Drive-by Critic

WFM Friendship Heights has serious stocking problems. Why is the packaged salad selection nearly depleted at 9 a.m. on a Friday? Can't they use the massive amounts of data they collect to predict demand? This has been going on for two weeks now. I am getting sick and tired of having to make multiple trips to get basics. And they don't get their staff in early enough to get the prepared foods stocked. The selection of prepared salads and sandwiches was pathetic at 9:15. They never have the rotisserie chicken out before 10 a.m. (That's actually OK - it is an excuse to go to Don Pollo - but I don't always have the time to do that). It's getting to be as random as Rodman's.

We had lunch (Saturday 12/17) at Riverpark. Located between 1st Ave and the FDR Drive on 29th St. in Kip's Bay, this Colicchio-owned restaurant overlooks the East River and the Brooklyn waterfront. It occupies the waterside first floor of a stunning science/tech building known as the Alexandria Center. As you walk along 29th street from 1st Ave to the river, you pass by the Riverpark Farm where the vegetables and herbs for the restaurant are grown. At this time of year, most of the beds are of course under heavy plastic. The interior of the restaurant is understated and the view is great. To the north, you view the Williamsburg bridge and the huge new condos that replaced the enormous Domino's Sugar Plant, the world's largest. To the south, the still low-skyline, light-industrial but increasingly hipster/art scene area dominates. Though it was slightly warm for December, it was too cold for the terrace or the patio. It must be great to sit out there in nice weather, but I wonder about the roar of the traffic on the FDR. We started off with hibiscus iced tea with lime. Very refreshing, though probably more of a summer drink. We were reluctant to order the house-made cinnamon doughnuts because how could they possibly compare to Tabard's? Hate to admit it, but these blew away Tabard's. They were as light as air and perfect in every way. They serve both the doughnuts and the holes, with a small dish of chocolate dipping sauce. To my mind, chocolate and cinnamon are not a great combo, so I didn't try the chocolate sauce. Tim had French toast with a side of pork belly. I found the French toast to be too sweet (sans syrup) but otherwise good - not in the least bit soggy, as French toast can often be. The pork belly was perfection. I had been looking forward to the oysters tacos w/ lime-pickled onions, green tomatos, and cilantro, which reviews have lauded. This is the perfect time to serve oysters, but apparently this dish is no longer offered. I decided to order two starters - lamb sausage with tzadziki (they called it spiced yoghurt dressing which is odd as I would think most people in NY are sophisticated enough to know what tzadziki is and it isn't exactly exotic or rare) and greek yoghurt with sour cherries, poached pears, and granola. Both were wonderful. They should offer the lamb sausage in two sizes, as they do the yoghurt, as the two small pieces were perfect as a starter for an entree, but not as half of a meal. Our friend/host ordered a cheeseburger. He was happy with it. We were not impressed with how it looked. I can't comment on the wines. Our host is the expert and he ordered for us. I can only say we enjoyed the wines he selected. None of us had dessert. It was wonderful to be in this little pocket of peace and quiet, in NYC two weeks before Christmas, steeling ourselves for the craziness of 5th Ave. And speaking of craziness, if you feel a need for a mental tune-up, Bellevue is a short 5-block walk. In fact, as you walk down 29th to the river, you pass the original Bellevue on your left - it is now a homeless shelter. PS - if you intend to go to NYC for the windows, skip all but Bergdorf's. The others are ho-ho-hum to lame, but Bergdorf's are worth the trip.

I know Virginia roads are much like impacted intestines and you just can't find your way out, but I don't think anyone has ever gotten so lost in NOVA that they ended up in Chevy Chase. That Tyson's Corner Hilton is on Jones BRANCH Rd, not Jones BRIDGE Rd. People usually figure it out when they encounter a large river and a big bridge. Oddly enough, the hotel itself thinks it is in McLean. The actual name is Hilton McLean Tysons Corner. I always thought that McLean was inside the Beltway but as it turns out, McLean includes Tysons. Live and learn. In any case, did anyone know that the name of the road that runs behind Tysons II is Jones Branch Road?

