the 1st in my 'npr-ockstars' series; 'npr's planet money'

i 1st heard the 'planet money' folks on 'this american life' when they were brought on during the wall street panic that struck in the fall and sunk lehman brothers, put american insurance group (aig) on the ropes, and almost took down the global finacial system as we know it. if you can recall that time back in spetember the finace folks were talking about the sky falling and the end of the world while you and i were strolling around completely unphased, and its was this exact dichotomy that alex blumberg tackled in his shockingly easy to understand and follow account of the credit crisis and how close to disaster we were.

ever since then i have become a loyal listener to the 3 times a week podcast put out by mr blumberg, the darling ms chana joffe-walt, et al. th podcast is quirky, funny , and informative all at the same time. their 'indicators' moment for instance is almost always a laugh, but always strikingly relevent. the podcast has become a easily accesible way to understand what is happening around the global economy and why it is happening. 'planet money' is a hip alternative to cnbc/bloomberg/wallstreet journal which all of a sudden is making the likes of erin burnett, paul krugman, and jim kramer look like a bunch of squares.

the 4th: an american tradition and its institutions

2009-07-02T10:30:00.002-04:00

all of you out there are either a.) at work counting down the minutes until you can click your phones off, set up your 'out of office' email, and scurry away for a long weekend or b.) you are near some water, beer in hand, sunglasses on, and without a care in the world. i mean after all its the 4th of july, america's 223rd birthday.

the 4th is a very large birthday party (i cant remeber when 300 million people took off of work to celebrate me ... although my 25th birthday did have a boat full of sushi) that has become more than a holiday, but rather its turned into an institution. this institution consists of sunburn, bodies of water, charcoal, bathingsuits, beer out of a can, fireworks, and always corn on the cob.

i love it. you love it. we all love it. thats why we all pack cars, coolers, and boats and set out to high five, cheers, and sometime punch each other in celebration of a revolt. i want to offer you a glimpse into my mind when i think of the 4th of july ... see if you can follow along ...

when i think of the 4th i think of sunshine, and sunshine makes me think of summer, summer makes me think of vacation, vacation makes me think of widespread panic, widespread makes me think of high school (1st time experience), and high school makes me think about the last day of school right before summer vacation ... which leads me yet another american institution ... dazed and confused. im serious, when i think of the 4th i always think of richard linklaters kick ass bicentennial teenage drug enduced celebration.

so if you find yourself with out epic plans this weekend all you need is $5 and a blockbuster (i prefer netflix, but good luck getting that ontop of your queue and sent to you over a public holiday weekend - geesh) in order to enjoy this movie for your 1st or 1776th time.

Like the Jam Band Sensation Phish ...

2009-06-30T14:55:00.008-04:00

the hiatus is over! ive been all over the place as of late. up, down, back, and forth - but ive realized that the one thing im missing the most of late (besides the land down under) is hopping on this electronic soap box and clicking a couple keys while providing some dribble about music, movies, food, and the occasional social issue.

I'm back and here is whats on the docket for the upcoming weeks:

wilco's new album
'shock doctrine' - by naiomi klein
mad men, 1960s male fashion in today's world, and unfiltered cigarettes
the baltimore famer's market
dangerman, the miami vice summer mix tape, and other baltimore awesomes
my new found friends over at npr
and what ever else makes it from the brain to the fingertips ...

looking forward to kicking things off leading up to 4th of july weekend! thanks for stopping by and stay tuned

via chicago

2009-03-12T13:20:00.001-04:00

its been a while, but like the lyric jeff sings in this song i want to let you all know that, 'im coming home. im coming home'

im back

michigan bound, and the timing couldnt be better ...

2008-12-27T10:46:00.003-05:00

so i am off to michigan for the weekend to celebrate an engagement of a great friend of nearly 10 years. i am so happy to be stepping into this next phase of life with my good buddy mr mead, and i am also glad to be getting the f#ck out of baltimore. as most of you know the transition/downgrade from sydney to baltimore has not been the easiest for me and well ... the hits keep coming! last night the car i was driving (cricket b's) had the front passengers side window smashed and an ipod stolen from the center console (it was my lil borthers). welcome back, eh?

keeping the head up and looking forward to the things around me right now that i know bring me joy. focus on the happiness, the joy, and what brings you content ... the negative shit is just too negative and shitty for you to give it too much attention.

merry christmas ...

