Mussels in Brussels

(For some reason, the following youtube clip only appears if you click the "Mussels in Brussels" header)
Bourdain ended up at the Cadieux Cafe in Detroit, one of my favorite places:


The Cadieux Cafe (pronounced Ca-dgoo )in Detroit boasts "America's Only Feather Bowling", a Belgian oddity that probably only exists in the old Belgian neighborhood and not in the homeland.

Aside from the hybrid bocce-curling-bowling game, this Belgian cafe really is an old school bar.  Back in 2005, their beer menu exposed me to life beyond the swill of PBR. It launched my ongoing lust for Duvel, the King of Kings.  "The Devil" holds an 8.5% punch and pours a ridiculous head if not done correctly.  Most of the beers on the menu are relatively common at specialty beer stores, only one or two may be hard to come by.

The third interesting finding at the Cadieux is the year-round mussel offering on the menu.  Prices remain fixed throughout the year.  I have yet to find a place that prepares and serves them this way in America.

http://greatlakesgazette.wordpress.com/2009/10/08/3255/

However, mussels dominate this restaurant-dense area of Brussels

View Larger Map


I went to Belgium for the beer and food, as well as the new flight route from Detroit.  Chez Leon caught my eye.  The variety of mussel preparations is worth noting.  Interestingly, the mussel price in Belgium is higher than in Detroit (~$15 US vs ~20 EU).  I ended up at the Leon twice, as they know how to prepare a mussel.
And yes, I tried the Leon beer.  It wasn't remarkable.

For "remarkable", walk around the corner of the Leon to the Delirium Cafe.  2000+ beers.  The menu they hand to you is essentially a bible.  I'm not sure how much money I spent there, and I can't recall everything I sampled.

Two stories that came from my venture to the Delirium:

Media Dump!

The Lady got a 2 week trial to Netflix in the mail. I signed up with my credit card, even though I think they may have a month trial available.  Last time I had Netflix, it was 2004 and streaming video didn't exist.  However, it had its own beneficial outcomes.

Here's what I've watched so far:

San Diego

While in San Diego for a convention in 2007, four of us went to a tiki restaurant, Mr. Tiki.  Most of my compadres had no idea what a tiki bar/restaurant was, had never been to one, and knew nothing of tiki culture.  The whole tiki thing, the hyperstylized (hyperreal) Polynesian influence and design, began to explode in the US after WWII.  Returning vets who had been in the Pacific theater recalled beautiful women, fruity drinks, and non-stop sun.  Many vets never even came back to the US. (Citation certainly needed).

This Forbes article serves as a good intro to the sine-wave of tiki awareness.  Tiki is not for everyone.  To see what all is available and decide whether it's tacky, kitsch, or cool, you can go here to see what is available at the largest Tiki internet seller (I think).

The art of Shag is seen as part of the neo-tiki revival that we experienced from 2000 to 2008. 

At Mr. Tiki, it was half off tiki drink night, and we certainly loaded up on bowls of fruit-punch-ish drinks.  Straight guys are able to get away with it because it was a Tiki bar.  It's to be expected.

Stolen from this blog

The food was good for an upscale fusion tiki restaurant.

Stolen

We also hung out at a dive bar that was featured in Top Gun each night also.  Unfortunately the owner was an Ohio State fan.

The Wing Battle

There is a constant debate in my circle between Hooters (beware the heavy Flash) and Buffalo Wild Wings (BW3) as to which has the better wing.  I polled a selection of people from my email contact list.  Quaker Steak and Lube is excluded from this battle; I've been to one and was not impressed.  It was all you could eat wing day there, so I tried a bunch of their sauces.  Overall, the sauces were too gimmicky, many of which were too sweet or just not palatable (Tequila lime was gross).  So, here we go with the survey results:

