20061106

I almost carjacked someone

This morning my carpool was supposed to pick me up outside my building. I was waiting out by the curb as usual when the familiar gray Honda Accord coupe pulled up. There was a lot of traffic behind her, so I hurried around to the passenger side. I was about to pull the door handle when she drove off and turned left at St. Paul!

So there I am, standing in the middle of traffic wondering wtf just happened. "She must have circled the block because she didn't want to hold up traffic," I think to myself.

A few minutes later, the gray Honda Accord coupe pulls up. I get in and ask, "Have you already been here this morning?"

"Uhhh no."

Whoops!

Matt's last Thursday

I forgot to mention I went to Matt's on Thursday. It was officially okay. I think I might have had a better experience had I ordered something besides the flautas. On the other hand, the entrees on the menu weren't that expansive and I was told to stay the hell away from the steaks.

The upsides: Huge list of appetizers, including the "Bob" dip. Bob is a queso loaded with brisket or some such beef. Quite tasty.

Drinks included margueritas the size of your head.

Really great neighborhood the Lakewood is. Large old trees, small streets reminds me of downtown Denton. If you're into jazz, Matt's is also next to the Balcony Club.

20061019

I am retarded / Twisted Rootless Burgers

After double-checking the Twisted Root site, I discovered that they are not open weeknights except Thursday and Friday. I purchased two burgers, fries, and shakes over the phone and drove over. There were many a rock-show-goer gathered on the sidewalk out front but plenty of spaces in the car lot next door. There weren't any shows next door, and these folks were just milling about. Don't know what that was all about, but hey it's Deep Ellum.

Got the food back home, but no fries! Honest mistake I suppose. Burgers were rather tasty - I'm deducing it was all in the meat, although the sesame-seed bun was quite delicious. Shakes made from homemade ice cream is a bonus. Would have liked those curly fries though.

On the whole, I'm very glad that there is a tasty burger location nearby. My wife says we can even walk there when the sun is shining. Don't walk there at night because people want to kill you.

20061018

Twisted Root Where Are You?

Didn't feel like cooking tonight so I stopped by Twisted Root Burger Co in Deep Ellum on the way home. They were not open, but the internet tells me they should be open.

Does this mean they're defunk too?

20061014

Thomas & Leggitt fin

Thomas & Leggitt is not remodeling. Some Mexican kitchen-type restaurant is opening soon in that location instead.

I liked the T&L concept: a downtown pub for food and beverage elitists. Unfortunately, they didn't really follow through, since parts of the menu were desperately lacking, in addition to at least one keg tapped at any given visit. Place didn't last 6 months. I don't think the demographic was there either. They were better off as the Metropolitan.

20060930

Tuk Tuk follow-up

Tempura crisps right back up in a convection oven at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 6 minutes.

20060929

I get accosted on the way to Tuk Tuk

Tuk Tuk is a hip-like 'Asian-cuisine' restaurant saddled in the Campisi's nook on Stone Street. A smaller version of Cafe Izmir used to be in that spot, but they apparently didn't generate enough business to stick around. I placed an order for take-out this evening and walked over there via the 'bustling' Main Street.

Along the way, I passed one of the recognizable homeless guys laying out in front of what I think was long ago a movie theater. He asked for some help as he pointed to a small pile of change on the pavement.

"Sorry man." My typical response.

"Fuck you bitch."

"Hey!" And I continued to Tuk Tuk.

There sure were a lot of people sitting on the patios this evening. But they were all there for Campisi's. Oh well. The new owners hadn't done much to the place inside. The walls were still a sort of yellow, and nothing adorned them. There were no guests to adorn the tables either. The food was ready in a few and I was sure to bring it back via Elm.

I had the Bulgogi and it was quite delicious. Good Korean food is hard to find. Emily had an assortment of uh fried shrimp, but in an Asian way, uh appetizer. (My memory fails me and they don't have the restaurant menu on their website yet.) She also had some vegetable tempura.

All in all this will not be a bad place to head for assorted Asian foods. Being able to walk over there and pick it up makes me very happy.



Oh, and Beck's Octoberfest will make your lady burp uncontrollably.

20060920

Been driving recently

After my use of the train stopped, I started ride sharing with a co-worker who lives in Deep Ellum. Since then, my crazy encounters have decreased dramatically. I've determined that there's a formula here. Mass transit || walking around = adventure. That's even dumber than I thought initially. This formula basically states that if we got out of car bubbles and had to interact with everyone around us, we'd encounter new and interesting things.