Seriously. It was on my to-do list for my next life: have good hair. Because obviously it was never going to happen in this life. Not for a day, a minute, even one second. And then I found Salon Capelli. These people are really remarkable. I watch the other cuts going out the door and they are always terrific. My stylist, Becky, is a magician with the scissors. They have a guy named David who does phenomenal color. And Amy the miracle worker, with the Coppola keratin. And then, speaking of miracles, there is Milagra, whose shampoo job is better than a year's worth of Valium. I mean, that's what I asked for for my birthday present - to have my hair washed by Milagra. The place is always clean and everyone is friendly. I actually look forward to getting my hair done now. Which is remarkable because not that long ago, I ranked hair cuts maybe one notch above colonoscopies and mammograms. Ellen Paul

As a former Trentonian, I would beg to differ. The sign on the bridge may say that, but we who live(d) there had a different version: What the world refuses, Trenton uses.

De-lurking to tell you that the new DeLorenzo's (same family as Hudson St.) in Robbinsville (just off Rte 130) is every bit as good as the old place and has much better hours. http://www.delorenzostomatopies.com/directions.html Much larger and has a bathroom, too! And it is so worth it.

You are probably right about the kosher thing. Kingklip refers to several species in the genus Genypterus which is "cusk eel" and in turn, cusk eels are "eel-like fishes." If it has fins and scales, it is kosher. They have fins (well, one fin), and very small scales, so according to the laws of mishigas, ess gezunterhait! You are right - I overstated by saying desserts (plural) when I had only one. Weird. We were there the same night and had the same item. Mine was definitely not dry at all. And there was just a small dollop of creme. Not doubting you at all, just giving more specifics about my experience.

Coming out of hiding for the second time, and again to sing the praises of Ardeo. But first - yes, kingklip is a type of eel, very popular in South Africa, and also in Chile, where it is known as congrio. As a fan of kingklip, I was giving serious thought to ordering this dish, but guilt overcame me. So instead I ordered the white sweet potato soup with the lavender & rosemary crouton. Good to the last drop. That's often not the case with soups, where you get bored half way through. It could have been served a tad warmer, but otherwise, just wonderful for a cold rainy night. Followed by the salad of endive, bibb, and trout. I love a good, fresh salad, lightly dressed, and this one fit the bill. I deliberately ordered light because Ardeo has good desserts, and I had asked to see the dessert menu before ordering. I was having trouble deciding among a dozen different items, and knowing in advance if I'd want dessert helped me to chose. So I had the warm spiced ginger cake topped with ginger creme and accompanied by a small scoop of orange sorbet, with a drizzle of caramel on the plate. A perfect dessert. My companion had the roast chicken with farro. She enjoyed it immensely. With a glass of merlot for me and a cocktail for her, the tabs were a mind-blowing $38 each. You can eat very well here without blowing the budget. Among the many things I like about Ardeo is the portion size. Quality really is more important than quantity. We find ourselves sharing one entree in most restaurants, which often means that one of us doesn't get his/her first choice. Not necessary here. The portions are reasonable. Service was wonderful. Rissa wasn't there (maybe she's moved on?) but the young host was just terrific. He was obviously schooled well in the art of making guests feel welcome. Gillian (?) was friendly and enthusiastic. She obviously enjoys working there and that makes the diner feel assured that all will go well. What really amazed me was how sweet she was when, at the end of the meal, we realized we'd forgotten to tell her we were going dutch. No problem, she said. The new computer system makes it very easy to give each diner a check for exactly what they ordered. That is perfect for large parties or situations when some have ordered expensive and others have not. Due to utility work at Porter, it took a 1/2 hour to drive from Albemarle to Macombe, but we actually found a space on Connecticut. Only to learn that they do have valet, for $6.00 (well worth it in the parking hell that is Cleveland Park). One wonders where they park the cars? Maybe in Tenleytown? Bottom line: Ardeo is on my very short list of restaurants that are worth my money. Repeatedly.