2008-12-26T16:21:00.003-05:00

i love the holidays. lots of food, lots of fun, lots of love, and the what not. in my family situation i have what i would like to call the perpetual a.d.d. christmas. heres a little tastes of what was in store for me over my 24 hour christmas marathon.

starting at 3:30pm on the 24th with the family appearance at church (i am a doubter when it come to church, not to god) that wasnt too horrific, my moms side of the family piled into our family room and proceeded to gorge on too much tenderloin, venison, turkey, and crab. you will begin to see that food is the one constant theme throughout this marathon. after some bawdy public displays with some tacky australian boxers, a smoked sausage, and a stuffed animal - my 1st act of the annual christmas charade was over.

now that the youngest in the house is 17, we dont start the christmas morning ordeal until around 10. this year we had some wayward travelers without a family, both female (alright!) and both from far away lands - australia & south africa (double alright!!) - who fit in perfect and added a feminine presence that has never graced 420 range before. cool new twist. well presents went well and of course the annual eggs benedict/grand mimosa brunch went over like a treat.

with little time to digest let alone recuperate it was time to dash off to northern virginia to spend time with jb's side of the family. after more food, a plethora of sweets- again these are the people who have had an italian bakery in the family for nearly 75 years - some booze based presents, and a quick catch up with the relatives (perpetually explaining about my time in australia and what im going to be doing now) it was off to dads for the final meal and the curtain call on christmas.

dad lives in northern virginia as well so its definitely a 2 birds 1 stone kind of deal with the 3rd and 4th act. by the time we arrived at dads (jmc and the female australian were my companions) i had already consumed about 12000 calories, 4 glasses of wine, 2 mimosas, 5 beers, 3 whiskeys, and lord only knows how many altoids (** note these are only rough estimates over the 1st 3 acts of the clare marathon christmas). dads was pretty low key and stacked high with good food. after some chocolate martinis (i passed) and some apple crumble to top it off, it was time to waddle back out to the car and call christmas a night. oh and then drive an hour and half back to baltimore.

it was long, fattening, and at times a freaking hassle ... but for me thats christmas. bouncing around, always on the go, and having to make an extra effort to pull it off. but the effort put in is always rewarded by spending some q.t. with family.

hope christmas 2k8 was a time of love, joy, and warmth for all of you!

count down ...

2008-12-13T11:48:00.001-05:00

final nights sleep before wilco

its friday ...

2008-12-12T10:14:00.002-05:00

jmc and co. arrive on the 2:06 train today, get to go kick it with quality peeps all afternoon, and there is a welcome home 'hey, steve' party tonight. all things to get pumped (understatement) for - but i cant freaking shake wilco out of my mind. 2 more sleeps and we're there.

another day down ...

2008-12-11T08:26:00.003-05:00

until wilco at the lyric. i know its a bit overboard, but i am freaking stoked to be seeing these chicago crazies in charm city, usa.

unemployment, culture shock, and jetlag have provided me with ample time to read, write, and space out so i want you all to know that i am working on something to get up here. as a tease ill let you know that the mix cds will be reoccurring, i have some comments on the musical year, and there will be plenty of blogging about trying to find a job with the federal government. keep it here

4 more sleeps to go until...

2008-12-10T10:23:00.006-05:00

wilco! get pumped!

a mix cd for you ...

2008-12-09T08:43:00.002-05:00

while unemployed, jetlagged, and smack dab in the middle of a tough, but good transitional phase i have turned to my extensive music library for a bit of company. the result is this wintery pseudo melancholy mix. feel free to download the mix off the sendspace link, stoke the fire, hug a buddy, and most of all stay warm. love to know what you think!

