Gray and Grizzled Food Fan

Slanted Door: 5 Reasons Why The Bi-Coastal Hype is Well Deserved

July 27, 2007

I’m always skeptical when a restaurant is so frequently and effusively praised. High expectations are hard to exceed and easy to fail to meet. For once, the critics have it right. Here’s why.

1) Floyd Cardoz of Vietnamese Food in the Kitchen: Charles Phan enhances and refines his native cuisine but never obscures the ingredients that give it such a unique and attractive set of flavors and textures. Makes New York’s Indochine look like Saigon Grill on an off night. Oh, and he’s also around at Slanted Door to talk to customers when he isn’t manning the stoves. No Vegas outposts…yet.

2) Snap-tight service: Counter and table servers know their stuff, and when they don’t, they ask. Exotic herbs in each dish were explained on request. Clam shells were whisked away and my usual spills were quickly and discreetly erased. I talked to a barman one morning, a takeout counterman another and an outstanding server at lunch on the third day. Not a single slip, plenty of charm and the best hard skills training—clearing, marking, tracking orders, wine service and pairing—of any of my week’s dining in San Francisco.

3) Wondrous whites: Reasonably priced wine list with unreasonably good selections. Bartenders check every bottle before pouring by the glass, and the reward is consistently exceptional quality. Two Rieslings were particularly delicious. For my money, and I didn’t spend too much, one of the better lists for white going in the Bay Area.

4) Manila clams with crisp pork belly and chiles: Ordered this dish on a whim, then returned for more on two occasions. Amazing combination of rich porcine juiciness from back bacon, piercing heat from piquant peppers and salty-sweetness from super-fresh clams. And Thai basil was a magic addition. The protein and vegetable components were delicious in their own right, but it was the broth they infused that had me gasping. Wonderfully integrated flavors.

5) Vietnamese iced coffee: One of few the great byproducts of colonialism. French press coffee with chicory drips onto condensed milk to produce a two layered parfait of pleasure. Mix the layers then add ice to order, as they do here, and you have coffee and dessert without the gutbusting juvenile whipped cream shenanigans of Starbuck’s or Dunkin’ Donuts. It tastes profoundly of espresso, but it’s oh so much better. Regular desserts are also outstanding, especially the lighter fruit based offerings.

Posted in Favorite 5 Lists, Food, San Francisco | 4 Comments »

5 Reasons to Gather at Hearth

July 11, 2007

With a nod to Gramercy Tavern, the Meyer inspired Hearth is producing some of the most compelling dining in the City. It’s not the food, wine list or service alone, but the power trio combination of the three, like Rush before they got old.

1) Tom Colicchio in the kitchen: Canora makes deft and delicious use of butter, seasonal vegetables and hearty meats. He also brings a gimlet eye to colorful, attractive and unfussy plating. In other words, he does a great impression of Tom Colicchio in the early aughts at Gramercy Tavern. That said he finds his own voice even in reworking GT classics like black bass with morels and peas in butter sauce.

2) Danny Meyer at your table: Paul Grieco brings the best of Gramercy service to Hearth, much as Mary Mraz has done at the North Fork Table and Inn. Hallmark emotional intelligence, flawless pacing and deep knowledge of food and wine are all on ample and much appreciated display.

3) Three-ounce wine servings: The short pour lets you play all night in Grieco’s exotic wine harem, but leaves you with only the merest hicky of a hangover the next day: enough to remind you of a great evening, not enough to leave you with any regrets.

4) Wine list I’d take to the beach: Other than Josh Wesson, no one writes and talks about wine with Paul Grieco’s excitement, humor and wit. That Best Cellars’ top tippler was dining at Hearth on my last visit suggests that he and Grieco recognize each other as kindred spirits.

5) Bar stools with amazing kitchen views: For those who like the art and sport of kitchen theater, there are few better places to watch and eat. Smellavision at its best.

Posted in Food | 3 Comments »

Boqueria Reigns in Food of Spain

July 3, 2007

If you want great Spanish food in New York, look for an Irish-American chef. Bolo’s butter-cheeked Bobby Flay is already well known; Boqueria’s sun-averse Seamus Mullen will be soon.

Cause For Applause:

1) Clean flavors: Market-fresh arugula, scapes and other seasonal produce lighten and brighten up bar snacks and large plates. Don’t worry though, Mullen’s no culinary Calvinist. The menu also contains plenty of fried favorites for those so inclined, from meal-opening croquetas—obligatory and workmanlike— to meal-ending churros—extruded wonders that belong on the short list of New York super-doughnuts.

