LOLA BISTRO

On Wednesday, October 8, I found myself in Cleveland Ohio for a work-related event. Once that event was finished, the evening was my own, so I went to LOLA BISTRO, one of Iron Chef America Michael Symon’s places.

Despite not being able to make a reservation on Open Table, I was able to walk right in and was seated immediately. It annoys me when restaurants participate in Open Table only to lock out entire evenings, especially during the week when restaurants are slower. The dining room was not full by any stretch.

The first-floor dining room is spacious and decorated in dark, soothing colors with nicely appointed tables — padded tables, linen tablecloths, and nice, funky silverware. I especially liked that the steak knives were engraved, “Live to Cook”. A nice touch. Chef Symon was not in the restaurant. He is opening a new place (in Detroit? I don’t remember…) and was there this evening.

My server, Gina, was friendly and knowledgable without being overbearing. After discussing the menu a bit, I was torn between a couple appetizers — a sweet corn & bacon soup or the charcuterie plate. I decided on the charcuterie plate and, surprise!, Gina brought me a taste of the soup. The sample of the soup was sweet and bacon-y. Nice interplay of flavors.

The charcuterie plate contained a delicious bacon-wrapped rabbit pate with pistachios, pork salami, another type of salami, and an amazing air-dried pork. All served with whole grain mustard, pickled onions, and cornichons.

From there, I moved on to the Beef Cheek Pierogi (as recommended to me by Michael Ruhlman, who was unable to join me after all due to family commitments) and they were… pretty good. Thick dough, nicely seared on the outside, stuffed with shredded beef cheeks and smothered in a wild mushroom sauce and a horseradish creme fraiche. The mushroom sauce was overly thick and bore a striking resemblance to a jarred mushroom sauce. Everything was cooked well and seasoned appropriately, but it lacked the OOMPH and balance of flavors I’ve come to expect with meals at restaurants run by Iron Chefs (this being the third such restaurant I’ve dined in). And so begins my general complaint about LOLA: The flavors were big but one-dimensional.

The next example of this complaint came with my entree… Squab with foie gras, chanterelles, confit, sweet potato puree, dried cherries, and a wine reduction/demi-glace. Again, cooked nicely. Presented well. Obviously a thought-out dish, but the execution left it one-dimensional — the expected lift from the dried cherries was simply overpowered by the rest of the ingredients. The foie gras was “B” grade and hidden in the wild mushrooms, which I thought was a strange choice for a premier ingredient. The sweet potato puree, while very silky, was not served at the right temperature (instead it was cool to the touch). The plate was not warmed, either — certainly a contributing factor to the temps being off.

I didn’t have any desire for desserts, but enjoyed the two cookies Gina brought for me. I respect what Chef Symon is trying to do, but overall, LOLA was …pretty good… Is it worth dining at LOLA? Sure. The prices aren’t terrible — I paid $70 (before tip) for the above and a glass of wine. Is LOLA going to redefine the way you think about food? No.

Have you dined at Lola? What’s the best restaurant in Cleveland? Let me know in comments.

This review was written by Wendy.

I spent 7 nights at the Iberostar Cozumel with my brother in the beginning of September, sandwiching luckily between Gustav and Ike. This is a perfectly nice hotel on a mediocre beach but nearest the best scuba diving reef I’ve seen. Skip to the end if you’re easily bored; stay with me if you want all the details. I have stayed at the Barcelo Beach and Dreams Tulum resorts in the Mayan Riviera and at the Barcelo Palace in Punta Cana for all-inclusive reference.

We booked through our local travel agent Anna at OK Travel, GoGoTours was the group. Flew American Airlines right into Coz, laying over in Miami. The second leg into Coz is on a little turboprop, but it was very smooth. Nice to land right in Coz and not have to deal with the Cancun madness and ferryboat ride. No problems with the flights or airport, van from Olympus Tours was there to bring us to the hotel. It’s about 20 m south of the airport, quite a ways from town. Check in was a breeze and our room was ready. We were in 8114, nearest the beach and the pool on the South side. It was quiet and clean, small as others have noted but perfectly acceptable. The closet does not give you a lot of room to spread out clothing, but how much stuff do you need? It’s not a fancy place. The minibar was full and the safe worked fine. Each room has a nice balcony and hammock out in front. We did find some tiny ants in the bathroom, but they didn’t seem to bite and were nothing more than a minor annoyance (and my Deet skin spray did not deter them at all).

The hotel is lovely, very jungly with trails weaving in and out of the lush foliage. There is no direct way to get anywhere and you must be prepared to walk a lot. The pool is clean and nice, the swim up bar was handy. There are plenty of chairs but never enough in the shade, and folks stake those out early. There are more chairs in the shade on the beach, though, so you aren’t out of luck if you miss one early. The beach is very nice, good clean sand and you can walk North quite a ways. The water entry is unusable due to coral rocks, so if you want to swim in the sea you must enter off the slippery dock stairs, under which there are a lot of fish all the time. If you like to wade around in the ocean, this is not the place for you… go north to the Occidental or Allegro… .their water entries looked great.

Food service was quite good. There are buffets for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and with 7 nights you get 2 a la carte meals in the specialty restaurants. The breakfast buffet was great every day… .eggs and omelets, meats and potatoes, lots of things I didn’t recognize, lunchmeat for the europeans, lovely cajeta to spread on toast, plenty of fresh fruit and smoothies. You can’t go wrong with breakfast. Morning entertainment was provided by the many birds (mynahs?) who fly in to steal things from the tables… anything you leave is fair game and if you go to the restroom, expect your waffles to have been walked on by the time you get back. If they find no food, they’ll steal the sweetener packets off the tables undeterred by the upturned ashtrays in their way. If you were wondering, the yellow packets of Splenda are the unrivaled winners in the mynah bird taste test; we never saw any other color flying away despite the presence of sweetnlow and sugar packets. The birds did not bother me in the least (nor did the cats at dinner who shared my fish under the table), but some folks might be unnerved by all the nonhuman company in the buffet.

