Vegas, baby!

Not to bore you (I do that enough already) and not to rub it in (you still want me to try Peter Luger's?) but my go-round for bowling the USBC Open Championships (aka Nationals) is about a week away, and is it my fault that the tournament is in Las Vegas this year?  And Reno in each of the next two years?

Unfortunately for those travelling with me, I am a planner... once I get going, I can't stop.  I started researching airfare before Christmas.  I bet that I had most of our itinerary set before the Super Bowl.  And now with T-7 days, I am improving just about everything I touch.  (Side note; Come to think of it, I don't know what I will do on May 2 when I am home.)  Adding to the challenge of overplanning is the fact that (Sponsor's Name Here)'s Official Parents along with Jendy Wo, Revvy Al, my sister (whom I believe I've named, but I don't remember it and I don't feel like looking for it) and her friend the Slot Jockey are all coming along.

My-Sugar-Na's children's father lives in Central Iowa, so we are driving them there, then driving to Des Moines for the flight to Las Vegas.  The perfect flight for us leaves at 3:00 PM and gets to Las Vegas around 7:00 PM (conveniently about 5 minutes after my parent's flight arrives from Milwaukee).  But American Airlines had that particular flight about double the price of one that leaves (and arrives) 90 minutes later.  So I set up YAPTA.COM (short for "Your Amazing Personal Trave Assistant") to trigger an E-mail alert when that price dropped.  It worked to perfection, and for one day only, my fare was $228 RT for the flights that I wanted.  Cool beans.  Now that D-Day is approaching, I see that the 3:00 flight is already sold out.  Methinks (or maybe more appropriately Mehopes) they will be looking for volunteers to be bumped.  If the offer is right (a travel voucher to cover next year's trip to Reno and guaranteed seats on the next flight), I'd take that bump.  That's like a Vegas win before I ever get there!  Besides, the car is in my dad's name... he and my mom can sight see for a few minutes before going back to the airport to pick us up.

Now let's talk hotel.  I don't know how this happened, but a concensus was reached to stay at the Excalibur.  In February, we found a "early bird" deal, in which rooms were $36.  Then I called a casino host, and based on my play in Reno two years ago, we were offered a limo ride from the airport, and some buffet comps.  A couple of weeks ago, Jendy Wo found a new promotion, one that keeps the room rates about the same, but throws in a 2-for-1 ticket to the Tournament of Kings show for each room.  Considering that show was on our to-do list, we all jumped on it and adjusted our reservation accordingly.  Then last week, I get a letter from the Tropicana, which is right across the street from the Excalibur. (Long side note; On the way back from Reno two years ago, when I was changing planes in Las Vegas, I was bumped from my Frontier flight.  In addition to the voucher for free air travel, they booked me on a Midwest flight direct to Milwaukee that left six hours later.  One short cab ride later I was at the Tropicana - the closest low-roller casino to the airport - rollin' them bones.  I played craps and a little blackjack for four hours and went back to the airport for my flight.)  This letter from the Tropicana bemoans the fact that I haven't been there for awhile, and they are offering two nights at no charge.  Luckily for me, the available nights are while I am already in Vegas, so I contacted both hotels and made the arrangements.  So now for My-Sugar-Na and I to lodge for five days will cost about $120... total.  In other words, flight and hotel for five days is $288 each. 

Car rental was admittedly a little tough.  My parents and My-Sugar-Na and I are splitting the cost of a mini-van, and that is about $225 tax included.  We get E-mail all the time from Hotwire and Travelocity and the like with $15 a day deals in Vegas.  but somehow our dates were never included.  $225 is not bad, but usually car rentals don't match airfare.

Three of the eight of us are Vegas Virgins - my parents and Revvy Al.  So we tried to come up with an itinerary that would cover those of us who long for; Old Vegas (the Rat Pack Tribute Show at The Plaza and the Neon Museum), Themed Vegas (Tournament of Kings show at the Excalibur), Free Vegas (the Fremont St. Experience, the Bellagio Fountains, the Mirage Volcano, the Siren Show at TI), Not What You'd Think of Vegas (Atomic Testing Museum), Fad Vegas (various poker tournaments) and Dammit, This Looks Cool Vegas (the Vegas Mob tour and Haunted Vegas tour).  The average age of our group is about 45-50, so one thing that is NOT on our to-do list is to wait in line for 90 mintues at a club on a Tuesday evening to buy $400 bottles of wine.

And the food!  Restaurant.com was selling $25 gift certificates for only $4, so we snagged one for the Hash House a Go-Go (as seen on Rachel Ray's Vacation show) and one for Pampas Churrascaria (think Sabor, but Vegasier).  Throw in an unadvertiesed steak special at the Ellis Island Casino, the unadvertised steak and shrimp at the Hard Rock Casino's cafe and the Burger Bar at the Mandalay Bay, and I've got a vacation fit for a king.

Now, to find time for the actual bowling...

I am not going to Opening Day for the first time since 2004, been to 16 overall since 1985... Predictions are impossible this year.  Gallardo = 2008 Sheets, Parra = 2007 Gallardo.  The key is if there is the opportunity to get an ace before July... I had a 300 game at Riviera Lanes a few weeks ago, it was my 16th... Leaving for Vegas in two weeks to bowl the USBC Open Championships, aka Nationals... The bar has been set, and it won't be topped this year... Wisconsin bowlers tend to do well at Nationals... Not gonna eat my way through Las Vegas... Don't think I can eat steak for three meals a day for six days?  Try me... Copper prices are going up, is the recession almost over?  Oil is going up, so it just may be... Maybe not for the captain, but the first thing I thought of when I read this was "Cool"... Still looking for bloggers in West Allis to write about issues... But don't look at me, I've got more important things to write about... Metallica is in the middle of a month-long marathon on XM42, it goes through Monday... (Sponsor's Name Here)'s Offical Son, Mitten, was the starting pitcher for his Rufus King High School JV team on April 8th.  He and another pitcher combined to no-hit Bay View High School 17-4 (side note; 17-4 and a no-hitter?  Yeah, it was JV)... Mitten's fastball was clocked as Thursday... It can't be that hard is it to make sure your van is empty first... Or to put your baby in a crib... Or keep your beer truck on its tires... Way cool... So is this... And this... My-Sugar-Na thinks I have too many blog links... Blame Mark the Editor, he showed me how... My-Sugar-Na's new shoes give her blisters... Hey, bbear, quarter craps (but only 10x odds kinda stink)... The Milwaukee Wave managed a 10-10 record with a bunch of guys you've never heard of.  Next year should be much better if they can retain their stars... In one of the other indoor soccer leagues, the PASL-Pro, the Stockton Cougars won the championship, were sold, then fired their head coach... In the third indoor soccer league, the Baltimore Blast will face the Rockford Rampage in Baltimore this weekend for the NISL title... Happy Easter, y'alls!