BW3	vs	Hooters
1982	Since	1984
601	Locations	“over 450” in 26 countries
Buzztime Trivia?	Claim to fame	Hooters girls
14 (4 “hot” variations)	Number of sauces	10 (3 “hot” variations)
~$15 for 18  wings	Price	~$15 for 20 wings
45 cent  Tuesdays	Specials night	All you can eat Tuesday
Free ranch/blue cheese	Bonus	Paper towels at table
Wiki	Link	Wiki
62%	Preferred bare wing	38%
85%	Preferred wing with sauce	15%
92%	Preferred sauces (selection/variety, application, quality/taste)	8%
62%	Preferred atmosphere	38%

Surprisingly, Hooters lost the "preferred atmosphere" battle, which I wasn't expecting...
Another shock was how many people claimed that the Mango Habanero sauce from BW3 is their preferred sauce...
I understand that nobody ever gets a "bare" wing.  In my opinion, Hooters has the better "bare" wing because it's a fried/breaded wing, compared to BW3's non-breaded wing.

Other thoughts from the survey:

"It's difficult for me to get service in Hooters. Typically I just make eye contact with waitresses, but in Hooters they think I'm checking them out, so I have to call them over. Plus it's just a white trashy environment. When my Dad met my first Mom there in the 70's it was a much classier establishment."

"Going to Hooters is like paying for a lapdance you'll never get and going to Wild Wings is like paying for decent wings you'll never get."

"Hooters is trashy"

"Hooters is like a strip club: you go for the tits and ass but you know you going to get a shitty over priced drink. And in the end you leave with a hard on you payed too much, you never see a bare ass nor tit and you feel just as dirty. Now that I think about it I would rather go to a Mexican strip joint knowing in the end I might get laid and I wouldn't have shelled out that much cash."

"Price - Hooters has tons of specials and they're all better than the infamous ".60 cent wings" special at Bdubs. If that's a special then is it a $1 per wing on average? That's $6 for 6 wings and its $7.95 for 12 at Hooters"

"Only if BW3 would have similar uniforms as hooters, then hooters would be out of business"

"I definitely prefer BW3 to Hooters wings, but Hooters has some amazing chili. Don't know what's up with that, but it rocks my socks."

"If I'm really hungry, BW's. Otherwise, I'll take the view at Hooters."

"When was the last time you saw anyone in Hooters that looked like they had a respectable job?"

"Hooters Hot, Bdubs Mango Habenero.  However, slowly but surely Hooters is coming out with more and more selection. They just came out with a Lemon dry rub thingy. Quality I would give to Bdubs because of only the size of the wing but taste goes to HooHoos."

"BW3 has cuter waitresses because they're not intentionally trampy, MMA"

"I have had too many uncooked wings at hooters"

"I put BW3, though I always have sauce on them. There are some bare things at Hooters I would prefer though."

"I am a major fan of both boobs and sports, but now that I am over 18 I go to restaurants for the food. Hooters "atmosphere" I can get at home on the internet; ironically, both require wet wipes."

You can fill out the survey here

You can view the results here

Scholarly Awareness

In Williamsburg, we visited a restaurant named "Food For Thought" that had just opened.  You can read their philosophy in their "About Us".

A truly wonderful meal is a combination of good food and good conversation.  So talk about the special people featured here.  Talk about the contributions that these people have made to the world.  Talk about how everyone can be great in his or her own way.  Talk about how we can each make a significant contribution if we model the same principles and beliefs of those that have gone before us

The walls have large printed quotes and quips of famous theoreticians (Franklin, Twain, Thoreau), the tablecloths are paper, and crayons are present.  In addition to all of this, each table has a set of Trivial Pursuit cards or cards from other games that intend to invoke conversation.  Our table had cards of questions to ask the entire group, such as "Give three adjectives to describe the people at the table."  All of this was largely a gimmick, naturally.  It's a bit pretentious to buy into the owner's philosophy, and I'm not sure if black turtle-necks can even do so.  Rather, they'd probably find the idea shallow and pedantic.

The food was pretty good, from what I remember.  I had the cilantro chicken, and the lady had the portabella stack. Hers looked great and tasted proper when I got a sample.

The whimsy of the place is backed up by the acceptable food; otherwise it would have been a gimmick-restaurant with a confusing motif that tried too hard.  You won't walk out of here with a critical analysis of society, but that's not their purpose.  That's the purpose of Google Scholar, a likely neglected tool outside of finals-week computer labs.

