tommy

ooo, ooo, 7 pm increases my chances of stopping in for a few. it sounds like you guys are planning of making a night of it. my initial thought was more of a "meeting up for a few," rather than a full blown session. you gotta respect people who are in it for the duration.

and no votes for chumley's burger? for shame.

LOL!

then hot it is. i certainly wouldn't want a big round dumb old cracker. thanks again to everyone. full report to follow.

ok, so i got myself a stone yesterday. and a peel (i don't know what i would have done without a peel. i mean, how do you get the pizza off of the stone?) anyway, the first pizza turned out decent enough, with room for lots of improvement. i bought the dough at a local pizza joint for 1.50. very reasonable i thought. the biggest issue was getting the ball of dough into a pizza shape. it really wanted to snap back, and i ended up with a hole or two in the middle (which is definitely not a good thing), and a fat crust. i was using my hands and not a rolling pin. would anyone recommend a pin? or perhaps my technique just needs some practice? i can definitely see good things coming out of (off of?) this purchase. today's pizza was topped with canned san marzano (sp?) tomatoes, fresh muzz, grated parmesean, fresh basil, garlic, hot peppers, and some olive oil. the flavor was right where it needed to be. looking forward to my first crispy crust though.

i've been wanting to try mchales for something other than too many beers since i heard about their burger. glad to hear it's as good as i was hoping. i was having a "best burger" discussion with a friend of mine off-line (it's probably hard to believe, but i have actual conversations with people. although, the "friend" part is even harder to believe no doubt) and she tells me that JG Melons up on 3rd and 80 whatever has the best hands down. better than corner bistro, better than my beloved mollys. has anyone been? is she on drugs? apparently, the reviews on Citysearch are mixed. <= Click there!!

the first time i went to paris, people warned me. "they are going to hate you". "be ready for rudeness". "they hate americans". my first thought was "if it wasn't for us, they'd be speaking german." i decided to take a more civilized approach though. i learned a few phrases of french. namely "i don't not speak french". "do you know english". "please". "thank you". "where is". in 100% of the cases where i had to communicate, i attempted to speak french. i think this would immediately lighten the tone of the transaction, as it was probably very comical to listen to me speak french. at any rate, i found that just about every parisian was more than happy to help me after i'd made an attempt to speak french, and in a nice way. i liken this to the fact that if someone runs up to me in NYC, yelling a language other than english, i'm put off, and basically ignore them. however, if they approach me with respect, attempt to ask their question in the best way they know, i'm more than happy to help. one quick story of our first dinner in paris: we were handed the menus and were looking them over. we couldn't read very many words at all. i stealthy pulled out my little translation book, making very sure no one saw me (i wouldn't want to be pegged as a stupid american you know ;) ), when suddenly our waiter's head appeared resting on my shoulder from behind me. i utter to mrs. tommy "um, um, um". she finally looks up and sees this gentleman's head coming out of my shoulder as if i had just sprouted a second. the gentleman said, in perfect english, with that smooth french accent, "would you like a menu in English". well we were relieved and had a grand ol time with this guy. he told us he learned english from watching soap operas. it was one of the best (fun-wise) dinners we had there.

absolutely. i never trust a stranger's opinion.

i've been treated more horribly at the oyster bar. yeah, it's kinda fun to have that gruff service, but don't treat me like an a-hole...unless, of course, you know me.

you can say *that* again. really though, does that mean that 6.30 is ok for next week???

i think it's obvious that restaurants will "stuff the box." this should come as no surprise. to me, any type of poll is more of a fun thing than a scientific thing. hell, if i owned a restaurant i'd be voting many times as well.

i'm surprised the kiev hasn't come up. she's all remodeled and be-autiful now.

judging by the way i came out in those pictures ken robinson took, it looks like i should be eating first! they say the camera puts 20 years on you, right????

close. but the real answer is that you're a bunch of drunks. to make it easy on everyone, i'll state now that i won't be coming (although i might show anyway, since mrs. tommy almost gave us the go-ahead). not going, of course, won't stop me from posting nonsense to this thread. ;)

this knowledge will be invaluable if i ever find myself in singapore and ever figure out what a durian is.

really, it's not *that* bad, is it? oh man, how freakin cool is that thing!! i think i have found my new avatar.

i got hoodwinked! i suppose stealing images is problematic. they're obviously on to me!!!.

sounds perfect to me. i was going to suggest that we do something really good a few posts back, but chickened out and said something like "the possibilities are endless," hoping that someone would say "hey, lets take over nobu on night!"

i would see their "humor" and raise them a "never returning again." although, having lived in south carolina for some time, and spending time in tenessee (although never learning to spell it very well) i found that the choices can be somewhat limiting. i'd sneak a fork in!

thanks for those addresses. i just finally saw the post now. where did you get them???

my problem with ballpark vendors isn't so much the crappy food (that's all part of the attraction, isn't it?), but rather the incompetent service and painfully long lines. it's very easy to miss an entire inning while getting food (and a beer or two).

your secret is safe with us. i just hope it isn't "i'm actually jason in drag." ;)

huh????? surely you can bring a sandwich in your carry on. they don't check every carry on, and even if they found a sandwich why would they stop you??? people bring food on for children all of the time. methinks the concern lies more with da bombs and less with da ham and cheese. :)

without fail, every single time that i take a flight i end up saying "why didn't i bring lunch?!?!!" it would be soooo easy and soooo much better. surely there are no rules prohibiting the bringing your own food. liquor might be a problem.

april or may it is! really though, the possibilities are endless.