jhlurie

Steven... any updates on the peep photos? I'm dying of curiousity about the appearance of those Halloween Peeps!

Since Lynes didn't appear to have two heads or a murderous gleam in his eyes tonight, I may try to hitch a ride in with him and the Perlows.

For those not reading the NJ thread devoted to this, but still intending on attending tonight... apparently Long Island sucks as usual and so does Long Island traffic. In other words, the Perlows just called me and the dinner at China 46 is now scheduled for 7:30pm instead of 7:00pm, since they are busy impressing Andy with how great the Air Conditioning is in their vintage Cadillac while they muddle THROUGH that traffic. That is all. You may now go back to discussing other things to distract Andy with for the remainder of his trip.

Newsflash from the Perlow/Lynes party. Stuck in traffic. They request that people show up at 7:30pm now instead of 7:00pm. Apparently no formal reservation was made, since we've no idea how many are coming, but the first of us in should tip off Cecil, the manager, to this--not that this is likely to be a big problem on a Thursday. But that way, he can at least try and keep us all on the same side of the room.

So I take it the Korean food idea was ruled out, eh? Too bad. I'll never turn down a C46 visit though.

Hee. I wonder if David Byrne is upset enough about the imagined US position to become a Psycho Killer? I just had to lower this highbrow discussion a bit.

Grape. Grape. Grape. Grape. Grape. (should I keep going?)

I'll bet a lot of Mexican places have the name "Cinco De Mayo". I'm pretty sure there's a place in Fort Lee called that. Citysearch says Brooklyn, NY and Seaside Heights, NJ have them too. Of course that paper sign could have just been an "ad" left up from around the time of May 5th.

Maybe they are starting to admit that these food rags ( ) all need a six month lead time? Still, those two stories you mentioned in your first post make me actually want to read "Gourmet" for the first time ever.

I think the bio details given about the author (and Fat Guy is in charge of those) make it quite clear that she is not objective. And its a myth of the late 20th century that reporters are supposed to be objective anyway. But as has been mentioned, Nina isn't a reporter. She's a commentator. Nothing wrong with expressing a belief that the column was poor. Just the implication that eGullet made a mistake in publishing it. Obviously you are entitled to that belief as well, but its a lot easier to refute.

See Rosie... its a Diner on one side and an (as yet unopened) Italian restaurant on the other. Odd, yes? Even weirder, the two different sides are painted differently (the Diner is black and the Italian restaurant yellow). We wouldn't want people expecting Italian to accidentally wander into a Diner would we? Damn it. I'm in the mood for a burger again but not going in that direction today. Rats.

Does this Zapp's have any relationship to the Zapp Foods in New Orleans (who make some pretty well known Potato Chips? They also apparently make salsa and other condiments...

Tsk tsk, Fat Guy. I played by the rules. Well at least I can congratulate Louisa this time in trade for making fun of you and Bux. That's consolation. Glad to see she got what she deserved.

Well, since I know Jason didn't have a camera with him the first time, that means he either pestered them to carry other people's food over or had ANOTHER hamburger and Turkey Club. Or both. I hadn't gotten that good a look at the vegetables at lunch, since the guy with the meatloaf was almost finished when I looked over. That pork chop looks very good. Okay... there is something wrong with that hamburger. No bacon. I know its a matter of taste, but the bacon was SO perfectly done on the one I had. Are you going back for breakfast? Doing the trifecta (3 meals in a row)?

Okay... this handy-dandy distance calculator clocks Springfield to Kansas City at 150 miles. Springfield to St. Louis is 194 miles. Both as the crow flies, which means they are underestimated. Sadly, that's probably only weekend driving distance. Too bad. You wouldn't starve in either town, especially KC. So... eeeeek. Lebanon, Missouri is only 47 miles. Any food there?

OK, then me first. Err... its possible that some people aren't going to be turned off by that idea--the idea of wearing it after a woman, I mean. Steven could march around all day with it on afterwards. Now the other way around... I'm sure there would be problems. Okay. This conversation is getting too weird.

Bourdain has the most interesting circle of friends. I thought "smack" was something else in prison parlance.

The Onion Rings were good too--if also a bit undercooked. Not at all greasy.

We won't get off topic with Quiznos, okay? It certainly can't live up to a good burger. I was just comparing it to a place like Subway--which Fat Guy is a fan of, but I'm not. I hadn't thought about the all-important burger-to-bun ratio... but you are right. And I will never ever get a burger there without cheese and BACON after having it that way. Were your fries undercooked a bit too tommy?

He didn't actually create Velvet Falernum, but he's been a big booster and cross promoter, and quite obviously the lead in figuring out how to use it in drinks. Including of course... our lovely drink. BTW: Apparently the drink has two names. Usually we've just seen it as "The Flaming Orange Gully", but here our convention of calling it "the Fog" has seemingly caught on, since its "VELVET FOG COCKTAIL" there. But we are still mentioned, even if the "FOG" designation disconnects it a bit from us.

Jason beat me to it. I was about to enter a report. Especially done well: the bacon. Absolutely perfect. And Jason isn't really getting into how good the burger roll was. Anyone who thinks that the roll is an ancillary part of the burger eating experience should try a burger at this place. The man sitting next to us was having a really nice looking brown gravy meatloaf and mashed potatoes plate, with a julienned vegetable medley on the side. Funny thing about the sign problem. Their inability to get the town to allow them to change it basically leaves the place without a name. It's sort of "The Diner and As Yet Unopened Italian Restaurant Which are Collectively NOT Known as Hagler's, but have a Neon Sign Which Says Its Called That Anyway". BTW: If you folks haven't driven by recently the OUTSIDE has been painted as well as the inside. Going Southbound on Kinderkamack Rd., the northern face of the building is a rather mysterious black color now. Going Northbound, the south face is a bright and cheery yellow. The entrance to the diner portion is in the rear. The entrance to the as-yet unopened Italian portion is on the southern "yellow" side. Its been a good week for "simple" eating for me. I was also along for one of Jason's two visits at that Mexican place in Bergenfield, and also discovered that Bergenfield has a Quinzo's--a sub chain which puts Subway and Blimpie in their rightfully shameful place.

I've only had the first two of these (Newcastle, in fact, is present in enough places that its one of my safe "fallback" beers, when the alternatives are mostly big brewery crap). How are the others?

Well, duh! They weren't Chinese!

I'm not sure of the star's history. Usually it's just a graphic thing, a logo. One of their cheapest burgers is called The Happy Star. Well, the history of the star I actually knew a bit from a link from yesterday's posts. I was more interested in whether if was actually a character or just a logo. But either way, apparently he's been around forever, although according to that question on that little quiz led to by the link, not always with that creepy smile.

That creepy smiling star thing is what gets me. It's almost as creepy as the branded "M's" on the McGriddle sandwiches. Does it talk in the commercials or something?