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sheldman

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Everything posted by sheldman

  1. sheldman
    Time for my nearly-annual update? All I really want to add is (1) that if you want a good beer, wine, or high-alcohol kombucha in a small, friendly and air-conditioned spot, go to Dead or Alive at 150 East Palm Canyon (on the curve, no sign with the name outside but a neon "beer and wine" sign in the window), and (2) if you go to the "high desert" up near Joshua Tree and if you have plenty of time to mess around, you should eat breakfast or brunch at La Copine (in Landers, or just north of Yucca Valley, an incredibly good organic-y spot in the middle of damn nowhere, just so good it is worth going well out of your way for - but don't go between now and the end of August because they're on vacation) and late lunch or dinner at Pappy and Harriet's (the platonic ideal of a hippy-cowboy roadhouse with live music, drinking, and delicious roadhouse food).
  2. sheldman
    I would be interested to read others' reports more recently - nothing posted here in the last year and half, oddly. I went for the first time last night, and was disappointed. To be precise, I was very disappointed with the pasta. I had one of the pasta dishes (ravioli on current menu), and shared in two others (fettuccini with seafood, and pappardelle with truffle). All were, to my taste, quite overcooked - the fettuccini really terribly so (not just the pasta but the seafood too) - and underflavored and undersalted. Ravioli was heavily overdrenched in fat. None had any spark (I guess it's hard to go wrong with truffle, but still ...). I did think that the burrata caesar salad was delicious, as were the little donut things for dessert. And the service was lovely. Maybe it was all supposed to be that way but if so, it was not to my taste.
  3. sheldman
    To target a restaurant for a raid because of participation in this "day" would be an outrageous abuse of government power. Participation is not a suggestion, much less an admission, that the restaurant hires anyone who is not legally eligible for employment. It is an action in support of immigrants, at a time when immigration itself is under attack. Therefore a pure "First Amendment" activity, without constituting evidence of unlawful employment conduct. So yes, there is a chance that our government would retaliate in the almost-certainly-unconstitutional and certainly-reprehensible way that you posit. But it is not a "game" in any sense. There are times when it is appropriate to stand up even at the risk of reprehensible government retaliation.
  4. sheldman
    Don, if only I cared as much about Alabama football as I am supposed to, we could have a real bet.
  5. sheldman
    I like the people at Tail Up Goat very much, so you can take this with a grain of salt if you want - But dinner consisting primarily of "bialy, onion jam, trout roe, bottarga, butter [15]" and "stracciatella, winter radish, apple, almond [16]" was absolutely incredible. The breads continue to be perfectly baked, and all dishes continue to be an inventive but not cutesy mix of flavors and texture. It is rich food, but the richness is always balanced by something else (whether it be acid, or crunch, or slight sweetness, or ...). It is not a salad-greens-based restaurant. It is a combination of decadent and home-y. (Then again, my home is decadent too.)
  6. sheldman