I had an experience at Ardeo so lovely that I am coming out of my undisclosed location, body armor in place, to laud this place that I've wondered about over years of walking/driving by. What a remarkable block - Palena,Ardeo/Bardeo, Dino, and Lavandou (can't speak to the latter two as I haven't had the pleasure yet). Makes the immense parking hassle worthwhile. It was Don's recent write-up that caused me to chose Ardeo for a very rare dinner out. Open Table said no tables within 2 hours of either side of 7:30 on Saturday or Sunday, but having found that Open Table may not have all tables available for reservations, I picked up the phone and called. I was glad I did. What an immensely gracious voice at the other end of the phone. Now, some of you know who that was, but I didn't. I was able to book for 2 at 7:30 on Saturday. On Saturday afternoon, that same woman called to confirm my reservation (WOW - shades of Danny Meyer! I didn't know that such professionalism existed in this area, but then, I don't have the luxury of fine dining much, so apologies to any other restaurant I might have slighted). But it wasn't just that they confirmed, it was the warmth of that voice. It was clear that this restaurant values its customers. At the door, I met the owner of that voice and it was none other than the famed Rissa Pagsibigan. She was so delightful and greeted me - a total stranger, as I've never been to Inox and she wasn't there on the two nights I visited the original Cordoroy - as a valued repeat customer. Every restaurant owner in town should send his maitre d' and other hosting staff to Ardeo for a meal to see how it SHOULD be done. She should open a school to train hosting staff. I have never in my life felt so welcome. During the meal, she stopped by to check on us and chat. The food was every bit as terrific as Rocks reported. I had the pear and dandelion salad, which made my mouth very happy. It was perfectly balanced and flavorful. Getting the ripeness of pears right is hard to do - in most cases, they are served hard and underripe in restaurants and sometimes they are mushy. These were just right - firm and full of flavor, so they held their own against the peppery dandelions. I also had the scallops cured in citrus (two apps rather than a main) and this was also perfectly balanced. It was such a beautiful plate, with the thinly sliced scallops lined up along a rectangular plate dotted with the ginger, pineapple condiment, and microgreens. I had the gelato drizzled with honey for desert - a small scoop of creamy gelato, accompanied by terrific spice cookies and chocolate truffles (real truffles - ganache balls rolled in cocoa power, not those hard-shelled, filled things). Overall, service was as good as it gets - polite, professional, unobtrusive. The waiter was very patient with us as we chatted instead of getting to the menu. They were very patient with us even though we took two full hours during prime time, and had only two apps and one main (and one desert) between us. This is fine dining. It is going to be really hard to resist making this the go-to on every one of the rare occasions when we go out! Ellen (heading back to the foxhole)

"Now I pose the question(mostly to keep the reader from posing it) How is this WF fault? How on earth did someone, employee or not manage to walk around with a sour cream container and eat from it in the store? Secondly how the hell did it get back on the shelf? Where is the quality control? I pay extra money at this store so I don't have to worry about bad oysters or mismarked wine and especially half eaten food." Hmm. Something that happened to me today in the Fair Lakes store may be what happened. I asked for a tabbouleh wrap, which for some reason, they don't offer in this store (another manifestation of the difference between middle class, egalitarian, crunchy munchy, granola-and-birkenstock MoCo and "is it just me or are these the biggest effing SUVs you've ever seen in your life" and "does ANYONE here ever bring reuseable bags?" NOVA?). Anyway, we can usually persuade someone to make one for us. After all, they have the tabbouleh, the tortilla, the lettuce, and the tomato. How hard can it be? Also has black olive tapenade. So today the guy gets out the recipe book and starts to make me a wrap, and gets out this huge vat of honeycup mustard. I hate mustard. I don't care if they omit the tapenade but I don't want mustard (plus, if he is looking at the recipe, it says tapenade, not mustard). So I stop him and oh yeah it's tapenade but they don't have any. Fine, I say. Don't worry about it. Leave the tapenade off but please don't put any mustard on it. (Don't you check with the customer before making substitutions? What if they are allergic, or just don't like the substitute? I hate mustard and especially sweet mustard). He walks over to the prepared food case (where the soup and premade sandwiches are), picks up a plastic package of tapenade, takes it back to the deli, opens it, spreads the tapenade on my wrap, and more or less rolls the whole thing up and I've got my wrap. Now, I wonder if that package of tapenade might accidentally end up back on the shelf in the prepared food case? And could that be what happened to your sour cream? Someone took it off the shelf to use it to make something, and then someone else accidentally returned it, not realizing it had been opened and used? Ellen

