Arbitrary, Incidental, and Accidental Musings...

Movie set in the Great Depression on Christmas Eve?! Sign me up!! Actually, this movie was quite good and a good segue before the big, fat man slid down the chimney.

I've always thought Russell Crowe was a great actor. From The Quick and The Dead to Virtuosity, I have always enjoyed his work. Except for Gladiator which for some reason he was very flat in. I think when he relaxes and doesn't just do a movie with a giant $0.39 postage stamp affixed to his forehead, he is much better. Good news, Crowe doesn't mail this one in.

Russell Crowe plays a mildly talented depression era boxer who injures himself badly enough that he can't box anymore. The movie plunges farther and farther into the depressing (hence the name of the era) as he and his family finally hit rock bottom before he gets offered a great opportunity to box again. Thus begins his meteoric rise to the top, finally culminating in...

The bottom line: Well, I won't spoil the ending. Go see this one yourself. Worth the watch.

Okay, it may be a romantic comedy, but there's not a hell of a lot of romance in it. From the commercials, you would expect it to be a buddy movie with Smith and James (sounds like a wine cooler doesn't it? Man, this review keeps getting worse and worse... ug). However, Kevin James isn't even in the movie that much. This movie is about Will Smith who plays an ultra suave "date doctor" in New York who sets good, normal guys up with out of their league girls. Confusion results when Smith is wrongfully accused of helping jerks and he has to fight to win back the heart of Mendes. Hilarity ensues... followed by heartbreak... followed by the feel good movie of the season... followed by more hilarity.

...and you wonder why I want to keep the movie reviews short these days.

The bottom line: If you have nothing better to do, this movie could be entertaining for you. My suggestion? Bring your girlfriend into the room while it's on. You'll get credit for a chick flick without feeling dirty.

Today was a very depressing day. I'm not going to get into it, but my family needed to get out of the house and the best way to do that was with a family dinner. My parents are always wanting to try new places (I wonder where I get it from) and they had heard about a good steakhouse in Pearl River called La Quinta.

A lot of steakhouses will show you their steak aging in the front of the restaurant. La Quinta is a steakhouse that actually has the steak in a butcher's case in the front of the restaurant available for purchase. Very odd indeed, but once you got further back into the restaurant, La Quinta loses all of it's butcher properties and turns into a proper steakhouse.

While not a high class steak house, La Quinta offers some quality cuts for an appropriate price. A Portuguese steakhouse, La Quinta has decent portions and okay service. Perhaps I was spoiled by the service I got when I was working for the Portuguese mafia back in college, but La Quinta didn't exactly have the greatest waiters. But, perhaps that's a story for another time...

What to order: I'm not going to go through the normal steakhouse breakdown here, because as I said it was a very depressing day. That made me not all too hungry. That being said though, the martini was only okay. Perhaps it was because I switched to Stoli that day, but I doubt it.

As for the food, anything bisque worked very well. I ordered the red pepper and corn bisque and I had a little of my brother's lobster bisque. Both good, but not overwhelming. Lobster bisque should be creamier and have more chunks of lobster in it. My soup could have used more red pepper. As for the salad course, the caesar salad was not very memorable.

For my main course I ordered a filet with a spicy peppercorn sauce. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't great. The peppercorn sauce could have used a little bit more punch to it as well.

The bottom line: The food was okay and the service was not good at all. In fact, the best way to describe La Quinta would be it is very reminiscent of a steakhouse you would find in a hotel. Not terrible, but certainly not great. You know what you are getting going into it and you could probably get the same quality steak from room service. Considering how close La Quinta is to my parent's house, I suppose it could be a decent option if I don't want to travel that far for steak. However, I don't think I would really go again with so many wonderful steak options only a short drive away.

Name: Viva Zapata
Type: Restaurant
Cuisine: Mexican
Location: Westport, CT
Price: $28
Rating: 72
Who is this for?: For the person who wants great mexican in Fairfield county.
Web Link

What to order: The chorizo nachos are very good. (come on, they have chorizo in them. Do we have to discuss how much I like chorizo again? I didn't think so.) In fact, you really can't go wrong with most dishes as they offer standard Mexican fare with some more inventive dishes as well. And HUGE portions. Not Cheesecake Factory proportions, mind you, but be prepared to take some home if you order appetizers as well. Either that, or just come really hungry. Another highlight would be the pork tacos. This isn't shredded pork like you would expect, but rather pork loin strips served in giant helpings on some gloriously greasy corn tortillas.

The Bottom Line: The guacamole isn't worth writing about, but it can be forgiven considering how good the rest of the food is. If you've never been and like Mexican, I would definitely try this place.

Outpost Pizza opened down the road from my apartment. My pizza issues are well documented in this blog, so it was shocking to me when I saw their advertising banner. It read, "One of the best pizzas in the state". This intrigued me. They weren't overly bragging like the cover of every pizza box. You know the one. "You've tried the rest, now try the best" You know what? That pizza is never the best. Liars. Anyway, I liked the refreshing honesty approach. It was very possible that this pizza could fix my Connecticut pizza woes. I needed to try this pizza.

Outpost offers two pies for $16, but I can't eat that much. I ordered my new pizza standard these days. Half meatball and onion. Usually, you can tell a lot about a pizza place from the way they do their meatball and onion and the way the other half is made with just cheese. Do they take care with their pie to make sure that the meatball and onion stays on only one half of the pizza? Do they make sure no other toppings sneak in like a stray mushroom? Do the slices come apart easy? Does the cheese stay on the slice when you bite it? Did they make the pizza larger than the box and half to fold the crust a little to get it in? These are all important questions. Not make or break questions, mind you because the most important thing no matter how messy the pizza is the taste, but important questions nonetheless.

