Jay About Maine

Last week my special lady and I went on our annual trip to the family camp in Belfast Maine.  It almost seemed like it was not going to happen when a f*ing hurricane blew through VT and left half the state under water.  It really was a tragedy and affected many lives.  We were lucky, it blew and rained but we did not even lose power.  Odd.  In any event, we were able to get on the road Monday and after the storm it was sunny and very pleasant.  We dropped our asshole cat w/ my folks and made our way north.  It is a long drive to Belfast so we decided to take a break in Portland for the evening.  It was really fun.  We stayed at the Davenport which is a very nice place in Old Port.  The rooms are spacious and clean.  They have beautiful views and several sitting areas as well as a nice billiard room in the basement.  The only criticism I have is that the breakfast was not very good.  There was a blueberry crumble that was good but it was put on top of banilla yogurt which was gross.  There was nice fruit and the potatoes were good but the Mexican fritata was way too big a portion and did not taste that great, not enough salsa, a little burned, and too heavy on the cheese to egg ratio.  Otherwise it was a very nice place to stay.  Monday night we went out in Old Port and did it up.  We had dinner in the bar at Fore Street and it was very good.  The space is dark and very cool.  We sat on a couch and had delicious oysters, very fresh lump crab, and a also fresh seasonal salad.  Add to that some very well made cocktails and some nice white wine and we were in business (and nearly broke!).  It was expensive but the food, service, and setting were all top notch... 1 7/8th thumbs up.  We then wandered up Congress Street and closed down Bistro Jaqueline w/ a nice glass of champagne and then some other bar w/ a load of delicious local brews. We then proceeded to get lost and walk off our dinner in a quite unintentional way around Portland.  It was a very nice evening however.

Belfast itself was same old.  @ Tides was typically good.  Dockside was a little disappointing, Young's Lobster Pound... delicious and fun. 

Thurs. night we rolled down to Rockland and went to highly regarded Primo.  They are known for using local ingredients and embracing the farm to table ethos.  The place was a little off the run but the space was nice.  We went upstairs to the bar and waited for our table.  The cocktail list was extensive and pretty decent.  Then on to dinner.  The amuse bouche chicken pate was very good.  Then things went a little down hill.  We started w/ fried green tomatoes and oysters 2 ways.  The tomato had a bad consistency and the fry was like burnt cheese, not burnt cheese in a good way either.  The oysters were ok but nothing special, breaded and cooked. The wine was over priced and ok, not great.  The main courses were also uninspiring.  My snapper was pretty good and the lobster/potato mash was very good.  My wife's pasta was way over slated.  It was better the next day as a leftover.  The service was quite good.  The biggest problem was the prices.  For $15 an overly salted pasta dish tastes a whole lot different than a $32 one.  Even in New York they don't generally rip your face off that bad.  We thought the whole meal was just ok but priced for exceptional plus.  1 thumb on the atm taking out more cash. 

One last non-Maine related note.  Saddie Katz closed its doors last week after an all to brief stay in Burlington.  They made delicious sandwiches.  Biscuit and I ate one last meal before they closed and as always it was great.  I had a delicious greasy but not too greasy Reuben and the potato salad was solid.  2 thumbs up and hope to see you back in the mix some day...

Congrats!

To LB Squared on their nuptials!  It was a very fun wedding.  The was a nice mix of people who were ready to get their groove on and I thought the LBs did a very nice job sorting it all out. The Round Barn did an excellent job with food and decor.  There was dancing, drinking (too late), and parties galore.  Good crowd, good music (especially during the ceremony and reception), good fun.  If you are looking for a fun cheap place to bring a crowd and stay for a night or two check out the Slidebrook Inn in Waitsfield.  It is no frills but was a good crash pad for us.  As far as the wedding, 2 resounding thumbs up!!

On the flip side, yesterday the special lady and I watched the Denzel train thriller Unstoppable.  This could have also been called "Unwatchable" or "Denzel on a Train Without Travolta", or "2 Hours Until the Hostage Taker Gives You Back Your Life"!  What a piece of shit.  The tension is never really built.  Denzel is fat.  There is no chemistry between characters.  Trains lost their action appeal in 1942... seriously, who the f*ck still rides on a train?!  Why is Rosario Dawson in this movie?  I have a hard time believing there are many super hot exotic looking train managers or whatever her job was.  It is like imagining Jessica Alba in an action flick where she sells magazines at a kiosk in the Burlington Airport and has to stop a madman from stealing all of the month old In Style magazines.  Gripping no?  And who decides to put fuel tanks next to a hairpin railroad track curve?  Why would you put them there for heck's sake?  There are 1 billion better places to put them in any town or city?!  Was it too expensive to put the nuclear reactor there?!?!?!  1 thumb down. 

Das Poop!!!!

