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Rami Raff Josh Heller Jen Marmor Erica Goldman Bennett H. Cross III 1 to 10 reviews Joel Swedlove Adeo Breaux Cary Finkelstein Will Fitzpatrick David Wolf
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This is serious. Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Michelle Rodriguez and Jordana Brewster are all back for this pre-Tokyo Drift, post 2 Fast 2 Furious, “can you believe they made this” saga ender.
Does it look better than Tokyo Drift was? Yes.
Will i go see it? Probably.
Will Tarle go see it? Definitely.
Does this trailer make you think, “Boy, this movie is like 3 years too late to be cool”? Yes
Does that matter? No.
I’ll admit… this movie looks like a lot of fun.
Top Chef is a TV obsession of mine (much like Prison Break is now) and Tom Colicchio’s restaurant in LA, Craft, was my latest food indulgence.
A friend and I went for dinner tonight and had a very satisfying experience. It’s all dark and warm with lots of modern American wood furniture and rich ass looking people. The food is all ordered a la carte and is absolutely delicious. It’s very simple food. There are few ingredients in every dish and it’s a vast spectrum of updated classic American fare.
We had 4 dishes: Endive salad with goat cheese and pecans, gnocchi with basil, grilled sweet corn, and pan-seared diver sea scallops with capers. Plus, they served us pumpernickle and sourdough bread, an amuse bouche of raw tuna, carrot, and olive tapenade, peach maccaroon and peach tart gelee palette cleansers, and they left us with a “This is for tomorrow morning” cranberry muffin (pictured above).
I was impressed most by the food, which was clean, fresh, and full of flavor. However, the service was paramount to the experience. Okay, so the floor manager asked me to take off my Red Sox cap, but whatever. The servers were over-studied knowledgable about ingredients and preparations and were helpful to us newcomers who were, clearly, out of our element without being condescending.
Craft was best in its simplicity. Every aspect from the little wood bread box to the one sheet menu boards were understated and comfortable. Although the restaurant would be defined as “Fancy” by any citysearch/yelp type review, I loved it because it felt like i could have a similar dining setup in my own home. It was very approachable.
Shared experiences make things so much sweeter (see Bennett’s Restaurant Expo post) and this is no exception. I was impressed with all aspects of Craft and my only complaint is that that damn woman made me remove my hat.
I may be living a lie. I say “may” because i haven’t really lied yet, but i’ve omitted important information. Everyone in my office is a Democrat. Most of them are hardcore Dems who say “GOP” like you’d say “He cheated on me” or “tax day”. They’re pro-choice, patriotic, and enjoy a good recyclable item and a Sigg water bottle. Lately, as i imagine most offices across the country have been doing, we’ve been discussing the DNC and RNC events, speeches, commentary, and each party’s spin tactics. My colleagues are enthralled by Obama’s character and inspiring nature whiley they mock and smear the political daggers of the right sighting their particular guile and savvy of pandering.
Before i lose you here’s where i may be living a lie: i’m not entirely a Democrat. I haven’t mentioned it to my office mates yet, but i straddle the red-blue line on many issues. I wouldn’t say i’m scared to tell my colleagues that i’m not as impressed with Obama as they are and sometimes agree with McCain’s stump. One of my co workers said, “Inspiration is just as important as experience.” She was taken aback by her friend who didn’t see that inspiration is paramount to leadership and Obama may be the new dog in an old yard, but his message of hope/change is defining of a leader. As i listened to her i thought to myself, “Inspiration is not going to end this war or create more jobs. It’s not going to improve our schools or better our communities. it will bring people together, but it won’t solve their problems”. Maybe it is a step in the right (left) direction.
I’m not convinced.
I’m also not sure if i’ll ever really reveal my secret red shirt under the assumed blue facade. I’m pretty sure i won’t. Probably becasue i’m still not sure where i stand. As i said in an earlier post i’m still voting Democratic (for Judges and Legislation). However, i don’t think i’ll ever be an Obama-maniac or a McCain-whatever his zealots are called. I’m just going to listen to the conversations of my co-workers and fly under the political radar.
Unless they read this post.