Since nothing's been going on, I decided it was time to refer to history. Today, while walking to Campisi's, I was reminded of another time when I walked to the very same destination. I was wearing my navy cashmere overcoat and a nice shirt. As I was approaching Stone St, a man who was most likely homeless approached me. Being accustomed to the shake-down, I averted my eyes and continued around the corner. He said something and made a gesture at me, that I assumed was some form of "Excuse me, sir, can I have $XYZ?" But after I was walking up the steps to the restaurant, I realized he said something completely different. "I put these out on you fags." The gesture that I saw from my peripheral vision was him holding up a cigarette. Did I look gay? Or did I look rich, and might as well be gay? Or was he just a dick? Ahhh, it's so nice to reminisce on the past.

Final note, Thomas & Leggitt's "sorry we are closed today" sign in the window is still up. It looks like they're doing a lot more work than I had guessed. The old bar along the interior wall has been ripped out, and a new bar is being constructed against the exterior wall. Behind it, two of the large windows that looked out onto the patio are boarded up. If they're doing what I think they're doing, then I will award them awesome points. Picture a bar that is accessible from inside and out.

20060907

Another one bites the dust

A couple weeks ago, I made reservations at Jeroboam for tonight. I've been wanting to try the restaurant for years now. This evening, being a downtown block party with specials at local restaurants and shops, provided an excellent opportunity to sample the chef's wares at a discount.

Except my wife and I walked over there and there's a piece of paper in the door windows saying that Jeroboam had closed and thanked us for our patronage. That's twice in 6 days.

The rumor's been out for a while that the restaurant was closing. Since it was featured in the Downtown Partnership's flyer, I figured the rumor was going to be untrue at least until the block party season was over. I also figured that when I was making reservations, they could have told me that they weren't actually going to be around then. One big wtf.

So my wife and I wound up at our mainstay Porta di Roma.

20060901

Pandora is closed / Fuse for downtown sushi

Emily and I walked to Pandora this evening. We opened the door and there was interior work being done. No reception, no valet. So I guess it's closed. Kind of a bummer since I hadn't even tried it yet.

Wound up at Fuse since we were hankering for sushi. I had the Tex-Asian Gespacho Soup to start. It sounded good on the menu, as it described scallops, avacado, and olive oil. But then I got it and the base was a thick tomato juice. Now if you're into bloody marys then this thing's for you. But I hate those things, and the consistency was not pleasing to my stomach. The waiter, whom I thought was rather helpful, removed the soup from the bill.

I really liked the Savignon Blanc glass I had. I think the vineyard was Forefathers? Nose reminded me of fields of dandelions. Like playing in the grass as a kid.

As for the main course, we had sushi. All I gotta say is that dungeoness crab ownz j00.

Oh right, the music. More Thievery popping up here. Lebanese Blond was played, which Emily says she hears everywhere now that it's been on the Garden State soundtrack. I could swear one of their earlier tracks was also on the list, but if it was it was heavily remixed.

20060826

I didn't die last night

Took the blue line to Cedars station (on the south side of downtown) last night to a bar. I was the only white dude on the train. As it went past the convention center, I started remembering the time Mark got his car towed. To south Dallas. And we picked it up at 10:30pm. Which is another story entirely.

But really, the train took me a block and a half from where I was going and there was a giant police station headquarters between the station and the bar. I would have been pissed if I got murdered along the way...dead but pissed.

20060815

Chick tried to walk in stupid...omg i'm a dick

So I had taken my seat on the Red Line at St. Paul and started staring out the window when I saw some chick walking along the platform in complicated heels. She wasn't doing too hot and it seemed like she was hobbling. The Nispy demo "Chick tried to walk in stupid shoes" came to mind. And then I realized that she was hobbling because one of her legs was slightly gimped.

I'm such a dick.

Dart's pre-canned apology

Thank you for your e-mail to Dallas Area Rapid Transit.

Rest assured this is not the quality of service DART intends to deliver. A copy of your e-mail will be forwarded to our Transportation staff in order to have the operator identified, counseled and reprimanded. Additionally supervisors will be alerted and assigned to monitor for on-time performance.

Again, please accept our most sincere apologies for any inconvenience experienced. We hope that you will continue to allow us the opportunity to serve your transportation needs.

Sincerely

DART Customer Care

20060809

No 8:12 train this morning

Got screwed by DART today.

Every day to work, I take the red line from St. Paul to Arapaho. Then I take the 571 bus from Arapaho which takes me right by my office. Since the bus runs every 30-45 minutes in the morning, I have to time which train I take so I don't stand around waiting for the bus. Today, as usual, I was going to take the 8:12 from St. Paul.

Well today, it didn't show. At all. It wasn't late. It wasn't early. Just nothing until the 8:22am Red Line showed up.

I get to Arapaho just in time to watch the 571 bus leave the station. The next bus wasn't leaving for 45 minutes, so I had to walk it to work. Given the heat at 9am, I arrived at my desk drenched in my own sweat.

The DART website doesn't have any rider alerts for the red line. Will I get screwed again tomorrow? I have no clue.

This isn't the first time something like this has happened since I started my new job. Taking the train already adds maybe an hour onto my commute a day (over driving). I may not buy a September monthly pass.