2) Dirty chef: I love it when the chef makes the rounds of tables, especially if there’s evidence of cooking on his whites to tell you he’s really working the stoves. Even better when he’s a shy kitchen craftsman happy to hear a compliment or answer a question but happier still to return to his station. Mullen’s no media-savvy FN food actor, and that’s great news for dedicated food fans.

3) Quality Caffeine on The Quick: The barman at Boqueria had no problem answering a booze athlete’s call for a mid-bout bolus of restorative caffeine. He also knew to cut it with a pitch perfect half-nipple of milk. For those who tend to match wine to water consumption, consider throwing caffeine in the mix and you just might outlast the college kids at the other end of the bar.

4) High performance, low-key cheese plate: A perfect bar snack or first dessert. One of the best edited and plated cheese selections I’ve seen recently. An understated wood plank held flavor complementing cherries, apples and quince paste alongside generous chunks of lush ripe torta de serena, garrotxa, idiazabal and cabrales.

5) Golden Showers at the Bar: Half the fun of easygoing Txakolí is the pouring method. Here it’s cascaded down from on high, just as it is in Galicia and the Basque Country. Fine to drink this light white at the tables as well, but much better up front. Would you order French maid service for your apartment while plugging away at the office?

Cause for Correction:

1) Twice-killed swine: Rough-cut thick slices of jamón serrano took subtlety out of the dish. Spanish ham should be too good for this brutish treatment. And speaking of pigs, how about some feet on the menu?

2) Still no Orujo: Spain’s grappa homologue remains elusive in this city. A server hinted at the culture preserving virtues of trade barriers in explaining its absence from the menu. I say leave the canned fish back on the Peninsula and start importing the world’s best hooch.

3) Not much bottom to the wine list: Txakolí and the other Basque whites on Boqueria’s list were once the quite reasonable choices of factory workers out for a low budget low pretense moveable feast. I know Spain has moved up in the world economy and that the Euro is now crushing the dollar, but there have to be a few Iberian options left under thirty dollars. The same applies to double-digit heavy options by the glass.

Posted in Favorite 5 Lists, Flatiron/Gramercy | 7 Comments »

The Bar at Town: Urbane Excellence In Miniature

June 26, 2007

1) Low-key high quality service: I’ve rarely felt so warmly welcomed when entering a high-end restauarant without reservation or plan. The front of house gently steered me to a small plates menu and a great seat overlooking the dining room. Well timed course delivery rather than typical Chinese restaurant approach made for an elegant hourlong mini-dinner rather than a rushed cramfest.

2) Composed Cheese Plate: Artisanal has a bigger selection. Picholine has better cheese trolley theater. John Johnson simply has the best palate for cheese pairings in the city. Each offering is a miniature dessert composition consisting of three or so perfectly harmonized elements. Epoisses with apple strudel and walnuts and an easygoing goat with blueberry and cured lemon were two favorites.

3) Oyster platter: It’s easy to get spoiled by oyster service in high end restaurants. It’s even easier to get spoiled when they come with a perfect stippling of acidity in the form of a mustard vinaigrette and a grace note of color and flavor contrast thanks to a just so chervil leaf.

4) Cocktail craftsmanship: Much remarked on mixology continues to be a draw at Town. Everything made in house except the rigorously curated liquors. Surprisingly well-priced and unpretentious. I was particularly taken by the Hendrick’s gin drink with its lovely citrus and cucumber elements. I would happily have had several more if a late night dinner reservation hadn’t been looming.

5) The rest of the menu: A great mini-meal like I had at Town makes me want to poke around the rest of the menu. I don’t want all the answers in a single session. Even an epic tasting menu should leave room and reason for a return. A small plates meal should prove that much more enticing. It did.

Posted in Midtown | 4 Comments »

Blaue Gans: Tribeca’s Best Wurst

June 26, 2007

5 Hits and Misses at Blaue Gans

1) Happening house made sausages: The brat and weiss wursts were snappy well cooked delights. Perfectly set off by beds of sauerkraut, a good biting mustard and a few vinegared potatoes. Great as morning, lunch or late night fare.

2) Belly busting butter poached apricot jelly rolls: Sounds too rich; isn’t. A great plate to split with two or three table mates. Like IHOP’s international pancakes, but oh so much better.