Some people have all the (bad) luck! With me, it is electronics - these are devices that enter my life and then break or get lost or both. Battery life - my under-one-year-old cell phone decided it won't hold a charge for more than a day. Almost left me stranded at National last night. But I've had remarkably few problems with grocery stores (Giant for many years, now WFM almost exclusively). On balance, I think I'd rather have bad electronics luck than bad grocery luck. We are also grappling with the WFM cost issue, but have come to realize that it is at least in part offset by the fact that we actually eat what we buy there. The quality is high and the produce is excellent. When I shopped at Giant, I would end up throwing out quite a lot of food, which really bothered me. We virtually never toss the food we buy at WFM. Pollan had an article in the NYT mag recently in which they bought the same dollar amount of food in the outer aisles (the fresh stuff) vs. the inner aisles (the processed stuff). Not surprisingly, the volume and calorie density of the stuff from the innter aisles was much higher, and he very nicely tied this sad phenomenon to the heavy Farm Bill subsidies of corn and wheat. There are virtually no subsidies for produce. I know Pollan can be preachy, but this article is worth reading. I found a copy here: http://www.mindfully.org/Farm/2007/You-Gro...llan22apr07.htm. Ellen

This town of 27,000 (when the 12,000 students are around) has precious few restaurants. Worth trying in the "downtown" area - a few blocks of businesses below (south?) of the campus. Sweet Melissa - a vegetarian restaurant, but vegetarian in the sense that there is no animal protein. It isn't really vegetarian cooking. Salads, three-bean chili, and the like. Everything in desperate need of spice/flavor. However, the food is fresh and prepared well. The place is shabby but the service is very friendly. Coal Creek Coffee - very good selection of coffee, though it isn't stored in vaccuum-sealed bags, so freshness may be an issue. There is a roastery next door, so you know that the beans are fresh-roasted, but how fresh they are before they are roasted no doubt depends on how many customers walk in on any given day, and with the students out for the summer, this place is a ghost-town. So beans may be sitting around quite a while before being roasted. Corona Village - a real find! This is actually on the other side of the campus - when you come into Laramie from the highway, you go through the Walmart part of town - passing the grocery store, McDonald's, gas stations, etc. This wonderful little place is in a tiny strip shopping center on the cross street that borders the Albertson's (grocery store). A wide selection of burritos, tacos, enchiladas - but hardly the usual crappy comidas typicas. The cooking is very good, the ingredients fresh and good quality. I had chicken enchiladas with a slightly spicy mango sauce (not a chunky salsa, it was actually a puree) with black beans and rice. When the enchiladas were gone, I mixed the black beans and rice with the remaining mango sauce and it was terrific. I could easily have had that for the main meal without the enchiladas. Wish I'd discovered this place on my first night in town. My friend had a vegetarian burrito that was huge and delicious. Very inexpensive. Jeffrey's - this is the mainstay. Also in the downtown area. Varied menu, leaning towards the "healthy" but not quite getting there. Pretty much every dish has cream-based sauce and/or cheese. I didn't eat there so I can't comment on the quality, but here's the website: http://www.jeffreysbistro.com/ The Whole Earth Grainery - from the outside, it looks like your basic crunchy granola health food store, and when you first walk in, that's what it is. But this tiny place has a very nice selection of health food and gourmet food, including fresh cheese. They don't have much in the way of prepared food, but you could purchase ingredients for a nice sandwich. Great selection of tea, coffee (in vaccuum-sealed packages), chocolate, cheese, and other foods. Corona Village (sit-down branch on other side of town - on Boswell Avenue) - as bad as it's sibling is good. Reportedly owned or managed by the brother of the other one. Noisy, big family restaurant. Friend ordered a margarita straight up, no salt. Got margarita rimmed with salt and load with ice cubes (not even crushed ice!). Said it was awful. I ordered a Mt. Gay and Tonic, saying that if they didn't have Mt Gay, I'd take a mojito. Waitress returns with a glass of clear fluid. I tell her it can't be Mt. Gay, because Mt. Gay is dark rum. She insists it is. I tell her it is white rum. She takes it back and returns to say that the bartender said they didn't have Mt. Gay. I told her to tell the bartender that customers aren't stupid and that she shouldn't lie to them about what is in the glass. She asks if I'd like something else. Yes, as i said before, if you don't have Mt. Gay, I'll take a mojito. It was undrinkable. It was vile. Friend had some sort of shrimp dish. It looked unpleasant. He did not like it. I ordered chicken mole. It was awful. Some light brown, flavorless sauce that was supposed to be mole. They would have been much better off just using Dona Maria from the jar. This place sucks. Ellen