20060802

See you in the funny pages

Normally when someone on the streets is desperately trying to get your attention with the phrase "Excuse me! Excuse me!", the person wants your money for booze or whatever. Except this morning, the guy has a sweet 35mm camera, so I gave him some credit. A bum would have sold the thing for black tar or whatever.

"Are you going to work?"

"Yeah."

(paraphrasing) "I'm a photographer with the Wall Street Journal doing a piece on casual clothes in the workplace. I like your look. Can I take your photo?" I was wearing a zep t-shirt and ripped-up jeans.

So I laughed, walked toward him but looking off somewhere else while he took about a dozen shots.

20060729

Aussies like the Aristocrat

I helped three Australians find the Holiday Inn Aristocrat.

Not that interesting. Footnote on that I had originally intended the title of this journal to be Steve's Urban Non-Adventures.

20060726

Del's

I used to go to Del's Charcoal Burgers in downtown Richardson on a weekly basis for lunch while I was an undergrad at UTD. My visits continued during the grad school days, but they certainly weren't as frequent and dropped off almost entirely when I started working in the A.I. Lab.

Since I'm working a couple blocks away from Del's and I drove today, I decided to say hi to my old friends. I got really excited on the way over, wondering what the reaction would be to an old face ordering a "double-9 and curly fries." Well, much to my dismay, my old friends have gone.

Del's itself is still there. It's been in business since 1957 and likely will be in 2057. But the management has changed. It really shouldn't have surprised me, after the death of the principal owner. But it seemed to me like the rest of his family was going to carry on.

The look of the place was spiffed up, but with mail-order signs of yesteryear Dr. Pepper and Elvis. Antique brick facade was glued ontop of the existing brick in places to give it a hole-in-the-wall feel...even though the building has been more hole than wall for years. Overall, it's lost its authenticity. It was cleaner though, proudly displaying a food safety award presented by the Richardson Health Department.

The management, although different, was still friendly and welcoming the guests, including some regulars I still recognize. The old menu hadn't changed one bit, so my "double-9 and curly fries" request was readily understood.

And the food? It seems as though most of the ingredients are the same. The only differences I've noticed are that the cheese is served beneath the meat rather than above it and the meat is cooked longer, likely in effort to maintain the safety award. The obvious downside here being that the well-done beef patty has lost it's juice. And ultimately, a dry burger is not going to keep me going back.

20060725

encounters on the rail

There ain't no legitimate reason to carry around your beverage in a brown paper sack. But this man seemed about as close as you get. He got on at Walnut Hill (right next to Presbyterian of Dallas) in scrubs. I think he had a 16oz of beer, though it wasn't like he was eager to reveal this. He sat down looking pummelled. I guess it's pretty easy to have a rough day in a hospital.

About 2-3 dozen women from their early 20s to their mid 40s got on at Pearl Station. They were all dressed rather well, like for a cocktail ball. In a swarm, they nabbed about all of the available seating in the car and some of the standing room. Kind of random.

(Mind wandering...)

Anyway, as I was getting up, this dude sitting behind me asked me if there was a good record store somewhere along the rail line. I tried to help him out, but it's really a disappointing prospect. Chalking that up with a movie theater as necessities for thriving downtown district.

20060723

Morning run

Reverchon Park still creeps me out what with all the dudes who roll up, park and sit there in their cars. Plus there was that previous incident with the guy following me.

After Mark called to say he wouldn't make it, I moved my car over to a spot on Turtle Creek. From there I walked to the Katy Trail at Fairmont. It's nice to see police going up and down occasionally on bicycles.

20060720

Local

I spent a pretty penny taking my wife to Local in Deep Ellum last night. Cuisine was a bit like traditional American food turned on its head. Fried yellow tomatos composed the base of my salad of arugula and fried proscuitto. On the menu, they had an $18 burger...an $18 burger that they recommend having with a Chimay. Daaaaaamn. I'm going to have to go back and try that one. Might actually be worth it. Great wine selection, although a bit pricey. The alcohol wound up being about $60 for the two of us. I got a split of Renwood 2002...zin was it? And Emily had a French chardonnay with a very nice finish.

Decor was pretty sweet. Homey, yet chic. Guidelive photo really didn't do it justice at all. Half the music they played seemed borrowed from my personal collection. Thievery, Kruder-Dorfmeister, Portishead...oh and Bonobo.

Not an easy place to find if you're driving, and we were given the heat this time of year. They had a small sign in the window that wasn't lit when we arrived at 7:30pm.

Overall, thumbs up. We'll have to go back when we're feeling rich again.

It had to happen

I've been talking too long about starting a blog where my urban encounters are recorded for all the internet to ignore. Episodes like the non-retarded retarded man and the racist black man are already in the past. I cannot afford to lose track of any more.

I'll also occasionally be reviewing restaurants cause I like food and stuff.