    Music-Map

    sheldman replied to dcs's topic in Music

    Not really the same, but fun in a similar "wow what did we do before the internet" way, is this site: "Band to Band." I haven't played with it in some years, but you can input two bands and it will create the shortest set of links it can find between them, in a "degrees of Kevin Bacon" way. When I played with it a lot several years ago, it led me to believe that Ginger Baker was the center of the universe.
  7. sheldman
    Clearly it can't happen, because if it could happen in the future it almost certainly must have already happened in the past, and if it had happened the solar system would have become so unbalanced that it would have started spinning in an eccentric way - basically a shaky orbit around Pluto, plus the effect of a "whip" on an ice skating rink - and our entire solar system would have careened into a black hole somewhere. So, no. QED.
  8. sheldman
    Hope I'm doing this right:
  9. sheldman
    The more I think about it, the more I remember that the aspect of my post quoted here is an overstatement. You can find a good bit of falsetto backup singing in old 78rpm "country" sides by the Skillet Lickers, Earl Johnson's bands, etc., as well as the yodel-like tradition that MC Horoscope mentions. I still think it didn't really serve the same purpose or have the same feel as falsetto in mostly-Black traditions, but it was there.
  10. sheldman
    So much of American post-war pop music is African-American (or wannabe or coopted), of course. And African-American blues and gospel have had strong presence of falsetto singing since the earliest recordings. I imagine somebody has written books and articles about whether that tradition has African roots; would not be at all surprised to find that it does. So blues and gospel are then among the parents of doo-wop, soul, R&B, and the now-ridiculous terms "rock and roll" or "rock" (now officially covering Joan Baez to Tupac). White country music never seemed to have so much falsetto, aside from Bob Wills's little interjections I guess. And I imagine somebody has written books and articles about why that is (differing conceptions of hetero-masculinity or what-have-you).
  11. sheldman
    A week or so ago my family and I made the mistake of wandering around Dupont Circle at dinnertime, very cold and looking for somewhere to eat. We looked in at Mission and found it jam-packed with an hour's wait. I was dumbfounded because I think of that particular location as being a death-zone for restaurants, but I asked the nice person at the host stand and they said that the place had been open for a couple of years. So tonight I decided that we would check it out, and made a reservation. I guess I thought that if it was that crowded in that location it must be very good. Sometimes I think dumb things. Very very pleasant staff. Very very busy. Not overly expensive, as compared to other places where one can sit down, order, and eat in the area. Everybody ended up getting a 3-taco platter, because on Tuesday night that comes with a free shot of tequila The tortillas themselves were somewhat better than just good. Everything else was just ok. Nothing was bad-bad except for the red salsa. Someday I will learn, once and for all, not to go to restaurants in Dupont Circle any more.
  12. sheldman
    Yes, thanks, I was just coming back to post a follow-up: what I initially thought was kind of funny in a sick way is now not funny at all. Bad times.
  13. sheldman
    I think as an introduction I would start with the 1975 "Best of" compilation (still available - it's the one that starts with Suzanne and Sisters of Mercy), then jump to any one of his late-period records like maybe Old Ideas (2012). If still interested, then The Future (1992). It is possible that the accompaniment and production of any or all of them will strike you as dated, or lightweight. Maybe true. But you can determine whether you enjoy immersing yourself in the lyrics and the voice and then the vibe.
  14. sheldman
    Thank you, Leonard Cohen. I am drinking to you. --- Leonard Cohen (mchoroscope)
  15. sheldman
    Is Comet Ping Pong at the center of Clinton sex ring? The answer may surprise you. But it is still a lovely place to drink and to watch obscure indie music late at night.
  16. sheldman
    Ha! I will have you know that I LOVE Jethro Tull, and just the other day was practicing "Too Old To Rock and Roll, Too Young to Die" for future karakoe opportunities. I am especially fond of the faux-Robert-Burns era. Someday I will refine and publish my explanation of how you can tell a lot about a 50-ish white USAian man by what proggish rock group he will admit to having loved. Rush people, Tull people, Yes people, King Crimson people ...
  17. sheldman
    A friend brought over a honey cake from Bread Furst last night. Incredibly good. Reminds me of what my grandmother used to make, in an alternate universe where she was a great cook. It is a bundt-shaped cake, with apples and a light glaze.
  18. sheldman
    Then this raises further questions: is a list like the "Bib Gourmand" in the DC book even meant to be correct in any sense? Or, is it meant somehow as a signaling device to Americans who buy tires (like, "hey bud, you are a sophisticated guy, here's a list that includes an Ethiopian restaurant in Georgetown, which is the part of DC you've heard of, and we're cool like you so buy our tires")?