(This was the post originally planned for last Friday)

The perfect meal... two Filet O'Fish sandwiches and a Shamrock Shake.

Now maybe nutritionists would disagree, and possibly my non-fish-enjoying wife, too.  But this meal is more than the sum of its parts.  This meal isn't two overly processed, deep-fried blocks of what was once (probably) fish and 16 ounces of cold, green, partially hydrogenated gelatinous goo that had an artificial mint twig once pass near it.

This meal - for me - is a Lenten tradition.  Not just that my Cafeteria Catholicism beliefs tell me to, but because the first Friday of Lent really does signify the start of Spring.  Tasting that first bite, chased with that first slurp told me that Winter is on its way out.  It tells me to hang in there.  It may be 20 degrees today, but that 50 degree day is right around the corner (Side note; when I wrote this last week, I didn't realize that not only did I understate the coming warm spell, but it hit on the very Friday that this actually posted.  Spooky, no?) 

Even in a religious sense, this meal tells me that Easter is only a few weeks away, and everything that the church says that Easter represents... rebirth, hope after dispair, joy and happiness at the Lord's triumph over evil, etc.  That is all coming too, just because I had two Filet O'Fishes and a Shamrock Shake for lunch.

Now combine the two.  Spring and warm weather is coming, so is rebirth and joy.  Really, this meal with a symbol that the darkness and cold of winter (and life overall?) is in the rearview mirror and warmth and joy and happiness is just ahead.

I assure you, those 760 fishy calories and 14 cold, green fat grams really are good for you.  Go ahead, have this meal for lunch and see spring right around the corner.

I scooped the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

The Sonic on Miller Park Way and Burnham had a soft Grand Opening this evening.  Officially, they open at 6:00 AM on Tuesday, February 24th.  (Sponsor's Name Here)'s Official Son Mitten, will begin his employ at Sonic on Wednesday.  But as he and I were running errands this evening, I told him that I had a hankerin' for a Limeade.  He mentioned that there was a special opening for the corporate and local bigwigs tonight, but not for the general public.

I suggested that we drive past, as I'd bet that they'd open early.  Mitten (being the naive little pisher that he is) not only said "75% chance against it", but he also started to chicken out and said "I don't want to get in trouble if it looks like they aren't open yet".  As soon as we got close, we could see the signage in all it's neon glory.  Not only were they open to the public, but had a line about four cars long to pull into the parking lot at 9:00 PM.  My point to him was that there would be no way that a hyped restaurant like this could be open for a handful of cars, and turn away every other car that tries to pull in.

Remember when Krispy Kreme opened on Hwy 100?

You can tell that they are planning on a whole lotta business, as they have devised a "staging" area for cars before you are allowed into the parking lot.  You have to pull behind the strip mall just south of Rocky Rococo's and just north of the soon-to-be-opening Office Max and drive behind that strip mall.  There, a parking attendant will hold you until there is either room in the drive through or at a stall (wave to Mitten if you see him on Wednesday.  He will be a parking lot dude freezing his *** off.  I tried to tell him that parking cars on the lawn for State Fair is a lot warmer.  He insists on starting this new job anyway.)

I've only been to a few Sonics (Marshalltown, IA, Knoxville, TN, some Godforsaken part of LA between Baton Rouge and New Orleans and Albuquerque, NM) but this **slurppppp** Limeade is to die for.  Mitten won't tell me all the ingredients, but I think one of them is crack.

(Subtitled:  How to begin the first Lightning Round in 2009)

Apparently there is a belief that America hasn't been cool since Slick Willie was getting serviced by Monica... So inaugurations are either cool or not... I think the Obama presidency will be a political and economic nightmare, but a milestone like a black man becoming president isn't a horrible thing... So who really thought the Cards would take out Atlanta, Carolina and Philadelphia?  Not many, as they were dogs for all three games (two of those games at home)... Pittsburgh is good - not great -, but Arizona is not gooder so look for the Steelers to win The Big Game (because I can still call it that!)... What the hell's the matter with Anquan Boldin?  Can't you be happy about going to The Big Game?  Hell, Asante Samuel was excited about losing the NFC Championship... Being busy at work in inversely proportional to the amount of blogging that I do... Did everybody watch the season premiere of Flight of the Conchords yesterday?  No?  Did you at least watch the season premiere of Big Love?  Thank goodness for DVRs because I actually watched the four-hour football game last night... Tommasino Italia now serves lunch during the week, including the best chili this side of 17th & Wells... Speaking of chili... The Milwaukee Wave game this weekend will feature a tribute to the past, honoring their 25th season.  After the game will be an alumni game... Ask me a Wave trivia question, I bet I know it.  I also bet that no more than 10 non-employees have seen as many home games in 25 years as I have... I hate when websites get too cute.  I tried to link from the Wave's homepage, but it is all Java-y and wouldn't let me... First one to stump me on a Wave trivia question (and you'd better be dang sure of the answer) wins a MyCommunityNOW.com pad of post-it notes and a pen... I haven't mentioned bowling yet... Planning a trip to Las Vegas in April for the USBC national tournament.  I found rooms at the Sahara for $28/night, but flights (at convenient times) are still hovering in the $250 range...  There, the obligatory mention of bowling.

On my way home from work this evening, driving east on Greenfield Ave., I turned right onto 86th St. to see what the parking situation was like.

Dead.  Very, very dead.  When I got to my block, there was not one car on one lawn... as a matter of fact, there was a parking space available on the street right across from our house.  Nobody was even outside waving cars in.  Was it the forecast of a hot, humid day?  Or was it the forecast of potentially heavy rain in the evening?

Last year (on State Fair Monday) when I got home from work, My-Sugar-Na had parked one car on the lawn.  We took that fiver to Capri on 84th & Beloit for their lasagna special.  Today, she decided we were going there without first parking a car.  Such heresy, I say.

