Quickly, as I've got a cousin in town:
-My sister finally broke-up with her shithead boyfriend!
-Got the new Matthew Good album (Vancouver), and it's another winner.
-Ate at Rick Bayless's new place, Xoco, and Silver Palm (and had the mammoth 3 Little Pigs sandwich finally-finished it, by the way) yesterday.
-Weather is gorgeous in the city, my hair the same.
-If SC kicks hell out of OSU, and an earthquake erupts at the Big House today, life will be too sweet to tolerate.
More to come on a few of these topics.
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Monday, September 7, 2009
I don't know why, but I can't enjoy breakfast anywhere but a strip club
I never eat at home enough. Well, that's not true; I never have food at my place enough. I run out of groceries and might go a week or two on Ramen and take-out. This is good and bad, for mostly obvious reasons:
Bad - costs more dinero, overall bad for my health, and a pain - compared to being at home and going to the kitchen (this excludes going out to eat with friends/family/date/work).
Good - Chicago has great food, lots of it. I can get any type of food delivered. Also, less clean-up (though not very 'green', but more on that down the road).
So this all came in my cross-hairs when I was thinking of great places I've eaten that have small spaces, just like my tiny kitchen. Here are the 5 Best Places To Eat, That Are Smaller Than My Apartment (well, probably not literally, but damn close)...the best "holes in the walls":
Algonquin Sub Shop (way the fuck out in the NW burbs of IL, toeing the white trash line) - best sandwich shop, consistently. They specialize in hot subs (yes gang, better than Yello Sub). I've eaten there a dozen or so times, and have only ordered off the regular menu once. Every other time, it's the Special of the Day (standing to-go order for my family, should they happen to go sans me). Always great.
Duck Walk (Thai place up the street from me. I'm pretty sure it's located between an Indian restaurant and a Moroccan restaurant) - the entrees and soups are good, but I love their appetizers. They're just disgustingly good to me; the Crab Rangoon rivals Shine and The Thai Place(KC), and the baby egg rolls are just bite-size shrimp, fried. I've had that, and their chicken satay and pot stickers as a meal...more than once.
New Japan (located in the armpit of Santa Monica Blvd. and the 405, LA) - there teriyaki is heaven to me. I've eaten beef all over this great country (Chicago, KC, Denver, Texas), and if you were to ask me how I would like it made for my last meal, I want it made to taste like New Japan's beef teriyaki. Same for the chicken (and their miso salad dressing is spectacular as well).
Big Jo's (some burger stand located in what looks like a parking lot in Santa Monica) - "Big Jo" is a tiny Asian lady (sweet as can be), who heads this burger stand. Burgers are phenomenal, along with everything else cooked on the short-order grill. Try the Vegas burger - their cheeseburger with a slab of ham on it. An old delivery driver, for a patio furniture store I worked for, and I used to eat this way too much (and then he and I would go deliver shit, drive down to the marina and smoke dope and drink beer - and then I would go back to work in the store! The owners were never there and the clientele were pretentious pricks anyway, be cool).
Town Topic (my place may really be bigger than this 24-hour quickfire, located in a shadier part of downtown Kansas City, which if you know KC, is pretty much all of "downtown" but I've heard that things are changing) - always great, and in a city with great, thin-style burgers (a la Culver's), these are probably the best (sorry to the 3W's: Winstead's, Wylie's, and Wimpy's [all real, or were, all very good in their own right]). This is what you eat after the bars have closed, the party has died, and you're either post-fuckin' or sans-fuckin' for the night.
If you see these places in your travels, I suggest you grab a chair/stool/lean and try some for your self.
Bad - costs more dinero, overall bad for my health, and a pain - compared to being at home and going to the kitchen (this excludes going out to eat with friends/family/date/work).
Good - Chicago has great food, lots of it. I can get any type of food delivered. Also, less clean-up (though not very 'green', but more on that down the road).
So this all came in my cross-hairs when I was thinking of great places I've eaten that have small spaces, just like my tiny kitchen. Here are the 5 Best Places To Eat, That Are Smaller Than My Apartment (well, probably not literally, but damn close)...the best "holes in the walls":
Algonquin Sub Shop (way the fuck out in the NW burbs of IL, toeing the white trash line) - best sandwich shop, consistently. They specialize in hot subs (yes gang, better than Yello Sub). I've eaten there a dozen or so times, and have only ordered off the regular menu once. Every other time, it's the Special of the Day (standing to-go order for my family, should they happen to go sans me). Always great.
