stay in the shallow end

Courtesy of Sublime in Charleston, SC.

Speedy is the most tortured creature I’ve ever seen. I’m proud of how far she’s come along since we got her, but every now and then, she regresses to her old ways. As I was playing around with my new camera, I took this picture:

I really feel like this moment captures Speedy’s general emotional state. Her wrinkled brow expresses a constant state of worry. Her ears standing at attention scream paranoia. The lines on her face converge to a mouth in a perpetual frown. Finally, her eyes emote a deep dark sadness.

Of course, I’m making all of this up. She’s just a dog. I’m just glad she’s calmed down a bit. Hopefully someday I can look at her and feel like she’s at peace.

No more three dollar blades for me…

Wednesday: Lunch at Marco and Luca: I had dumplings and soup. What more could be said about this?

Wednesday: Dinner at Bang!: We had a group of ten celebrating Colin’s birthday and ordered nearly everything on the menu. It’s all a blur to me, so I’ll just talk about desert. We Chocolate Three Ways, Asian Donuts, and Fried Bananas. They were all scrumptious. The chocolate includes cake, mousse, and some sort of chocolate brulee. The cake was the weak link by far. I didn’t really understand what was asian about the donuts, but they were served with ice cream and were crunchy on the outside and squishy on the inside. Finally, I have a soft spot for fried bananas, and these did not disappoint. Once again, they were served with ice cream, and they were delicious. Had we stopped without desert, I would’ve been disappointed with the meal, but with desert, it was awesome. Next time, I’ll just have desert.

Thursday: Lunch at Hamdinger’s: Rob has been telling me to go to Hamdinger’s for months. I’m not sure why I resisted, but when Phoebe told me the same thing, I knew it was time. I got an organic chicken sandwich, which consisted of a grilled chicken skewer pulled into a crusty roll. At my request, he topped it with potato curry and schiracha sauce. Wow, this was really good. Places like Hamdinger’s that sell organic foods at reasonable prices really highlight the absurdity of restaurants in town charging huge premiums for their local products. If he can sell an organic chicken sandwich for $5, the sit-down places can bring their prices down from $20.

Thursday: Dinner at Mono Loco: I wasn’t feeling particularly adventurous today, so I ordered the pork tamale, which I know is good, and it was. The big win was the pomegranate mojito. Pomegranate is my favorite fruit, and mint is one of my favorite flavors. Both of them in one drink was awesome. Mmmm, maybe I’ll head over there after work and have one tonight.

I’m all caught up! How exciting.

Monday: Dinner at Shebeen: I had a buy-one-get-one-free coupon expiring at the end of the year, so we swung by after Kate’s team won their volleyball championship. I ordered the Braised Lamb Shank, and what came out, presentation-wise, was amazing. An enormous, piece of meat sitting in a pool of sauce with the huge bone sticking out of the top. I was awestruck. The lamb was fall off the bone tender. The real winner was the sauce. It was a rich port reduction, and it was perfect. I made it through the lamb in no time and spent the remainder of the meal mopping up the sauce. I am definitely going back and having this dish.

We spent Thanksgiving in Charleston, SC. I thought about writing those up, but then decided against it because I am lazy. If you really, really want to hear about them, comment, and I may write them up.

Friday: Dinner at Aqui es Mexico: After a long hiatus, we finally returned to Aqui es Mexico. Honestly, I don’t remember what I ordered, but I do remember that Kate and I both enjoyed what we had. I’ll talk to her and see if we can figure it out.

Saturday: Dinner at Brick Oven: The salad bar wasn’t up to snuff this time around. The pizza, however, was delicious. We ordered the Hot Tomato. We also ordered a pasta dish, which was surprisingly good. I’ll definitely be trying more of their pasta on future visits.

Sunday: Dinner at Amigo’s: When we walked up to Amigo’s it was apparent that this was not a typical night. From the outside we could see the Mariachi on the inside dancing and singing his way around the restaurant. When we walked in, it was surprisingly busy, and several tables were passing around bottles of tequila while enjoying the music. We sat down, and I asked for my usual Chili Verde. It turns out they were out of pork. For some reason, I was actually pleased to hear this. It implied that they didn’t just have crates and crates of frozen pork sitting in a freezer somewhere. I then ordered the Chili Colorado, which is chunks of beef in a spicy red sauce. While the sauce was excellent, beef is not nearly as forgiving a meat as pork is, and it came out tough and overdone. I still enjoyed the meal though, but I’m hoping next time around they have pork.

