The Beginning Of The End: Part III/IT'S SODA!

      Alright, a Tully's post (never thought this day would come)!

      These are Alabama Slammers or as I like to call "angels milk" because they are so heavenly...There's a tad of alcohol in these but don't worry I wasn't driving. I cant stress responsibility enough.

      I'm not a gambling man, but I'd bet the mortgage to my parents' house that your probably thinking "why the hell is he taking pictures of pickles...and worse, talking about it??" Well there is a story behind this, I promise. The boyfriend of a friend of mine was back from a tour in Afghanistan and came to Tully's with us. I'm sure our waiter, Steve was already creeped out by my group of friends and I (we were probably being obnoxious...and how the hell do I remember that our waiters name was Steve?). On the other hand, he could have been even more creeped out when my friend's boyfriend, Pat asked for a pile of pickles...I sh*t you not. this was a paraphrasing of the exchange:

Pat (last to order): this may sound weird...but can I just have a bunch of pickles?
Steve the waiter: you just want pickles?
Pat: Yeah! you can charge me whatever you think it will cost, but yeah I'd like a bowl of pickles if possible
Steve the waiter: I'll see what we can do...
Pat: And I don't just want like one or two pickles. I want a whole bunch of 'em!
Pat: annnnd I'll also have a water...
Steve the waiter: hahah alright I'll get them to whip that up for ya.

      The weirdest part was the fact that he asked for a water. Go figure. So sure enough, Steve delivered and brought out everyone's order along with, yep you guessed it...a bowl of pickles. The funny thing is that this probably wasn't the strangest part of his day. The place is wild. See what it boils down to is that working in a restaurant you see this kind of stuff everyday. Its the nature of the beast. Steve was a gracious host and got a more than generous tip for our table...seriously, go to Vegas with that money Steve!

 

       Another day we went to Duffs for lunch(which was also dinner). For those of you who are unfamiliar with Duffs, its a famous chicken wing joint in the city that is famous for chicken wings: Buffalo, NY. When I say famous, I mean the chicken wing was invented here...but you already knew that! There was 6 of us and we split into 3 pairs based on wing preferences. Clearly I wasn't going for "Atomic" and committing asshole suicide so my friend Casey and I ordered medium and BBQ wings. No one gave us a hassle for not going bold in the heat department which blew my mind...then our mini pitcher of "pop" that came with our combo arrived. Everyone else at the table had pitchers of beer and Casey and I had a mini-pitcher of Dr. Pepper so we were laughed at for a while. To put it into perspective, that's a regular sized cup next to the mini pitcher...yeah there was probably about 13oz of "pop" in there.
      I say "pop" because that's what they call soda in western New York....wait....what?? This isn't a simple case of tomato/tomATO potato/potATO. A line must be drawn.....and don't even get me started about the folks who refer to all soda as "coke"

Customer: Hi I'll have a mountain dew
Idiot Server (with way too many "pieces of flare"): Don'tcha mean Coke!?!?
Customer: No, I want a mountain dew
Idiot Server: Yeah thats a Coke!!!
Customer: I'll just take the check...

      I was so interested in this that I Googled soda vs pop vs coke geographical breakdowns. What I found was that more people say soda than "pop" or "coke" (those will always be in quotes by the way, because I refuse to except them as real ways to order SODA), which I knew would be true. It was closer than I thought though. This is why I have asked President Obama to sign a declaration of war against the "pop" and "coke" sayers. We're going to have to implement the draft again an wage a modern day civil war. "Pop" sayers get weapons from the original civil war, we get modern weapons (naturally)...and "coke" sayers, well they should get weapons from the Bronze Age.

Here's the soda link if you were interested to see a state by state breakdown: http://www.popvssoda.com/stats/ALL.html     

      Checking back in on my friend who had the "Atomic" wings...suckaa!

The Beginning Of The End: Part II

      When my parents came up for graduation we went to dinner at a place my parents love to go to: Scotch and Sirloin. My dad always talks about it when I talk to them days before parents weekend every year. This year I was starving when we got there because I hadn't eaten all day due to graduation ceremony an all that. A little fun fact: I handed in my registration form to walk wayyy late so I had to go at the end with a small group of people who did the same instead of being in alphabetical order. This was a blessing in disguise because I magically ended up next to two of my close pals.

