The End

It is without much sadness that I say I'm gonna throw in the towel on Bear With Me. Cousin Dooders, you made it look so easy, but I don't really have the skill, the insight, or the time to make this blog worthwhile for all three of my followers. Thanks for reading some of the posts, and let me say that I will probably send this blog out with a bang by indulging in the Double Down from Kentucky Fried Chicken.

http://nachodonut.files.wordpress.com/2009/08/kfc-double-down.jpg

Thanks again all, I will now ride off into the sunset along Lake Champlain in Burlington, VT as shown in the picture above.

**Also, for those with a chance to visit New England, be it for business of pleasure, here are some of my favorite spots:

1. Bar Harbor, ME (Hands down the coolest place I've been up there)

2. Portland, ME (Commercial Street)

3. Burlington, VT (Lake Champlain/ Church Street)

4. Portsmouth, RI

5. Providence, RI (Federal Street)

Improvisation

Looking for some dinner tonight during the Penguins/ Red Wings game, I scoured my cupboards and my freezer and found some cheese ravioli. I am a HUGE ravioli fan, so I boiled up some water, threw in a little salt (a trick Weiss Center introduced me to), and went to the fridge to get out my red sauce.

Unfortunately, I had no red sauce in there. I don't cook pasta all that often, and my last jar of pasta sauce magically morphed from "Spicy Red Pepper" flavor to "Mold" flavor. I didn't want to get burned again, so I guess last time I hit the grocery store, I left the pasta sauce off the list.

In a bind, I opted for Newman's Own Italian Dressing. This is probably my favorite Italian dressing, as its very rich, full of herbs, and flavorful. Once the ravioli were done, I poured a nice layer of Newman over the little pillows. I then proceeded to toss on some hot pepper flakes, oregano, and basil, and of course, about a pound and a half of parmesan cheese.

All in all, this improvisation was not that bad. Not as good as a nice rich red sauce or meat sauce, but a bit better than I had even anticipated. The lesson is, as always, with enough parmesan cheese, anything is possible.

Louis' Lunch

Not long ago, I was watching a show on the Travel Channel called the Chowdown Countdown. It listed some of the most iconic restaurants throughout the United States, counted them down from 100-1, and showed the details of what made them great. http://www.travelchannel.com/TV_Shows/Chowdown_Countdown

Some were famous for their location, some for their longevity, some for their gluttony. A personal favorite of mine, Primanti Brothers, of Pittsburgh fame, for all the reasons listed above, was sure to be on this list. The only question was where would it land? As it turned out, it was # 3 in the country, so I figured numbers 1 and 2 were places that I should try if I ever got the chance.

And get the chance I did, when I found myself in New Haven, CT on Thursday night, just in time for dinner, and just blocks away from Louis' Lunch. This place is right in the middle of what appears to be a "happening" part of town, at least by what I imagine New Haven's standards to be. It's a pretty nice row of bars, and late night food joints, with Louis Lunch I suppose being the most iconic.
http://louislunch.com/

Apparently, as the story goes, this place served America's first hamburger back in the year 1900, and when you walk into the place, it actually feels like 1900. The walls are all brick, with most of the bricks engraved with the year they were sent over to the building. There are wooden panels throughout the place as well, and they are all engraved, too, only they are engraved with the names, initials, and things-to-remember-me-by of generations and generations of patrons. (Looking for a while for a place to make my mark, I threw an "M.D.E. 3/11/10" right above the middle panel on the inside of the bathroom door.)

The place was very cool, very small, and very intimidating. I had been to places like this before (i.e. Pat's Cheesesteaks in Philadelphia, The Pizza House in Ambridge, PA if that's more your thing...), where if you don't know how to order, you don't get much time to learn, you start to panic, and you wind up feeling like a dork sitting back at your table with something you didn't even want to eat. I was wary of this happening to me here, but I had two things working to my advantage: 1. it was not crowded at all. Maybe about 3 cops and a family of 3 sitting down to eat, so they weren't trying to blast through a never-ending line of customers. 2. The people behind the counter were actually really nice. I looked at the menu for a minute, ordered a "Ham Tomato" a bag of chips, and a can of Pepsi. I got a "No problem, sir," and it was up and ready in about 7 minutes.

Now 7 minutes may seem like a long time to cook a burger, but when you see how they cook it, you'd understand if it takes 25. They use the original broilers that they must have used back in 1900, pressing the burger together vertically so some of the fat and grease drips into a tray along the bottom. (Normally I'd be alarmed, as the grease usually brings the flavor to the burger, which is why I never press the burgers with a spatula while on the grill, but these burgers were still EXTREMELY juicy, as evidenced by the oil and blood that soaked the bread they served it on.) While the burger is cooking over/ between open flame(s) (it was hard to see exactly how it works from where I was sitting), they throw two pieces of pre-sliced, garden variety white bread into an old-school, rotisserie-type of toaster. Once the burger is done, they slap it in between the bread, toss on a tomato slice or onion slices, whichever you order, and slide it over to you on a paper plate.

