Interview with a Young Food Critic

I have written before about my daughter Kennedy and her eating habits. She has tagged along with me to many a restaurant and made comments about the food. In fact, she did a stretch with me one week when Bennigan's was running that $5.00 special right before they closed. She had to come with me to the office each day and everyone in the office was all about saving money with the Bennigan's special. She quietly went to lunch with us on Monday and Tuesday, but on Wednesday when I told her it was time for lunch she replied, "As long as it is not Bennigan's again." It wasn't two weeks later that Bennigan's shut their doors. I think she might have had something to do with that.

I thought I would do a quick interview with her regarding a problem she recently had with a restaurant. You'll see the apple doesn't fall very far from the tree.

Me: Thank you for sitting down with me for this interview.

Kennedy: OK.

Me: What is your full name?

Kennedy: Kennedy Noelle Stiff

Me: How old are you?

Kennedy: Eight and a half.

Me: Where do you go to school?

Kennedy: Calvary Christian Academy

Me: What is your favorite food?

Kennedy: Hmm, that's a toughie. You have to be kidding me, you already know that.

Me: No I don't.

Kennedy: Sushi

Me: What about my lasagna?

Kennedy: Yeah, that is good. Probably also one of my favorites.

Me: So you went to Wendy's a couple of weeks ago with your mother and had a problem. What happened?

Kennedy: Easy. They only gave me two chicken nuggets in my kid's meal.

Me: How many nuggets were you supposed to get?

Kennedy: Easy. It should have been six.

Me: Are you sure about that?

Kennedy: Yeah. I'm not sure. Wait. Yeah, six.

Me: When did you figure out that Wendy's messed up?

Kennedy: When I started eating them after we got home.

Me: So you ordered at the drive-thru?

Kennedy: Yes.

Me: How did that make you feel?

Kennedy: About the two chicken nuggets? Mad and surprised.

Me: Why were you surprised?

Kennedy: That they only gave me two chicken nuggets instead of six. They usually give the exact number of the same you order.

Me: What should happen to Wendy's for doing that to you?

Kennedy: They should slow down and do better. I think they were going too fast. It was busy there. It was a lot of people inside and some outside.

Me: Will you go back to Wendy's for chicken nuggets in the future?

Kennedy: Maybe.

Me: I want to thank you for your time this evening. Will you do another interview with me if I need you?

Kennedy: Maybe. Only if I get upset.

Me: Thank you. You can go play Club Penguin now.

Eat, drink and be merry!

Harry

Wendy's

By now you have heard me express my utter disdain for Wendy's time and again via this blog. Not so much for their food, but for their terrible service in the area of order accuracy in the drive-thru. I am sure there are those of you that have never had a problem in the drive-thru at Wendy's. However, I offer you the following story that actually took place at the Wendy's nearest my house. I have tried to warn people about this Wendy's location for years. Finally, things have boiled over.

http://www.wftv.com/volusiacounty/23579965/detail.html

Eat, drink and be merry!

Harry

Gino's East

Gino's East
162 E. Superior St.
Chicago, IL 60611
(312)266-DEEP (3337)
www.ginoseast.com

It's Saturday, the day I am scheduled to leave Chicago and return to Daytona Beach. My flight is not until 6:00PM, so there is time for me to take one last stab at hitting one of my food targets before I leave. Zee and Lynden have decided to catch the train into the city for some quick shopping and tell me they will accompany me to any restaurant I want to visit if I tag along. Sounds like a good idea to me. I figure if we are going to be right downtown, we have to check out Gino's East for some real Chicago deep dish pizza. My luck is definitely starting to turn.

We get into the city after a pretty uneventful train ride and start walking around. Our shopping destination is the American Girl store on North Michigan Avenue. If you don't know what American Girl is it is a doll store where all the dolls come with a story about their origin. I am sure it is much more than that as the store we entered was packed and some of these people were crazed. I wandered off to find a bathroom and passed an area of the store where they had a beauty shop. People actually bring their dolls to the store to get their hair done. God only knows what that must cost. Since I am there, I call my daughter Kennedy to ask if she wants anything and she tells me she doesn't like American Girl. I hang up and think my luck is really beginning to turn in my favor. I guess I'll be keeping that cash in my pocket.