As I first slump into the recliner to get some energy to go out, we begin to watch the local “bleeding heart or scare people needlessly entertainment program".  Those friends we can count on did a story on a family that lives on 84th St., across from the Fairgrounds, that has been parking cars since about 1755.  As a matter of fact, this family knocked down a garage wall so that cars could drive directly through to the back of the lot.  Of course, the professional journalists that they are, bring us the story as if residents parking cars in their yards first happened on Saturday.  But they work in Brown Deer... they can't be expected to know about something attended by only 800,000 people per yer.

I thought that was funny.  The slowest day of the year at the Fair, and they run a story on family parkers.

Thanks to (Sponsor's Name Here)'s Official Father for spotting this.  Thomas Doyle is correct that if we don't patronize local restaurants in favor of chains, more of this will happen.  And with the current economy, chains can withstand a slowdown better than an independant can.

The other day, when I posted about Shakey's closing, I didn't know where I wanted to go with it.   Did I want to go down memory lane?  Did I want to talk about how I currently prefer Shakey's way more than Old Country Buffet?  Did I want to talk about iconic businesses closing?  Did I want to scold somebody (not sure who) about "other business interests"... I mean, what the hell does that mean, and why did the little blurb in West Allis Now (it certainly wasn't an article or story) not press that question?  Apparently sensing this blog entry coming, I see that they did post another couple of paragraphs the other day.

But when it came right down to it, the title that I posted said it all.  Nothing more needed to be said.

That didn't stop me from researching the other angles that I had mentioned above.  After spending too much time on this over the weekend, I just found too much of a gold mine on-line that I couldn't keep to myself (Carol, you missed the boat.  This one is all mine now!)  So that I don't spend all day summarizing what you can find by clicking the link, I won't actually write much about each one below.  But if you click the links you will find that you could spend hours reliving your childhood (or teen years, etc.)... make sure you follow the other links contained on each page!

Farrell's lasted at Southridge until the mid-80s.  But reading this, it is clear that the chain was in trouble for almost ten years before it closed.  Baker's Ice Cream Parlor in New Berlin tried to recreate the fun of Farrell's, but that is gone now, too.

Dutchland Dairy was a little before my time... I barely remember the one in West Allis on Lincoln Ave. and the location in Cudahy on Packard Ave.  I mostly remember driving past those locations and listening to (Sponsor's Name Here)'s Official Father prattle on discuss eating there.

Allis Chalmers was the place to work earlier in this centruy.  Now nobody knows what the company is or does.

Did I miss your favorite?  Check this out from Retro Milwaukee... and do right by yourself and check all nine pages of memories!

Actual conversation heard Monday evening...

My-Sugar-Na:  "Did you hear that Shakey's is closing?"

(Sponsor's Name Here):  "No.  Where'd you hear that?

My-Sugar-Na:  "It was posted on West Allis Now."

(Sponsor's Name Here):  "Huh.  I oughta check that site more often."

I am mostly impressed that my wife speaks with HTML links.

New York City was fun (but I wouldn't want to live there!)  I did the chronological last week, so instead I will pick some topics which I find interesting (or from which I have interesting photos.  We took about 300 pictures, and printed about 185. Consider yourself lucky you only are seeing this small sampling).  Again, I apologize if you don't care, but at this point my hit-o-meter has regestered your visit, and I thank you.

The reason it took me an extra week to post this was because I had to get the photos back from the Fotomat.  (Side note to Mark the Editor; it's your own fault for showing me how to upload photos.)

The Gray Line Bus Tours - If you ever go to NYC as a tourist, this tour is a must.  As the website says, for $45 you get a 48 hour ticket on four different routes, all are hop-on-hop-off (except the Night Loop).  Busses run about 10 minutes apart, and we took advantage of this to use it as our personal taxi.

There is a catch, however.  The routes aren't precise.  Five minutes into our first bus, the tour guide said that the maps aren't detailed well, so if you get off at a stop, it would be wise to go back to that stop to get back on the bus.  The brochure says where the stops are (for example, "Battery Park", or the "South Street Seaport").  But unless you actually see the Gray Line Bus Stop sign, you have absolutely no clue of how to find a bus.

How do I know this?

My-Sugar-Na and I got off the bus at the World Trade Center site (more on that later).  After that we went to the McDonalds on Broadway (more on that later), then walked down to Wall Street and to the New York Stock Exchange (more on that later).  When we looked at where we were, we were a lot closer to Battery Park than where the bus dropped us off, so we decided to walk to Battery Park.  We got to where it looked like the bus route went, but we couldn't find a stop.  We took a brief rest to look at the map, and one of the busses drove right past us.  I said "follow that bus", and we walked all the way to the Seaport before we finally found a stop.  Thankfully there was a practically empty bus waiting there.  If you take the tour, GO BACK TO THE STOP WHERE YOU GOT OFF OF THE BUS.  You'll thank me later.

We took that bus back to the beginning (near Times Square) and they announced that the Night Tour bus (more on that later) was waiting there.  We figured that if nothing else, we would use it as two hours to catch our breath and relax after what seemed like a four mile walk. 

Now for the highlights of the various Tour stops...

Lombardi's Pizza - This place prides itself on being the first pizza restaurant in the USA.  I found out about this place while watching a Travel Channel show on the best pizzas in America.  I'll let you learn the history, but they're famous for their pizzas being made in a coal-fired oven that wouldn't be allowed now, but Lombardi's is grandfathered.  A personal review... I was disappointed at the lack of toppings.  Their standard pizza is cheese and sauce, and for $5 we added sweet sausage and onions.  It tasted good, but it wasn't a deep flavor, and it certainly wasn't "cheesy".  Best tasting was the crust.  Can't describe it, but it had a bitter something about it that was addictive.

When I told the waitress that I saw about Lombardi's on TV and wanted to take a picture of the oven, she actually walked me into the kitchen and took the picture.  The whole experience was great, and considering it was about four hours after landing at LaGuardia, it was a great way to kick off the trip.

World Trade Center site -  The bus let us off about two blocks from the site.  Dummy me, however, My-Sugar-Na and I took off walking without actually figuring out where the viewing platform was.  We basically walked around the area, which wouldn't have been too bad, except for the chain link fence covered in canvas.  They are working on the memorial and were doing blasting, so the street view isn't much.  By the time we walked back around and figured out where the viewing platform was (suggested donation, $10) we decided that we had spent enough time there and it was onto the next adventure.