The burger was actually really good. I'm a big ketchup guy, and ketchup is a BIG no-no at Louis' Lunch, so I was worried about the flavor being a little dull. That wasn't so much the case, though. You look at the burger, see that it has very few (if any) of the makings of what usually makes a burger great, and then you take a bite and realize it's much better than it looks. The burgers are not huge, but after eating it, I was pretty full, pretty satisified, and glad I had stopped by. 8 Bearclaws, but due in large part to the history and the atmosphere.

The Shore Road Princess

So I finished up my meetings at around 4pm on Wednesday. Being in New Hampshire, but right along the Massachusetts state line, I got curious, so I called my friend Pat and asked him for the address of The Squire in Chatham, MA.

Now in order to understand why I did this, one must know my penchant for the somehow non-award-winning film Summer Catch. Inexplicably, this is one of my favorite movies of all time. The acting: terrible. The plotlines: Horrendous. The baseball scenes: lackluster at best. The movie as whole: INCREDIBLE. I used to watch this movie every night before I pitched in college. I'm not sure what the big draw was about it (aside from Jessica Biel), but I do know that as soon as friends of mine started watching the movie as well, they all became hooked. By junior year, I had teammates screaming out quotes from the movie to me while I was literally mid-windup. It caught on like wildfire. I then shared with non-baseball players, and happened upon a friend of mine (the aforementioned Pat) who had a house in Cape Cod and was, like me, obsessed with the movie. Pat told me that the scenes in the "Oasis" are derived from a dive bar on Main Street in Chatham called The Squire. So when Pat told me the address, as I mentioned above, even though the GPS spit out a 2-hour commute, I had to make the pilgrimage.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0234829/

I drove out to Cape Cod as night began to fall. Cut through Boston and out into rural, and eventually coastal, Massachusetts. I had never been to Cape Cod before, and although it was pretty dark by the time I arrived, the place looks gorgeous. The houses are huge, the feeling is very old-time, rustic New England, and the seafood was fresh, so luckily for me, the kitchen at the Squire was open.
http://www.thesquire.com/

I opted for a cup of clam chowder and an order of the buffalo shrimp, and washed it down with a glass of Naragansett beer. If I were really going for the whole Summer Catch experience, I probably would have had a Sam Adams, but quite honestly, I can't stand that garbage. The clam chowder was great, the buffalo shrimp were more breading than shrimp, and the Naragansett, well, it was reminiscent of Keystone Light, only not as light. I had it a couple times before when in Rhode Island, and really don't remember it being this bad.

So overall, the food gets a meager 5 Bearclaws.

However, I wasn't there for the food. I was there to walk the movie-set reminiscent footsteps of Ryan Dunne, #26, the hometown lefty. I was there to talk Chatham A's baseball with the bartender (which I did.) I was there to see a couple Cape Cod townies (which I did.) I was there to talk about life during the summers at the Cape (which I really did not.) I was there to feel like a huge loser (which I did.) Either way, the bar was very reminiscent of the one in the movie, and I think it's now safe to say I'm maybe the only person who has ever made a "Pilgrimage" to the Squire in Chatham to talk about the movie Summer Catch. That's the kind of stuff you do when you're alone in New England with a company car and 7 hours to kill.

That being said, upon telling a number of my fellow Summer Catch junkies about the pilgrimage, a summer visit has been all but guaranteed, and I'm looking forward to soaking it all in when the weather is warm and the bats are cracking.

Tuesday in Nashua

Tonight I checked into my hotel around 5:30, so I had ample time to research a good place to eat. Despite what the details of my Chicago trip might lead you to believe, I am a big "when in Rome" diner. I try to avoid prominent chains when I'm in new places, and opt instead for local joints with a little bit of personality. However, in this particular situation, I was faced with a former love that was seemingly calling my name and asking me to break habit. I searched "All Food" in my GPS while in the hotel parking lot and saw "Ground Round" as an option.
http://www.groundround.com/

I have been to the Ground Round in Moon Township, PA approximately 415,000 times. I used to go after school with my mom. I used to go on weekends for "Pay what you weigh" day. I think I celebrated more than one birthday with Bingo the Clown and the rest of the Ground Round staff. I also hadn't been in probably six years. The Ground Round is not healthy. The Ground Round is a chain. But the Ground Round is also delicious, and it was nostalgic. So after I got to my room I fired up the computer, and saw there was no info on a Nashua, NH location for the Ground Round. Apparently, it has closed. I longingly looked at the menu online, and then decided to hit up Thousand Crane Chinese/ Japanese Restaurant. It looked affordable. It had good reviews online, and so I decided to take a drive into downtown Nashua to give it a try.
http://thousandcranerestaurant.com/