Google Scholar searches through academic journals and bibliographies instead of the public internet.  Unfortunately, I only learned of Scholar.Google.com in my last year of undergrad.  Had I been aware of it sooner, research for my History of Art courses would have been substantially easier (no more diving through the dusty archives of the Tappan library, finding books that were 50 years old and disintegrating in my hands as I read through them).  Also, if Wikipedia had been in existence before then too, life in general would have been simple, especially in biology.

It wasn't until I was on my way out the door at UofM that it dawned on me that without the .edu host, I would not have access to journals found on Google scholar.  Hopefully one day I'll befriend a college kid who can grab my weird articles on pop culture topics.

Try it for yourself.  Type in some of your hobbies, favorite films, restaurants, music, anything.  Academics will write on really strange things (The Three Stooges as Environmentalists?).

Chances are that you are not on an .edu network.  As such, you will only get the abstracts or limited views of articles.  If you have a friend in college, ask them to download and send you the PDF, perhaps even in Google Documents (embrace the cloud).  Google scholar search results will also link to scanned-in Google books and citations, two things which may not be what you want, so click your results wisely. 

Example papers I found:
Die Hard
Talking Heads
David Lynch (a lot of Lacan analysis comes up with a search for Lynch)
Dreaming and David Lynch
Edward Scissorhands
The Godfather
Another Godfather essay
Nip/Tuck
Nip/Tuck (on how the graphic surgery is used to attract viewers)
Miami Vice (Baudrillard and Miami Vice!)
College football
College football statistics
Olive Garden
Cartoon physics
Family Guy
Pee Wee's Playhouse
Seinfeld
George Costanza
Larry David, Curb Your Enthusiasm
Arrested Development

Link dump!

• Lame sports banners 
• The art of list making 
• 3D television
• UV tattoos 
• Etsy, a marketplace for hand-made goods 
• Horrible Sports Authority coupon 
• A profile of the non-verbal Roger Ebert
• A list of "Hey, it's That Guy" actors

Exploding banana face

  

The Most Expensive Dinner

In 2005, I presented some research in Georgetown.  A few others from the hospital where I worked also presented.  Word on the street was that I was supposed to win an award.  In fact I didn't win, explained by my colleagues that because one of my co-workers had won a different award, I couldn't win because "the man" didn't want to give us a monopoly.  So... that's the way it was.

That night, my little posse went out to dinner.  The most senior doctor there said that the president of one of our hospitals was so proud that we had as many presentations as we did.  The president had given her his personal credit card and wanted us to celebrate.

We went to 1789, which was his favorite restaurant.  Some people inside were in tuxes.  It was myself, the senior physician, a resident, and the resident's 10 year old son.  There was a string quartet or trio playing in one corner of the restaurant.  The atmosphere was like a cavernous, older Ritz.  Needless to say, we ordered a lot.  I remember it as a prix-fixe, but the current online menu has courses ala carte.

When I was there, we had every offered course.  Pre-dinner drinks.  Expensive wine.  Cheese plates.  Desert drinks.  And then at the end, grappa.  I had never heard of grappa.  I ordered some, sipped it.  Felt it.

The food was very good.  I don't remember what I had except for a cheese plate, some red wine, and grappa.  I haven't had grappa since, probably because it's $12 a shot.  If I could go back, I'd break down with The Glenlivet 25

I was staying at a different hotel from the rest of the group, and I was within walking distance.  It was a Thursday night.  I began to walk through Georgetown, somewhat buzzed (if not borderline drunk), and found a student bar that was not a dive, went in, sat down, got a drink, hung out with some students, and then went home.

In the end, I think we had run up a $700 bill between the four of us.  And the 10 year old had ordered simple things and no alcohol.  I don't know how much my individual bill would have been, but I remember it would have been at least $200.  End cost to me: $0.

The Most Expensive Breakfast

We drove 12 straight hours from Virginia to Orlando, arrived late at night, and decided to get a big breakfast in the morning.