Pho, pho, and more pho. Better than chicken soup. Magic food. Always makes us feel better. Especially (or only) if the pho comes from Pho VN1 on Rte 1 in Beltsville. ' Ellen

As she is your kid, it won't be too long before she's posting on DR.com about the quality of the service - how long she's got to cry before being given access to the milk machine! and whether the "table" is cleared before she's finished her meal. All the best to all of you - Ellen

While in Zambia, I fell in love with a rosemary wine jelly. PM me (next week; I'm on travel) if you want the recipe. I'm dying to try it myself. Have to go buy the canning equipment (why do they call it canning? shouldn't it be called jarring?) Ellen

That's greater barracuda (Sphyraena barracuda) which can't legally be sold in the United States. It must be some other species that is being served at Hook. It could be the incredibly popular and tasty snoek (aka snook) which is found in South Africa and is not actually barracuda. It's actually from the mackerel and tuna family. However, in the U.K., snoek is a barracuda, but it is Sphyraena japonica. I don't know if the other sphyraena species are sources of ciguatoxin. The FDA website actually says that many fish species can be the source of ciguatoxin: Marine finfish most commonly implicated in ciguatera fish poisoning include the groupers, barracudas, snappers, jacks, mackerel, and triggerfish. Many other species of warm-water fishes harbor ciguatera toxins. The occurrence of toxic fish is sporadic, and not all fish of a given species or from a given locality will be toxic. Ellen

I'd like to put in a word for bird-friendly (i.e., shade grown) coffee. Right at the moment, certification is in a somewhat confused state, but Rainforest Alliance certification or certification by the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center are recognized standards. Finding coffee with Smithsonian certification is tough. Sometimes Mayorga carries some. A nice bonus is that pretty much all shade-grown coffee is also fair trade and/or organic. Not to mention that it tastes a whole lot better than sun-grown coffee. Locally, the Sanctuary coffee sold at WFM is Rainforest Alliance Certified and happens to be very good. I can't do anything about the guilt associated with the carbon costs of dragging coffee beans around the world, as coffee won't grow here. But at least I can purchase coffee that has a lower impact on the environment where it is grown. Ellen

In the good old days, when I had a lot more money and was not concerned about my health, I could eat at pretty much any restaurant I wanted to, frequently, and order anything I liked, without regard to manner of preparation, ingredients, or quantity. Now I am forced to be much more discerning as my limited funds just don't go very far and I have to be very careful about choosing a restaurant and selecting from the menu. I can probably go there only once or twice. For that reason, and because of the health concerns, I have to be very careful about ordering (selection and quantity) and that forces me to be more critical. Every bite counts. On my first, eagerly anticipated visit to Vidalia today, I was not disappointed at all. I know that some would not like the rather small portion sizes, but I found them to be just right, especially given that it was lunch, and given that I actually don't like to leave stuffed. I would really rather have 2-3 bites of something exquisite than a larger portion. I shared two apps with my friend - the yellowtail hamachi tartar with compressed watermelon, lime powder, espelette pepper sorbet, and micro greens. The beautifully composed plate had two incredibly refreshing and delicious portions, each two bite's worth and each bite was heavenly. We also shared a corn soup that was on the list of specials and I'm sorry I can't remember the ingredients. It was light and refreshing, though as I'm not a fan of sweet, and corn is naturally sweet, it wasn't my favorite. Nothing wrong with it, just not the kind of thing that makes my heart go pitter-pat. For a main, I had the divers scallops which are actually an app but it was plenty for me after the other two apps. These were also a special, and were perfectly cooked, sweet, plump scallops with fava beans, diced peppers, and all sorts of other good stuff. (OK, I am going to have to figure out how to take notes in restaurants as my memory is worthless). I enjoyed this dish very much. My companion ordered the duck confit, which I think of as a winter dish. He took one bite and said it was greatly oversalted. I tried it and agreed. I assume it was brined, but perhaps it was too strong a concentration? Or not rinsed after removal from the brine? Or perhaps just oversalted when cooked? In any case, the maitre d' was lovely about it and took it back with grace, offering to replace it with other portion or with another dish. My companion declined, and ordered a cheese plate instead. Now, I feel about cheese the way most of you feel about pork, but cheese is something I have all but given up (when I hit 75, I am going to eat cheese and bread all day every day for a week!). But in restaurants, we order what we please, in moderation. A cheese selection in a restaurant is a good option for cheese lovers who have no self-control and simply can't keep it in the house. So I was delighted to have a bite of each of three cheeses - none of them seem to be on the online menu and again, my memory is not up to this task. All I know is that I loved all three. I apologize for the inadequate descriptions of this wonderful food. The service was lovely and the room of course is beautiful and relaxing. It was really a wonderful treat for me to enjoy a meal of this calibre. The experience transcends food. Ellen