Downtown Nashua is actually a little cooler than I thought. It has a lot of different shops, bakeries, bars, and restaurants. It reminded me a little of a smaller, watered-down, lower-class Portland, Maine, and Portland is one of my favorite cities that I've visited, no question about it. Thousand Crane was right in the heart of the downtown Nashua area, just off a side street. I walked in solo, and took a seat at the sushi bar. There were oly four other people in the whole place, for a second I thought they were closed. But once seted, I was greeted by a friendly (albeit difficult to understand) sushi chef, a super-tiny glass of water (major pet peeve of mine), and a free order of edamame. The edamame were very good, not too salty, not too wet. I put them away pretty quickly as I watched the sushi chef go to work. The art of sushi rolling is pretty cool, and seeing it first-hand, also seems pretty easy. However, this guy was working with some heavier artillery than you usually see in sushi recipes. I ordered a shrimp tempura roll, and he brought out four full prawns, all the length of a chopstick and the diameter of golf ball. They were huge. They looked more like lobsters than they did shrimp as he laid them on the rice bed to start rolling. Once he rolled them up, while slightly difficult to eat, they were worth the effort, and definitely made to perfection.

I also tossed in an "Alaskan King Roll", which had shrimp tempura, crab meat, tobiko, scallion, spicy mayo, and eel sauce, and a Spicy Salmon Roll. These rolls were not as large as the online reviews or the first roll that he put together led me to believe, but I left the place feeling somewhat full and satisfied with a good meal.

However, I also left with a new appreciation for the people you randomly come across in life and the stories they each have. The sushi chef tonight was a super nice guy. He made me a free appetizer of white tuna tartare, which was really good, and proceeded to inform me of all the good watering holes in Nashua and where to go when in New Hampshire. He also told me that the sushi grade fish that they use is driven up every morning from Boston (about an hour) and only stays fresh/ good for 1-2 days max. The real doozy, though, was that this guy told me that he is the co-owner of the largest sushi restaurant in Southern China. He is a Chinese native who moved to America 6 years ago, lived in Boston for most of that time, and goes back to China for a week at a time once every two months. His brother runs the restaurant while he is in America, but he's contemplating a permanent move back home to run the restaurant at the end of the year. Why any of this is relevant, I'm not sure. And this guy also could have been lying through his teeth about everything, but even if he was, it was an interesting conversation that addedd another dimension to a normally hum-drum, quiet dinner.

I'd give the sushi at Thousand Crane about a 6.5, but with the individual attention and good conversation I had, we'll push them up to 7 Bearclaws. Good times tonight.

On my way out of the area, though, I saw a Brewery/ Restaurant called Martha's Exchange. It looked like a cool place to get a drink, so I stopped in and had a house brew. It was a pretty standard beer, and it was overshadowed by the bakery/ confectionary that adorned the corner of the restaurant near the exit. I stopped and got myself a chocolate-covered s'more there. Now I know I'm a chocoholic. However, this was only magnified and reaffirmed when I bit into the chocolate-covered s'more and there was no Hershey bar inside. Why they would cover chocolate in chocolate is beyond me, and the marshmallow and graham cracker by themselves were good, but I was still overcome with a slight sense of disappointment that a golden opportunity to really knock the chocolate levels out of the park went by the wayside. All in all, if you're ever in Nashua, although this place was kind of dead on a Tuesday night, with it's plentiful beers on tap, big menu, and apparently good happy hour deals, I still think Martha's Exchange could be a good place to go to kill some time and put a few back.

New Hampshire, New Restaurants

I'm back on the road for work this week. After a 7-hour drive on Monday afternoon, I got up to Concord, NH on Monday night. I decided to stop at some casual dining restaurant called Cactus Jack's. If you know me, you know I am a huge fan of casual dining. That being said, I'm not sure how to describe this place. It's either a rich man's Chili's, a poor man's Red Lobster, or a homeless man's Cheesecake Factory. Or all of the above.
http://www.go2cjs.com/

Either way, it was pretty good. I ponied up to the bar, wearing my Penguins hat, which apparently was a bad move, as the Pens had just taken out the Boston Bruins' best player, possibly for the season, the night before. This was not a good way to make friends, but I managed to make the most important one in the house: the bartender. He supplied me with a menu, which was encased in leather. It also was one of the most diverse menu's I've ever encountered. I would say it was a Tex-Mex-Cajun-Creole-American-Seafood-BBQ joint, and I ordered accordingly, going with the Rajun Cajun Catfish Tacos, after much deliberation. About 90% of the items on this 12-page menu appealed to my favorite tastes and food genres.