'just to take the edge off' a mix by hey, steve (click to download)

belle & sebastian - 'it could of been a brilliant career'
lcd soundsystem - 'someone great'
death cab for cutie - 'cath...'
bishop allen - 'flight 180'
broken social scene - 'anthems for a 17-year old girl'
wilco - 'radio cure'
band of horses - 'no ones gonna love you'
sufjan stevens - 'all the trees of the field will clap their hands'
bon iver - 're:stacks'
radiohead - 'gagging order'
jeff buckley - 'hallelujah'
modest mouse - 'gravity rides everything'
the national - 'gospel'
wilco - 'poor places'
coldplay - 'everythings not lost'

truth, love, grace ...

2008-12-07T12:46:00.002-05:00

well im am on the backside of a transitional phase, and if you know me you know how much of a struggle transitions are for me. the closing of one chapter has been followed by the beginning of a new chapter and has been difficult, but real.

i have left the warm sunshine of australia for the pale blue skies and blustery winds of baltimore in winter. its a difficult transition, but its amazing what a meal with an old friend, some love from family, and some trust in god does for your soul during this process.

i am reminded that i have no clue what lies ahead. all i can do its stand in thanksgiving and awe of life and approach the present with an abundance of truth, love, and grace ...

its good to be back and writing again

finished!

2008-11-13T00:04:00.000-05:00

the degree is all wrapped up. thanks to you all for the love and support!

now the best graduation present will arrive in sydney on sunday ... jmc

cannot wait until the 14th of december ...

2008-11-09T04:31:00.002-05:00

... when wilco plays the lyric opera house!

here a little something to whet your appetite - 'im trying to break your heart' from europe 2007 summer tour

good on ya' us of a ... im coming home

2008-11-05T01:21:00.003-05:00

just happy to see the resounding roar for rejection of the status quo. makes fielding questions over here a bit easier. im so excited that i moved my plane a couple of weeks forward and will be home a couple of weeks after thanksgiving now. actually the flight change was on the cards for a while, but now im using obamas win as another excuse to get back home ... see you state-siders in the 1st week of december

obama & the national ...

2008-11-03T02:09:00.002-05:00

heres my token election video clip. less content focused and more stoked on the background music - 'fake empire' by the national

wilco still up for grabs, 2nd exam, dewey is in town, and j. blackwood's 1st live show = today!

2008-10-29T18:05:00.003-04:00

this is one of the days that will go down as massive.

- work matt & sarah g ... im not going to be able to stay up till 1am again trying to get wilco tickets

- exam #2 out of 3 until this guys is a master. what?!?!?! seriously though i am exhausted and over stretched on studying global environmental politics

- have a good family friend, mr dewey du., in town this week/weekend and its so comforting connecting with friends and loved ones while over here. good on ya dew!

- well my roomate, j. blackwood has is 1st gig tonight in manly on the beach at a pub called henry afrika's - if you are reading this in sydney ... come to the show. if you are reading this in the states, dont worry there will be pictures to come!

david sedaris' election short story via jmc ...

2008-10-22T19:28:00.000-04:00

I don’t know that it was always this way, but, for as long as I can remember, just as we move into the final weeks of the Presidential campaign the focus shifts to the undecided voters. “Who are they?” the news anchors ask. “And how might they determine the outcome of this election?”

Then you’ll see this man or woman— someone, I always think, who looks very happy to be on TV. “Well, Charlie,” they say, “I’ve gone back and forth on the issues and whatnot, but I just can’t seem to make up my mind!” Some insist that there’s very little difference between candidate A and candidate B. Others claim that they’re with A on defense and health care but are leaning toward B when it comes to the economy.

I look at these people and can’t quite believe that they exist. Are they professional actors? I wonder. Or are they simply laymen who want a lot of attention?

To put them in perspective, I think of being on an airplane. The flight attendant comes down the aisle with her food cart and, eventually, parks it beside my seat. “Can I interest you in the chicken?” she asks. “Or would you prefer the platter of shit with bits of broken glass in it?”

To be undecided in this election is to pause for a moment and then ask how the chicken is cooked.

I mean, really, what’s to be confused about?