Heading back to find Zee and Lynden, I feel my phone go off in my pocket. It's from an (800) number that I vaguely recognize, so I go ahead and answer it. It is a recorded message from Delta telling me my flight has been canceled and I have been rescheduled for 7:00AM the next morning. What? This cannot be happening to me. If you remember this was when those terrible rain storms passed through Atlanta and continued on through Tennessee, which suffered from major flooding. Me having to stay in Chicago another night pales in comparison to what those folks had to go through. I consider myself blessed.

We head on over to Gino's East and find a short line outside. The guy working the door says it is going to be about 20 minutes for a table, so we decide to wait. The line does move quickly and we find ourselves being escorted to the upstairs section of the restaurant. Gino's East seems like a fun place. The walls are covered with pictures of famous people that have stopped in for a pie and graffiti from many past patrons. I have never quite understood the fascination with signing your name on the wall of a restaurant, so we skip that process. Our waiter promptly comes to the table and we order drinks. The ladies opt for sodas, but with my recent news that I was stuck in Chicago, I order a Budweiser. I actually got a Bud Light when he returned, but again, what are you going to do? I drank it just the same.

Lynden and I again decide we are going to split our order. We decide to keep it simple and order a small deep dish pepperoni. Zee goes off the board and orders a stromboli or calzone that had spinach in it. The thing to remember about these deep dish pizzas when ordering them is they take 45 minutes to bake. We use the time to chit-chat and check out the crowd.

Our food comes and it looks really good. Finally, I am going to get into some deep dish pizza from Gino's East. The waiter serves Lynden and I each a slice and Zee starts getting after her food. The pizza had a great sauce, the cheese was really good, but I don't think I am a fan of the crust. It is a yellow, egg-based dough that is just a little tough for my taste. I understand that it has to be in able to hold up to the weight of the toppings, but there was just something about the flavor that didn't quite grab me. Zee and Lynden both felt the same way, but overall it was pretty good. There will always be the question of Chicago or New York, deep dish or thin crust, but I have to say I must be a thin crust New York pizza guy. It just comes down to what you are used to eating and which one you prefer. That doesn't make either of them bad. In fact, they are both good in their own right.

We finish and pay our tab to begin making our way back to the American Girl store. Lynden is leaving from Midway Airport and had left her bag at the store. We have to take the train back to the hotel and then O'Hare. At least, Zee has to get to O'Hare. I am not leaving until the morning now. We say our good-byes to Lynden and head to the train station. As we are waiting for the train, I comment to Zee my amazement at how clean the train and stations are in Chicago. As I say that, the train pulls into the station and the doors open. As I go to get onto the train, a man passes me sloppily eating a piece of chicken and smelling of urine. I mean, this guy couldn't have smelled more of urine if his name was I.P. Freeley. My gosh it was horrible! Then I start to sit down and he must have been sitting in the seat previously as there are fries and chicken bones on the floor along with his lingering odor. It is at this time I decide to quit making anymore comments about anything until I am back home. Every time I make some comment or have some thought on this trip, the opposite happens to me.

All-in-all, it was a great trip and I did get to hit one of the Man v. Food locations. If you are a fan of deep dish pizza, you should give Gino's East a try. For our visit to Gino's East, I have to give them three Stiffy's.

Eat, drink and be merry!

Harry

Maki Sushi & Noodle Shop

Maki Sushi & Noodle Shop
12 S. Northwest Highway
Park Ridge, IL 60068
www.makisushirestaurant.com

I got busted up pretty good by my buddy Steve on Facebook this morning about my blog. He told me to go out and eat something already as my blog was getting stale. I should have told him to pick a restaurant and take me out to dinner so I could get some new material. The truth of the matter is I have a lot of material, but have just been very busy with other things. However, in honor of Steve, I'll finish up about my recent trip to Chicago.