Since it was the lady's first time to Disney World, she had a priority to-do list:

• Character breakfast with Mickey-shaped waffle
• Mickey-shaped ice cream
• A bunch of other things that I now forget 

The character breakfast is where you eat, usually a buffet, and Disney characters walk around and allow you to take pictures with them.  It sounds cheesy and unnecessary, and it is, but once you're there it doesn't seem horrible.  We walked into the Contemporary Resort.

The Contemporary was built in an era where concrete was considered modern. When you compare it to other Disney World hotels, it seems too cold and serious. I think only business/conference people stay there, my Disney professor said that only boring, cold people did.  The feature that gives the hotel any character is that the monorail runs through the lobby:

The mural in the lobby is by Mary Blair, who the lady thinks was either a genius, or drug-induced nut. (Blair had an astigmatism, and was also an alcoholic).  It's a Small World is an acid-trip through Blair's mind.

Inside this hotel are a few restaurants, including the character buffet Chef Mickey's, recommended to us by a friend who claimed the food was better than other buffets with less screaming kids.

We were seated right away, despite not having reservations.  Some old Dutch guy was our waiter.  The buffet was stacked: french toast, waffles, pancakes, blintzes, donuts, fruit, capers and lox, candy, "breakfast pizza", meats, hashbrowns, a potato/pepper/cheese mix, eggs of many types... it's just excellent.  And of course, they had the Mickey Waffle:

 

Blintzes and something on the left, cereal and CANDY (!?) in the clear canisters.

 

We sat next to a window that overlooked the Magic Kingdom, with the iconic castle and Space Mountain in view.  She cried because it was her first time at Disney World, it was the first morning after a long drive, and there she was overlooking the place as Mickey and other "classic" characters went to each table mugging for photos and autographs.

Overall, the food was really good.  But then there was the bill.  It was around $70 (for the both of us).  This was the most expensive breakfast I will ever have, far more than breakfast at the Ritz in Dearborn, MI.

But the $70 price tag brings in the idea of "experience as a commodity", a distinctly 20th century realization that Disney has perfected.  This breakfast wasn't $70 worth of food.  The price involved having your picture taken with Disney character-suits and being able to look out over the Magic Kingdom.  Having a picture taken is far more important to children, as is the episode where a song started playing and the characters danced.  For $35, she was invited into the Disney culture of paying for memories.
As Adorno said,

The cultural commodities of the industry are governed by the principle of their realization as value, and not by their own specific content and harmonious formation.  The entire practice of the culture industry transfers the profit motive naked onto cultural forms.

The World

In November 2009, we decided to go to Disney World. The lady had never been at all, and I've obviously been influenced by the place... even through college. Most adults consider Disney World to be a place for kids, the cynical-type may think of it to be the "ultimate in fakery".  Most likely, these people haven't visited as adults (without children).  I can't blame them, but most people can't envision a trip there to be worthy of their time, or precious dollar.  Walt's vision, though, was to strip adults of their society-induced roles of having to be serious, and instead create an environment where they would have as much fun as youth.  David Johnson wrote in an essay:

All people manage their behavior so that they separate their frontstage from their backstage behavior. Invasions of privacy or slips showing backstage behavior are to be avoided at all  costs.

And that's pretty much the crux of the matter. If you've been to Disney World/Land as an adult, without children, then you know.  Alexander Moore described how Disney World/Land is an American rite of passage, or a pilgrimage center.

A pilgrimage center is a bounded place apart from ordinary settlement, drawing pilgrims from great distances as well as nearby.  It must have some place of congregation, some symbols on display readily understood by the congregated pilgrims.

Although expensive, there are a lot of things to do and appreciate as adults.  The operations-side of the place is staggering to consider.  There have been books devoted to the subject (more than two).

I'll spare more on the theory and get to the food.  Food at Disney World is overpriced.  It is not, however, typical amusement park grease-fare.  For the most part, thought is put into menus and the final product.  Portions are generally excessive, or at the minimum, entirely adequate.  Most Disney food can be split in two and still fill each person up until the next meal.