  19. sheldman
    So (and I ask this as an actual question, not to make a point) who is the target audience for the Michelin Guides for cities in this country? To ask what may be the same question or may be slightly different, is it a publication that makes a profit through book sales or are the economics of it more complicated somehow? And to bring this back to DC: are they more nearly looking to sell this book to prosperous people visiting from Alabama, or to prosperous people visiting from London or Tokyo, or not worrying about sales at all?
  20. sheldman
    I ate here again tonight for about the 50th time maybe. In my opinion, 2 Amys is the perfect restaurant if your one and only goal is: excellent Italian-ish ingredients, very well prepared in relatively simple fashion, lots of olive oil. And by that, I do not mean to mock. But they manage to serve you that, at reasonable prices, by not including any of the other creature comforts that many people find enjoyable about dining. And sometimes it's really lovely, when the toddler at the next table is adorable and when you don't mind leaving full of olive oil after a rushed dinner sitting in an uncomfortable chair. (And when you don't mind olives with pits.) Other times, it is not. I have never experienced it by arriving at 830 pm and sitting at the bar - maybe that is a very different and comforting and warm and vibrant experience. And yes, I am a bourgeois SOB who enjoys a pretty environment and enjoys being asked if I would like another drink, and sometimes even enjoys olives without pits in a cooked dish. And yes, my friend Marty L may never speak to me again ...
  21. sheldman
    Just another vote for this place, having tried it at Simul's suggestion. I had the shoyu, no spice bomb (thinking that I would be sophisticated and try it without overwhelming spice for my first taste of the place) but plus butter because that's how I roll. Very good. Also, strangely enough, a cocktail of muddled snowpeas, wasabi, yuzu and gin is quite good. Plus, bartender was friendly and helpful, and conversation at the bar was friendly. Give it a try. (It's right by the 930 club, for us old folks.)
  22. sheldman
    At this point maybe someone should split off a lot of this from the Momofuku thread, because it has gone much broader than any one restaurant and even much broader than restaurant pricing. Let us assume that your implication is correct, that Momofuku is not using ingredients that are raised with care and humanity and sustainability - i.e, ingredients that are no better than one can buy at the average grocery store. Let us even assume that Centrolina is using "quality" ingredients, by contrast, and that it is setting prices reasonably. So what's the take-away for personal action (as opposed to large-scale political action)? That only those people should go out to dinner who can afford a $24 plate of pasta with really good non-commodity ingredients, as opposed to a $17 plate of pasta at Momofuku or PF Changs or an $8 plate of crap at Panda Express? And therefore others should eat at home but should not actually eat unless they can afford vegetables raised on small organic farms? I don't mean to be pissy, though I guess it sounds that way. It just seems like you have taken a very important concern about serious problems in large systems, and are making an unclear point about how that impacts restaurants and their customers. If the point is just "No really, I know that Centrolina does use much better ingredients and that justifies the $7 differential between it and Momofuku on a dish of pasta with some meat in it" then I will defer to your knowledge and completely agree with the limited point. (But would still add: "Yeah I can't wait to see how people react when somebody offers a $24 bowl of ramen that is made with quality, humane, sustainable-agriculture ingredients."
  23. sheldman
    I am no expert and you are. So I don't feel confident about where they get their stuff, any more than I do about Centrolina. I see that Momofuku sources some pork product from Benton, but other than that, we (other than insiders) are all pretty much in the dark about everything everywhere. If you can tell me a place where I can find a delicious main course at $17 with well-sourced ingredients, I am all ears.
  24. sheldman
    No I am by no means complaining about $24 at Centrolina. Of course it is expensive, in the sense that it is available only to us in the top whatever-percent. But I did not find the pasta at Centrolina to be inordinately expensive in context, just as I don't find the ramen at Momofuku (a block away in the same development) to be inordinately expensive in context. I do think that prosperous USA-ians of European origin tend to think of Italian food as being a thing where it's sensible to pay $24 for a very well made wheat-noodle-based dish with a bit of pork and fine vegetables and whatnot at a place catering to the prosperous, but would balk at paying that much for equally well-made ramen with equally good ingredients and skill (whether traditional Japanese, or David Chang 21st century global stoner cuisine).
  25. sheldman
    In this vein I note that at Centrolina (where I ate once, and loved it), which is in the same development as Momofuku CCDC, "BUCATINI: suckling pig ragu, tomato & basil" is $ 24
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