Haha, couldn't help myself.  Even my special lady commented that JAT had gotten a little poo-centric of late.  This is not one of those posts.  Seriously.  So I was working from home yesterday to test some systems and it sucked.  I figured I would wake up late, watch Sportcenter, eat some breakfast, Price is Right, lunch, and then mess around in the afternoon.  Instead I was up at a normal hour and working through connectivity issues and some other work stuff for the morning.  I did not even catch the showcase showdown!  After a pleasant lunch I was back trying to watch 9 different data sources on one 12" laptop.  F*ing brutal.  Meanwhile the market was melting down, I was inside while the sunshine was blazing outside, and my f*ing cat was just sitting outside the door to my office howling like I was beating him (I wasn't).  It was really quite unpleasant.  Hope returned when I headed back to Burlington and met some pals for beers and dinner.  It was $1 PBR night at Akes Thursday night.  That was pretty darn awesome and cheap!  We then rolled over to Das Bierehause for some big beers and chow.  I had a Jager Sandwich which was not at all what I was expecting.  It was pretty good though.  Or at least the PBRs told me so. It was a flattened piece of mystery meat/schnitzel I think on toast w/ fried onions, cheese and some weird brown gravy.  Hey, it was good.  The spicy fries were also really solid.  Mac and cheese was ok.  The one thing I was a little unsure of were the dumplings.  It is like a bready no meat meatball.  It tasted ok but the consistency was not super pleasant.  All in it was a good drinkin' meal.  And the waitress was pretty good looking in her dirndl and really was very nice to put up w/ our shit.  Usually an aggressively loud and overly detailed conversation about manscaping will get you shooshed but our server rolled w/ it and just gave us a mildly disapproving head shake.  Alright! 

Quick side note... we had lunch at Il Gatto and for a second time it was pretty darn good.  I had the carnitas taco and a mole pollo taco.  Both were good.  The guacamole was under seasoned and not very fresh but the salsa again was quite good. So far, so good.

Jay About Some Random Spots

My special lady and I packed up the car and ventured down to the Berkshires for a wedding this past weekend.  The wedding was very pleasant but that is not what I am going to talk about.  Instead we will delve into 2 somewhat off the run food options we explored while travelling to and fro.  Stop number one was an Indian joint called the Aroma Bar and Grill Friday night.  We met up w/ the in-laws at this spot in Great Barrington and dug in.  Right away we were given a thin hard bread that was spicy as all get out.  Uh oh.  Then we dove into the food.  There was a saag paneer that was a little greasy but very good, a veggie biryani w/ yogurt sauce that was money, lamb and fried veggie ball dishes in a spicy tomato sauce that were good and a fantastic almond naan.  It was funny, when the waiter asked us how spicy we wanted the food he looked us up and down with a suspicious glare and suggested medium heat.  We could have used maybe a little more but not much.  The spices were very nice and the flavors were full and textured.  The place looked like a diner but the service was adequate and the food was really quite good.  My one reservation is that everyone had some pretty serious stomach distress the following day.  As in, oh man, if I venture too far from home in the morning I might shit myself.  So if you find yourself in the area and are looking for Indian food I would say give this place a try... but plan accordingly.

Sunday we drove back up Route 22 and before getting to Vergennes we were passing a little BBQ joint that I have wanted to go to for awhile, so with my wife's blessing I ripped into the parking lot to give it a try.  It is essentially a small stand w/ a large smoking oven in front of some guy's house.  They had 3 picnic tables, and there were 2 younger guys in board shorts and tank tops listening to Cypress Hill and making BBQ meat.  They looked baked but there was a decent crowd gathered to chow down so f*** it!  We ordered a pulled pork sandwich and some cole slaw.  The napkins at the stand were wet from an earlier rain.  Not ideal.  After a little wait we got our food and settled in.  The cole slaw was only ok.  It was a heavily peppered vinegar sauce, not great.  The pulled pork on the other hand was great.  It was cooked nicely, was tender, and had great spicy flavor.  The sauce was also great.  If you are on Rt.22 pull over to Willie D's Black Box BBQ and enjoy!!!

Oh yeah, thanks for this gem NS, and sleep w/ one eye open!!!

http://youtu.be/MrEPt79QQQI

It Burns!!!