So these tacos consisted of fresh Cajun-seared catfish inside two crab-dip-wrapped hard shell tacos. They were filled with lettuce, pico de gallo, poblano peppers, and melted colby and jack cheeses. These cheeses were actually a really good addition because they were plentiful and super melty, so they really kept the tacos from crumbling and spilling all over the place. And as a whole, I would have to simply say these tacos were awesome. They came two to an order, had a lot of flavor, and once they got to me, they did not stand a chance. Only thing that was missing was a little extra heat, so I asked for hot sauce. I was offered Tabasco (a personal dietary staple) or their signature "Habanero Death" sauce. Being a sensible human being, I opted for the Habanero Death. It was aptly named. This was certainly not the hottest sauce I've ever tasted, but it put a kick into these tacos that could qualify them for the World Cup this summer. I have to hand it to Cactus Jack, though. For a sauce that hot, the Habanero Death also had plenty of flavor. As long as it was applied sparingly, it took these tacos to a whole new level, and boosted a slightly better than run-of-the-mill casual dining joint to a 7 Bearclaw Dinner. Add in the fact that the tacos were flanked by the interesting side dish choices of sweet potato fries (crispy and excellent) and cactus slaw (basically just cole slaw), and I'll bump this particular selection at Cactus Jack's to a 7.5.

**I found out on my way out that Cactus Jack's is a chain exclusive to New Hampshire, so if you're ever up there, it's worth stopping in if you're looking for something quick and fairly cheap.

Back at It

A great deal of time has elapsed since my last post. Haven't had a ton of free time. Or maybe I have, but regardless, weather and scheduling has put a relative halt to my travels, until last week, when I spent six days in Chicago.

I had never been to Chicago before, and I had heard it was an awesome city with a lot of great sights, alot of great restaurants, and plenty to do. The plenty to do appraisal proved true from the get-go, as I spent Friday night in the Lincoln Park/ Wrigleyville area of the city, and my friend Trout and I painted the town red. Unfortunately, because of this fact, my first meal in exquisite Chicago was at a Taco Bell across the street from Wrigley Field at 2:30 am. Normally, I wouldn't lend more than a sentence to TBell (although it has more mentions on this blog than any other restaurant), but I will mention that Trout ordered the "Charles Barkley." This, of course is the NBA Box, the ad for which Sir Charles starred during the Super Bowl, and Trout gave it a pretty good bearclaw score if I do say so.

Next day, in an effort to start taking advantage of the city a bit more, we went out to lunch. At Buffalo Wild Wings. Another chain... There was some good college basketball on half the TVs, and trivia on the others, so lunch ran until about 4 pm. I personally am a huge fan of BW's, it has some of the best chicken wings, boneless chicken wings, sides, and sauces in the game. I know most of the people in Philly and DC who may be reading this may not have been, because they don't seem to be that big around here. Back in the Burgh, though, it was a staple of high school life, and the Chicago location was nothing short of equally delicious. Service was a bit slow, and beer specials weren't that special at all, but I'm still glad we went.
http://www.buffalowildwings.com/

Sunday wound up being the highlight of the weekend, as we followed up a relatively slow Saturday (the highlight of which was watching the 2009 Penguins Stanley Cup DVD and fighting back tears) with quite an eventful Sunday. We started out at a few bars, took some pictures at Wrigley Field and then decided, on a whim, to head to the Horseshoe Casino in Hammond, Indiana.
http://www.horseshoe-indiana.com/
To be quite frank, this place was more depressing than the first 1:45 of The Pursuit of Happyness, but even on a Sunday at 1 pm, it was PACKED. I guess atmopshere and look doesn't matter when the money they pay out is as real as the money they use in the Venetian, and bewteen the two of us, Trout and I left the place with about $1,000 of that money. (Of course he accounted for about 70%, but it sounded better that way.)

We left the Horseshoe with high spirits and big appetites. Luckily for us, it was restaurant week in Chicago as well. I lucked out hitting Buddakan during Philly Restaurant week, and we decided to take a different route for Chicago's. Trout's friends got reservations at a Brazilian Steakhouse called Texas de Brazil.
http://www.texasdebrazil.com/
I had been to one of these types of restaurants before, and I left feeling physically ill from the amount of food that I ate. This time around, it was no different. The premise at these places is simple: they stock the salad bar with the most gourmet salad items, soups, and sides that you can imagine: grilled provolone squares, shrimp salad, tuna tartare, hearts of palm, and more. Also, I must add that my aforementioned parmesan cheese addiction was fed by a half-sphere of solid parmesan, with an indentation chiseled into the middle, forming a bowl of parmesan chunks. I could have grabbed a spoon and eaten that all night, but I knew there was meat to be had, so I returned to my seat, flipped my coaster to "green", and it was on. They had flank steak, filet mignon, filet wrapped in bacon, chicken wrapped in bacon, top sirloin, and among many, many more, their signature meat, Picanha. All of them were cooked perfectly, seasoned perfectly, and came to the table in droves.