     
      After two trips to the salad bar and the always appetite killer: free bread, I was already "feeling it" before this crazy plate arrived. Mondo King crab claws, filet covered in sauteed onions, and baked potato. I distinctly remember thinking my stomach was going to explode like the guy in the movie Alien...but God those claws were good!

THAT'S HOW FULL I WAS!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Beginning Of The End: Part I

       So my Senior year of Calvin Coolidge aka college was winding down and my roommates and I were trying to use up everything we had left in the kitchen. One late night I wanted to use up the last of the powered Gatorade mix (that my roommate Joe "borrowed from the high school he worked at...well interned really. I seriously doubt they even knew he was there. The few cups we had left were under a large pile of dishes so I had to improvise. I look around and voila, a tupperware container...hey a kids gotta improvise. In the wise words of John Belushi in Animal House: "We can do whatever we want, we're college students!"

One of the lifesavers I found in our cabinets was pancake mix YES! Needless to say I had a lot of banana pancakes those last few days.

One thing I love to do with pancakes, which freaks some people out (I don't understand how) is to slather on peanut butter and jelly. It honestly is one of the most divine things you can have for breakfast.

I'm Aaaaalllliiiivvvvveeee

     
      I haven't posted anything since Easter, but I am alive and have been collecting pics, stories, and recipes along the way to fill you all in on what you have been missing. Photos and such, after the jump. 

Easter Dinner: Sperry's

      Man I feel like I haven't posted anything since the Regan Administration, and damn it feels good to be back! Alright to elaborate on the small little post from the other day, my family (grandma included) and I went to dinner at Sperry's...scratch that it was 4 o'clock in the afternoon. For me, eating at 4 o'clock in the afternoon on a Sunday is usually called "breakfast". When my parents say were eating an "early dinner" its just code for, "plan on being starving again by 9pm". This was not the case, however, because we all ate like it was a death row final meal. Thank god I wasn't picking up that tab...

Me: Hi I would like to make a withdrawl
Bank Teller: Sure, how much would you like to withdraw today?
Me: Everything I have...

      No matter what, my mom and grandma always argue over who is picking up the bill (I don't know if I should be disclosing that information, but whatever). I don't ever want to imagine being in a position where I have to argue to pick up a bill like that...essentially I can relate it to when you land on Boardwalk in Monopoly, and there's that fat red hotel staring you in the face. You all know the feeling when you have to liquidate all your assets (mortgaging off Baltic Ave just to survive is never a good feeling). With that being said this was definitely not the type of restaurant that jacks up their prices because they have all sorts of sauces and reductions resembling a modern art painting (SPOILER ALERT: 90% of the time they use squirt bottles...)
      Everything was fairly priced, and the food was so good that it didn't need to be hidden behind all that mumbo jumbo. To clarify, I enjoy all that mumbo jumbo sometimes because I feel it shows the chef really takes pride in his artwork rather than just plopping everything together on a plate. But still, its refreshing to see that amazing food doesn't need all that, just amazing ingredients paired well together. Okay I'm getting away from myself here (when you don't blog for a while it kinda just spews out). 
      The restaurant was nice and quiet because we arrived right after the brunch rush. This was ideal because our server was able to talk to us for a while, and well...just generally take care of us. I do not know how else to explain it, but its nice when your server isn't swamped, gets to chat for a while, and makes you feel at home. Too many times, I've had servers who run around with that "I have 20 tables because the other server called in sick, please don't hate me" expression on their face. While on the subject, for all of you who take it out on your server when the service is poor: Shut up and eat your free bread! Its almost always not their fault....
      Since this is a food blog and not a Hemingway novel, lets talk some food here people! For starters the menu was just front and back, which I love. Nothing is worse than choosing something on a menu that is longer than a list of Charlie Sheen's bad deeds (Hi, welcome to the Cheesecake Factory!). Usually I skip the appetizer stage and just go straight for the entree, but everything on the menu made my mouth water like a Pavlovian dog! As an appetizer I immediately chose beef carpaccio, because its not everyday you get to eat beef carpaccio...If your wondering what beef carpaccio is exactly: it is thinly sliced pieces of raw fish, or meat: such as beef and or veal, pounded paper thin. This carpaccio was beef by the way.
       Most of you will be wondering, that if raw meat can get you sick, then how is it possible to eat thin slices of raw meat? Well what it all boils down to is the fact that bacteria cannot penetrate to the inside of the meat. So for my steak, they thinly slice pieces from the inside of the cut of meat. Think of it as eating Blowfish the way they do in Japan. The blowfish has a poisonous part on its body and if that part is not removed by the sushi chef it can be deadly. In the case of both the blowfish and my carpaccio, they are prepared by professionals so it is safe to eat. Circling the beef was a ring of reggiano shards, and drops of horseradish aioli. Top it with capers and baby ariugula, and what do you have?....uh alright I can't think of anything, just that its super awesome.       Other appetizers on the table were crab cakes, which I tried and were phenomenal, lobster bisque, salads, etc. Free bread = Pop-overs, whaaaaaatttt???