Tuesday and Wednesday: Dinner from Asian Express: I was sick as a dog this week. It’s why I had Amigo’s yesterday, and why I had Chinese food two nights in a row. I loaded it up with chili oil and schiracha sauce, and for a few hours afterwords enjoyed an evening free of congestion, sinus pressure, and phlegm. The first night, I ordered orange chicken, and it was your typical take-out chinese fare. The breading on the chicken was soggy, and there was way too much sauce. Of course with enough hot sauce, it was delicious. The second night, I ordered chicken with garlic sauce, and this was surprisingly good. The stir fry is definitely better than the deep fried stuff. I think it’s safe to generalize that to all chinese take-out.

Lunch from Feast: Kate picked me up a Reuben. I was disappointed. I think I just have strong preconceptions of what a Reuben should be, and the sandwich from Feast was not that. I don’t blame Feast for this, because the sandwich was good. When I think of a Reuben, I think of excess. An oversized piece of Rye piled high with corned beef, sauerkraut, swiss, and dressing oozing out on all sides. What I got from Feast was a healthily portioned and meticulously assembled interpretation of a Reuben. Again, there’s nothing wrong with that, it’s just not what I had in mind. Here’s a Reuben from Katz’s Deli in New York for what I had in mind:

Friday: Lunch at Spry’s BBQ: This was exciting. Erica and I headed over there for a late lunch and caught the tail end of their buffet. Our server suggested on filling up a couple of plates, and we did. They definitely have good BBQ, but I’ll refrain from awarding it any distinctions until I try Belmont BBQ. Unfortunately, none of the sides really appealed to me, and I wasn’t impressed by the rolls that were just sitting in a big bulk bag at the end of the buffet. The service was good except for one disappointment. I’d ordered hush puppies since I’d heard a lot about them, and they weren’t on the buffet. They never showed up. I’m going to try them again at dinner and see how things are different.

Tuesday: Lunch at Revolutionary Soup: The Clark Steak Sandwich is the juiciest sandwich ever made. By the time I got it from the counter to my table, it was already sitting in a puddle of it’s own juices. Normally, I’d be annoyed, but those juices are pure flavor. I ate the sandwich with a fork and knife and enjoyed every bite. Definitely try this one.

Wednesday: Lunch at Lee’s Grill: Chicken Teriyaki. Enough said.

Tuesday: Dinner at South Street: I got the house salad with tuna. South Street’s sesame ginger house dressing is probably my favorite in town. The tuna is sashimi grade tuna seared on the outside and raw on the inside. Together they are pretty delicious.

Thursday: Dinner from Yuan Ho: Had a variety of Chinese food delivered with some friends. By far, the winner was the String Beans in Szechwan Sauce. They’ve had their ups and downs with me, but those string beans are always delicious.

Friday: Dinner at Carytown Burgers and Fries: Mmmmmm. So delicious. After Michael expressed his disappointment in my Charlottesville burger recommendations, I asked him to school me in the way of the burger. I went down to Richmond, and he took me to Carytown Burgers and Fries. I had the Italian Stallion which includes garlic, roasted red peppers, lettuce, tomato, onion, provolone, and horseradish sauce. Here it is in all it’s delicious glory:

Wow, this was one of the best burgers I’ve ever had in my life. I ate it and I wanted another one on the spot. The beef was juicy and struck the perfect balance between being not too tightly packed without falling apart. I really want to know where the roll came from. It was the perfect amount of chewy and and very fresh tasting. The toppings were all secondary to the beef and bread. This burger would be awesome with nothing else on it. We also had the chili cheese fries:

Finally, I had a milkshake. It was awesome as well. I was very impressed by this meal, and if anybody know of a place in Charlottesville that can compare, please let me know. In the meantime, I declare Richmond the winner of the central Virginia burger battle.