I won't say how much meat we all ate, because I think I blacked out after the first hour or 2,500 calories. Whichever came first. But I will say that places like Texas de Brazil and Fogo de Chao (and I'm sure any other three-word Brazilian steakhouses with the word "de" sandwiched in between) blow my mind as to how they can cook so much steak, and cook it so well. This meal was definitely a once-every-year-or-few type of excursion, and the price of $32 per head was a once-every-year-or-few type of deal (although I guess restaurant week is an annual thing). Despite missing out on the famous "Wiener's Circle" and their "Chocolate Milkshakes" right down the street from Trout's apartment (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wieners_Circle), I think we made a great dinner choice, getting not only a meal, but an experience, and four days worth of food. 8 Bearclaws.

Wednesday in the Kitchen

More snow today. Luckily, the grocery store was open, so I decided to get after it in the kitchen. I made chili, chocolate chip cookies, and bought the ingredients for Red Lobster's famed cheddar bay biscuits. If you've never had them before, the recipe is on the internet. The recipe for the chili, however, came from my old man, who has become quite the accomplished chef over the past few years. I've tweaked it just enough that I don't think he'll mind me posting it on the internet.

1. The Don's Chili

Ingredients:
- 2 large cans of tomato sauce
- 1 large can of crushed tomatoes
- 2 boxes of Rice a Roni long grain wild rice
- 1.5 to 2 pounds of ground beef
- 3 packs of chili mix
- Oregano
- 4-5 jalapeno peppers
- 3-4 hot red cherry peppers
- 2 tablespoons of brown sugar
- Tabasco
*And the secret ingredient/ special addition: Bacon (8 slices in this case)

- Combine the tomato sauce, crushed tomatoes, oregano, brown sugar, and two chili mixes in a large pot and cook over high heat.
- While this is going on, A. cook the ground beef in a separate pan (I added a pouch of chili mix and water to help in the browning), B. cook the rice in a separate pan/ pot (once again, add water. And butter if you'd like), C. fry the bacon in a separate pan until it is so crisp that you could use it as a baseball bat.
- Once the sauce is sufficiently heated, pour the ground beef and the rice into the tomato mix and stir. Break the bacon into small pieces and drop that in as well. Continue to let the mix simmer over medium heat.
- At this point, I proceeded to add enough jalapenos and red cherry peppers to kill a horse, as well as 3/4 of a bottle of Tabasco. Some like it hot. And hot it was. I let the final product simmer so the flavors could all mesh together, and then I crushed a bowl for dinner.

This was my first time making this chili, and while it wasn't perfect, it was really good. I'll make a few tweaks for next time, and if you make it on your own, feel free to add/ subtract ingredients as well.


2. The chocolate chip cookies were nothing special either. I just got a recipe off of google and made it happen. One thing I did do was add about 3x the recommended amount of chocolate chips, and also added a small bag of m&m's. Nothing worse than chocolate chip cookies with too much cookie and not enough chocolate chip. They turned out pretty good.
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/best-chocolate-chip-cookies/Detail.aspx

**Two quick additions:
1. Once you've finished making the dough for these cookies, put the whole big ball in the freezer for 20-30 minutes. I'm not sure why you do this, but my mom always did and her chocolate chip cookies are out of this world.
2. Sprinkle some salt on the baking sheet before you put the cookies on. Some of this salt will stick to the bottoms of the cookies. I think it may prevent sticking, but the main reason I did it is because the warm chocolate chip cookies at Max & Erma's Restaurants have a few grains of salt on the underside of each cookie, and it really enhances the taste. Don't ask me how or why.

Connecti-cut Short

I was supposed to be spending this entire week in Connecticut for work. Had a few things planned, including meeting my cousins over at UConn and hitting up an iconic hamburger joint in New Haven called Louis' Lunch.
http://www.louislunch.com/

I saw this place highlighted on the Travel Channel as the apparent birthplace of the "Hamburger Sandwich." Alas, I will have to try it out some other time, as a threat of weather in Connecticut forced me to cut my trip short, and consequently drive back into the storm that was ravaging Eastern PA and New Jersey. Made it home safe and sound by about 3 am, and for those not getting the snow right now, this is what home looks like these days:

And this was just really weird....

