I can't keep up with all the changes at Duo and Plateau Thai Chi, but I do know that Duo has some more great deals for the month of October!Check out the voodoo that Duo do so well:
Mondays and Thursdays all day - weekly featured wines by the bottle: only $15 for whites and $20 for reds.
Tuesdays - 1/2 price sashimi and specialty rolls all dayWednesdays - 1/2 price appetizers all dayPlus: free soft drinks during lunch every day (no refills please; offer includes fountain sodas, hot and iced tea and thai iced tea)
It seems that Sammy "The Obnoxious, Customer-Insulting, Bad Businessman" Settembre has gotten himself into even more hot water. According to the Advocate article, he was arrested for allegedly vandalizing his restaurant before he vacated it. Yikes.
Call the Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, Encyclopedia Brown and the Scooby-Doo Crew because we've got a Saturday morning mystery on our hands.As we all know, local Thai restaurant Galangal is gone. However, I found this review on the New York Times website for a restaurant on Long Island also called Galangal. The odd thing is that, according to the review, this restaurant is "the younger sibling of a place by the same name in Stamford, Conn." The review was written on September 11, so it's strange that the restaurant would say that they still had a location in Stamford (or that the reviewer wouldn't check).Now here's where it gets even weirder. According to the review, Long Island Galangal has been open since June, which is about when our Galangal closed. The safe assumption would be that the owners pulled up stakes, loaded everything onto wagons and trundled across the Sound, but then why call the restaurants "siblings"?Adding to the mystery is Galangal's new website. The name is in the same font as our departed friend, and the menu is similar to the one from our Galangal. Very odd.Well, in the name of investigative journalism, I did what any good sleuth would do and called "Galangal 2." At first, the friendly hostess was either confused or being elusive, because she made it sound like both restaurants were open for business. After some intense grilling (mmm...grilling), it came out that they opened the one on L.I. and then closed the Stamford one because they couldn't handle the travel back and forth.So...it looks like we've solved this case. That was so much fun we should tackle another mystery! Um, does anybody have any mysteries that need solving??
Happy solstice, everybody! Autumn sucks because it's just a prelude to the cold darkness of winter, but here's my end of summer recap:May was unseasonably cold and wet. I didn't like it, but at least I got initiated into the Stamford Pizza Tour gang.June was awful - it rained, then Michael Jackson died. The only bright spot was Fairfield County Eats.July was OK - some rain, but I had a nice 4th and also got to pig out at the Fancy Food Expo in the city.August was muggy and hot, but at least it didn't freakin' rain every day. Also, Sugar Ray and Jerry Springer.September has been so-so - it started with even more freakin' rain, but also lots of sun. Lately it's been sunny and kind of cool, which isn't so bad.Where will autumn take us? Who will be the next mayor of Stamford? Will Congress pass a healthcare bill that both sides don't hate? Will we ever get a cheese shop, bakery or independent coffee house??Stay tuned, loyal readers!
I had so much fun the first time that I decided to dine with the SPT crew again. Now that they've covered Stamford and crowned the winners, they're branching out to the surrounding area to try other notable pies. Here's their review of Mario Batali's Tarry Lodge in Port Chester.Please don't believe their assertion that I refer to myself as a "fancy metrosexual." "Metrosexual" is sooo 2007. We beautiful people don't give ourselves labels. We let the rest of the world do that (because they're jealous).
As you may or may not know, I love to eat. I love breakfast, brunch, lunch, dinner, supper, and everything in between. I also love desayuno, almuerzo y cena.Furthermore, I love sweets: cookies, brownies, pie, etc. I also love candy, especially chocolate-type stuff.So...if you're like me, you should stop at the Elm Street Market on, well, Elm Street.
The main reason to go there is their awesome selection of British candy. If you've never tried candy from England, you really should. The New York Times even wrote an article about the superiority of British candy.The basic starting point is Cadbury Dairy Milk. This is to Brits what Hershey bars are to us.
The first difference you'll notice when you eat one is that the chocolate is much richer and creamier. It's mellow. It's delicious. They make them in other varieties like fruit and nuts, mint creme and crispies (like a Nestle Crunch).Now be careful: the Cadbury Dairy Milk you see at the supermarket or at CVS is not the same! Hershey's has a license to make Diary Milk bars here, but the formula is different. Make sure you're eating one that was made in the U.K.Also keep in mind that a lot of British candy bars have the same names as they do here, but have different combinations and/or flavors (some of these are described in the Times article).Here are some of the other selections at Elm Street Market:
Top: Snickers, Milky Way and something else.