Manhattan McDonalds - Actually, I get my best dining ideas from TV.  I can't remember what show it was on which station, but it was about the Top 10 Fast Food locations in the world.  This McDonalds was shown to be a "luxury" location, with a doorman, a piano player, the "Orchid Room", etc.  It showed a yuppie-ish couple on a date, eating like it was the Ritz.  When we got there at 5:00 PM, there was no doorman and no piano player (but the grand piano was there).  We went upstairs, and were horrified that every table was dirty and there was litter on the floor.  There was nobody around to clean anything.  We went back downstairs, bought some drinks and found a table by the door.  Actually, we shared the table with a rude lady who (when somebody came to empty the garbage cans) started screeching about how he should wait until she left because it smelled (she was right, but she acted like a New Yorker).  We got out of there, pronto-ly.  (It took a lot of work - both at the McDonalds and with a photo-editor - to find to decent pics.  Trust me.  I actually cleaned off that table with the flower on it.)

NYSE/Wall Street -  Sometimes you just don't know your mate.  In six months planning this trip, I didn't realize how interested My-Sugar-Na was in seeing the financial district until we were about three blocks away.  Other than walking past buildings and snapping photos, there wasn't much to report, except...

We walked past two policemen in full riot gear right outside the New York Stock Exchange.  We didn't ask what they were doing, but at 5:30 on a Thursday night, there was nothing going on besides businesspeople bustling about.  I do know that the Fat Al Sharpton had been arrested at a rally the prior day, but there were no rallies in sight, and if there were, these two policemen weren't enough manpower to do anything anyhow.

The Gray Line Night Tour - I think this tour was the best.  The sights were breathtaking...

We did other things while in New York.

Statue of Liberty/Ellis Island - I had mentioned as a comment to my blog post from before I left that the Friday we were there, the weather was cold, damp, raw, and not meant for fish nor bird... or especially tourists.  The noreaster (and I don't know if it was an official noreaster, but all that was missing was three degrees and Christmas decorations and it would have been the latest Snowstorm of Doom.) had it pouring all day, and it was so cold that it chilled us to the bone.  Unfortunatley, in all of the photos we took, I couldn't find one that showed just how horrible the weather was.  The photo to the right of the statue is of Manhattan from the statue observation deck.  My sorta-sister, Jendy Wo, said "watch it going around the corner, it is like being on a freeway".  She was right.  The wind was hitting me so hard that My-Sugar-Na braced me as I leaned on a piller just to steady myself enough to take a picture. 

As for Ellis Island, my parents and the rest of the group had planned to go, but the original plan was for My-Sugar-Na and I to continue on our 48-hour bus tour.  By the time we got done with the statue tour, we audibled to Ellis Island because it was indoors.  I found that to be the more interesting of the two, because they did a great job of walking you from room to room, driving home just what the immigrants went through.  The hall in the photo below is empty now, but there were numerous photos there that showed how hundreds and hundreds of people - speaking all sorts of languages - were herded through gates and paths every day.

The ferry to and from the islands - This may mean nothing to nobody, but it was zany to me and my wife.  We didn't notice it at first, but when we got off the ferry, we turned around and saw it was the John James Audubon.  Why is that important?  Three years earlier when the USBC Tournament was in Baton Rouge, LA, we drove to New Orleans (pre-Katrina) and took a Mississippi River lunch cruise on - you guessed it - the John James Audubon.  I tried to "Google" the boat to find out how and why it got to New York, but I couldn't find anything.  I can only guess that post-Katrina, tourism is down and the riverboat was sold.  (To you cynics out there in Internetland, it is possible that there could be two riverboats of the same name, but this one still had placards on the sides to help identify Gulf of Mexico crustaceons.)

Gray's Papaya - What?  No photos?  Sorry.  But what a story.  Thursday on the walk from the end of the Night Tour to Penn Station for the trip on the Long Island Railroad back to Central Islip, we accidentally walked past this hot dog place.  I had seen this featured on - you guessed it again - TV, on PBS's The Hot Dog Program.  One bite of the Recession Special (two dogs and a 12 oz. papaya juice for $3.50) and I was hooked.  How hooked?  Friday after the disaster that was, we get back to Penn Station for the ride back to Long Island and we have about 25 minutes to wait.  I convince my dad, my sorta-sister Jendy Wo and my sorta-brother Revvy Al to try one.  So here I am in rush hour in Manhattan.  In the rain, running to get six hot dogs and three juices, dodging commuters, taxis, busses and umbrellas.  They're that good.  I want to open a franchise here.  For as much as I enjoy Sammy's Red Hots, I think there is room in town for a New York dog.

That silly wedding - Actually the reason the entire family (well, almost the entire family) went to New York.  The weather on Saturday was beautiful, and it was held on a party boat for four hours.  It was a great time, and Mr. Uncie and his new bride, Knobbleknees almost looked as good as I did when Knobbleknees and I cut up the rug when Staying Alive was played.

The Long Island Railroad - I only include this as an excuse to tell the story of Colonel Pumpkin.  The LIRR is commuter rail for an area large enough to support rail (and sorry lefties, Milwaukee isn't one of those areas).  It is an 80-minute train ride from Penn Station from Central Islip, and we took that ride every day of our trip.  On Friday on the way to the statue tour, my sorta-sister Jendy Wo caught the eye of the conductor.  Well, maybe he didn't notice.  Come to think of it, I think I heard him bartering with a different conductor to trade train cars.  No matter, Jendy Wo is in love and started talking about Pumpkin.  By the time we actually got to Penn Station, he had been assigned the titles of Conductor Pumpkin, Colonel Pumpkin, Captian Pumpkin, and my favorite Commander Pumpkin.

The Soprano Sites tour - A very good $44 spent for both my wife and I.  It was a 4-1/2 hour bus tour of many sites in New Jersey where the Sopranos was filmed.  We saw everything from the place under the bridge where Christphuh buried - then dug up - Emile in Season One, to where Tony kicked the crap out of Ralph Cifretto (when Ralphie killed one of the dancers at the Bada Bing).  We got to see where Satriale's used to be (it has since been torn down and will become the Soprano Condominums), and we got to try the onion rings at Holsten's.  Before the tour actually started, Joe Gannascoli (the actor that played Vito Spatafore) was signing autographs, taking pictures and selling bric-a-brac from the back of his SUV.  Although it was cool to get my photo taken with him, I was less impressed that he didn't ask me for $20 until AFTER he autographed a picture for me.  Note that in the photos, My-Sugar-Na and I are sitting in the actual booth that Tony and his family sat in during the last scene of the series finale, and in the darker photo I am actually sitting in Tony's seat at the Bada-Bing (which in real life is called Satin Dolls).