I did spend Monday and Tuesday at the Mohegan Sun casino in Uncasville, CT for work meetings. The weather was cold, but not blizzard-like, and I must say: if you're looking for a classy establishment with impeccable customer service, breathtaking decor, and a variety of good shops and restaurants, Mohegan may very well be the place for you. It was my second year attending the meetings at this casino, and while it's not as ornate as the casinos in Vegas or even Atlantic City, the words tacky, gaudy, and cheesy never cross your mind. It's on an Indian Reservation, so there is a very earthy motif, lots of bright colors, and a definite nod to the history of the Mohegan tribe. In addition, the entryway to the hotel/ casino looks like the canopy of the Pandoran forest from Avatar:

As for the food at the casino, I had one really great meal. It was at Michael Jordan's Steakhouse, which is apparently a mini-chain, but of which the location in Mohegan Sun is apparently the best and the classiest.
http://www.michaeljordansteakhouse.com/

Now MJ and I have a special bond: we share the same birthday. I thought the connection ended there, and if you've ever seen me jump, you'd surely assume the same, but apparently we both have a penchant for a well-cooked steak with AWESOME side dishes. I had a 6 oz filet mignon, and our table split some creamed spinach, lobster mashed potatoes, and grilled aparagus. Each of these sides was done to perfection, and I'd have to give the place 8 Bearclaws.

*I also had ice cream from the Ben and Jerry's store downstairs. The "Chocolate Therapy" flavor gets 9.5 Bearclaws. Hands down one of the best combinations of ice cream ingredients ever created.
http://www.benjerry.com/flavors/our-flavors/#product_id=94
(Ali, you'll probably need to brush your front teeth after just reading those ingredients.)

Snowed In

Most people who actually read this blog are probably in the same situation as I am today: snowed in with over a foot of accumulation sitting outside the door. I've seen a few cars on the road, but not many. One advantage of being trapped indoors for a weekend is the effect it has on one's wallet: None.

So today, Center and I decided to cook up one of my signature dishes, English Muffin Pizzas. The cupboards and fridge were relatively bare, as I am prepping for a week-long road trip for work next week. But all I needed for this dish was:
- English muffins
- Tomato sauce
- Parmesan cheese
- Pepperoni
- Pickled hot banana pepper rings
*Sometimes add hot pepper relish
**Sometimes add bacon bits (didn't have any)

1. Cut the English Muffins in half, and spread a layer of tomato sauce on top of each. Sprinkle on some parmesan cheese, and toss them in the oven at about 400 degrees for 10-12 minutes, or until the edges of the English muffin start to get brown/ crispy.

2. While this is going on, throw as many pepperoni slices as you'd like (I throw 2-3 on each muffin half) into a bowl or on a plate. Put a paper towel on top, and put in the microwave for 2 minutes. This makes the pepperoni nice and crispy. Also allows you to dab off some of the grease. *I actually used turkey pepperoni this time. Apparently there's 70% less fat. Once it's burnt and crispy, though, you cannot tell the difference.

3. After the muffins are nice and crisp and the layer of parmesan has melted, take them out of the oven and put the pepperoni and/ or any other topping on top. I usually throw on another layer of parmesan cheese, too. While I will readily admit I'm addicted to grated parmesan, this is a nice touch because when the cheese melts, it keeps all the other toppings together and intact.

4. Put these guys back in the oven for an additional 10-15 minutes, or until the top layer of parmesan cheese starts to brown and/ or melt.

5. Take them out, let them cool, and enjoy.

Obviously, you can put whatever toppings you want on these, I just happen to love spicy food, so I usually put a thin layer of spicy pepper relish underneath the tomato sauce. Adds a nice kick. As do the banana pepper rings. Also, I have to give a nod to Mrs. Rogers and my mom for this recipe. Whether I was staying over my friend Tim's house or eating dinner at home on a random weeknight, many a night growing up featured this Britalian delicacy. They're cheap, easy, quick, and delicious. Next snow day, give it a try. (And as you may notice in the photo, never a bad idea to wash it down with a good old Iron.

Commercials

It's been a few days since my last post. I've had a pretty uneventful few days, both in the food world and travel world, hence the lack of material. Also, my dad dealt a crushing blow to the blog, saying that despite my best efforts, the chances my mom will start using the internet are still very slim, as the online scrolling script bothers her eyes. Understandable, but we will forge on.

Regardless, I wanted to put something out there today, and I decided to focus on advertising. Working in the Marketing/ Advertising field, this is a subject very near and dear to my heart. So when it comes time for me to pick a restaurant at which to eat, I will oftentimes make it my mission to reward good, funny advertising. For example, I am not a fan of McDonald's TV advertising. I know the company does great work in the community and across the world, but when it comes to their commercials, they're bottom of the barrel in my opinion. I think the last McDonald's commercial I enjoyed was when Michael Jordan and Larry Bird played H-O-R-S-E back in the 1990's.

