iron bird cafe

so, i was hungry for some lunch today and sent out a tweet for suggestions for a downtown lunch. i received several good responses, but one stuck out to me - iron bird cafe. i hadn't been there yet, so i decided to give it a shop. i like coffee (i'm a little jittery from today's excessive coffee input), and i knew they had food. so off i went.

upon entering, i was impressed with the clean, modern look. there are couches, tables, chairs, and it all looks nice. i appreciate the art on the walls and even hope to maybe show here some time.

i perused the menu and decided on the chicken sandwich. it's got grilled chicken, tomatoes, mixed greens & cheddar with a pesto aioli spread on toasted sourdough. the sandwich came out in a decent amount of time, and i enjoyed it. i will say i'm still a little hungry. maybe some chips or something on the side would help it out.

the coffee was good, and i tried out both varieties. i think i'm going to hit up a cup of the decaf before i leave.

i love it that they've got free wifi. and, the staff is very friendly (much better than the coffee shop in my neighborhood).

i'll definitely go back in the future. their hours are great. who stays open downtown until 11:30 at night? iron bird does. awesome.

the dark knight - a review

we went and saw the dark night on sunday evening. i didn't want to talk about it too much after the movie, mainly because i enjoyed it, but just wanted to process it. there was just so much there. it was visually beautiful. it was massive. characters seemed to come in and out of the story seamlessly, working towards their purpose. so many little twists and turns. honestly, it seemed like watching a season of a show, not a movie. i guess that makes it an epic. i don't think it was flawless, but still great.

as i write this, i'm watching an interesting program called batman unmasked: psychology. it's trying to look @ the character and explain the man behind it all based on the history of the comics. pretty well done, although it focuses largely on the batman created/pictured in the last 2 movies + the comics (to an extent). anyway, right now they're talking about the villains of the batman tales. essentially, they're all facets of batman's psyche. they are the counters to who he is.

as you all know, the latest movie features the joker, played by heath ledger. the more i reflect on the beauty of the film i keep coming back to this figure. ledger was amazing. seriously, at this point in the year there isn't anyone that should win best supporting actor (i'll leave it open as the year isn't over). the mannerisms, the voice, everything were perfect. there's a clip in the commercial (if you haven't seen the film) where he's driving along and has his head outside of the cop car window. wind in the hair, he's totally free...and out there. it's moving stuff. i think nicholson played his version well enough and it fit for the film he was in, but it really doesn't compare at all to the masterpiece that ledger has delivered.

i want to see the film again to try and see new aspects, to take in the grandeur of it all, and yes, to marvel at ledger's performance.

a dinner review of marsol

we've been eagerly anticipating the opening marsol and its new orleans & southern cuisine. i've seen the signs, and have waited and waited. we even went there twice before they were opening, just hoping that it would be open (and i had smelled the food & seen the smoke from their test runs of the kitchen). so, tonight, we decided to stop in for a meal because i had heard they were open, even though their grand opening isn't until december 7 (they get their liquor license on december 5).

as you enter, you'll notice that this is a huge restaurant. really, the main seating area probably will accommodate 150, they have a small seating area for about 20 near the bar, and a private room that i would estimate will sit 40-50 more. the decor is nice, and it'll be pretty cool when they have live music (the waiter said they will on weekends after their grand opening).

to start, we ordered the sampler appetizer plate. it comes with cajun fried shrimp, southern fried wings, and cajun rolls. the plate came with a sweet chili sauce and a cocktail sauce, and our waiter also brought out a "buffalo" sauce as well. i thought the shrimp tasted good, and they were pretty large prawns. the southern wings were full on chicken wings, not just the little bits you normally get with a wings order. they were average. the winner of the plate were the cajun rolls, which were like egg rolls. they were filled with cabbage and a ground, spicy sausage. they were very well complimented by the sweet chili sauce. i'd say 4 or more people should order this appetizer, because it comes with a lot and we actually didn't eat it all because we realized we were filling up before the main course.

for our main course, we thought we'd go out on a limb and see what sort of special dishes this place had to offer. i ordered the alligator, which came with cole slaw and steak fries. heather ordered the crawfish etouffe.