While in Chicago for the most recent conference I had to attend, one of my goals was to get to a couple of places I had seen on Man v. Food. Number one on my list was Al's #1 Italian Beef. As we were breaking from our meeting the question was asked if sushi was all right for dinner. I said, "No." I quickly realized how selfish I was being and did go for sushi, but I had been thinking about that beef for probably six months. Thirty lashes with a wet noodle for me for acting like a jerk.

We all pile into the shuttle bus and take a ride to Maki Sushi & Noodle Shop. I have never spent any time in the Rosemont area out near O'Hare Airport, but was quite impressed with everything I saw during my stay. You can hit a lot of the same restaurants in Rosemont that are located in the city as I was about to find out.

The shuttle ride was pretty uneventful with people chatting amongst each other. We make a couple of turns around some blocks and the driver pulls up to Maki's Sushi and says he's going to pull down the street just a little further to drop us off. Guess where he dropped us off? Yep! Right smack dab in front of Al's #1 Italian Beef! Now my mind is racing. How am I going to pull this off? I decide in my mind that I will go light on the sushi and then grab a beef sandwich to take back and hammer in my room. Things are really starting to look up for me.

We go into Maki's and it has a pretty good crowd going for a Friday night. Diners of all ages are scattered about the room and the place has a real nice ambiance. They set up tables and chairs for our group and a waiter promptly comes to the table to take our drink orders. I am on the fence between ordering a Japanese beer or a flight of sake. Not being able to choose, I order the beer and decide to share my flight of sake with Lynden. I met Lynden on this trip through my friend Zee. When the waiter asks Lynden what she wants she replies, "I'll split the sake with him." Meaning me. Well our waiter is either the smartest man in the world or doesn't speak English to well as he showed up with two flights of sake. When Lynden tried to tell him she was splitting the sake with me he says, "Yes. Flight of sake for you." What are you going to do? I wonder how many extra flights of sake this guys sales a night using that approach?

We order up a huge amount of sushi for the table and start to drink our sake. Our flights were made up of three sakes named Kaori, Kaguyahime, Outouka. They will all very good with the Kaori having a mild flavor, the Kaguyahime a sweet flavor and the Outouka being the strongest of the three. You won't be drinking many of these. Lynden and I ended up sharing our flights with a couple of others at the table. The sushi arrives and it all looks really good. I grab a couple of pieces and can't wait to eat as now I am hungry after drinking some sake. All the while reminding myself that there is still a beef sandwich in my immediate future. Well as it turns out, the sushi is really good. It is incredibly fresh and the tuna practically melted in my mouth. I tried a number of different rolls and found that to be the case with each I tried. This is truly good sushi.

We have a very nice evening chatting, eating and drinking, but it is getting about time to head back to the hotel. I pay my portion of the tab and then get ready to make my dash to Al's for my sandwich. You know, I think overall I am a pretty nice guy and try to treat people with love and respect. I don't litter. I always put down the toilet seat and I hold doors for little old ladies. So why in the world would Al's #1 Italian Beef be closed when I get back outside???? Foiled again!! So now not only am I not getting my beef sandwich, but I am hungry because I didn't each much sushi. I'm getting killed!

We get back on the bus and I just ride in silence. I need to do some deep reflecting on my life to determine what I am doing wrong to bring about this bad luck. The best thing about the evening is that I did meet new friends, the sushi I did eat was fabulous and I found a new place to recommend in Rosemont. If you are a sushi person and ever get stranded or find yourself staying out near O'Hare, visit Maki's Sushi & Noodle Shop. You'll be glad that you did.

For this visit to Maki's I have to give them four Stiffy's based only on their food and atmosphere. I am not taking into account my bad luck. LOL

Eat, drink and be merry!

Harry