      Now moving onto the entree, let me start off by saying I'm usually a sucker for duck and lamb when I go to a nice place because I don't usually get to cook with them on my own. Naturally I saw duck breast on the menu and immediately went right for it. The duck had an ancho BBQ glaze an came with jalapeno grits, crispy onion straws (I think) and sauteed veggies. It was hands down the best duck I have ever had. Sometimes duck can be real fatty (duck is fatty by nature so theirs not much ya can do) but this duck was perfeccccttt!

      When it was all said and done I was already stuffed but I felt...compelled to see what they had for dessert since they were wowing me all day. 9 times out of 10 I skip dessert mainly because I physically cant eat any more. Everyone else was ordering dessert so I figured what the hell, monkey see monkey do right? Did I really squeeze in a "monkey see monkey do"? I'm sorry about that...it'll never happen again

      Side note: When our server brought out the desserts she whispered to me "you picked the best one". I think she was right, just look at that craftsmanship!! Alright that's it, I'll have more posts up soon. Peace. 

I'm Baaaaaackkkkk

      My family and I went to a real nice restaurant, Sperry's for Easter dinner earlier so I will have plenty of things to share with you guys....but right now I'm f_ _ _ing full...you'll hear from me soon

Buitoni 2011 Product of the Year

      I don't want to toot my own horn or anything (steals tank, parks it on horn) but I've been using Buitoni wayyyy before they took home the 2011 product of the year in the specialty foods category. Back in the day my mom used to get the tortellini an raviolis when she used to cook for me (my how the turn tables). Now I do most of my own cooking and I think it freaks my mom out sometimes. You should see her face when she asks, "Can I make you somethin" and I reply, "nah, I got it from here".
      One day over spring break I was looking for something to make before I headed back to school. Too tired to go to the grocery store (3 hour drive home after St. Patties in Boston...) I decided I'd use whatever was in the pantry/frig. No problem right? Wrong. Apparently the monkeys from Jumanji (yeah I went there) just raided our house because there was hardly anything to eat. I was about to give up and grab something on my way outta town when I saw tucked way back in the freezer Buitoni lobster raviolis that my mom had mentioned almost everyday like clockwork; she gives me a detailed analysis of almost everything in the frig as if I can't see these things on my own. She would be a great helper for a blind person (there's oranges! ohh and salad! I see some pork tenderloin in here also!) "I'm just being a mother" my mom usually says. I know mom, and I love you for it...but I'm glad I get to be a dad, my life will be 50% less stressful. Just ask my dad, he's sitting in a comfy chair fully immersed in his computer, and non-responsive.
      I thought, why not? So I made the lobster raviolis, which came with a garlic butter sauce. I ate and blogged about it completely unaware that those lobster raviolis would later become the 2011 product of the year!! I guess I'm ahead of the times? (Friend holds up Ghostbusters Tee shirt and shouts "YEAH RIGHT!")
      Buitoni has really stepped up their game as of late, especially with the lobster ravs. The wild mushroom agnolotti is pretty good too. I'd like to think my post about Buitoni was a major contributor to their award win. My friend Jess will most undoubtedly read this an tell me to get off my high horse; her roommate Kelsey will too, she put me in my place all weekend when I visited :)  I'll just make something delicious an they'll forget all about it...