When doubting that anyone could not know whom they’re voting for, I inevitably think back to November, 1968. Hubert Humphrey was running against Richard Nixon, and when my mother couldn’t choose between them she had me do it for her. It was crazy. One minute I was eating potato chips in front of the TV, and the next I was at the fire station, waiting with people whose kids I went to school with. When it was our turn, we were led by a woman wearing a sash to one of a half-dozen booths, the curtain of which closed after we entered.

“Go ahead,” my mother said. “Flick a switch, any switch.”

I looked at the panel in front of me.

“Start on the judges or whatever and we’ll be here all day, so just pick a President and make it fast. We’ve wasted enough time already.”

“Which one do you think is best?” I asked.

“I don’t have an opinion,” she told me. “That’s why I’m letting you do it. Come on, now, vote.”

I put my finger on Hubert Humphrey and then on Richard Nixon, neither of whom meant anything to me. What I most liked about democracy, at least so far, was the booth—its quiet civility, its atmosphere of importance. “Hmm,” I said, wondering how long we could stay before someone came and kicked us out.

Ideally, my mother would have waited outside, but, as she said, there was no way an unescorted eleven-year-old would be allowed to vote, or even hang out, seeing as the lines were long and the polls were open for only one day. “Will you please hurry it up?” she hissed.

“Wouldn’t it be nice to have something like this in our living room?” I asked. “Maybe we could use the same curtains we have on the windows.”

“All right, that’s it.” My mother reached for Humphrey but I beat her to it, and cast our vote for Richard Nixon, who had the same last name as a man at our church. I assumed that the two were related, and only discovered afterward that I was wrong. Richard Nixon had always been Nixon, while the man at my church had shortened his name from something funnier but considerably less poster-friendly—Nickapopapopolis, maybe.

“Oh, well,” I said.

We drove back home, and when asked by my father whom she had voted for, my mother said that it was none of his business.

“What do you mean, ‘none of my business’?” he said. “I told you to vote Republican.”

“Well, maybe I did and maybe I didn’t.”

“You’re not telling me you voted for Humphrey.” He said this as if she had marched through the streets with a pan on her head.

“No,” she said. “I’m not telling you that. I’m not telling you anything. It’s private—all right? My political opinions are none of your concern.”

“What political opinions?” he said. “I’m the one who took you down to register. You didn’t even know there was an election until I told you.”

“Well, thanks for telling me.”

She turned to open a can of mushroom soup. This would be poured over pork chops and noodles and served as our dinner, casserole style. Once we’d taken our seats at the table, my parents would stop fighting directly, and continue their argument through my sisters and me. Lisa might tell a story about her day at school and, if my father said it was interesting, my mother would laugh.

“What’s so funny?” he’d say.

“Nothing. It’s just that, well, I suppose everyone has a different standard. That’s all.”

When told by my father that I was holding my fork wrong, my mother would say that I was holding it right, or right in “certain circles.”

“We don’t know how people eat the world over,” she’d say, not to him but to the buffet or the picture window, as if the statement had nothing to do with any of us.

I wasn’t looking forward to that kind of evening, and so I told my father that I had voted. “She let me,” I said. “And I picked Nixon.”

“Well, at least someone in the family has some brains.” He patted me on the shoulder and as my mother turned away I understood that I had chosen the wrong person.

I didn’t vote again until 1976, when I was nineteen and legally registered. Because I was at college out of state, I sent my ballot through the mail. The choice that year was between Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford. Most of my friends were going for Carter, but, as an art major, I identified myself as a maverick. “That means an original,” I told my roommate. “Someone who lets the chips fall where they may.” Because I made my own rules and didn’t give a damn what anyone else thought of them, I decided to write in the name of Jerry Brown, who, it was rumored, liked to smoke pot. This was an issue very close to my heart—too close, obviously, as it amounted to a complete waste. Still, though, it taught me a valuable lesson: calling yourself a maverick is a sure sign that you’re not one.