Lunches were held down by the pool bar… various salad things, hot items, plenty of guac and salsa and ice cream. Dinner buffet was quite varied every night as well. We chose the Mexican restaurant and steakhouse for our special dinners… both were excellent, but wear bug spray to the steakhouse as the fans aren’t adequate to blow the skeeters away. Overall I felt that the food was better than the price I paid would suggest, but not as good as Dreams across the channel (but not as expensive, either). I ate absolutely everything I wanted all the time and never had a moment’s bowel question (though it occurred to me this vacation that I eat a lot of cheese at every meal there off the buffet, so frankly it’s a wonder I could poo at all). I only drink bottled water, only rinse toothbrush in bottled water. I have been to Mexico 5 years in a row now and have NEVER had a single shaky poo… ..either I am Ironstomach or you folks who get sick are doing something wrong.

The grounds are lovely, there are flamingos and peacocks and iguanas and cats wandering about. The staff is wonderful and accommodating and kind. On the last day we rented a scooter and drove all around the island… .this was a GREAT choice. Got to spend a few hours in town with the cruise ship people (note to self; never take a cruise with those people) and drive around the windward side where we happened upon a little beach bar where SEA TURTLE babies were hatching at that very moment! There was a cop there making sure they all made it to the sea…he put one in my hand right out of the nest and I got to carry him down and release him into the ocean! What an amazing experience! The scooter ended up being about $60 for the whole day with insurance and all… ..totally worth it, but expensive in the long run because now I have to buy a scooter for myself because they’re so much fun.

Mostly we were there to dive… .after watching the onsite dive shop Dressel load 60 tanks onto one huge dive boat in the afternoon, we were more glad than ever that we had prebooked with BlueXTSea divers. If you want more info on them, PM me. I cannot recommend them highly enough…I will never dive with anyone else on Coz if I can help it.

We had no problems whatsoever with any aspect of our stay until the morning we were to leave and found a text message from a friend (phones didn’t work there at all, TMobile or AT&T, but text messages went through… .strange) who mentioned that our flight to Miami had been cancelled. After much fussing at the Olympus guy Valentin (who kept saying “tomorrow, tomorrow” like some Little Orpan Annie auditionee… as if Hurricane Ike was going to completely clear the Gulf in 1 freakin’ day), we got AA to reroute us to Dallas via a Cessna hop from Coz to Cancun (fun in a scary way).

So let’s sum up. I can compare this resort to mainland resorts I’ve been to. The food was a bit better than Barcelo, not as good as Dreams. The room was smaller than either. The hotel was smaller than either. The beach was not as nice as either. Staff is great everywhere. The scuba diving was WAY WAY WAY better here than anywhere else. So on the whole, what did I think? If I were coming on a dive vacation, I would happily stay here again. It’s farthest south on the island, closest to Palancar and Maricaibo reefs which are simply unparalleled anywhere I’ve seen. If I just wanted a beach vacation and were not a diver, I would probably not come to Cozumel at all, but stay anywhere on the mainland (Riviera Maya) where the beach is nicer and the hotels are fancier for the same or lower price (they have to be… the diving isn’t as good!).

Thanks for hanging in there through this review… .feel free to email me if you have specific questions!

From August 8-12, 2008, Wendy & I were in lovely Houston Texas to attend the wedding of a friend of mine. Why they chose to get married in TEXAS in AUGUST is beyond me, but we had a great time despite the oppressive heat and humdity!

Our flights were short and uneventful and we landed in Houston’s Hobby Airport with the entire day stretching out ahead of us. We got our rental car and headed to the hotel, the La Quinta Inn on West Loop South, in the city’s swanky Galleria district. We didn’t expect to be able to get into our room since we were several hours early for their 3:00pm check-in. We were pleasantly suprised that Paul, the front desk clerk, allowed us to go right up. The La Quinta Inn was much nicer than we expected. It had a nice pool and hot tub, and the room was clean, interestingly laid-out (not just a box), and included a mini-fridge and a microwave. We got settled into our room and then went out to find some lunch.

I’d done some research on dining options in Houston (B4-U-EAT was very helpful) and we had made some dinner reservations (NOÉ and Feast) and decided against various restaurants (Cafe Annie, Mark’s American, The Grove, DaMarco, Dolce Vita, etc) for various reasons. However, as we were driving toward our original lunch destination that day, I spotted Cafe Annie. We pulled in to get some lunch only to be informed that they weren’t open yet that day. Wendy & I went and did a little shopping for stuff we’d forgotten and then headed back to Cafe Annie for a really enjoyable lunch and a nice culinary introduction to Houston.

Cafe Annie is an elegant place, once you’re inside. From the outside, where it sits at the end of a strip mall, it looks a little dilapidated. Walking up to the doors, we were a little nervous. But once inside, there are comfortable banquettes surrounded by rich wood and brass trimmings, and padded tables set with table linens and nice silver. Professionally attired servers and bussers move silently through the room.

We were seated in a corner table on the raised perimeter of the room, overlooking the entire dining room. Shortly, we were served an amuse bouche of salmon salad with a spicy sauce on a small thin square of fresh jicama. We ordered soups — Wendy had tortilla soup and I had roasted corn soup. Both were very tasty. For my entree, I had the Wood Grilled Salmon with BBQ Guajillo Chile Sauce, which was absolutely delicious. The salmon was perfectly prepared — just a touch translucent on the inside — and the Guajillo Chile sauce was piquant without overpowering the flavor of the fish. The entree was served with a very fresh roasted corn salad. Wendy enjoyed her Redfish Roasted in Banana Leaf with Artisan White Grits very much — the fish was tender and delicious, and the white grits were outstanding. The entire experience at Cafe Annie was very pleasant. I’m glad we were able to eat there!