Bottom: Twix, Delight and Dairy Milk Golden Crisp.
Top: Cadbury Eclairs, Moro, white chocolate Maltesers (similar to Whoppers, but richer).
Bottom: Twirl, Snack (Sandwich), Refresher.
Top: Crunchie (mmmmm), Fruit Gums, Milkybar.
Bottom: Bounty (dark, I think), Bounty, Aero.
Top: Turkish Delight, Curly Wurly, Snack (Shortcake).
Bottom: Flake, Chewits Fruit Salad, Brunch Bar (does not contain omelets and pancakes).
UPDATE 9/21/09!!
In a very convenient coincidence, Candy Blog wrote a post comparing the U.S. and U.K. versions of Cadbury Dairy Milk. Check it out here.
Well, another Starbucks bites the coffee-scented dust, this time inside the Ridgeway Stop & Shop.
So we've lost two Starbucks (Starbuckses?) recently, and I haven't seen whether the one on the West Side ever opened. This doesn't seem to bode well for the local demand for an independent coffee house, but then again, if they can figure out a way to charge less than $4 for a cup of java, they just might make it.
In a strange coincidence, I stumbled across two video store-related stories, both with a local bent.The first one starts with a letter from a recent issue of Time (the one with the package of meat on the cover):
Here's a link to the critique he's addressing: Why Netflix Stinks.Jack Trifero is the owner of Gramaphone Video in New Canaan, and while I've never been to his store, I agree with his view of the video store as a great place to chat with the staff. If you've ever been to MediaWave in Fairfield, you know exactly what he means. The guys there are movie geeks and can always point you in the right direction. The closest thing you get from Netflix is "Based on your 5-star rating of Mighty Joe Young, we recommend Joe Dirt."However, I have to disagree with Jack's (and Time's) assertion that Netflix is the problem. Blockbuster and Hollywood Video killed mom-and-pop video stores long before Netflix was a player. If anything, Netflix is just the potential final nail in the coffin.In other news, the former Video Hut may soon play host to some fruits and vegetables, though I'm leery of the idea of renting produce.
Then again, that's what they said about the former Family Dollar on Prospect Street, and nothing has *ahem* sprouted there yet.
It's good to know that our elected officials are hard at work on the important things.
The 2009 Stamford High School football schedule is out!I'd love to round up a posse of peeps to attend some home games and get into these games. We don't have any professional or college sports teams in the immediate area, so I think it would be great for the city to embrace its local high school stars. Civic pride, baby!! Who's with me??
Apparently Michael Jackson's family is enamored of a certain local delicacy. I'll let TMZ fill you in.I might have to dig up a few friends to shuffle on over there and try them.
My blogging colleague over at StamfordNotes posted an entry about the relocated Tawa before I had a chance to eat there and write about it. In response, I challenged her to an inter-blog duel, which she accepted. I suggested that we head to Tawa and try progressively hotter dishes until someone taps out. What do you, the loyal readers, think?
I went to Greenwich Town Hall last night in an attempt to see Congressman Jim Himes' forum on healthcare, and while I didn't come close to getting into the 200-seat auditorium (which was full by 5:45), I did have the "pleasure" of listening to one over-tan WASP lady's rantings about the event.Some highlights:"They filled it with supporters so they'd all be going 'rah-rah'!""150 of them are ringers!""They filled the parking lot with employees!""He should do it outside...or else I'm gonna knock that damn door down!""Let's make a scene right here and get that chicken out here!"When a cop came down the line to say that the room was full and no one else was going to get in, she chimed in with "They sent a cop to intimidate us!"You can't write this stuff. It's hilarious to see a Greenwich yacht clubber - who probably has better health care than 99.9% of the world - get her khakis in a knot over rumors about "death panels" and other nonsense.Note: This is not a political blog, and I am not espousing a view for or against the current healthcare proposals. To be honest, I don't know enough about them to make an informed decision - and based on scenes like this across the country, neither does anybody else! Get informed, people. That's the key to our democracy working.