I wonder if, in the end, the undecideds aren’t the biggest pessimists of all. Here they could order the airline chicken, but, then again, hmm. “Isn’t that adding an extra step?” they ask themselves. “If it’s all going to be chewed up and swallowed, why not cut to the chase, and go with the platter of shit?”

Ah, though, that’s where the broken glass comes in.

more mandatory music ...

2008-10-21T03:03:00.006-04:00

well ladies - and there might be a couple of guys who read this blog, but i know who my audience really is - the papers are all handed in, one more week and then 2 finals, a week off, and the last one on the 12th of november! i am officially back from burrowing under in order to finish the semester and the first thing i did was ... my laundry. but the second thing i decided to do was ... get some sushi from my favorite sushi train, makoto, and then thirdly i came home and decided to write about some mandatory music.

it feels good to be writing about tunes again - so this week i have decided to go back nearly a decade to the millennium (thats 2000 for you aussies) in order to talk about modest mouses smash hit, 'the moon & antarctica'.

'the moon & antarctica' is probably my favorite modest mouse cd closely followed by 'good news for people who like bad news' and it did receive a 9.8 from the music geeks (elitists) at pitchfork. so what the hell lets do this...

the album kicks off with a 'third planet' which has such an innocent beginning but slowly picks up to introduce you to lead singer, issac brocks vocal range and his ability to sound melodic with a microphone and a bull horn. the soft opening theme thats playing on the creation of the world continues with the next track called 'gravity rides everything'. here the listener is introduced to the layered, multi percussion, rhythmic sound that is so central to modest mouses distinct post punk sound. following 'gravity' we are treated to the edgy and hallow opening of 'dark center of the universe' which starts off all hallow and innocent but then kicks your chair over and while standing over top of your body declares 'this is fucking modest mouse!'

the next section of the cd starts off with the banjo introduction of 'perfect disguise' a song filled with angst directed at someone who obviously hung brock out to dry. next track, 'tiny cities made of ashes' introduces the listeners to the choppy head bopping thumping angry rhythmic modest mouse that is so awesome that it makes me want to chain smoke camel lights while getting a full sleeve tattoo. sticking with the urban theme the next track on the album is called 'a different city'. 'different city' has that modest mouse cringing guitar set as the backdrop for some more pretty brock vocals.

'the cold part' is the next track whose full ensemble sound creates a very hallow vibe which exudes a fittingly cold ambiance. the next song 'alone down there' continues the slow, cold, and detached feeling that started with 'the cold part' which helps to link the two tracks together. 'the starts are projectors' is the longest track of the album clocking in at 8:47. the song starts off disjointed and confusing but transitions from this initial confusion and turns astral and reflexive in a stripped down acoustic setting. funny enough the longest track of the album proceeds the shortest track 'wild pack of family dogs' which is just shy of 2 minutes. this song really emulates the upbeat and sing a long chilled out nature that modest mouse can demonstrate from time to time. the next track is the one that you have probably heard before - its easy to love 'paper thin walls' - i know i love it. the last song that i need to tell you about is 'lives' which starts out rather melodramatic but after the 1:26 mark the song turns out to be some of the most beautiful modest mouse out there.

let me know what you think if you pick it up ...

who do i kiss? owl or bear?

2008-10-12T04:24:00.002-04:00

the fellas at owl & bear have done it once again. bu 'it' i mean achieved levels of superior awesomeness in their dedication to music especially wilco.

wilco live set from lollapalooza (02/08/2008) - its a high quality streaming video bitches!

setlist and song info

chicken little: "the sky is falling" ...

2008-10-10T19:00:00.002-04:00

so its very interesting times. the aussie dollar is trading at a recod low (since i have been in the country) of US65 cents (which means i might get that pair of r m williams boots afterall) and the entire world is on egg shells about the apparent financial doomsday that is lurking - or depending on who you talk to has already decended upon us.

so i thought (insipired by this american life) that i would give you some links that might explain what is happening and why if you are interested. its kind of funny that we are all living or lives normally, but in actuallity we might all be pretty fucked!

this american life: 'another friehgtening show about the economy'

npr's planet money blog

new york times 'freakronomics' blog

jonathan safran foer ...