Conversely, I cannot get enough of King from Burger King. Whether he is intercepting passes on the football field, reverse pickpocketing innocent passers-by, or waking up in bed with a fresh breakfast sandwich, he never ceases to crack me up. Personally, I think he's a genius character, and so if I'm driving down the road and see a McDonald's on the right and a Burger King on my left, I'm holding up traffic to make that left-hand turn because I appreciate the way BK spends an advertising buck.

With the Super Bowl coming up this weekend, and the Steelers regrettably not involved in any way, the commercials will probably be a highlight for me, so we'll see what some other companies have up their sleeve when it comes to luring in new customers. The right message certainly goes a long way towards getting people to at least try your product. For example, those new Domino's Pizza ads. If you've seen them, admit you've at least thought about calling and ordering Domino's to see how good their "new" pizza actually is...

All that being said, I've attached a YouTube clip of what is UNDOUBTEDLY my favorite restaurant commercial ever. Although I don't know if I'll ever find myself in Oklahoma at any point in my life, if I do, regardless of if I'm on the Arkansas border or all the way out on the panhandle, I will certainly make a journey to Mr. Spriggs Barbecue because this, my friends, is some seriously catchy, and seriously well-practiced and well-executed advertising, quite certainly crafted on a limited budget. Someone get this man a record deal.

*Special thanks to my friend Pack-Man for introducing me to this ad
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xz1cee_94L4

**And a little King for what ails you...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGriO85UGLg

Philly Restaurant Week - BUDDAKAN - Thursday Night

I'm back. I see I have some followers now, too. Pressure's on. So here goes…

Back when I played baseball, the best games to play were the games where we were the away team and had to bat first, and we erupted for 10-12 runs in the first inning, making the rest of the game, from my perspective as a pitcher, a piece of cake. This blog will be starting the same way, as last night, I went out to dinner at Buddakan in Old City Philadelphia with a group of friends. I would equate this place to a 12-run first inning, because this is one of the nicest restaurants in Philly, and likely the nicest one I will ever write about.

If you're not familiar with Buddakan, I suggest you get familiar. Here is their website: http://buddakan.com/
It's definitely a birthday/ anniversary/ just-got-a-bonus type of joint, and I had been there once before, as Weiss Center's parents both have birthdays near mine, and so we had a big dinner there in February of 2009. Now anyone who knows me knows that I use a lot of superlatives. "Summer Catch is the best movie I've ever seen." "That Italian Place in Phoenixville is the best pizza I've ever had." "Joey Harrington is the best quarterback in the history of the NFL." I exaggerate. But I tell you, with no exaggeration, that the meal I had at Buddakan last year around my birthday is, to date, the best meal I've ever had in my life. So needless to say, I was anxious to get back.

The reason we went is because it's Restaurant Week in Philadelphia. Now there are a number of things I don't like about Philly. Namely, the Flyers, the Eagles, Flyers fans, Eagles fans, Flyers players, the Flyers logo, South Jersey, etc. But if you've never been to Philly, let me tell you, there are more good restaurants here than you would ever expect. I was shocked when I moved here. It's unreal. So basically, for restaurant week, X number of restaurants throughout the city have prix fixe menus at a decently affordable price. So yea, this was not a typical Thursday night for me.

Anyway, the place was busy, so reservations were not until 9:00 pm. At that hour, the place was still packed and bumpin. Every table was full, and so was the bar, but I managed to sneak in and order a Kirin Light. If you like light beer like I do, Kirin Light is a great choice when eating Asian food. All the rice and carbs in the food will expand and make you feel like you're pregnant by the time you're done eating, so something light and smooth like Kirin is the perfect compliment. However, when you drink seven of them like I did last night, the aforementioned point becomes moot. http://kirin.com/

Regardless, after about 35 minutes at the bar, we get seated at our table. It's kind of a dark restaurant, and it's very loud. Service was really good, though, and the whole table (7 people) got the prix fixe option. Total cost for it was $35 apiece. Throw in alcohol and a couple appetizers for the table, it was about $60-$65 per person. Pretty expensive, but at this restaurant, it was the equivalent of paying for a Ford and getting a Jaguar. It was too good to pass up.