here's where the meal came off its wheels a bit. not bad, but just not great. i would say our mains were mediocre. to me, the alligator, which was lightly breaded and fried, had a consistency and taste similar to pork. but, some of the pieces were also sort of fishy tasting, which wasn't good. most didn't, but some did, and those ones left me reaching for something to clear the palate. heather didn't care much for the etouffe. it's a little unclear on what she expected from the dish, but it's not what she got (i would say it's what i thought from the description). i tasted and liked it, which is good because i'll be eating the leftovers. anyhow, heather didn't care much for it, but she was also filling up from our appetizer dish.

for dessert, we split their whiskey bread pudding. the waiter raved about "how if you weren't a drinker you might need a designated driver." hmm, not so much. don't get me wrong. i actually thought it was quite tasty. and, i liked the raisins and pecans in it. i just wouldn't say i could really taste the whiskey, let alone think that i'd need a d.d. after.

overall, i was surprised at how little spice the food had. i figured that new orleans cuisine would be plenty spicy, but this wasn't really the case. some had decent spice (the etouffe & the cajun rolls) but i just expected more i guess. in my opinion the food was mediocre. it's definitely worth another try, and the menu has a lot of options so i will have no problem finding something to eat. probably a little less exotic than alligator. i'm pretty sure i'll take a group in after they have their grand opening and the bar is open. oh yeah, they're going to offer an express lunch (11-2p) for around $10 which may be worth checking out, when they start doing it.

*cross posted @ fresno famous & yelp (why aren't you yelping?)

lunch review savannah's brazilian soul

so, this morning i woke up and thought, "it's going to be a nice day in fresno." i think i've been proved right. as i got ready, i listened to local musicians rademacher. soon, i was ready to figure out what i wanted to eat for lunch.

i decided to head downtown, and see if i spotted anything new, or at least someplace i hadn't been before. i took wishon south, and ended up on van ness avenue. from there, i headed east on kern street. this was a good decision, as it helped me find something new. as i drove down the street, i spotted a bbq going, and knew it was for me. savannah's brazilian soul. located @ 901 L St, it used to be something different. currently they're only open m-f from 10-2, but they have plans to be open from 6-2, with a friday night fish fry from 5-9.



i parked @ a meter spot and was fortunate that it had time on it. i plunked in a nickel to give it the full 30 min for the area. 30 min is the meter limit on most of the meters in this area. it could be a drawback.

anyhow, i went in the restaurant, and it's got pretty nice decor. it's sort of a mix between african and brazilian art. the service was very nice and friendly. it seems to be a family run business. i like local businesses.

as i was at the counter ordering i noticed that they have a deal worked out with i.r.s. workers. show them your irs badge and they'll rush your order so you can eat and go within your alloted 30 min lunch. i thought this was cool because there's an irs office right by there. i don't work for them, but this is a good recognition that your "neighbor" needs to eat fast, and if you can help them out they'll frequent your establishment.

anyway, i looked over the menu. and decided i would go with the 3 rib meal. it comes with bread or cornbread and 1 side. i chose cornbread and the black eyed peas. with a soda (1.29) my total was $8.29. the restaurant seats probably 30, and they have seats for maybe 5 or so on their small patio. i ordered and sat inside about 12:48.

so, my food came a little over 10 minutes later, which isn't bad for a small operation. it seems that they probably have most of the meats precooked, and heat them up on the bbq. that's cool, especially if they don't get dried out.



so, to the meal. the black eyed peas were good tasting, and were nice and warm. maybe they could have been just a tad warmer, but not bad. i appreciated that they weren't soggy, which let me know that they weren't just sitting on boil all day getting mushy. the cornbread was good. it was simple and tasty. could have been a little warmer to help my butter melt.

now, to the ribs. phenomenal. so tasty. the sauce that they gave me was just alright, but the ribs themselves were great. and, they weren't dried out at all. in fact, they were nice and tasty. did i say tasty?

overall, i had a very good experience at savannah's. i imagine as they are open longer things will run a little smoother in there, and they cooks won't feel as rushed. but dang, they know how to cook.