2008-09-28T19:35:00.003-04:00

here's a pretty sweet video off of slate magazine about the young author.

fleet foxes ...

2008-09-24T18:47:00.001-04:00

Fleet Foxes - Blue Ridge Mountains

wow what a lobby ...

2008-09-22T21:18:00.002-04:00

so this past weekend was the national student leadership forum at the hyatt hotel (hence the police academy reference in the title of this post) in the aussie capital of canberra. for those of you who dont know i went to this forum when i 1st got to australia in august 2k6 and worked as an intern for the forum in 2k7. this year i got to return as an assistant facilitator.

the premise of the forum is to bring people together from various backgrounds, throw them together into small groups and start talking to each other in a open, honest, and trusting way and see where that leads. if you know me you know that this would be right up my alley.

i love it because these groups all start out as strangers. the talk focuses initially on self and then begins to slowly, through the telling of personal stories (fears, goals, faith, family ...), start shifting to focusing on each other, and then eventually on the group 'community'. its amazing! each individual sits there and says we are so lucky that our group works so well together or what are the chances that we would end up being so close ... when in reality those results are a given when you set a safe, trusting, inviting, loving,and warm framework for others to step outside of themselves and feel comfortable in who they are which in turn empowers the individuals to love outside of themselves. fucking love it!

other notes:

one more paper this week and then its 10 days of break - ill be reading tolstoy and sitting on lots of beaches

aunt sammy and uncle ed are in town and its so nice to have loved ones enter into my life over here

redskins are 2-1 and i love waking up at 4am to listen to games.

resurfacing ...

2008-09-14T06:34:00.005-04:00

not really sure what this one is supposed to be about other than an exercise in the art that is blogging. you know writing when you dont necessarily have something mind blowing, ground shaking, or really relevant to say but you still want to write. i hope this is as good for you as it is for me.

so for the past month i have been running at a pretty hard pace. it hasnt looked like a break-neck speed where i have been running around like a headless farm friendly fowl; rather its been a toll taking month. guess im not a spring chicken (farm friendly fowl that i was referring to earlier) anymore and the school (a mini-mester class within regular semester is not a recommendation of mine), the 530 mornings for the coffee shop, and the being away from loved ones have all been ground together and mashed into a veggie patty august thats been difficult to swallow.

but its now september ...

man i freaking love how life isnt static! its this on going dynamic mystery that takes weird twists, awkward turns, and brings you to a place that when you snap out of yourself and open your eyes you realize how beautiful your existence is. and when that happens you better be thankful!

here is what i am thankful for and stoked about as of late - the people i share a house and my life with right now, successfully being finished with 5/8ths of my masters degree with a very do-able 3/8ths left, knowing my aunt is making her way to sydney, wilco, gilman beating dematha in football, facial hair, imago dei podcasts, npr's live download of radiohead's sata barbra concert, mom in africa, tolstoy, going back to tasmania, and getting reacquainted with my old buddy - spring time!

i have heaps i want to talk about ...

2008-09-01T18:14:00.002-04:00

but yesterday and today are not the days to be bloggin because of work in the coffee shop, universtiy (classes, reading, assignments), and because i am in a new found place of trying to engage in a non performance or task oriented relationships where i can dedicate more head and heart space to others.

if you have been on the receiving end of my conditional friendships, all i can say is that i am sorry, and that i really do care.

happy birthday matthew ...

2008-08-24T23:46:00.002-04:00

dear strongbad,
today is matts 29th birthday.
sincerely,
steve sydney, AUS

thank you steve and sydney or steve sydney. do people ever call you 'ss' and make like silly snake sounds that really annoy you and make you jump up an shout "stop hissing in my ear you idiot!"

no seriously matthew -

lots of love to you on your 29th. shit i probably shouldnt of told everyone how old you are since there is an unusually high volume of readily available 20 something women who read this super sweet blog. dont worry your street cred is still sky high.

love

lil brudda

obama just armor plated his achilles heel ...