The Restaurant Week menu consisted of a first course, second course, and dessert. My first course was the Crispy Shrimp and Scallop Spring Rolls. Really crispy egg roll shell, fresh, fat shrimp, and I couldn't really taste the scallops, but whatever, they must have complimented the shrimp nicely because overall the app got an "A" in my book. Buddakan serves family-style, so since three people got the same appetizer, they all came out on one huge plate, stacked together to a point like a couple teepees. Out of the three person serving, I probably ate about two people's servings worth of these things. Also had a nice syrupy dipping sauce, and another thicker, more mayonnaise-like sauce. Good start...

My second course was Sesame Crusted Tuna. I don't like canned tuna, like Starkist or anything, but this was the seared, rare variety, and it was also really good. Came garnished with some wasabi and Asian-slaw type salad. Sesame seeds coating the edges of the fish gave it a nice crispy finish, as well. I'm trying to sound like an intelligent restaurateur with this description, but basically, it was awesome, and I would have eaten the tuna fish in it's entirety like a real Kodiak bear: gills, eyes, everything, if it were sitting in front of me and even closely associated with this dish. I don't know if it was soy sauce or just runoff from the ginger and wasabi, but the overall flavor of the fish was incredible. An "A+" in my book.

Lastly, after I had finally thrown in the towel on the Kirin Lights, it was time for dessert, for which I picked the Crying Chocolate. This was basically a flourless chocolate lava cake. It was about the size of a hockey puck, and the chocolate inside was incredibly rich and melty. It came with a scoop of ice cream that tasted like coffee, and therefore did not fall victim to my appetite, but overall, like everything else about Buddakan, it did not disappoint. I think the whole table actually got this same dessert, but for the first time all night, multiple orders came out on separate plates, and aside from the ice cream, mine was wiped CLEAN. This dessert was a great way to finish up a great meal at a truly great restaurant. I wanted to rub the big bronze Buddha's belly on the way out as a display of gratitude. Instead I just grabbed a business card, braved the cold, walked past the hordes of people STILL waiting to get in at 11:00 pm (!) and started the countdown for when I might be able to go back. Good push Buddha. Good push.

All in all, I give the place a 9 out of 10, or let's call it Nine Bearclaws.

No big plans this weekend, so nothing quite this glamorous, exciting, or long on the horizon, but I'm sure I'll have something of interest to post.

Welcome.

This is my first foray into blogging. I have posted on the comment sections of one or two in the past, but I am starting this one with very little direction, very little planning, and admittedly, very little talent.

The reasons for starting this blog are numerous and varied:

1. My cousin Dooders has a Pittsburgh foodie blog. It's really good. Like really good. However, I don't know where you find the time for your recipes, or how you've managed to sample so many restaurants, Dooders. My blog will be quite different than hers. It will be the life of a non-married but non-single guy who lives by himself, goes to nice dinners with his girlfriend, travels a lot for work, and considers a meal of grilled chicken with wild rice gourmet homemade fare.
(If you live in the City of Champyinz, check her blog out here: http://snickies.wordpress.com/ )

2. My aforementioned work travel. I travel a lot for work. Probably more in 2010 than I did in 2009 even. Most of the travel is to New England. And not like Boston, New England either. Some rather tucked away towns in NH, RI, ME, CT, etc. Places you wouldn't necessarily go by choice. HOWEVER, if you do find yourself there, some of my recommendations may come in handy. Keep in mind, too, that I usually creep around these restaurants solo, so I'm more into the food than the ambiance. But if you happen to be in Auburn, ME looking for a quick, filling bite, I just might be your guy. Or if you're my buddy Wahlberg and you work in an organic yogurt office in Manch Vegas, NH, you just might be my guy, as I visit restaurants based alot off of referrals.

3. My health. I have kidney disease. Whatever. That also puts me at risk for high blood pressure, diabetes, and other things. I was also recently told my cholesterol is a bit high. My girlfriend, let's call her Weiss Center (or just Center), also told me that the best way to improve your diet is to write down/ keep track of what you eat. This blog might offer a way to do that. Although out of sheer guilt and embarrassment, I probably won't include my Monday night Grilled Stuft Burritos and Crunchy Taco Supremes from the T Bell down the street...

4. Last, but not least, my mother. Mom, if you're reading this, I'm shocked. But, let's just say you are. I want to get you more in tune with the internet. Plus, I know I don't call enough now that I live 300 miles away. So when I'm up in the great white north for work, postings on here can let you keep better track of where I am and what I'm doing. So this is for you, mom. And it's also in loving memory of the Chicken Club Tacos, which have recently been removed from the menu at Chili's. You will be missed....

(Also, some quick background on the title. My nickname is Bear, at least with my college friends. The reason being I'm big, and I'm also hairy. Not much to it. So I'm hoping that when you read my restaurant reviews, recipe advice, commentary on the performance of the Pittsburgh Penguins, and other general commentary, it will feel like you are sitting right here with the bear.)