Duck Walk (Thai place up the street from me. I'm pretty sure it's located between an Indian restaurant and a Moroccan restaurant) - the entrees and soups are good, but I love their appetizers. They're just disgustingly good to me; the Crab Rangoon rivals Shine and The Thai Place(KC), and the baby egg rolls are just bite-size shrimp, fried. I've had that, and their chicken satay and pot stickers as a meal...more than once.
New Japan (located in the armpit of Santa Monica Blvd. and the 405, LA) - there teriyaki is heaven to me. I've eaten beef all over this great country (Chicago, KC, Denver, Texas), and if you were to ask me how I would like it made for my last meal, I want it made to taste like New Japan's beef teriyaki. Same for the chicken (and their miso salad dressing is spectacular as well).
Big Jo's (some burger stand located in what looks like a parking lot in Santa Monica) - "Big Jo" is a tiny Asian lady (sweet as can be), who heads this burger stand. Burgers are phenomenal, along with everything else cooked on the short-order grill. Try the Vegas burger - their cheeseburger with a slab of ham on it. An old delivery driver, for a patio furniture store I worked for, and I used to eat this way too much (and then he and I would go deliver shit, drive down to the marina and smoke dope and drink beer - and then I would go back to work in the store! The owners were never there and the clientele were pretentious pricks anyway, be cool).
Town Topic (my place may really be bigger than this 24-hour quickfire, located in a shadier part of downtown Kansas City, which if you know KC, is pretty much all of "downtown" but I've heard that things are changing) - always great, and in a city with great, thin-style burgers (a la Culver's), these are probably the best (sorry to the 3W's: Winstead's, Wylie's, and Wimpy's [all real, or were, all very good in their own right]). This is what you eat after the bars have closed, the party has died, and you're either post-fuckin' or sans-fuckin' for the night.
If you see these places in your travels, I suggest you grab a chair/stool/lean and try some for your self.
First we should establish a safety word: orangutan?
Alright, I'll try and get this thing going, and regular like an old man on a Metamucil diet. Going to do more entries, but shorter, keeping mostly to pop culture criticisms/reviews, lists, food & drink and a pearl necklace worth of wisdom for you my darlings (I watched The Life Aquatic recently). Let's see how it goes, do not tell your friends...or do, I can't stop you.
I need a rating scale for music/TV/movies (though I may have just come up with one), any suggestions? I will beat most of you to the punch, no the Clydesdale Scale will not be used.
By the way, to protect the innocent, most people will be called by nicknames, so see if you can keep up with my terrible sense of humor and Dennis Miller-ian references.
OK, last bit: in thinking up this entry title, it was amazing how tough it was to think up a good "safety" word. What I mean is that, everything I kept thinking up, I had to check against if someone (maybe a lady?) were to scream this during the sweaty karate that is making with the sex (you mean like fuckin'? Rocks, you're a star). As you may have guessed, I've never done this in real-life (2 competitors enter, we fight like a cat and dog in a burlap sack, and finish with a cigarette and delousing, what? Although this does remind me of the saying "if you're not living on the edge, you're taking up too much room"). Sooooooo, I went with orangutan. Imagine someone saying that in the throes of passion. There ya go.
I need a rating scale for music/TV/movies (though I may have just come up with one), any suggestions? I will beat most of you to the punch, no the Clydesdale Scale will not be used.
By the way, to protect the innocent, most people will be called by nicknames, so see if you can keep up with my terrible sense of humor and Dennis Miller-ian references.
OK, last bit: in thinking up this entry title, it was amazing how tough it was to think up a good "safety" word. What I mean is that, everything I kept thinking up, I had to check against if someone (maybe a lady?) were to scream this during the sweaty karate that is making with the sex (you mean like fuckin'? Rocks, you're a star). As you may have guessed, I've never done this in real-life (2 competitors enter, we fight like a cat and dog in a burlap sack, and finish with a cigarette and delousing, what? Although this does remind me of the saying "if you're not living on the edge, you're taking up too much room"). Sooooooo, I went with orangutan. Imagine someone saying that in the throes of passion. There ya go.
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