3) Child friendly chopped pancake with apple compote: Served with chewable cinammon stick and cut into bite sized pieces. Just like back when you needed help cutting your food. Perfect for handfeeding the little ones or sharing. Dangerous to eat alongside greedy table mates.

4) Funky feel with nary a hint of black turtlenecked pretense: The vaulted ceiling is papered in vintage posters taken from the German-speaking arts world. They add color and light to the open space. They also seem to have absorbed just enough beer funk to suggest a mild hangover after a great one night stand–the kind where you might have breakfast together at Blaue Gans before going your separate ways.

5) Sour Coffee Sloppily Served: The standard brew here is wan, watery, and worse still, never refilled. I don’t expect a parade of delicious treatments of schlag and espresso in the Café Sabarsky mode nor beautiful coffee service in the Café Gray mode; I do expect a committed flavor and a decent looking mug. The only off note during a gracefully executed and graciously served meal and an easily remedied problem.

Posted in Family Foodie Adventures, Tribeca | 3 Comments »

Spigolo: Last Year’s Favorite Becomes This Year’s Classic

June 19, 2007

5 Reasons to Stop by Spigolo

1) Best little front of house in Yorkville: Danny Meyer may have moved out of Yorkville in the eighties, but his spirit has returned in the aughts thanks to USC and EMP vets Heather and Scott Fratangelo. Union Square Café-level service at Yorkville prices is reason enough to stop by. Meyer’s touch is evident in everything from the smart uniforms (green replaces blue for the Gramercy Tavern-style shirts) to the warmth, knowledge and emotional intelligence of the servers.

2) A smart wine list that’s easy on the Amex: Well-curated, food-focused—no willfully strange stunt wines— bottle selection is neither as dogmatically purist Italian as Babbo’s nor as overpriced as Elio’s. The under forty dollar offerings are surprisingly deep. Plenty of sip- and slurp-able selections to pair with pastas and charcuterie plates. Rich reds as well for the heartier meat courses. I thoroughly enjoyed a young and aromatic chenin/viognier blend from Pine Ridge on a recent visit.

3) Baby-friendly outside, baby-free inside: The stroller set uses first-come first served outside seating, while the ambulatory and potty-trained dine with reservations inside. Indoors, I’ll do the chef’s tasting menu with wine pairings over several hours. Outdoors with bambina in tow, I’m happy to eat quickly by the bussing station. Over there on the edge of Etats-Unis’ tavern, the occasional infantile shriek of delight or dismay goes unnoticed and Cheerios detritus gets crumb combed away before any damage’s done.

4) Magic doughnuts: Heather Fratangelo’s signature caramel ice cream affogato with bombolini has become ubiquitous in New York in the last year, but it is rarely done better than here. Hot doughnut holes, salty, rich and sweet caramel ice cream, and freshly brewed espresso make for a compelling combination of textures, temperatures and flavors. Guaranteed to please the food slut; likely to tempt even the incorrigible food prude.

5) Neighborhood pride and pragmatism: Spigolo sits at the intersection of Yorkville’s attempt at a restaurant row. Mid-fancy competitors Sandro’s, Etats-Unis and Turqoise are all within a block or less. Taste, Elio’s and King’s Carriage House aren’t much farther. If we patronize them, and push them to improve, we may just enjoy cab-free quality cuisine within stumbling or stroller-pushing distance of home. Wouldn’t it be nice to stop commuting to dinner?

5 Reasons Why You’ll Continue Hailing Cabs

1) Dated dishes: 80’s era Silver Palate style cooking lives on in the overuse of sweet balsamic and questionable deployment of halved grapes and cubed apple chunks. Nothing wrong with these flavors or ingredients, but they taste dated and underintegrated in the clunker arugula salad. Too much chopped oregano and too many sun dried tomatoes also brought back memories of shrimp and pasta dishes from my junior high Joshua Tree years.

2) Heavy hand with dairy fat: In the dog days of summer, Spigolo could stand to lighten up on cream and butter, particularly in the pastas. Tagliatelle was perfect with rock shrimp, so why the cream sauce overkill? That said, fava beans and parm reg were deliciously paired with prosciutto, and grilled burrata on toast was an oozing instant favorite. Excess is sometimes perfectly sufficient. But why not rest the butter and cream for a while, and redeploy the delicious cured lemon from the octopus salad in a few more antipasti and secondi?