Carnegie Deli - When my aunt died in March, a relative told us that if we did nothing else in New York, we should go to ____ Deli.  The problem is that nobody remembered which deli.  All that we could recall was the hard-C sound.  Although we later agreed that it was Katz's Deli, while in planning we figured it was the Carnegie Deli.  On Sunday night, our group was scattered all around Manhattan.  My parents and my sister went to see Mamma Mia! on Broadway, My-Sugar-Na and I went to the top of the Empire State Building, Mr. Uncie and Knobbleknees went shopping, etc.  But we were all within shouting distance of the Carnegie Deli, so we all agreed to meet there for dinner Sunday evening.  Have you ever heard of the portions there?  OMG!  My Reuben sandwich a full one pound of meat - piled very high with *** and cheese - was $22.  My new sister-in-law ordered a turkey burger, I think they just chopped off its head, plucked the feathers, cooked it and put it on a bun.  What a great time!

If you managed to read the entire thing and notice that I didn't mention my side trip to Des Moines (and if you care), let me know and I'll fill you in. 

Long version (with photos), see next post. 

Short version, see below...

Thursday - Grayline Downtown loop.  Cool.  Lombardi's.  Where's toppings?  Great crust.  First pizza place in USA.  Gray's Papaya.  Read long version.  Grayline Night Loop.  Way, way cool.  Double decker. Lights. Brooklyn Bridge.  Peep show on walk back to Penn Station?  Nope.  My-Sugar-Na was along.

Friday - Raw windy rainy yukky day.  Statue of Liberty. Not exciting.  Ellis Island. Very interesting.  Too Long.  Tired.  Sore.  Cold.  Wet.  Hungry.  Gray's Papaya.  Read long version.  Dave & Busters is adult Chuck E. Cheese.  Meh.

Saturday - Nice day.  Missed train from Central Islip.  Only 2 hours in Manhattan.  Run, My-Sugar-Na.  Run.  Labor dispute on Grayline bus.  Zip through M&M Store.  Gray's Papaya.  Read long version.  Back to Long Island.  Mr. Uncie's wedding got in the way.  Long ride to boat.  Cold appetizers.  Nice boat ride.  I was Belle of the Ball.  Great time ('xcept for food).  Back to Dave & Busters w/ sorta-sister.  Had foo-foo drink in stem glass.  Stem broke.  Free drink!

Sunday - $70 per couple for Mother's Day brunch?  Back to Manhattan.  My-Sugar-Na.  Shoe blow out.  Payless is there.  New shoes $13.  No tax.  Went to OTB.  Lost $4.  Peed at OTB.  Sopranos tour through NJ worth $44 each.  Pic taken with Vito.  Stood on steps where Christphuh gets shot.  Satriale's torn down.  Will become "Soprano Condominiums".  Had onion rings at Halston's.  Ordered Cookie Dough ice cream at Halston's.  Got vanilla with hint of Oreo.  Sat in Tony's seat at Bada-Bing.  Back to Manhattan.  Top of Empire State Building.  Nice view.  Gotta buy map or audio tour.  Sucks.  But love capitalism.  Carnegie Deli.  One pound Reuben sammich $22.  Finished 3/4 of it.  Back to Long Island.  An hour to pack?

Monday -  Gotta go home.  Last trip on Long Island Railroad.  Bus to LaGuardia.  Plane late.  Will miss connection to Des Moines.  What?  Read long version.  Home at 2:00 PM.  Got dogs from kennel.  $200 for boarding?  Anyone wanna buy a dog or two before July?

Tuesday -  What?  Vacation ended Monday.  Connecting flight to Des Moines the next day.  Why Des Moines?  Read long version.  My-Sugar-Na watching Survivor.  Yawn.  Another Yawn.  Blogging instead.  You're up to date.

Here is the itinerary...

• Lombardi's Pizza
• Papaya King
• Gray's Papaya
• 2nd Ave Kosher Deli
• Old Town Bar
• Katz's Deli
• Mahnattan McDonalds
• Soprano's Sites Tour

And if there's time, the Statue of Liberty, Empire State Building and my brother's wedding.  Catchya in a week!

(PS - I am turning the auto-comment feature ON because I won't be around to approve comments.  If you guys misbehave and Mark the editor shuts me down and makes me start over on Blogspot or something, I'll be ticked.  Thank you.)

Belated Happy birthday Sis, two years younger than me, but somehow she is quite old, while I am quite distinguished... Can someone explain that with the prices of corn and wheat, fuel, steel and copper - as well as a down housing market and scads of homeowners nearing foreclosure - how we aren't headed for a massive recession?... The Michael Buble concert on Tuesday night was way cool... My-Sugar-Na really liked Buble's opening act, Naturally 7, an a capella soul group... Since my January surgery I have been cold a lot... My elbow isn't at 100%, yet (gettin' a little worried), and thanks for asking... Derrick saved the day Wednesday... All four of my kids are well past middle age if they don't get their schtick together... My home computer won't let me blog.  Mark?... Speaking of New York City, I am flying into LaGuardia and staying in Central Islip on Long Island and just learned that Long Island may as well be on a different planet than Manhattan... No, My-Sugar-Na won't let me eat my way through New York; "The Port Authority Bus Terminal is just ONE of the sights I came to see"... I am more excited at going to Albuquerque in July... XM Radio doesn't play enough Metallica, but they are too giddy about U2 and Lenny Kravitz... If NASCAR didn't have sponsorships, left turns or sheep, it would be a park and ride... This is underrated... So is this... Guess what, Time Warner's new Navigator software stinks... Eight more months until Christmas...  The office biddies are fretting about the IBM Selectric that isn't working right, apparently it is 1978 in that end of the office...  In February, I had a trivia question and nobody even hazarded tried to guess the answer of Henry Aaron and Warren Spahn... I couldn't have said it better myself... I broke the driver's seat in my car, I now have a rocking chair... Check the playlist, then get yourself Paul Anka's "Rock Swings" CD... I'd like our dogs better if they didn't bark... The last night of bowling league was last night, I haven't bowled competitively since November and I finally get paid.... Ciao.

OK.  The Milwaukee Wave lost their MISL Semifinal playoff series to the Baltimore Blast.  Enough talk of that.

The MISL Finals will be played in Milwaukee next Saturday, and yippie-skippy, the Blast will be one of the two teams.