That evening, we dined at NOÉ (pronounced “no-weh“, shockingly (and inappropriately) close to “no way“) at the Omni Houston Hotel, again surprisingly close to our hotel. Finding the restaurant makes you forget that you’re in the middle of a giant city. The huge red sign outside the hotel is easy enough to spot, but you wind your way back quite a distance down their long driveway before coming upon the lobby entrance. You feel like you’ve driven well out of the city and are miles away. Inside the lobby, the Omni is very impressive. The entrance to NOÉ is off to the left side of the lobby, and walking through their doors transports you again from the bustling lobby (which was hosting a noisy wedding reception) into a quiet, calm, and welcoming restaurant with modern touches.

As I recount our courses, please excuse any name errors — I am reading from the scribbled shorthand notes provided to us by the waiter. (It is another opportunity for the restaurant to impress customers with the level of service when the request to “keep track of what we eat and drink” is taken seriously! The shorthand notes are acceptable to me, but a “civilian” diner might not like them. There is nothing like a beautifully printed, dated menu of food & wine to send with the guests.)

• Amuse Bouche: Gazpacho shooter
• Tuna Tartare with Pineapple, Avocado, Cilantro, and Soya, paired with a Jenna Reisling
• Roasted Sea Scallops with Forest Mushrooms, Vidalia Onions, and Crispy Parsley paired with Sterling Sauvignon Blanc
• Pan Roasted Salmon with Pasta Pearls, Baby Spinach, Grape Tomatoes, and Basil Broth paried with Bargo Macredo Pinot Nero (this wine was a real standout)
• Braised Beef Short Rib with Baby Leeks, Horseradish Soubise, Carrots, and the delicious Braising Jus paired with an Edna Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. Gosh, do I love short ribs. I know they’re the trendy food right now, but goshdarnit, they deserve to be.
• a fairly pedestrian cheese course with three selections paired with a nice 20-year old Floodgate Tawny Port
• Creme Brulee with Ellio Perron Rose Moscato di’Uva.

It was a wonderful meal! Chef Steven Musolf came out and chatted with us for a while after dinner. It was nice to meet him — he’s a young guy, very passionate about food (he recently — and controversially — took foie gras off his menu), and quite talented.

Our chief complaint (one of only a few — for example, I wish they had foie gras on the menu though Chef Steven was able to articulate their reasons for not having it in a convincing way) was that the place was essentially empty the entire time we were there on a Friday evening. We saw just a few other diners during our meal, and were significantly outnumbered by the number of staff running around trying to look busy. I don’t understand that… The restaurant is very good, the prices are reasonably within fine-dining standards, the hotel is posh, & parking is easy (valet). Plus, the chef is new (he arrived in May). I think the place should be packed with local foodies checking it out. And it’s worth it. After a tremendously enjoyable and relaxing dinner, we headed back to the hotel and to bed after a busy day.

The next day was the wedding of Tucker and Patience. We woke up in the morning, went for a dip in the hotel’s pool, and then went to the church (which wasn’t far from our hotel) a bit early. We were the first guests there, followed shortly by Nora, the next-door-neighbor of Tuck & Patience. After chatting with her for a few minutes, a long-haired guy in a tuxedo came out. I thought he was Tucker (we’ve been email friends for over 6 years but had never met in person), so I jokingly asked him for a kiss. The guy’s eyes went really wide, and he looked very confused, at which point I said, “You’re not Tucker.” He quickly agreed, informing me that he was, in fact, NOT Tucker and was the best man. Embarassed, I asked him to take me to Tucker. I went back to the groom’s ready-room to find Tucker standing, nervous. I talked to him for a few minutes before assessing that he was far too focused on the upcoming nuptials to be a sparkling conversationalist, so I excused myself and went out to the sanctuary.

Their wedding was very nice — understated and intimate. Patience appeared just a little petrified as she walked down the aisle, but still managed to look stunningly beautiful in her dress. Tucker did NOT lock his knees and, therefore, did NOT pass out (though he was sweating up a storm!).

At the end of the wedding, we followed the caravan of people to a lovely house for a reception with cake, champaigne, and all manner of snacks, including our first taste of true Tex-Mex fajitas. Delicious! While there, we learned that if you’re a young Texan, you stand outside in the heat & humidity. If you’re an older Texan, you stay inside in air-conditioned comfort. Wendy & I drifted back and forth from inside to outside, and that was reasonable. We also learned a new (drinking) game — The Name Game, the rules of which are as follows:

• Go around in a circle in one direction. One person starts with a name, for example, “Johnny Rotten”.
• The next person says a name beginning with the first letter of the last name you said (”R”, in this case, resulting in “Robert Goulet”, followed by “George Thoroughgood”). You must be actively drinking while thinking of the name. Real, living, dead, fictional — it doesn’t matter as long as another person backs you up on the name.
• If it’s a double-letter name (”Tommy Tune”) or a single name (”Zeus”), then the direction reverses, which allows for “battles” between two players.

It’s really easy, a lot of fun, and FINALLY provides an outlet for all your esoteric band-member names or comic-book hero names.

A day or so later (Wendy & I somewhat holed-up and swam, watched Olympics, and were lazy, so time is a blur), Tucker & Patience joined us for dinner at FEAST, a 3-month-old restaurant in Houston for a delicious dinner celebrating their marriage. It was their first time expreriencing fine dining, so it was very exciting to watch them, and the fine folks at FEAST took outstanding care of us.