3) Pricey wines by the glass and even pricier digestivos: Nothing in the single digits for the former, little to tempt in the latter. Makes sipping and snacking at the cramped bar even less appealing. Even Uva has a few options under ten dollars. An Otto-style house grappa selection would be a big hit as a closer and a heck of a lot cheaper than what’s presently available. Why not append a seasonal cocktail menu to the wine list as well?

4) Dearth of Dessert Options beyond Bombolini: Spigolo needs a second hit on the dessert menu (Or bring one back from the EMP days). As it stands, it’s too heavy and monochromatic. This would also be a nice place for some light fruit-based sweets or a cheese selection focusing on great accompaniments, such as mostarda, à la L’Impero. Instead, the special dessert last night was apple tart tatin atop a caramel streudel. Not so appealing at sundown on a summer night. Haven’t tried the cheese yet, so maybe there’s more to it than menu indicates. I wish it were better spelled out.

5) Tight quarters: Yorkville generally means cheap rents, but this closet-sized space must have been the bargain of the decade. Until Spigolo’s inevitable expansion, and perhaps the Fratangelo family’s, Spigolo’s claustrophobic quarters will continue to require social and physical dexterity on the part of servers, runners and host. Fortunately, they’re up to the challenge. Sometimes, I’m not. Of course, Spigolo’s waiters have nothing on the Etats-Unis staff, who dodge traffic while Froggering across 82nd Street from restaurant to tavernside tables. If your conversation ever lags outside, just watch the E-U’s blue shirts wizzing by and listen to the back and forth banter with Spigolo’s staff.

Posted in Baby Food, Yorkville | 4 Comments »

Dolce Vita Pizzeria Enoteca: The Lone Star of Texas Pizza

May 31, 2007

When you live in a box, or more precisely a box-like apartment, you should think and eat outside it. In a city like New York, this an easily implemented and often rewarded policy. When visiting relatives in the heart of Texas’ big-box land, you should also deliberate and dine far from where you sleep. Unfortunately, it’s a riskier proposition in Houston’s suburbs and one that carries far less likelihood of a good return.

This is not to suggest a lack of hidden and not so hidden pleasures outside the 610 Loop. Hundreds of tantalizing and tenuously regulated taquerías and donut shops beckon in every strip mall, gas station and garden center parking lot. For instance, given my druthers, I could definitely spend a few days working my way up and down Spring, TX’s 1960 Road.

Unfortunately, sometimes one man’s druthers aren’t the deciding factor. Sometimes, even the most self-absorbed foodie must recognize that not everyone wants to sample goat tacos in a driving rainstorm while propping up a floppy tarp with his horchata glass. Sometimes he must concede that many people would not deem it advisable to rise at dawn to Frogger across a sidewalk-less thoroughfare in order to reach the day’s first strawberry-frosted crullers. Yes, sometimes, friends and family come before foodie adventures. Sometimes you need to go with the consensus choice, even at the expense of strip mall bacon cheese kolaches for lunch or intersection vended calf tongue taquitos for dinner.

So on my most recent visit to Houston, I abandoned Mexico and the Czech Republic for the pleasures of Italy, heading into the Loop to the critically acclaimed Dolce Vita Pizzeria Enoteca. After a long drive and a short wait, I headed up the creaky staircase to a well-spaced comfortably lit room built with all the logic, or lack thereof, of Pippy Longstocking’s upside down house. Fortunately, clean-flavored unoaked Sicilian white set me straight and reminded me that I wasn’t there to suss out the building’s structural integrity. I was there to eat.

Food soon arrived, and the wine turned out to be an apt selection. With beets and horseradish and walnuts, it tamed the burn. With Brussels sprouts and pecorino it brought out the slightly muted flavor of a vegetable I used to loathe and now can live with. Finally and most surprisingly, it pulled even more piggy taste out of fat flecks on a plate of speck.

After finishing this lovely meal of small plates we decided it would be quite reasonable to order a second dinner. No surprise, I ordered pizza. Taleggio, arugula and pear slice toppings made for a fresh, earthy and light combo, just savory enough to feel like a main plate without any heaviness on the palate. It’s the kind of juxtaposition of ingredients that at first seems strange and quickly comes to seem inevitable. I particularly liked the long finish of the taleggio, perhaps the most complex cheese taste I’ve ever had on pizza. Only the crust disappointed. Leather’s fine as a backnote in wine, but not as a texture for crust. It resisted all but the firmest entreaties from knife and fork. Perhaps the humidity affected the dough that night; it just wasn’t right. Fortunately, most everything else was.