What was more exciting is that LaRaze de Monterrey won the other semi series against the Detroit Ignition.  Monterrey won Game 1 last week at Arena Monterrey, but lost Game 2 in Detroit to set up the (Side note - do you think I have feelings about this?) stupid, moronic, dopey, childish Game 3, which is a "first team to score" format.

After returning home after the disappointing Wave game, I hit the internet to see who the Blast would be playing in the MISL Finals next Saturday.  Eventually it was learned that Byron Alvarez hit the series winner, and the Mexican side had punched their ticket to Milwaukee.

So Saturday afternoon, warm up by stopping by at Riviera Maya or the Oaxaca Grill for lunch, have a Tecate or Dos Equis, stop back at home for your noise makers, and get to the US Cellular Arena for the 6:00 PM start. 

If Milwaukee's sizable Latin contingent makes it to the game, the atmosphere should be electric. 

This one didn't star the Griswold family, instead we follow the exploits of me and my step-family for the past weekend.  (Side note, this may only be interesting to me and My-Sugar-Na, but if you read this far, my blog hit-o-meter has already registered your visit, and I thank you.)  The actual points I want to make are in bold, the rest is just filler... er, I mean backstory so you understand the context of my comment.

Both My-Sugar-Na and I turned 40 in March.  However, instead of buying gifts for each other, we wanted to do something different.  We had talked about a trip to Las Vegas or Reno, but between the short time frame after thinking of the idea and the concerns about child care for (Sponsor's Name Here)'s Official Stepchildren, Grizzly and Sloppy, we weren't able to pull it off.  That's when My-Sugar-Na had a brilliant idea... drive to central-Iowa (home of her ex-husband), and have him babysit his own kids while we blow the April mortgage at the two casinos in the area.  (Side note, that's exactly what happened, too.  Both My-Sugar-Na and I made four trips into a casino, and not once did either of us walk out and say "Well, at least I won something".  That is the last I plan on speaking of gambling losses, however, I've also only typed two paragraphs so far.)

I should have known we were in trouble on Friday afternoon.  My-Sugar-Na and I were going to leave work around 11 or 11:30, pick up a rental car (one that gets better gas mileage than the SUV) drop off the dogs at the boarding kennel, and leave by 12:30.  We would get to Marshalltown, IA around 6:00 PM, in time to get to a bar and watch the Badgers NCAA tournament game.

Great plan.  Lousy execution.

I didn't get free until 11:45, and by the time I got home, the car rental place that promises to pick you up was a half hour late anyway.  My-Sugar-Na decided to take care of the car while I drove to the kennel.  I dropped the dogs off without a hitch, but I didn't get home until about 1:30.  While I am am out, my wife called and said there was a complication with the car because she reserved it with a debit card, and now they needed a note from her mother to let the car go.  By the time we had the rental car loaded with bags and kids, it was about 2:00 (Oops #1).  Suddenly, we were 90 minutes late.  We actually made outstanding time, and got the kids dropped off right around 7:10. 

Marshalltown, is an old, old, old city.  The south side of the city has some new development and homes, but the northern part of the city is in sad shape.  Houses are falling apart.  They haven't been painted since the advent of paint, porches are crumbling, and it just looks like the owners don't care.  When My-Sugar-Na lived in Marshalltown, her house had been built in 1857, but there was only so much that could be done to make it look decent.  She did her best with planting flowers in front, and she did a lot to the inside, but in the end, it was among a sea of sad looking houses.

We had wanted to find a sports bar that served food, but The Stadium Lounge in Marshalltown (where we stopped) only had frozen pizza.  No go.  You would think a sports bar would sell munchies, especially in this huge room with tables and chairs and this huge TV.  I was told "what do you expect in Marshalltown?"  Touche.

By the time we got to the nearest bar to watch the game, Wisconsin was already down about 12 points.  By the time I had my first sip of beer, it was now about a 17 point Davidson lead (Oops #2).  I was also in an NCAA pool in which you draw a name out of a hat, and in order for your team to advance, your team has to cover the point spread.  I picked two teams, and they both played Friday night... needing only a point-spread cover for me to cash  Unfortunatly, they were Stanford (Oops #3) and Villanova (Oops #4).  Needless to say, as soon as My-Sugar-Na and I were done with one drink, it was time to leave.

So we leave after one drink and go to Field's Steakhouse (across the street) for dinner.  My-Sugar-Na orders the Chicken Parmesan.  What she received was a small piece of chicken with very little red sauce, glued to angel hair pasta with more cheese than should be allowed for a non-Italian.  The more she tried to pick around the mass of cheese, the more she was actually gluing the noodles together.  It was, I assure you, hilarous for somebody that had a perfectly prepared sirloin.  I ended up eating much of it so it wouldn't go to waste.  When the waitress came around to check on the meal, My-Sugar-Na told her everything was fine, because she didn't want to make a big deal of it.

Have you noticed that the day hasn't gone particularly well, and we haven't even gotten to the casino, yet?

We finally get to Meskwaki Hotel & Casino in Tama, IA (about 15 miles east of Marshalltown) around 9:30 PM.  This isn't a casino planted in an area where an indian once farted (a la Potowatomi in Milwaukee).  This is a resort on reservation land that the Meskwaki tribe has held since the 1850s.  There were more displays and artifacts in the hotel lobby than at all of Potowatomi.  After a little bit of gaming, we went up to our room and it was quite lovely.  The entire set-up at Meskwaki was very nice, it reminded me of a decent (not the mega-opulant) Vegas resort, like the Stardust.

Saturday morning, we hit the casino by 9:00 AM.  The craps table didn't open until 10:00 (which made me wonder why they bothered opening the casino, but I digress).  So I sit down at the Pai Gow Poker table and I hear a PA announcement "The shuttle bus to Marshalltown leaves at 9:30".  There is something wrong when a city as worn down as Marshalltown has a shuttle RETURNING before breakfast.  Seeing how rundown Marshalltown is, and hearing that shuttle announcement has really gotten me to think about what casinos every 50 miles are actually doing to this country.  My-Sugar-Na and I chose to take our discretionary income to a casino (and we didn't really lose the mortgage).  But I am positive that most of the people on that Marshalltown shuttle bus that left the casino at 9:30 AM really couldn't have that much money available to take to a casino.