So how did Outpost rate? Well, they had a bad start. The delivery guy couldn't find my place and took three phone calls to direct him to the biggest and most obvious apartment complex right down the road. I'll cut them a little slack because they're new, but come on. You couldn't miss my place if you tried.

Once the pizza arrived, it had cooled a bit, but not enough to ruin anything. The crust was folded to fit in the box, and the toppings were skewed randomly about the slices. Hmmm... still not promising. However, the taste wasn't bad. The sauce had the requisite tang to it, it wasn't overbearing and the crust was tasty. I think they used a lot of olive oil with it. Perhaps they knew to bribe me with grease.

The Bottom Line: Worth a second try, but quite frankly the only points they seem to score is on convenience. It is directly on my way home from work. Pomodoro is still better and Outpost is certainly not some of the best pizza in the state.

Name: Pasta Nostra
Type: Restaurant
Cuisine: Italian
Location: Norwalk, CT
Price: $35
Rating: 86
Who is this for?: For the person who wants lots of wine selections with inventive pasta choices.

A perennial favorite of felon Martha Stewart (I'm sorry, I just don't get tired of writing that), Pasta Nostra is a small restaurant in the heart of South Norwalk that serves freshly made pasta only certain days of the week and only for dinner. Sure they could make more money by being open more often, but the place is very mom & pop and they can't make the pasta that quickly. They want to make sure that quality doesn't suffer. They do a great job with that.

Reservations are harder than usual to come by, so book early. The place is generally packed. This makes service suffer a little bit, but not by much. They have a large list of available wines and they take their wine as seriously as they take their pasta.

What to order: The pasta. It doesn't matter what kind. They're all delicious, generally special to that week, and freshly made. On this particular trip, I ordered the Trenette with pork ragu (ribbon pasta slightly wider than 1/4 inch) which was tremendous. And they give you tons of it. Rachel had the linguine with clams (one of her favorites) and she loved it as well. Perfectly light sauce with fresh clams in the shell.

Bottom Line: A little pricey for pasta, but well worth it. In fact, if you want pasta in Fairfield county, this is really the best place to go. It doesn't get any fresher or tastier.

Name: Chili's
Type: Restaurant
Cuisine: Southwest
Location: Baldwin Place, NY
Price: $28
Rating: 69
Who is this for?: For the person who wants their baby back baby back baby back baby back...
Web Link

Admit it, you have the song in your head now. And to be particularly evil, I hope it's the N'Sync version. Take that!

I had never been to a Chili's before now. Okay, that's not particularly true. I've had beers at a Chili's before and I've eaten a couple of times at those Chili's Too! restaurants that they have in the airport. I don't consider that the same thing. They never have the same menu and the food in the airports is almost always pre-made because of the turnover they have to deal with. This Chili's experience would be a little different. The turnover would be somewhat the same because the place was packed (we waited almost 45 minutes for a table, but it was a Saturday night), but the service would be much better.

What to order: Well, what else could I order? You can't go to a place called "Chili's" and not order the chili and after those rib commercials, how could I not order the baby back ribs? It seemed to me that this was a moral imperative. And you know what? They were both very good. The Chili had a little kick to it and no beans (which in my opinion chili should never have) The baby back ribs took me back to the days of my childhood when we would visit Tony Roma's (a place for ribs) on vacation. They were excellent and fell right off the bone. After watching a Food Network special on how they make them (they order them from Denmark and use only salt, pepper, and garlic powder), I wasn't sure what I was going to be getting, but I certainly wasn't disappointed. In fact, I was able to eat the entire meal without reaching for a wet nap or other paper napkin. I think this is key when consuming wings or ribs. The second you put down your ribs/wings for a napkin or drink, you lose momentum and don't want to finish quite as much. Um... perhaps I've said too much...

Bottom Line: The service was very good considering the kitchen kept screwing some things up. The Margheritas were also inventive and refreshing. I would definitely go back to try some other things on the menu. Yes, I know this is a chain restaurant, but I think it's one of the better one's.

Name: Holiday Inn Express
Type: Hotel
Location: Poughkeepsie, NY
Price: $98
Rating: 70
Who is this for?: The person looking to get a no-frills night's rest, breakfast, and yeah... feel a little smarter.
Web Link

Holiday Inn Express is everything that they advertise in the commercials and nothing they don't. Will you be a brain surgeon or an expert in anything the next day? Well, of course not. However, you will feel smarter about the fact that you paid less than $100 for a clean, spacious, comfortable room with free breakfast and a decent shower.

Holiday Inn Express is another good example of a hotel benefiting from the upgrades that are happening all over the hotel industry. The rooms are modern and the bathrooms make you want to remodel your own bathroom at home. Plenty of cable options, helpful and friendly staff, and the breakfast...

Okay, I'll be honest with you. We arrived at 3 AM after a wedding and had to leave before 8 AM. Therefore we didn't stay long and I was hung over enough where the free breakfast and coffee choices weren't really calling to me. However, the breakfast looked great with cinnamon rolls and cheese omelet choices to go with the standard continental fare. If I ever stay there again, I am definitely taking advantage of that. Granted, it looked very fast food like, but what do you expect for a bargain hotel?

The bottom line: For the five or so hours I was there, I was really impressed for the price. Good job Holiday Inn, good job.