We started with Sweetbread and Pea Soup (though we didn’t tell Tucker or Patience what sweetbreads were until after they tried them (and loved them!) — don’t worry; we weren’t being deceptive… Tucker & Patience told us to encourage them to try new things and they were real troopers about it!). The soup was pureed and finished with a handful of fresh peas thrown in for texture and color, and the sweetbreads were a delicious replacement for a crouton garnish. A second starter of Roast Pork Belly with Radish and Orange Salad was lovely. I am so happy pork belly is appearing on more menus… Two of my favorite things (pig and roasted meat) are involved! The weakest dish of the evening was the Duck Liver Pate, which had a too-soft texture and was overly liver-y. Throughout the evening, we enjoyed two wines… Macon-Villages Old Vine Unoaked Chardonnay (2006) and Albert Bichot Bourgogne Pinot Noir (2006).

We moved on to our entrees… Wendy had the Lamb Shank with Kale and Roasted Potatoes, perfectly prepared and cooked. I had the Pork Cheeks, Duchess Potatoes, and Red Cabbage with Apples, which was delightfully fatty (perhaps too much so if you weren’t expecting it, but if you’re not expecting it, what are you doing ordering this dish?!) and extremely tasty. Tucker & Patience both enjoyed their Smoked Salmon, Bacon and Scallop Pie, Topped with Mash and served with Braised Leeks. Tucker called it “a bowl full of awesome”, and I do believe he was correct. The braised leeks combined two of my other favorites — braising and leeks — (though I particularly adore fried leeks (take note, future culinary students of mine!)).

We were pleasantly surprised when the server brought out a lovely Summer Berry Pavlova to commemorate their wedding day (a pavlova! in Houston! in August! — check that out, Joanne!), and we added a scoop or two of the outstanding Treacle Toffee Ice Cream to round out the excellent meal. A visit from Chef Richard completed the evening, and we headed home, full but tired.

The next day, Wendy & I explored Rice University, the Houston Zoo, and the Houston Museum of Natural Science. All were excellent (though the Zoo in August was a sweaty experience!). Lunch was at Mi Luna (against the protestations of one of my students, Rice alum Miguel, who encouraged us to RUN!). We bravely chose not to heed his warning and were rewarded with a very nice brunch.

For dinner that evening, we decided to lay low, near the hotel, and ended up at California Pizza Kitchen. After eating their frozen products for so long, it was nice to enjoy it fresh-from-the-oven. The next day, we had lunch with Tucker & Patience at one of their favorite TexMex places (delicious brisket tacos!) before heading to the airport for the ride home.

It was a great trip. We really enjoyed the food, the company, and the wedding.

Wendy & I just got home from a short trip to Chicago. We went so I could participate in the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) Annual Industry Conference. Wendy went along for the ride and to take in the sights of Chicago.

The conference was extremely informative as I come up to speed in my new position (Associate Director of Graduate Admission) in the College of Business at the University of Cincinnati. There were approximately 750 attendees from all over the world who went to lots of concurrent breakout sessions on varied topics – from Women’s MBA issues to pitching an idea in 30 seconds to evaluation of Customer Relationship Manager software and much, much more. One of the stated goals of the conference organizers was to make it difficult to decide between concurrent sessions, and they overshot in that attempt – it was nearly impossible to select between sessions! In fact, one suggestion that I will make to the conference organizers for future conferences is to offer some of the concurrent session offerings multiple times. During one of the breakout times, I wanted to attend 3 of the 4 offered sessions! The sessions I attended were excellent and really helped me in my ongoing learning process.

During the conference, Wendy enjoyed the Field Museum, some shopping, exploring Navy Pier, and other solo endeavors.

Around my sessions, we enjoyed exploring Chicago’s many fine eateries.

After a reasonable & uneventful 4-hour drive to Chicago, we had time for lunch before my conference began. We walked to Giordano’s Pizza, just a few blocks from our hotel near the south end of the “Magnificent Mile”, which is Chicago-style pizza at its finest. At the suggestion of our server, we split a small stuffed pizza filled with pepperoni and mushrooms. The menu (and server) will tell you that the pizzas take 35-40 minutes to bake and you may be tempted to order an appetizer to nosh while you wait (like we did). I suggest that you resist this temptation – not because their appetizers are not excellent (they are delicious) – but because the “small” pizza was too much for us to handle after the appetizers!

And you want to enjoy as much of this pizza as you can – the thick bottom crust is filled with an obscene amount of gooey, melty mozarella cheese and your selected ingredients, then topped with another crust which is itself topped with delicious marinara sauce. The server brings the pie to your table and offers to plate it for you. Say yes and you’re treated to her efficiently sliding the spatula under the thick slices and lifting it high into the air, delicious strands of cheese arching gracefully back to the pan. The pizza is delivered to the plate, the long cheese strands cut (and delivered onto your plate where they quickly cool and become a delicious chewy first bite before you dig into the pizza). Each bite is a mixture of pleasure and pain – pleasure because it is just. so. good, and pain because you know you’re filling up (especially after appetizers) and that you won’t be able to a> finish the pie or b> take the leftovers to the hotel (no fridge in the hotel room, you see). If you are hard-core, you might even find room for their exceptional desserts.

After conference events, Wendy & I were joined by my boss Jackie for dinner at Le Colonial, a short cab ride from the hotel. Le Colonial is a French-Vietnamese restaurant that captures the spirit of French colonial Southeast Asian from the 1920s. We started with drinks in the cozy upstairs bar (I had a lovely glass of Block 19 Cuvee from the Hess Collection (Napa)) then moved to our table in the front of the restaurant, overlooking Rush Street. We sampled a variety of dishes, and all were exceptional… Banh Cuon (steamed ravioli with chicken and crimini mushrooms with a lime garlic sauce) was tasty but lacked the promised “slight kick” of spiciness that led me to the dish. Ca Bam Xuc Bahn Trang was a real highlight of the evening. A dice of monkfish (poor man’s lobster!), chili, lemongrass, and peanuts served with toasted sesame crackers had us all craving more. I could have eaten a full order of that myself. Ca Song, tuna tartare with cilantro, tomato, and cucumber in a ginger soy dressing and served with wonton chips was another favorite on the table. The dressing added a subtly different flavor than what we’re used to on tartare, and it worked beautifully. Entrees were Ca Nuong (grilled salmon over vermacelli noodles with lime-garlic sauce), Vit Quay (roasted duck with a tamarind dipping sauce), and Wendy had a delicious shrimp dish (will check and get the correct dish on here ASAP!). Everything was very fresh and well-presented (though my hot duck dish was served on a cold plate – my Basic Cooking 1 students do not make this mistake!). I felt like the restaurant was a very good choice, though it wasn’t attempting to blaze new culinary frontiers (I cannot fault this – it has a laser-focused concept which does not permit much culinary invention). Still, a rock-solid meal and well-worth a visit.