Among the perks given to us when we signed up for the player's club card was a free buffet during our birthday month.  Since we were both there during our birthday month, it worked out swellfully.  After lunch (and already concerned about how much I had lost) decided to stretch my money by going into the Off-Track-Betting area.  I bought a horse program and a dog program, and sat down with about fifty old men, all smoking cigars and complaining about "that damn #4 in the 7th race at Aqueduct".  It was wonderful.  I was in there about three hours, and although I lost a few bucks, it was fun because it is something you can't do (yet) at Potowatomi.

Leg two of our adventure was the 60-mile ride to Des Moines.  The Prairie Meadows horse track added a casino, and we decided to spread our losses throughout the state.  After checking into our hotel (more on that in the next paragraph) and going to dinner, we drove to Prairie Meadows for some gaming.  After going through the fastest $150 in recorded history at the craps table, I settled into a Pai Gow Poker table and made a little comeback.  After a few hours, we decided to leave.  Losing was getting boring, and there was something about that casino... It was so lifeless.  The place was packed... and quiet.  The room was very partitioned so that all areas seemed small.  The volume on the slot machines was low, and the room was dead.  Hard to explain, but I didn't like it.

We stayed at a Rodeway Inn, which - let me tell you - is no Meskwaki.  It was a bed with a TV and toilet in the room.  Not much more.  Oh, yeah, and the bed was caved in the middle, so whenever one of us rolled over, we ended up rolling back down the slope to the middle of the bed and bumping awake the other.

Sunday, instead of going back to Prairie Meadows as had been the plan, we decided to drive back to Meskwaki before picking up the kids.  I only had a little money in my pocket (as did My-Sugar-Na), however we hadn't reached our weekend bankroll limit, so every intent was that if we needed more money, we would hit the ATM.  We got to Meskwaki with four hours before needing to get her kids, and after a slow start, I was ahead for the session.  Unfortunately, there were two hours to go, so I ended up losing that aheadedness - and the money I had started with.  So I make my way to the ATM, and there is an "out of order" sign on it (the entire ATM network was down).  How in the world can a casino have an ATM that is out of order?  Think of all the potential money that Meskwaki didn't make because those machines couldn't dispense cash to degenerate gamblers like me?  I was going to pull out $300, and based on how my weekend went, I would have lost a chunk of it.  Now multiply that by every withdrawl that didn't happen, and you have a massive potential loss.  You would think that it would almost pay to have an ATM techhie on staff to make sure that any breakdown in the system would be handled immediately.

So I between My-Sugar-Na and I, we had about $40 left with a couple of hours, so I took half and headed back to the OTB.  I lost $4 in those last two hours, and clearly it was to our benefit that the ATMs were down.

Picking up the kids and most of the drive home was uneventful, until I made a tragic mistake in judgement.  I suggested Cracker Barrel for dinner.  Their Sunday special is the best buttermilk breaded fried chicken breasts in the history of buttermilk breaded fried chicken breasts.  We were getting to Dubuque around 6:30 and decided that it was almost dinner time.  I had assumed that there would be a Cracker Barrel along the highway, and by the time we had gotten downtown, I knew there wouldn't be.  When I suggested a Plan B, My-Sugar-Na demanded Cracker Barrel, as I had got her mouth a-waterin'.  I placed a call to (Sponsor's Name Here)'s Official Mother, and asked her to find the nearest location, which is on the northeast side of Madison. We all put our hungers on hold for 90 minutes until we get there.

When we arrive at Cracker Barrel, the parking lot is empty... we thought they were closed, and it was only a little past 8:00 PM.  They were open, but My-Sugar-Na made the comment that maybe everybody heard they were out of the buttermilk chicken so everybody went somewhere else.  We walked in and we were the only ones there.  We both ordered the buttermilk chicken without reading the menu, when the waitress said (and you can see this coming, can't you?) "We're out of the chicken.  We were very busy today and we ran out of it hours ago".

I maintain my standard calm, cool, demeanor, and stated that we will need a few minutes to review the menu.  When the waitress walked away, I laughed like a 8-year old that just heard of a titmouse for the first time.  My-Sugar-Na was not happy, as the dinners at both the front and back ends of the trip were ruined.  She told me that she wanted a meatloaf sandwich, and that she was going to the bathroom and I should order it, and if they were out of meatloaf, we were going home (you can see where this is going too, ai'na?)

No meatloaf.  So me and her kids ordered, and told the waitress to start the order immediately, so that it would be too late to actually leave.  We tried to keep a straight face, but as she was walking back to the table, the kids couldn't contain themselves.  It was funnier than the time watching the first American Pie movie, when Alyson Hannigan said "This one time, in band camp, I stuck..." well, watch the movie.

The meals are now ordered and delivered, and I am about halfway through my country fried steak when I notice that it was white in the middle.  It is very unusual for steak to be white, when it occured to me... they snuck a piece of chicken past me!  By this point, we had been there way too long so I just ate it.  I did tell the manager about all of the problems and he did credit my dinner, but for some reason, My-Sugar-Na couldn't stop laughing at me.  I don't get it... why would she be so unsympathetic?

Getting home Sunday night was as uneventful as we had hoped... which is a good thing while travelling.  For the record, my M/$ on the rental car was 8.3 (The SUV barely gets 5 M/$.)  Now that I've blown through one weekend, I have to wait six weeks until my first trip to New York City in early-May.

1.  My-Sugar-Na and I stopped by Tommasino Italia' for dinner last night.  The restaurant on 74th & Greenfield (formerly the beloved Doyle's Milwaukee Inn) is owned by Thomas Doyle.  During dinner (fantastic pizza, by the way, with fresh giardinara and parmesan on the side), I spoke with Mr. Doyle.  He stated two very interesting and believable things. 

First, he is amazed that more of his business wasn't from West Allis residents.  Both the Milwaukee Inn and Tommasino Italia' were/are by no means George Webb-priced, but they aren't Eddie Martinis-priced, either.  My large, three topping pizza was about $16, and the restaurant featured checkered tablecloths, linen napkins and good silverware.  Some of the entrees were in the $15ish range, but that certainly compares favorably with other sit-down restaurants.  He said that business has improved since he changed the offerings to Italian, but there is certainly room for more.

The second thing he said was disappointing.  He said that the chain restaurants opening near Mayfair and Brookfield Square are killing the independant restauranteur.  The Cheesecake Factory, Maggiano's Little Italy and Bravo Cucina Italiana - though their employees are locals - take all the profits to their corporate ladder.  Sure, many of their offerings are good, but as Mr. Doyle said, if you ask for a Hollandaise sauce, Maggiano's will open a plastic bag that they received from their supplier.  Mr. Doyle would make his own for you.  All this, and a 60 minute wait for a table at Maggiano's, too. 