A bottle of Valpolicella washed down samples of a friend’s margherita pizza and washed away any crusty quibbles I still had. With one seltzer drinker and one slow-sipper in the crowd, I ended up enjoying more than my share of the night’s wine special. It was probably the most profound taste of the meal, alongside the beets perhaps, and left me confident that good Italian wine lists need not be limited to the coasts nor to the wealthy.

Dessert was inexpensive and impossible to refuse. Gelato came in interesting flavors but didn’t strike me as particularly memorable. The texture lacked the signature creaminess of good Italian ice cream and the flavors the intensity and commitment of both artisanal American and traditional Italian ice cream. Nonetheless, nothing reproachable, just not up to Laborotorio di Gelato standards. Little is.

I would have stayed for grappa but those who won’t eat tacos in the rain are also disinclined to watch me slug back hootch while they contemplate the drive back. Sometimes and in some places—Texas being one of them— restraint can be an act of foodie heroism. Besides, there’s no better place for a digestif than snugly back inside the box, or in this case, back in big-box land.

Posted in Houston | 1 Comment »

Sunny vs. East Side Mexican: De Mole Routs Maz Mezcal

May 19, 2007

In the spirit of both masochistic (Yorkville) and adventurous (Sunnyside) dining, I put the Michelin recommended Maz Mezcal up against the Chowhound championed De Mole. Both have dumb names. One won’t leave you nauseated and poor.

Today’s loser by a long shot, Yorkville’s Maz Mezcal, proves once again why the area is a dieter’s best friend and a foodie’s worst nightmare. You’re more likely to catch fresh yellowtail in the East River than a decent ethnic meal in this deoxygenated culinary dead zone. In short, the Upper East Side is always on the wrong side of the tracks. De Mole’s Sunnyside, on the other hand, is right underneath them. On to the winner.

De Mole’s 5 Maravillas

1) BYOB a la Mexicana:

They’ll open and refrigerate your beer for you for a nominal fee (75 cents) and whip up margaritas if you bring the tequila. Yes, an inhouse blender is at your service, along with fresh and tasty Mexican limes. All you have to do is cross the street and stock up at the friendly neighborhood liquor store (which is also much cheaper than the Manhattan equivalent).

2) Squeeze bottles of salsa to shame Bobby Flay:

Yes, the chubby cheeked food actor has made a career out of artful Pollock splashes on the plate, but “What’s in the squiggles, Bobby?” Surely nothing as good as these salsas verde and roja. Both are fresh made, fresh tasting and just hot enough to wake up your tongue without subsequently numbing it senseless.

3) Luscious licuados:

If only General Santa Ana hadn’t surrendered, we’d be drinking these right sized light and frisky fruit shakes on the way to work instead of Jamba Juice’s gallon growlers of Kandy Kolored Tangerine Flaked ersatz codliver oil. Yes, the limeade is spectacular as well.

4) Squash Blossom Quesadillas:
Meaty, flavorful, under three dollars and completely unrelated to the Taco Bell style of Tex-Mex tortilla sandwich. This real deal quesadilla runs along the border of empanada and taco in shape and texture and surpasses both its kin in flavor. Light touch with the cooking lard means you’ll walk not waddle out the door. No late night fat sweats either.

5) Orange Flan:
The fruit used in this concoction lingers floral, bitter and honeyed on the tongue. Not even a suggestion of the Jersey-spawned Bubblicious monochrome ethyl methyl ester extract that helped Chili’s take Mexican desserts to their Platonic nadir.

Maz Mezcal’s Monstrosities: If the food doesn’t make you ill, the bill will. For those who insist on eating in Yorkville, see my separate posts on the subject. We do have a few places that merit a detour.

Posted in Family Foodie Adventures | 2 Comments »

Five Points of Virtue at Five Points

May 12, 2007

Another in my series of Lads who Lunch leisure meals. This time, at Five Points, the best thing to hit Great Jones Street since Don Delillo. www.fivepointsrestaurant.com

1) Value in the Village:
20 dollar prix-fixe tasted like twice the price. No wedding dinner salmon or chicken on this three courser (Modern and Nougatine take note). With the exception of an oleaginous tartar sauce splooge, every component was clean flavored and beautifully plated.