After Friday’s full day of conference sessions, Wendy & I grabbed an enjoyable meal at Heaven on 7, directly across the street from our hotel, before heading to the Oriental Theater to see WICKED. The restaurant is on the second floor of the building and sports the largest collection of hot sauces I’ve ever seen (and I’ve see the collection at Jungle Jim’s in Cincinnati!). Apparently, if a chili-head can bring in a bottle of hot sauce unknown to the restaurant, they award a free meal. We very much enjoyed our dishes – I had BBQ Brisket served with etouffee of the day, tater tots, and cole slaw) which I liberally dosed with some of the (18 bottles – we counted!) of hot sauce on our table. Wendy had Orzolaya which was also delicious. We split a Jalapeno Cheddar Corn Muffin which was served warm from the oven and was delicious slathered with honey butter.

After dinner, it was a quick cab ride to the Oriental Theater to see their production of WICKED. The inside of the theater itself is so ornately designed that it’s almost in competition with the spectacular set for WICKED. Ornate designs and sculptures line the enormous domed ceiling and surrounding pillars, with some truly fascinating work visible just over the head of the set’s moving “Time Dragon” piece. The show was very good (as expected), though the performances were lowest of the 4 times we’ve seen the show. It was as if the three leads (Glinda, Elphaba, and Fiyero) eased into their performances – the first half of each of their songs was their vocal warmup. Overall, the performances lacked the power and vocal strength that we’ve come to expect from other productions. Still, an extremely enjoyable evening, even with these minor annoyances. We also discovered the trick to getting a cab outside a busy theater… Walk half a block away from the theater and you can get a cab without delay.

After the conference ended on Saturday afternoon, Wendy & I were joined by Eric, my colleague at University of Kentucky, to wander around Chicago a little bit. Eric & I went to the top of the Hancock Tower while Wendy shopped at Water Tower Place (Wendy is not interested in ANYTHING 94 floors off the ground!). Expect photos shortly. After returning to earth, the three of us explored all three floors of the American Girl store, because, well, you have to see it to believe it. And even then, it is truly unbelievable. Eric was a capable tour guide through the store – he, like me, had learned that American Girl existed only a short time ago. Before you freak out, consider this… Eric & I are the wrong gender, the wrong age, and entirely the wrong demographic for American Girl. Therefore, I hope it is understandable how we were ignorant of this phenomenon. Get your photo with your doll? Get your doll’s hair styled? Take your doll to the “hospital” for repairs? Buy matching outfits for you and your doll? Pay over $100 for a doll?! Whodathunkit!

Once we picked up our jaws, we walked down to Navy Pier to get cheeseburgers at Billy Goat Tavern, reportedly where John Belushi got his idea for the famous “Cheeseborger… Cheeseborger… Cheeseborger… No Pepsi! Coke! No fries! Chips!” routine for Saturday Night Live. While we didn’t hear any of that patter and the burgers led us to a discussion of our favorite burgers (note that Billy Goat Tavern appeared on no one’s list!), it was reasonably tasty food. We walked all the way around the pier and headed back to the hotel so Eric could (not) catch his plane back to Kentucky.

Wendy worked out and I napped in the room before heading off to an anticipated dinner at Blackbird, in the West Loop of the city. We entered the funky, bright space and were promptly seated at a small table along the wall. The space is very open, bright, and minimally decorated. It is also fairly loud, which makes intimate conversation difficult (though we did enjoy talking with the locals to my right (thanks for the brunch suggestion) and the recent college graduate and her family to my left) but evokes a community experience.

When Wendy made our reservation, we decided to do the 7-course tasting menu since that gave us an opportunity to see the scope of the restaurant. Our server was David (“Bear”), who took exceptional and extremely personable care of us through it all. We opted for paired wines with our tasting menu (a great value). The dishes and wines were as follows (thanks to David for keeping track of what we ate – and for doing so on one of the restaurant’s menus, so we not only have a list of our food, but of the restaurant’s offerings!):

