Review: Michel Richard Central

DC at night is a strange creature. It becomes particularly so with the blustery weather we’ve been having lately. As I walked to the Metro from the restaurant, I noted that compared to the day, the city is remarkably empty and lends itself to a bit of romantic musing.

Falling quite in line with such weather, the bar at Central is a good place to continue or begin such musings. Unlike the Ikea-esque dining room, it lends itself to a lone person sitting at the bar to people-watch undetected via the angled, mounted mirror above.

The hearty food I consumed during the meal was certainly sufficient padding to protect against the recent winds or perhaps a French Mistral (though a cassoulet would abet that cause even further).

Another Threadless t-shirt sale

Go to Threadless for their buy two shirts get $10 off sale. I really like this one, Paper Airplanes.

Review: Pinkberry – NYC

Nestled in midtown New York is a Koreatown on 32nd St. West of Broadway. Pinkberry is a frozen yogurt joint that has gained notoriety in Korea and launched loads of parking tickets in LA. They recently opened on in New York, so I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. The decor is rather modern in that Asian pop culture style that is so popular. The primary business is two flavors of frozen yogurt – plain and green tea-flavored – with various fruits as toppings as well as fruit smoothies made from the frozen yogurt.

Not quite sure what to pick, I asked for samples of both flavors. I was really excited and hoping that the green tea was like green tea ice creams that I had eaten previously. The plain frozen yogurt tastes much like the yogurt drinks that one gets from the Asian grocery stores, slightly tart and slightly fruit, but not nearly as creamy as Western yogurt. The green tea tasted… little different from the plain – perhaps slightly more mellow in its tartness. After trying the samples, I did not really want to purchase any, but I felt bad so I did. I got about halfway through it, before leaving and throwing it in the garbage. I’m not quite sure what I was expecting, but I guess I was thinking that it would be more flavorful than what it was. Perhaps if I had purchased a smoothie it might have been better.

However, I did see a fellow wearing Ugg boots in the store. That was perhaps the highlight of the detour.

Because we all make mistakes – Chipotle

I was in Dupont Circle and decided to call up C. to see if he wanted to hang out. He suggested having dinner at Chipotle. I responded with an affirmative, since it’s one of those places that I don’t usually find objectionable. I ordered the chicken burrito bol, and upon eating it, felt pity for the poor chicken that had spared its free range life for it. It was dry, despite the beans, veggies and salsas that topped it. Perhaps I should have also asked for a dollop of sour cream, but I doubt it would have made an enormous difference. The ingredients wouldn’t seem to integrate no matter how much I stirred and picked through it. I kept wishing that it was creamier and more gushy. I think I will stick to the barbacoa if I eat there again, and be sure to ask for sour cream.

Redundancy and the media

A link courtesy of Freakonomics, the SF Chronicle has made some of their reader phone calls into podcasts. This is just too funny and somewhat annoying. Some people have way too much time on their hands.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfgate/detail?blogid=5&entry_id=12853