2) Freshness First:
Seasonal squid and soft shell were young and frisky. They tasted of themselves and in consequence required minimal intervention.

3) Creativity:
Best deployed citrus notes since early Dan Barber. Tartly dressed squid was highlighted, not hidden by stipples of sweet and sour. A crunchy shredded salad under the crab added one more texture point to an already complex soft creamy crispy interplay.

4) Generous beverage service:
Glass of Riesling was closer to a quartino. Carried me through to the panna cotta and rounded out the sobremesa time. Second beer was brought to table when first seemed short. No questions asked. Happy to tip accordingly.

5) Décor:
Flowers were fresh, extravagant, beautiful and understated, much like the food. Open spaces at both ends and great Andalusian airflow were Euro-cool without the exchange rate problem.

The Faults:
Didn’t look for them and didn’t find them. An unslick but well-oiled machine.

Posted in Favorite 5 Lists, Lads Who Lunch, The Village | 1 Comment »

Landmarc-TWC:

May 11, 2007

Landmarc TWC’s Best and Worst

5 VIRTUES:

1) Excellent innards
Landmarc’s Marc Murphy is arguably the best and only mid-priced organ meat master in the city. Bone marrow is generously portioned, easy to eat with available instruments and paired with the perfect salt and bread (texture and taste of both are spot on). Foie gras is equally good, and a pleasingly priced treat. The latter dish could create a legion of toddler food snobs, that is, if foodie parents were willing to share with their tri-toothed offspring. Sweetbreads are also a standout, though not quite in Parea’s league.

2) Just juice: Visionary Wine Pricing
You’ll drink more and better than you have any right to expect in New York for this kind of money. Half bottle selection is among city’s best. Full bottles are even better priced, and the list is superbly curated. There are even some bargain magnums for large parties. Lack of upselling on beverages and gouging push for extras make this the anti-Hanson (Steve).

3) Baby Love
Babies and toddlers are embraced but not coddled. Your server is not your sitter nor will he pretend to be. That said, he will bring a spoon for baby to play with and help shift steak knives out of harm’s way. Cheerios strewn kids’ section (really the whole place in the early evening) is remote enough for screamers and squirmers and close enough to big windows for grownups wishing to enjoy the remarkable city views. As a bonus, the constant motion of the runners is Ritalin to the toddler set, who watch transfixed by the live action entertainment.

4) Simple, relatively reasonable dessert selection
Easy to say yes, easy to say no. Good not great options make dessert sampler an excuse to add some table time but not a shackle if you run out of Cheerios.

5) Hot snail salad
Sounds like a particularly appalling pornographic endeavor. Thankfully, it is in fact a delicious and daring dish that speaks to Murphy’s creativity. A plate possible only in a food-obsessed city ready to treat an exotic protein as nourishment not stunt food.

5 TO FIX:

1) Unevenly trained staff
I don’t need to memorize the cheese options for my burger; you do. I’ll also place more faith in your wine and food suggestions once you master simple pseudo-Continental waiter French. “Sancerre” and “Gruyère” shouldn’t exceed the pronunciation skill set nor slip the memory of any hooked on phonics trained server with a half meg of RAM upstairs.

2) Poorly-marked bathrooms
Steel cauldron men’s room is, I assume, a vestige of the Jean George disaster that used to fill this space. Ugly, unclearly marked and miles from the vaguely labelled ladies’ room. It’s doubly hard to tell standup from sitdown bathrooms when so many toddlers stray from parents in both spaces. Better signage needed now.

3) Restaurateurship: The Devilish Details
There’s a reason why Nieporent, Meyer, and yes, Hanson, have done so well. They make you forget the details of dining because they never do. I don’t want to consider the chain of events that brings condiments to the table with the burgers rather than with dessert; I just want it to happen. I don’t want to wonder where waiters go when idle; I just don’t want to watch them stand around bored while I eat. I also don’t want to think about how to pace meals in such a large restaurant; I just want mine to be paced right. Don’t let me see you sweat. We’re all rooting for Murphy, but he needs to turn that goodwill into great results before patience wears out, else this will be one for Midwestern museum-quality cafeteria in a mall with windows.

4 and 5) Blessedly, the good far outweighs the bad.

Posted in Baby Food, Family Foodie Adventures | 1 Comment »