• Amuse: Marinated Octopus Salad with Rapini Pesto, Strawberries, and Sea Beans
  Henriut Brut, N.V., “Souverein”
• Chilled Cuttlefish with Jicama, Snow Peas, Cardamom – the cuttlefish was cut into long, thin, spaghetti-like strips. The entire dish screamed freshness.
  2006 Dr. Von Brasserman, Jordan, Trocken Riesling
• Grilled Beet Marinated California Sturgeon with Boiled Beets, Stinging Nettles, Rhubarb, and Sunflower Seed Puree – a definite highlight of our evening, this dish with its mile-long list of ingredients actually worked extremely well without an ingredient out of place. A revelatory dish, instructing on balance and careful thought to ingredients.
  2006 Francois Pinon Vouvray, “Cuvee Tradicion”
• Seared Tasmanian Sea Trout with Cherry Molasses, Kohlrabi, Baby Turnips, Forbidden Black Rice, and Salad Burnet – such a lovely, unexpected dish. The sea trout has a salmon-like texture and color, perfectly complimented by the flavors of the cherry molasses. The black rice tuile was a nice textural counterpoint.
  2006 Gypsy Dancer Pinot Noir “Emily Ann Cuvee”
• Seared foie gras with pickled cherries, caraway ice cream – in honor of Chicago’s recently-lifted foie gras ban, we requested this special course. While not seared as “hard” as I’m used, it was delicious. The caraway ice cream was a funky counterpoint to the flavor, and it worked.
  2002 Chateau Sigalas, Rabaud, Sauternnes
• Braised Rack of Lamb with fresh soybeans, spring radishes, pickled feta, and lovage
  1999 Mazur & Fils Cotes Du Rhone “Cuve Mazurka” – we felt that this wine didn’t pair particularly well (with the radishes), so David brought a wonderful Zinfandel that was outstanding (though he didn’t write down what it was!).
• Cheese tasting, epoisses, germain affine au chablis. David offered an extra course, a cheese course that he feels “is missing” from the tasting menu. He asked Wendy (I was away from the table) if she “wanted Epoisses or…” and Wendy cut him off, saying, “Epoisses”. So David brought a lovely taste of epoisses.
  Unibroue “Ephemere” – a wheat/barley beer brewed with apple must, this was a shock (especially to Wendy who is a reluctant beer drinker (at best)) but it paired surprisingly well.
• Goat Cheese Tart with pumpkin seed granola, meyer lemon sorbet, and marmalade and Milk Chocolate Fritters with apricots, soy and rice milk sorbet – the tart was excellent, perfectly complimented by the sorbet (I could eat gallons of that stuff). The soy and rice milk sorbet was an interesting flavor profile with the chocolate fritters, but it satisfied on multiple levels – deep sweet notes from the chocolate, crunchy from the exterior of the fritter, bright sweet notes from the apricots, and a salty flavor from the sorbet.
  Elio Perrone Moscato d’Asti and
  2000 Bertrand Grand Cru Banyuls

We were both deeply impressed with the service, atmosphere, quality of food, and overall experience at Blackbird restaurant. It’s a fun, funky place with great, innovative food at reasonable prices considering the quality and variety of offerings. One of the owners (“Danny” or “Donnie” – as stated, it is a fairly loud place!) stopped by the table and we shared our enthusiasm with him before we headed back to the hotel.

Sunday morning, we had time only for brunch before hitting the road, so we walked down to Bistro 110, one of Wendy’s brother’s favorite places to eat in Chicago. And it’s easy to see why it’s a favorite. Everything – from the warm bread with roasted garlic, raspberry jam, and butter served when we sat down to Wendy’s Grand Mother’s Frittata with bacon, mushrooms, onions, parsley, and garlic to my Eggs Louisana (poached eggs atop crab cakes with creole and hollandaise sauce) to the pomme frites & angel hair onions we shared – was excellent. It’s a lovely place for brunch, too, offering jazz on Sunday (maybe other days as well). Simple food done exceptionally well.

After eating, we jumped in the car and headed home from a great trip to Chicago. We look forward to going back!

From Saturday, Februrary 16 through Saturday, February 23, 2008, Wendy & I were in fabulous Las Vegas, Nevada. We stayed once again with our friends Doug & Kelly in their lovely condo about 20 miles off the strip. Wendy was attending a veterinary conference, which left me free to explore the strip after dropping her off at Mandalay Bay each morning.

Since this was our second trip to Las Vegas, I approached things a bit differently this time. Last trip, my goal was to do a “survey” of all the hotels on the strip, spending just a few minutes in as many of them as possible. I largely met that goal last time, so I wanted to delve a bit deeper into Las Vegas this trip.

I explored several hotels more completely, including Mandalay Bay, the Excalibur, Imperial Palace, Rio, Stratosphere, Treasure Island, and Luxor. While in the Luxor, I visited the production offices of Criss Angel’s Mindfreak television show, which was very cool. I also drove into downtown Las Vegas (scary) and visited the Freemont Street Experience (also scary), plus a few downtown casinos (very scary).

We had several good meals while in Las Vegas… L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon, La Provincal (with Doug & Kelly), Bouchon, Marrakech (with Scott, Emily, and Sarah), Andre’s (downtown), and a couple different buffets (hey, it IS Vegas!). The meal at L’Atelier, which was the most anticipated meal, was very good but not excellent (and certainly not worth the price). Expect a full report soon.

The conference opener for Wendy’s conference was Howie Mandel. I wasn’t a huge fan of him before, but his 75-minute set was very funny and very tailored to veterinarians (unlike Jay Leno’s set a couple years ago which was a standard monologue). Our friend Emily hooked us up with free tickets to see Billy Joel in concert. They were great seats and we all had a great time.

Doug & I went ”wheeling” in his Toyota FJ and all was swell — it was big fun climbing over non-navigable terrain — until Doug decided to take me “dune jumping” and wrecked his vehicle. :(  Still, we got great pictures!

A giant highlight of the trip was a helicopter tour of the Grand Canyon. It was a 45-minute flight out, with 30 minutes IN the Canyon (amazing), and a 45-minute flight back to the strip. More info and pictures soon.

a very special report by Holly

We started our journey to Biltmore on Friday, August 17; we finally got the kids loaded and on the road by 9:30 a.m. (excellent by our standards). We wanted to take our time and give ourselves lots of breaks. We were ready for lunch at around 11:30 a.m., so we stopped at the Mt. Vernon Kentucky exit and ate at the Rockcastle Steakhouse. This place has been around since the 50s or 60s, probably, and the décor is the same as it was when I was a kid and we would stop there on our way to Lake Cumberland. The restaurant sits up on a hill that overlooks I-75 Southbound; we ate in the overlook room and enjoyed the view. It was particularly fun for me to be eating with my kids at a restaurant that I first went to as a kid myself. One of those circle of life things…

Once back on the road, Ed decided that we should check in with the rest of the crew and see where everyone was. At that point, Ted and Tracy and Chuck and Kristy were about an hour behind us, with Drew, Wendy and Ron not far behind. Dave and Robin, we knew, were coming later in the day, and we figured Rose and Keith were not far off from the rest. All agreed to get in touch upon their arrival in Asheville.