For example, there's a place in the Magic Kingdom where you can order a burger, and then load up on it with a ridiculous amount of fixin's (for free), from grilled onions, grilled shrooms, nacho cheese sauce, practically everything you could want on a burger. 

Aforementioned fixin' bar At Pecos Bill Cafe

One breakfast that we ate was Tonga Toast at the Polynesian Resort, a place that she claimed was "more Hawaiian than Hawaii is."  If she were a postmodern academic philosopher, she would have said that the Polynesian Resort is an example of simulacra, where the simulation of Hawaii has played to what we believe Hawaii looks like.  Eco's claim of hyperreality also stands:

In this sense Disneyland is more hyperrealistic than the wax museum, precisely because the latter still tries to make us believe that what we are seeing reproduces reality absolutely, whereas Disneyland makes it clear that within its magic enclosure it is fantasy that is absolutely reproduced. The Palace of Living Arts presents its Venus de Milo as almost real, whereas Disneyland can permit itself to present its reconstructions as masterpieces of falsification, for what it sells is, indeed, goods, but genuine merchandise, not reproductions. What is falsified is our will to buy, which we take as real, and in this sense Disneyland is really the quintessence of consumer ideology.

Changing subjects, Tonga Toast is sourdough french toast with cinnamon; in-between the two slabs of bread are grilled bananas.  I hate sourdough, but the taste was masked by cinnamon and banana.  An absolutely wonderful way to start the day.  The portion?  Humongous.

Like family... no thanks

First up, yesterday's exquisite voyage to a place I haven't been in probably ten or more years. The Olive Garden. I went because I had a $25 Darden gift card. Otherwise I wouldn't have gone.

Nick DiPaolo:

Jokes.com
Nick DiPaolo - Authentic Italian
comedians.comedycentral.com

WSJ: It has been said--accurately and not altogether insultingly--that the Olive Garden is the McDonald's of Italian-American cuisine.

And then there was this essay from a guy named Doug Shaw, which I read before going, preparing me that they would be pushing wine on me.

And sure enough he was right. The decor and entrance had wine bottles prominent. The second menu was of specials, all with a wine pairing. Our waitress brought out a lambrusco for sampling. I accepted, but it was too sweet for my liking. It would have been gross with a meal.

I ordered a Gorgonzola-spinach-linguini/balsamic steak entree, the lady ordered portobello ravioli. Hers was better than mine. Mine wasn't horrible, it wasn't remarkable. The service was pretty mediocre. Dirty glasses, no water refills, and a rushed experience will be all that I remember. I don't plan on returning to an Olive Garden for the rest of my life, simply because there is better food elsewhere.

Of all big chain restaurants in the mode of Olive Garden, I personally would only go to Chili's. Even then, I'd opt for somewhere else. The Olive Garden has acceptable reheated flash frozen food. But it's uninspiring, due to the desire to cater to millions. At Chili's, I can buy a reheated burger that is more enjoyable than reheated pasta. I'm not sure what type of person desires to go to the Olive Garden; I suspect that for families it is simple because least you could find something for everyone. For non-families, I'd prefer a local pizzeria/mom and pop Italian gig.

NYT Rules broken:
17. Do not take an empty plate from one guest while others are still eating the same course. Wait, wait, wait.
25. Make sure the glasses are clean. Inspect them before placing them on the table.
62(a). Do not let a glass sit empty for too long.
75. Do not ask if someone is finished when others are still eating that course.
76. Do not ask if a guest is finished the very second the guest is finished. Let guests digest, savor, reflect.

Life's new purpose

I will now update this with various crap from my life, mostly restaurant reviews from places I go and have gone.

My food/restaurant reviews won't really have a form of consistency. One common thing I will consider is the whole "could I make this at home" idea, which stemmed from when I saw Guy Fieri commercials for Applebee's, stating his new grilled chicken breast on pasta was worth going out for. The lady rolls her eyes when I say "I could make this at home" when eating elsewhere.

A list which has influenced my social-eating habits is found courtesy of the New York Times, a few of which may be ridiculous, but most are pretty relevant. Click here for the list