Nope, not what you weirdos were thinking at all, and frankly, I am just a tad ashamed of you... perverts!  Anyway, we had a lat round of golf last night playing the last hole in the dark.  I am going to say that is why I shot a 22 on that hole.  Afterwards T-Pain and I rolled over to Archie's Grill for a beer and a little take out.  Maybe we were a little intoxicated from the smell of the grilled beef or the beers we drank on the course but the two of us both went big and ordered the blue cheese stuffed onion ring burger.  Yup, you heard that shit right!  It is an onion ring stuffed w/ blue cheese on a burger w/ a buttered bun and more blue cheese.  It is f*d up!!  First off, the burger was delicious.  Really solid.  At 4am though Archie enacted his revenge.  I woke up with a burning sensation rising up from my stomach to my throat mouth and really into my finger tips.  The heartburn was ridiculous.  I thought I was going to puke.  I dropped a couple Rolaids extra strength tablets and tossed and turned for awhile before falling back asleep.  Had Archie done his worst?  Hardly.  On my way into work (a 20minute drive or so) I felt an unmistakable gurgling.  Uh oh... I peeled into the Dunkins and took care of business.  It burned.  There was a funny sign in the bathroom stating how Dunkin employees took pride in the cleanliness of the bathroom (it was clean).  I was putting this to the test.  It was a message... "Jay's stomach lining sleeps with the fishes."... compliments of Archie!!!  Once I made it to work there were one or two more episodes.  Even now hours later I feel like I am on pretty shaky ground.  Archie had exacted a steep price for his deliciousness.  I am a 35 year old man who has had a sensitive constitution for years.  You would think I would have learned by now but nope... if I see a pulled pork situation or onion rings, or jalapenos... I am waving them in!  What an ass.

Satisfied w/ the poop content of this blog yet?  Go ahead and "like" me on Facebook.  Haha, I am not on Facebook NERDS!!!!!

Jay About Il Gatto

Yes, it is the triumphant return of Jay as a restaurant reviewer!  Been awhile since anything has opened here in town but finally we are back in the mix and in the hunt for Mexican.  I admit that I had very mixed feelings about "the cat".  They had several false starts before opening and I find that to be a universal bad sign.  On the flip side, a couple co-workers had gotten lunch there in the first week and they liked it.  So my special lady and I bucked up and gave it a run.  This is week numero duo and it was pretty busy.  The bar was packed and most of the seats were full w/ a young a pretty lively crowd.  The space itself was repainted but not much different structurally from its predecessor Vietnam Restaurant II which is fine.  We got water and chips and salsa pretty quickly.  A good sign as most just opened spots suffer from terrible service.  The chips were a little stale but pretty good and the salsa was fresh tasting and had nice heat. After perusing the drink menu we asked what kind of tequila they used for the infused tequila which was the base for their house margaritas.  Our server did not know which means "well" so we opted for the hornitas gold w/ fresh lime juice and Cointreau.  Fantastic.  Really solid marg.  Ok, we were getting someplace.  The vibe was pretty happening, and so far the fare was respectable.  It took awhile to order food and a long time to get the food but several other servers stopped by occasionally to check in on our chips and salsa situation.  For dinner my special lady got a combo platter w/ a pork taco and a chili releno.  I did not get a bite of the taco (booo) but the chili was delicious.  I went for the pollo mole.  It was decent.  A thigh and a slightly overcooked breast (haha).  The mole was good not great.  The rice was good, the tortillas were ok, and the beans were pretty good but could have used a little more flavor.  Overall the food was pretty good.  1000x better than any other Mexican joint in Burlington and not a bad first experience.  The bill was also very reasonable.  I would give it a thumb and a half up w/ a hopefully bright future as part of the rotation!

BTW... how do you likes stocks down 620, up 420, and down 520 post debt deal/S&P downgrade.  No volatility there.  My ulcer has moved on from my stomach and is now eating my kidneys. Shit.

Jay About a Market Meltdown...

Boy, it is ugly out there in the financial markets.  Dow down 500+points, S&P down 60 points, 10yr tsys up almost $2. 3 month T-Bills were yielding 0 today, 0!  You don't get paid anything!!!  Yikes.  Lots of "oh man, I just shit myself" faces across media outlets.  Not to mention we are looking at a potentially very poor jobs number tomorrow.  It just does not feel good out there.  F***.  Speaking of ugly, my golf game melted down yesterday like, well, like the economy!  I shot a 50 on the front, and a 65 on the back.  Some of those holes I had to just walk away.  It was like the tennis scene in The Royal Tenenbaums, at one point I was sitting on a hill starring at the green with no club and missing one shoe.  Not a great back nine.  On the flip side, it was a better day than A-rod is having... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bESGLojNYSo&ob=av3n

Speaking of a bad back night... We ate at the Bearded Frog last night and it did not go well.  Service was ok.  The food was not great.  I got sick in the night as well.  The golf beers may have also had something to do with that.  Not sure.  Let's blame it on the food. 

We tried the new Hill Farmstead Clara beer the other day.  It is described as a hoppy Saison.  I thought it was pretty solid, a good summertime sipper.  It was light, refreshing, nice flavor.  Not syrupy or heavy handed and winey as some saisons can be.  I liked it.

I found a fly in my chicken parm sandwich from Junior's today.  Fortunately I found it before I ate it.  Kind of gross.  Not pube in your sandwich or band-aid in your sandwich gross but not exactly the kind of extra I was looking for today.  A stray piece of peperoni or green pepper would have been better.  A fingernail would have been worse. 

Well, if you will excuse me, I am going to check my underwear... at some point during the meltdown today I may or may not have shit myself.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/03/golf-cart-fail-compilation-video_n_917509.html