The trip through the mountains was beautiful, but seemed a little long to us, since the kids were getting a bit antsy. Finally, though, we arrived in Asheville and proceeded to the Biltmore Estate main gate. Ed, myself, and the kids were staying at the Inn on the Biltmore Estate, a gift to me for my 40th birthday. We stopped at the security checkpoint and got our parking pass for the weekend, then went on toward the inn.

The Biltmore Estate is 8, 000 acres, and it’s about 5-7 miles from the main gate to the Inn, so there is a definite separation from the rest of the world. We drove past fields and forest, over streams and pathways, until we reached the Inn. The Inn provides the only accommodations on the Estate, and the architecture echoes the house itself in a modern sense. We rarely stay in such fancy digs, so of course we were a little unprepared for the wonderful treatment we received, from valet to concierge. The service there is outstanding.

Ed and I had decided to book a junior suite to give us and the kids a little more room; at least, that’s what I thought. Unbeknownst to me, Ed had upgraded our room… to the best suite in the Inn, the William B. Cecil suite. It was in the turret of the Inn, on the sixth floor. Windows everywhere make sure that the room is full of light during all of the daytime hours. Upon crossing the threshold of the suite, one walks down a hallway into the living area, complete with couch and two easy chairs, plus TV and bookshelf; a slight turn brings one to a dining table that seats eight. There is a kitchenette as well. The master bedroom and bath were as spacious and well-appointed as the rest of the suite. Plus, a welcome basket containing two bottles of Biltmore Estate wine and various cocktail snacks awaited us on the desk. For my birthday, Ed had decided that I should live like a queen for a day or so, and that is certainly how I felt. It was amazing.

That evening, those of us already in town had decided to have dinner in the Dining Room at the Inn, so I met up with Wendy, Drew, Ron, Ted, Tracy, Rose, Keith, Kristy and Chuck downstairs at the restaurant. Actually, Ed had run into Wendy, Drew and Ron in the lobby, so they came up to the suite for awhile, then we went down to meet the others. (I’ll leave it to Drew to describe the dinner—he can surely do it more justice than I — but the food and service were both impeccable.) The Biltmore Estate is a working farm, and they try to raise a lot of the food on the estate that is ultimately used in the restaurants on the estate. Tomatoes were in season when we were there, so fresh tomatoes featured in several of the dishes on the menu. The one little blip to the dinner was that a fire alarm was triggered in the building and we did need to step out on the patio — just as our entrees arrived. But the staff covered the dishes for us, and mine was still warm when we returned after just a few minutes outdoors. At the end of the meal, I was surprised with a chocolate gateau with “Happy Birthday” written on the plate in chocolate. Chuck, who had celebrated his birthday on August 15th, received this dessert as well, and I sent the same dessert up to Ed, who had stayed back with the kids (they ordered room service and went to the pool). After dinner, our party moved to the suite; the kids were in bed, so everyone stayed and shared some further bottles of wine before adjourning for the evening.

The next morning we (the aforementioned, plus Dave and Robin) met at the Biltmore House itself for the tour. Yes, it was a very warm day and the house is not air-conditioned, but large fans were placed strategically throughout and the tour was by no means unbearable (particularly as we were touring early). The Biltmore House shows living on a grand scale; the house contains 250 rooms. About 40 or so are open for the tour. It took us about 2.5 hours to complete the tour; most of us opted for the audio tour, which gives far more information than just the brochure provided.

I can’t speak for the others, of course, but I adore the House. It is, of course, extravagant and opulent, but at the same time I get such a sense that this place was actually lived in. So many times, when I tour historic houses, I get the feeling that I’m in a museum, but with the Biltmore, I feel very much that the family is just away and I’m checking out their house while they’re gone. Maybe it’s because the house is still in the family; George Vanderbilt (the man for whom the house was built) only had one child, daughter Cornelia, and her son William Cecil is the CEO of the Biltmore Company today. Also, those who restored the house to ready it for touring were meticulous in using the original furnishings or creating as exact of duplicates as they could, so the house really looks like it did when George Vanderbilt lived there.

Some of my favorite rooms in the house include the library (think the Beast’s library from Disney’s BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, only on a slightly smaller scale), the loggia where the mountain breezes are at their best, the South Tower bedroom (I like to think that that is where I would have stayed, had I been a guest there) and the third floor living area. Another nice thing about Biltmore is the look you get at the working areas of the house: the servant bedrooms, the kitchens, the laundry, the pantries, etc. I really got a sense of what it took to keep a place like that running.

After the tour, we went to the Bistro restaurant for lunch. The Bistro is part of the winery complex; the former dairy barns have been converted into a working winery. Again, the food was superb. Again, lots of tomatoes. After lunch, we took the self-guided winery tour; this was my one disappointment of the trip. The self-guided tour really doesn’t tell much about the workings of the winery. They do offer a guided tour, however, and I think that it would be much more informative. A free wine tasting is included in the estate admission; while some of our group opted to go for it, I decided to go back to the suite and rest a bit. Ed had again taken charge of the kids for the day; he took them for a bike ride on the estate and then to the estate petting farm, where the got to meet horses and goats and collect eggs. When they returned to the suite, Colin took a nap while Piper and I went to the pool.

