The Summer of Steve

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Walkabout 2010: Day 5 Pictures

A lazy day in Oak Harbor. There’s not really much to do here. I now know why Clare from the Pink Door made a face every time it was mentioned.

Facebookers go HERE

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Walkabout 2010: Day 3 Pictures

Facebookers go HERE.

Eating Portland: The Farm Cafe

Synopsis

A snarky Dallas blogger escapes the heat and flies into Portland and meets a funny-named wine that proves to be the star of the big show on this very special episode of Eating Portland.

The Food

Apps

Williams Baked Brie - Slice of brie served warm with toasted sugar, roasted hazelnuts, seasonal fruit, and Ken’s baguette.

It’s amazing how the fruit and the brie and hazelnuts work flawlessly together in the mouth hole to form a perfect union of flavorfulishness

Clams and Mussels Fresh local clams and mussels sautéed in golden ale with garlic, butter and red chili flakes, served with grilled bread.

Seriously, some of the best mussels I’ve ever had. The hint of tarragon put these bad boys over the top. And there was plenty of juice for sopping. And you know how much I like-a da juice.

Entree

Flame-grilled Halibut
Fresh halibut fillet flame-grilled and served with grilled squash, French lentil salad and cilantro pesto.

Sorry, no picture. While this was a nice piece of halibut, it did seem a bit bland compared to the apps. The grilled squash was a very tasty accompaniment while the lentils were a bit too al dente. But that’s just picking nits.

Dessert

Blueberry Bread Pudding

This may be the best bread pudding ever -- blueberryy and delicious.

What I Liked

Everything
Love & Squalor Pinot Noir – I like picking wines that have a funny name. It’s how I discovered Pinot Evil. Although a bit on the sweet side, it was full of great noiry flavor and the aroma was amazing. It may be the one wine I would rather smell than drink but not because it tastes bad. It just smells that good.

What I Disliked

Feeling very underly tattooed. But it’s Portland, so I may have this feeling for a while.

Conclusion

Eat here be happy.

I’m adjusting my grading scale to accommodate the great foods of the PacNW. I can’t start off with an A and then have no room for conceivably better places to come.

B

10 SE 7th Ave Portland OR

Monday, August 16, 2010

Worst Hotel Ever

“How quaint”, I thought as we checked in. “Real keys instead of key cards. I can’t remember the last time I was at a hotel with actual keys”.

That should have gone under the heading of “Signs and Portents”.

But the initial reaction of this charming throwback to a bygone era, known as Hotel Seattle, soon became screams of abject horror and near death.

OK, that was hyperbole. Nothing almost died, except maybe a tiny bit of our humanity.

I ask few things from a hotel. The point of a vacation is to spend as little time in the hotel as possible. So I don’t need mints on the pillow or gold plated shower heads or Tuscan marble foyers. What I do need is a toilet that can flush.

Let me explain.

Sunday morning I got up “early” to go to Top Pot for the best donuts ever. But before heading out I needed to tinkle and upon flushing the toilet, it never stopped. Water flowed continuously. Since water conservation is a priority of mine (anyone who has seen my front lawn will confirm this) I alerted the dude at the front desk.

“Hmmm. Our maintenance guy has the day off. But I’ll see what I can do.”

OK. It’s not really my problem or my water bill. So I proceeded to Top Pot.

Once back at the hotel, I was told by (in order not to embarrass her I will keep her identity a secret and only refer to here by some random German automobile initials) VW that the toilet had stopped flushing and she thought that would be an excellent time to “take the Browns to the Superbowl”, “drop the kids off at the pool”, “make gorilla fingers”…..

“YES! YES! I get it.” I exclaimed.

“Well, just so you’re warned. The toilet doesn’t flush anymore. And there’s stuff in it”.

After cleaning up my puke and assuring myself that VW is the only one of her kind to do such disgusting things (maybe she got a bad oyster, yeah, that’s got to be it), I informed the front desk that the toilet had stopped flushing and now wouldn’t flush at all. The front desk dude told me that the maintenance man would be up shortly.

The maintenance dude came and went and we were told that the water pressure had to build back up in order to flush. 36 hours later and still no flush.

Awesome.

Oh, and don’t lean on the sink or you’ll knock it over.

Walkabout 2010: Day 2 Pictures

Facebookers go HERE

Friday, August 13, 2010

Walkabout 2010: Day 1 Pregame

Woohoo! Although my flight was originally departing from Terminal C, it got changed to the new and swanky Terminal D. More preflight food and booze options!

Thankfully I got a ride to the airport since my American Airlines iPhone app tells me my return flight arrives in Terminal C and thus won't have to deal with interterminal transportation. Has anyone ever had an American flight that departed and arrived at the same terminal? I guess they're too busy figuring out new method of assraping their passengers with ticky-tack fees to get that action item to the completed state.

I got here in plenty of time for a beer and late lunch at Reata. Mmmm Sam Adams Boston Lager. Probably the most pedestrian beer I'll drink for the next 16 days.

Quick review: If you want to pay $20 for a meal on a meal similar in quality to Taco Cabana, then Reatta in Terminal D is for you. The beef fajita meat is the same mushy proceed cow that TC specializes in. Oh and if you want tortillas with your carne asada, that's an extra $1.50. At least the 22oz beer was cold.

-- Post From My iPhone

Location:Unnamed Rd,Grapevine,United States

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

A Great Announcement on The Worst Day of the Year

It's about fucking time.

clipped from: blogs.dallasobserver.com

And The People Rejoiced: Green Room Opens Today, and We Have the Menus

The Green Room, the Deep Ellum legend that's back in business as of this afternoon, has put quail eggs and halibut cheeks on its elegant opening menu.

But it's unlikely The Green Room's most ardent fans will ever order many of the announced dishes, since the "Feed Me" option's back: For $47 -- or $68 with wine -- guests get "a unique four-course menu" created specifically for the table.

While there are plans to add brunch and lunch service, the Green Room is now open Tues.-Sat., 5 p.m.-11 p.m. For reservations, e-mail reservations@greenroomdallas.com. Check out the opening menus on the next page.

The Green Room
2715 Elm St.
214-748-7666