2008-08-23T03:46:00.002-04:00

looks like senator joe biden will be obamas running mate for the november showdown with mccain. like the article says obama is cover his lack of foreign policy experience butt with the head of the senate foreign relations committee. seems like this is what he needed to do to stop any attack, BUT it lacks that fire and integrity to fix dc from the outside-in that i had come to feel obama had. but at the same time the guy needs to be elected if hes going to do anything eh?

new music, sunshine, and life ...

2008-08-18T22:51:00.004-04:00

so lets focus on the 1st theme of this week's blog topics for today...

new music: i have been crushing it lately with regards to tunes. i have invested in a 320 gb external hard drive and have moved my music collection to the next level of cataloging, storing, and well im at 318 albums right now with many many more to come! (note: big thanks to bracey, jb, and owl&bear)

so here is what i have been obsessing over lately:

- mgmt - 'oracular spectacular' i finally broke down and got the mgmt album and have to admit that i really dig the dirty electro pop and party themes that fill the album. i am pretty sure most people have heard 'time to pretend' as it is has found serious airplay on college radio over the summer and is even on hollywood soundtracks. despite what the guys from the balck keys say, this album is worth a listen and would probably go well with any of your end of summer/labor day driving trips.

- bon iver - 'for emma, forever ago' with winter coming to a close over here and on the distant horizon over there its only natural that a bloke with the name bon iver should get a mention. (note: the phrase bon hiver means good winter en francais) the album has been getting some serious hype by some folks who i really look to for musical guidance and whos opinion i totally respect, and well i kind of dig it. its nice to see guys like Justin Vernon bringing back the idea of singer-song writer/creative musician extraordinary. 'flume' and 'skinny love' are the songs that are getting air time and are the so called singles off the album, but i am a huge fan of 'lump sum'. there is no need to wait for the changing of the seasons to check this one out.

- fleet foxes - 'fleet foxes' so the 1st fleet foxes album is one of the handful of records that i have to publicly thank bracey for turning me onto. out of the three cds that i am talking about this week this is by far my favorite! seattle and subpop records have again put out an amazing band and an amazing product in this cd. the songs are eerily harmonic and organic in the sense that they are earthy, true, and softly folk styled. my 1st thought about fleet foxes, and i mean this in the best way, is that they can be thought of as the illegitimate love child between jim james of my morning jacket and iron & wine. in other words stunning vocals and harmonies coupled with original guitar + banjo work = an incredible album!

wilco for me,and you, and everyone we know ...

2008-08-12T23:38:00.002-04:00

radio cure

semesters back on ...

2008-08-09T21:18:00.002-04:00

time for the 2nd and final round of classes for my masters. for those of you keeping score at home heres what we are up against this go-round.

us security and foreign policy
asia-pacific politics
environmental politics
media and international politics

its going to be a doozie of a semester, but i know whats required and im feeling confident in myself! masters degree here i come!

heres something to tide you over ...

2008-07-28T21:53:00.002-04:00

... until i finish my review of the band of horses sophmore album, cease to begin

monday's mandatory music (pt 10)

2008-07-20T02:53:00.006-04:00

so i am back and ready to get going on some fresh album reviews/exposes for all of you to enjoy. again the whole focus of this is to share the music that has acted as the soundtrack for my life over the past 3-5 years to give you a glimpse into my life and to hopefully get you searching out more new music. i also would love to hear your takes on some of the albums ive talked about and also share some of the albums that you have come to love, or find very impressive, or sleep with under your pillow every night ... im keen to know.

with the mission statement out of the way lets dive into this weeks selection, 'boxer' by the national. the national, a 5 piece out of brooklyn (home of amazing music) create a very deep almost puplely melodic sound that has been referred to as a gothic style. the main reason for this is description and label can be attributed to lead singer, matt berningers warm mellow baritone voice that plays the leading role for the national. berningers voice has tremendous depth and warmth while at the same time projecting an understated sophistication and understanding.

the album opens with the rolling track 'fake empire' which kick starts the album and demonstrated the bands stripped down sound, clever drum fills, and is the perfect introduction to berningers vocals. 'mistaken for strangers' the albums first single shows how the national creates an authentic sound that has an understated edge or grit to it that actually comes across very melodically and well composed. the 3rd track, 'brainy' is a drum fueled ballad where the nationals songwriting ability really shines. again understatement rings true not only for 'brainy' but for all three of the albums opening songs.