That evening we met up with everyone in downtown Asheville at a funky BBQ joint called Ed Boudreaux’s Bayou BBQ. It was great fun. The place features 14 different BBQ sauces, and there are plenty of things on the menu for non-BBQ lovers as well. Our server was fun and laid back, and totally capable of dealing with our large group. Ron’s friend Dave, who lives elsewhere in North Carolina, met up with us there for dinner, and I must say that he fit in with us perfectly (he finally paid Drew back the $50 borrowed a year or more previously. Joker that he is, Dave paid Drew back in Schrute Bucks). It was a pleasure to meet him and feast with him. Once again, a birthday dessert came my way: homemade bread pudding. We also received brownies for the table. Another wonderful time was had by all (including, this time, Ed and the kids).

That dinner was the conclusion of the group festivities. I truly had an unforgettable 40th birthday experience, and I am beyond delight that so many of my dear friends went to all the trouble and expense of sharing it with me. I am so blessed to have all of them in my lives. And total props to my amazing husband, who got the ball rolling by sending out the invitations to this road trip in February, so that everyone had time to plan. Can’t wait to see what he comes up with in ten years for the fiftieth!

Hello to Edgar (an old friend), and new friends Steffi, Rosa, Mikey, Toro, Fernando, Tavo, Buddy, Jenny, Dawn, Jon, Tasha, Craig, Jochen, Daniel, Sandy, Jim, Marta, Flavia, Jimena, and the others!

It was our sincere pleasure to meet each of you during our trip to the Mayan Riveria, Mexico in September 2006. When you visit the site, please add a comment to let us know you were here! To add your comment, click the title of this article (or click here) then scroll down to the bottom of the page. You’ll see the comment form; fill it out and click “Add my comment”.

The pictures are up! We’re still arranging them, but you can see the pictures (more than 20 pages of them!) if you click here.

Be sure to read all the articles in this series as they’re published… Click the title of this article (or click here) and you’ll see the series selector below the article text. Select the article you’d like to read from there!

More to follow!

Steve Irwin, the hugely popular Australian television personality was killed by a stingray while he was filming an underwater documentary.

But is that the whole truth? Consult the picture below, taken in Mexico’s Mayan Riviera on September 8, 2006, for some shocking evidence to the contrary. The top-right of the image is the guy we saw in Mexico, and Jon added several reference pictures of Steve Irwin so you can compare it for yourself.

 

 

Another beautiful day, two more awesome dives… We got to the dive shop early and received scowls from Steffi, one of the dive shop employees who we really connected with. We’d promised to bring her a cappucino and completely forgot.

Our dives took us to Tortugas, where the sea turtles are and later to Paamul.

Tortugas was the first time I’ve ever seen Wendy descend easily. Normally, she has significant trouble with her ears and equalization, but on this dive, she went down at a normal rate. We had a 49 minute dive with Mikey as our instructor and Dan & Scott from St. Louis on the dive with us. Dan was quite possibly the worst diver I’ve ever seen — he constantly swam with his arms forgetting that they’re all but useless under water and was so multi-level it was unreal — and we’ve seen some doozies. We saw tons of Hawksbill Turtles, Cowfish, and, after both Dan & Scott were cut, we saw a school of GIANT Tarpin during our safety stop.

After dives, we hung out at the dive shop and talked with the gang a bit, and then went to the pier to swim. Toro, one of the dive shop assistants, came to the pier with loads of fish food and threw it on the wading Wendy, attracting loads of fish to torment her. Being the gentleman, I tossed Toro into the water and threw food on him. After that, he and I got into a language-barrier splash contest. We had lunch and happy hour with Dawn & Jon, a super-cool couple we met down there. They live in Ohio, and pretty close to us, so we’re sure to see them again!

Wendy & I then went to the Mexican restaurant for dinner, which I wrote about here. After dinner, we went straight to bed because Thursday was going to be a big day. A really big day!

We got up early today, and with a purpose… We were diving this morning, with two dives — one to Canyones and one to another very close dive site. Grabbed breakfast at the buffet (fruit, bread, yogurt, cereal, and some meats & cheeses) and then headed to the dive shop where we met Jochen, our divemaster, and Majo our videographer.

Our gear was quickly loaded on the boat and we got all hooked up to check our pressures. My tank was a little bit low, so Jochen called for a replacement and we waited a few minutes for the new tank to be brought. I checked the pressure and it was fine, but in my haste, I forgot to connect my inflator hose the second time. This would come back to be embarassing in a few moments at the dive site. Because we were a very small group of customers, we were taken to a first dive site very close to the shore — probably less than 10 minutes out. We Jacques Cousteau’d off the side of the boat and were into the water in no time. Expecting a less-than-satisfactory dive based on the placement, we were pleasantly surprised at how clear and vibrant the site was as we started our descent. By the time we got to depth, I tried to inflate my hose and found that it wasn’t hooked up. Staring at it dumbly for a moment, Jochen came over and with a look of “dumbass” in his eye, calmly hooked me up and I was good to go.

Our dive was fairly uneventful after my inflator hose issue, though Wendy had a brief moment of her own. We saw a Hawksbill Turtle, 2 spotted Eagle Rays, one Green Turtle, black durgan, parrotfish, queen angels, squid, barracuda, and pufferfish on this dive, which lasted 49 minutes.

After a decent surface interval (we actually came back to the shore, got dried off, had lunch, and reported back to the boat), we went back out to Cuevitas/Angelitas for the second dive. Mikey, the manager of the dive shop, decided to be our divemaster this time. The shop was very slow, so they were ’sharing the wealth’ of two self-sufficient divers. We dove with a guy called Bill who was pretty random underwater, sort of fun to watch him flail around as Wendy & I were calm, collected divers. He got cut pretty early, which was no surprise since he was all over the place, and Mikey, Wendy, and I enjoyed a full 50-minute dive. In Bill’s defense, he was a quarry diver enjoying his first-ever ocean dive.

After the dives, we came back to get cleaned up and hung out at the pool and the bar with Jon & Dawn. Dinner was Asian-themed at the buffet, and the sushi was actually pretty good — especially one that was wrapped around the outside with cream cheese.