Very off-the-beaten-track but I am told that the best Philly cheesesteak is at a place called Dalessandro's in Roxborough (northeast Philly). A friend who grew up in the area says that when people from that area go home, they first go to Dalessandro's and then they go on to the home of whoever they are visiting. Then they go to Dalessandro's every day during their visit, and then they go to Dalessandro's on the way to the airport. I found this info: http://www.yelp.com/biz/RQAF6a0akMiot5lZZnMNNw Now, by way of vetting this recommendation, consider that my friend grew up watching Jerry Blavett, the geater with the heater, and knows the words to the Bristol Stomp (I grew up in Trenton, which is a suburb of Philly for cultural purposes, so I know that these are true hallmarks of a genuine Philadelphian). I used to be addicted to the cheesesteak at a place at 36th and Walnut (near the Penn campus) but who knows if it is there anymore. Ellen

I have a recipe to suggest. It will certainly get Zora noticed. Maybe not selected, but noticed for sure. This is a method of food preparation in the Arctic, practiced by the Yupit and other peoples in the western Arctic, and is apparently practiced in Greenland, too: Take one seal. Eviscerate, leaving the skin intact. Apparently, they do this by removing the internal organs through the mouth. Catch a seabird. Stuff it into the seal skin. Do not remove anything from the bird. Leave the feathers, beak, skin, etc. Bury the entire thing and allow to ferment for a number of months. Dig up and serve. To Rachel Ray. Let's see if she can smile and say "yummy" with this in her mouth! Ellen

I think there is a pet peeves topic somewhere, but I can't find it....but this is driving me crazy so I'm posting under a new topic, knowing that our wise moderators will move it if need be. The endless debates about whether a Caesar salad contains anchovies (Cardini's original did not...but he's dead...) will never be resolved, but one thing we know for sure. It is a C-A-E-S-A-R salad. It was Julius C-A-E-S-A-R. Not Ceasar. Not Cesar. Right now I am looking at a menu that serves vinagrette, safron, rissotto, zuccini, sontina cheese, avacado, proscuitto, chicken piemontesse... Though I have to hand it to them. They spelled Caesar correctly! Sheesh. Ellen

My in-laws came to visit a couple of years ago. They had trouble coping with unfamiliar menu items and my mother-in-law in particular struggled with the myriad choices needed for every aspect of the meal (e.g., what kind of bread). It got to the point where I'd act as an intermediary so as to save the sanity of the waiter/waitress and be sure that my in-laws ordered and received food that they would like and that was what they actually wanted. Otherwise, the exchange would be so confusing for everyone that no one had any clue what they wanted or what was ordered. They'd say something vague like, "well what about this such-and-such?" without asking specifically what they wanted to know. The waiter would take that to mean that they were ordering that item, rather than asking about it. And my husband has a habit of talking aloud about his selections and other menu items as he orders, so the waiter gets confused. I often find that I have to run through the order again with the poor waiter to be sure there are no misunderstandings. Also, my husband has a bit of an accent and it seems to cause some problems when ordering. Ellen

Assuming that this was the same person who worked for EarthJustice and was the Anacostia Riverkeeper, then as the man said, "only the good die young." Never met him but admired him nonetheless. Ellen

Thanks, everyone! A jar of chutney for each of you! Hey...where are you all going? Ellen

According to this website <http://www.lcor.com/play.html> a new Harris Teeter will be built at White Flint North. Hmm. A new WFM across from White Flint Mall and a new Harris Teeter at the next intersection... The Washington Biz Journal says, "A 312-unit apartment complex and a 60,000-square-foot Harris Teeter supermarket will be the first buildings completed, sometime in the second quarter of 2008." I have been past that intersection several times in the past few days and haven't noticed much in the way of construction, though I seem to remember commenting that the driving range must be incredibly valuable real estate, and the noticing that the driving range was gone. And the gardening center has been gone for a while now. Ellen