Dinner at Virgil’s Cafe, Bellevue Kentucky

July 4, 2010 in A Front Page Item | No comments

Last night, after attending a high school graduate party (congrats, Jackie!) and a celebration of the life of a college friend of mine who recently passed away(Todd Norris, we miss you), Wendy & I had a goal: to find an interesting restaurant that we hadn’t visited before.

A quick search of names on OpenTable yielded Virgil’s Cafe in Bellevue Kentucky, and it had the dual benefits of being somewhere we hadn’t been and being in close proximity to the celebration for Todd.

After our events, we made our way to Bellevue, just a few minutes east of Newport on the Levee, and found parking on the street outside the small restaurant.

We entered (through the side door – the front entrance is a fire exit) the bustling restaurant, were promptly greeted by Kristy, and led to a 2-top in the front window, with a great view of the street and the folks playing with sparklers across the way.

Settling in, we were greeted by Amy, our server, and offered the menu. In addition to being very friendly, the service staff is prompt and attentive (our water glasses were topped up frequently and unobtrusively).

Our menu included:

  • Marinated Olives with Fruit Butter: Lovely warm olives with a delicious pear fruit butter.
  • Tomato Basil Bisque: Wendy really liked this soup!
  • Fennel Citrus Salad: A classic old-school salad that was really refreshing on a warm evening.
  • Shrimp Creole: Nicely spiced, the shoestring sweet potatoes on top added a nice texture.
  • Scallops with Risotto: Great flavors, but overall the dish was …soft…
  • Coconut Cream Pie: Both desserts were top-notch!
  • Chocolate Tart:

Chef Matt came out at the end of the night to talk with the table next to us. On his way over, he greeted us and we realized that we knew each other. Matt & I actually went to college together! It was great to catch up with him, and we wish him the very best success with Virgil’s!

Tags: , , ,

Happy Mouth – May 2010

June 10, 2010 in A Front Page Item, Happy Mouth Supper Club | No comments

For this month’s Happy Mouth Supper Club outing, Kristy picked The Wildflower Cafe and Coffee House all the way out in Mason. It’s a bit of a haul, but well worth it.

Our rowdy group had an entire room to ourselves (a good choice on the part of the restaurant!) and we enjoyed a wide sampling of their wares. Standouts included the Cheese Board, Burgers, Gourmet Grilled Cheese, and desserts.

It was a good time for all of us!

Tags: , , ,

Happy Bright Carvers Day!

June 1, 2010 in A Front Page Item, Books & All Things Literary | No comments

Today is the Day of the Bright Carvers, according to Mervyn Peake’s GORMENGHAST novels.

Today is the day that the Bright Carvers (who take their name from the age-old craft of woodcarving, which is their only passion), a poor a disease-ridden community whose only pride is their carving and in their allegiance to the House of Groan, are permitted to enter Castle Gormenghast to present their best work. The carvings are judged by the Earl of Groan, and the finest are taken and set up in the Hall of the Bright Carvings, a long room in the north wing of the castle. No one ever visits the hall; the masterpieces are simply left there to gather dust over the years. All rejected works are burnt in the courtyard below the earl’s chamber. The carvers whose efforts have been chosen are given vellum scrolls and the privilege of walking the battlements above the Dwellings (their homes) at the full moon of each alternate month. This is their only reward, an honour greatly prized by the Bright Carvers.

Happy Bright Carvers Day!

Tags: , ,

Happy Towel Day, everyone!

May 25, 2010 in A Front Page Item | No comments

Happy Towel Day, everyone!

“A towel, [the guide] says, is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have. Partly it has great practical value. You can wrap it around you for warmth as you bound across the cold moons of Jaglan Beta; you can lie on it on the brilliant marble-sanded beaches of Santraginus V, inhaling the heady sea vapors; you can sleep under it beneath the stars which shine so redly on the desert world of Kakrafoon; use it to sail a miniraft down the slow heavy River Moth; wet it for use in hand-to-hand-combat; wrap it round your head to ward off noxious fumes or avoid the gaze of the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal (such a mind-bogglingly stupid animal, it assumes that if you can’t see it, it can’t see you); you can wave your towel in emergencies as a distress signal, and of course dry yourself off with it if it still seems to be clean enough.

More importantly, a towel has immense psychological value. For some reason, if a strag (strag: non-hitch hiker) discovers that a hitch hiker has his towel with him, he will automatically assume that he is also in possession of a toothbrush, face flannel, soap, tin of biscuits, flask, compass, map, ball of string, gnat spray, wet weather gear, space suit etc., etc. Furthermore, the strag will then happily lend the hitch hiker any of these or a dozen other items that the hitch hiker might accidentally have "lost". What the strag will think is that any man who can hitch the length and breadth of the galaxy, rough it, slum it, struggle against terrible odds, win through, and still knows where his towel is is clearly a man to be reckoned with.”

— Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

So long Douglas, and thanks for all the fish!

Do you know where YOUR towel is?

TowelDay.ORG

Happy Mouth – April 2010

April 19, 2010 in A Front Page Item, Happy Mouth Supper Club | No comments

This was originally Jay’s month to pick. Because Jay’s mom was having a surgical procedure (which went well, by the way!), Wendy offered to switch months with Jay.

So, this month became Wendy’s month to select. She chose to host a brunch at The Comet in Northside. Ted, Tracy, Ron, Carrie, Wendy, and Andrew made it out that morning. The Comet, long known for their tasty burritos and great live music, recently started doing brunch on Sundays.

Chef Luke Radkey does a great job of turning out delicious dishes from a tiny kitchen. The menu features a few staples but changes slightly each week. You cannot go wrong with any of the brunch choices! Start your meal with a light mimosa to set a nice tone (I think it would be fun if Luke offered “mimosa two ways” – one of these and one of these!), then settle in for excellent, made-to-order brunch items.

Of particular interest to our table was the Sticky Toffee French Toast, while I went for an asparagus quiche that was a new menu item. Everything was delicious!

Despite the rather low turn-out (we had members tending to ailing relatives, out of town, etc), we had a great time at Happy Mouth. The brunch at the Comet is not to be missed!

I suggest you get there early – the doors open at 11:00am sharp – because it tends to fill up.

Tags: , , ,

Was down, now back! Thanks, Lifehacker!

April 6, 2010 in A Front Page Item, System Information | No comments

Thanks to an article I wrote being posted on Lifehacker, our server got mobbed by hoards of eager folks (over 2,000 hits in a couple hours – and still going) and collapsed.

With the quick work of Doug & Rabbitt, the site’s operation was tweaked and restored quickly. Within about 30 minutes, it was serving pages again. Thanks, guys, for getting it back together so fast.

Thanks, Lifehacker! I appreciate the link from your site and the chance to real-world load-test the server!

Tags:

§