I have always, always preferred independant restaurants over chains (that's part of why the Devil Reincarnate has been replaced by My-Sugar-Na).  When I go out of town, I try shun chains (Do I really want to go to Applebee's in Durham, NC?).  I think West Allis residents - in order to keep local businesses healthy - owe it to themselves to make a point to go to independant restaurants... whether it is Tommasino Italia', Painted Parrot, or The Little Cafe.

2.  That nutjob, Mike McGee, Jr., made it on the local “bleeding heart or scare people needlessly entertainment program” (aka the news) from jail the other night.  Why, exactly did channel 4 do this?  McGee didn't say anything other than the garbage he usually does ("I'm a political prisoner", "I will be acquitted", etc).  McGee terrorized his district - and as far as he is concerned - "white" Milwaukee for years to the point where is ego is larger than Terrell Owens.  So channel 4 seeks him out to let him prattle on some more?  He has been held in jail since Memorial Day (that is seven months now) with no end in site, as he awaits both State and Federal trials.  He's done.  Toast (burned toast at that).  Let's leave him be.  We will all be better for it.

3.  Professional Bowlers Association exempt player Chad Kloss, from Greenfield, is back in town after completing the first half of the PBA schedule.  Because of an elbow injury, I am done bowling for the season and Chad bowled as my sub yesterday.  Not only did he shoot 792 for three games (and nobody else on our lanes had more than 650), he also made a bet with teammate one of my good friends - I'll call him Brad.  I don't remember the exact details, something about if Chad makes the Round of 8 in any event in the second half, Brad will shave his head, and if Chad qualifies for TV, he will shave his head.  I could be wrong on the specifics, but it is definatley worth keeping tabs on from early-January till the end of March.

4.  The Federal 2008 omnibus spending bill has been released, and Republicans are calling on George Bush to keep his committment from the 2007 State of the Union address to reduce both the number of Pork Barrel projects and overall pork spending.  I took a look at some of the pork projects (thanks to some prodding from My-Sugar-Na), and I can't believe one particular item that I saw.  Las Vegas is planning to open a Mob History museum in a shuttered post office in downtown.  Well, $200K in federal pork is earmarked for "a post office museum in downtown Las Vegas".  Now, that doesn't mean that they are connected, but they appear to be.  In a city in which billionaires are spending as much as $5,000,000,000 (that's five billion bucks, folks) to build a resort to outclass the guy next door (whose resort is only $4.8 billion), why in the world is my federal tax money going to finance yet another Las Vegas attraction?  A Las Vegas Mob History museum would really satisfy two of my loves, but my discretionary money should pay for it, not my tax money.

5.  To keep the karmic alignment proper, since I praised one West Allis business, I need to talk down one of them.  My-Sugar-Na is starting a new job in late-January (let's keep this to ourself, as her current employer doesn't know yet).  Panicking, she is now trying to find occasional doggie day care for Vier Pogo Squad 51.  I've learned not to argue this with her, and the pastures at the new place are, um, greener, so today she visited one potential place.  Playtime Doggy Daycare on Hwy 100 near I-94 told my wife that pomeranians aren't good at day care, but "we'll give it a shot".  My-Sugar-Na is horrified that her dog has been profiled by The Man (maybe she should talk to Mike McGee, Jr?).  Playtime also wouldn't show her the crating area, where they park the dogs during rest time.  Needless to say, Playtime Doggy Daycare is off of her list and she will continue looking.

6.  Work has been quite slow the past couple weeks for a variety of reasons, allowing me plenty of time for mindless internet searching.  I have seen a couple other blogger's lists of horrible Christmas songs, so I decided to make my own short list.

A.  My Favorite Things, What a Wonderful World, Let There be Peace on Earth, and Same Old Lang Syne.  These are not Christmas songs... they aren't even winter songs (like Jingle Bells and Sleigh Ride).  These songs don't belong during the Christmas season, and I believe that they only exist because they have too many hours to fill when radio stations go to "all-Christmas" formats.

B.  Any "new" Christmas song, because they attempt to be commerially saleable.  If a writer wants to pen a new Christmas song, how about something fun, like Rudolph's new girlfriend, or a strike at Santa's workshop, or something else fun.  But listening to some pop star warbling about how she misses her boyfriend at Christmas time... nah.

C.  Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer is about 20 years past its expiration date.  Kind of a dark song for Christmas, no?

D.  Any song where the singer (usually female [sorry, but true]) whose entire goal is to cover as many octaves as possible to show off (a la Joy Bach) and thereby ruining the song.

E.  Some song (don't know the name) about "Mary did you know / that your baby boy" somthing or other.  Pure schmaltz... Jerry Taff-esqe schmaltz (As Lisa Simpson said "They want cheap sentiment? I'll pump 'em so full of sap they'll be blowing their nose with a pancake".)  That song is extra bad when sung by Mr. Schmaltz, Kenny Rogers.  I need to take a shower.

F.  Santa Baby by Eartha Kitt or Madonna (or anyone else).  Christmas songs should be religious or Santa-ish.  Songs sung from the standpoint of a horny golddigger just don't cut it.  Eartha Kitt was fine purring as Catwoman on Batman, not so fine purring for this song.

You know, maybe this post was long enough to justify multiple entries.  But the damage is done.  If I don't post again this weekend, have a blessed Christmas.  Don't do something stupid like celebrating the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, by drinking yourself into oblivion and shooting your neighbor because he bought his wife a new SUV for Christmas and your car broke down.

Doyle's Milwaukee Inn (on 74th & Greenfield) closed over the weekend, and in its place will be an Italian restaurant.

Doyle's had quickly become one of my favorite restaurants since my family moved to West Allis.  In addition to their Veal Schnitzel, I liked their Hungarian Goulash.  But most of all, I was a big fan of the casual pace of the meal (never feeling rushed, and with each course being brought out separately), and the wide array of steaks, seafood and European dishes offered.

On Sunday's, for example, they had a special Sunday Dinner menu at a lower price of around $15/dinner.  This Sunday menu featured comfort food, and included soup and salad and a full meal.

Sigh.  I suppose that if I would have written this review months ago, it might still be there.  Oh, well.  On to the Painted Parrot.