'squalor victoria' offers the listener an opportunity to really get into the gothic musical architecture that the national builds through the combination of drum, piano, simple guitar, and berningers voice. 'green gloves' lies at the 5th position is almost contrast to 'squalor victoria'. 'green gloves' focuses on the soft nature of the national where berningers voice is reminiscent of a mellow springsteen. 'slow show' again features more vocals and more acoustic guitar that paints a peaceful background for the firm tones and images created by the tracks lyrics.

'apartment story' is another single off the album that really highlights all that the national is (click the link). 'start a war' is a personal favorite of mine about abandonment and clinging desperately onto something that is slipping away more and more the tighter the grip becomes. on the track 'guest room' we get a heavy does of the duo of vocals and drums and on 'ada' we get that duo couple with some guitar picking and a more uplifting vibe overriding the entire song.

'racing like a pro' is very stripped down and consists of mainly soft guitar, piano, and a warm bass that help to settle down the latter half of the album. the thoughful and emotional lyrics totally complete the song and really help to complete the entire album. where 'racing like a pro' would be the perfect set up man (this is baseball season folks) 'gospel' is the ideal left handed closer. the song like 'fake empire' has a rocking (like waves to a boat) rhythm that paints a beautiful and perfect the national picture which is made complete with berningers voice, soft piano chords, warm acoustic guitars, and understated drumming.

fake empire

stay out super late tonight
picking apples, making pies
put a little something in our lemonade and take it with us
we’re half-awake in a fake empire
we’re half-awake in a fake empire

tiptoe through our shiny city
with our diamond slippers on
do our gay ballet on ice
bluebirds on our shoulders
we’re half-awake in a fake empire
we’re half-awake in a fake empire

turn the light out say goodnight
no thinking for a little while
lets not try to figure out everything at once
it’s hard to keep track of you falling through the sky
we’re half-awake in a fake empire
we’re half-awake in a fake empire

generation kill ...

2008-07-19T00:48:00.008-04:00

i was in the baltimore airport getting ready to leave to head back to australia when i wandered into the terminal bookstore and came across 'generation kill'. flipping over the back cover and seeing that it was compared to 'black hawk down' and 'dispatches' (thank you mr whaley)and was being made into a mini series by hbo (in fact david simon and ed burns of 'the wire' and 'hommicide' are the ones behind the mini series) really grabbed my attention. since the book was only 15 bucks (compared to the average price of $27.50 for a book in australia) and i had 20 hours in a plane to look forward to, i took a gamble and purchased the book. i loved it. its vivid. it provides an outlook on the invasion of iraq that is neither pro or con, but is real. nothing more and nothing less.

the book got me thinking about the war and i have differing thoughts on it from day to day and hour to hour, but rather than give you my nickels worth of thoughts i wanted to give you a snippet from the afterward (confessed reader of both introductions and afterwards) for you to chew on.

"It's the American public for whom the Iraq War is often no more real than a video game. Five years into this war, I am not always confident most Americans fully appreciate the caliber of the people fighting for them, the sacrifices they have made, and the sacrifices they continue to make. After the Vietnam War ended, the onus of shame largely fell on the veterans. This time around, if shame is to be had when the Iraq conflict ends - and all indications are there will be plenty of it - the veterans are the last people in America to deserve it. When it comes to apportioning shame my vote goes to the American people who sent them to war in a surge of emotion but quickly lost the will to either win it or end it. The young troops I profiled in 'Generation Kill', as well as the other men and women in uniform I've encountered in combat zones throughout Iraq and Afghanistan, are among the finest people of their generation. We misuse them at our own peril." - Evan Wright, 'Generation Kill' p.370

**if anyone wants to hook up this guy who is without hbo with the dvds of 'generation kill' he would be very much appreciative!