Fresno Fair Review

so, we went to the fair friday night. good times we had by many.

we arrived and saw the animals. i think we normally hit the fair during the second week so it seems like there are more animals.

after washing our hands, we decided to eat a bit. i think 4/5s of our group had a corndog. but, we didn't all buy them from the same stand. and, some of the corndogs purchased @ the same stand were cold. but mine was nice and piping hot. i only bought a small corndog because i knew i would be eating much more fair food.

brian went over to the bbq joint and bought himself a turkey leg. if you remember, i had one last year. it was enjoyable. but brian's looked like it had been left on the smoker far too long. and, it was all dried out (he said). me, after the corndog, i hit up the bbq joint for a pulled pork sandwich. very good.

after eating, we strolled down to the art exhibit. i was pretty disappointed. there were a handful of good pieces, but overall it seemed pretty weak. i've definitely seen better art hops. we were curious to also see what furniture had been entered. let's just say that adam's work would easily leave the submitted pieces in the dust. not even close competition.

after viewing the art show, we knew we had 30 minutes until the pig races. we walked back to that side of the fairgrounds, and figured we would hit the student art show because it was right next store and we had time. so glad we did. honestly, i was much more impressed with the student art. and, we saw an amazing table done by a junior high student. maybe that student can teach the adults about wood work.

and then it was off to the pig races. there were 3 races (2 semis and a final). i'm only posting the video of the final, but if you want to see them all, along with a warm up watch more of my youtube vids.



after i failed to pick any of the winners, we headed off to the midway. i was so glad that the swing ride was open (last year it wasn't). i love the swings. i'm always a bit terrified that i'm going to somehow die on this ride. but, the feeling of floating through the air is worth it. here's 3 minutes of our flight.



if you're watching closely, at the very start of the video you can see adam cross himself. calling out to God before riding the swing, eh?

mike and kasey didn't want to ride the swings, so after we all went over and did the ferris wheel. here's two clips of it.





so to review:
animals - all right. could use a few more. check out the pygmy goats.
food - some good. make sure you get a hot corndog, and meat that hasn't been on the grill too long.
adult art show - meh.
student art show - very good
rides - good. at least the two i rode were fun.

halloween

is an enjoyable move.

if:
you like scary movies (woody is out).
and, you're not taking someone under 15.

really, why are people taking children under 10 to see a horror movie?


if adam could, he would have an angry rant.

lunch review joe's steakhouse and grill

today, i was driving around downtown and decided i would get some lunch. i thought i would sort of drive around the galleria area and see if anything jumped out at me to eat. well, not literally, of course. i saw the new olive press and thought i would give that a try. unfortunately, i didn't have any change on me, so i couldn't fill a parking meter. riding a motorcycle does have the drawback of not having a ashtray full of change. so how do you park in an area that is almost exclusively pay parking without $? you go to a place that validates!



enter joe's steakhouse & grill. i've eaten there once before and had enjoyed my experience. that time, i had the lunch buffet ($7.95). it was good, but i wasn't feeling in the buffet sort of mood. instead, i wanted to order off the menu.

menu 1


menu 2


menu 3


as you can see, they have a pretty decent menu. good selection, from salads to steaks, burgers & sandwiches. my first thought was, "i'm at a steakhouse, why not get a steak?" well, although i could always go for eating a steak, i didn't really feel like paying to eat a steak. to me, they seemed a little pricey for lunch. then again, a good steak is worth the money, and a good lunch is worth the money. but not today. today, i was feeling like paying a little less, and was in the mood for a sandwich or burger.

i was trying to figure out if i wanted the cowboy burger or the tri tip sandwich when the waitress came to take my order. since i wasn't sure, i asked her what she thought. she seemed pretty genuine when she told me that both were very good, and that was a tough decision. she said that if i liked spicy food, the tri tip sandwich would be a little better, especially with the option of chipotle sauce. i was sold. and, i even switched up the cheddar or jack cheese choice with some pepper jack. now, i was almost getting the cowboy burger in tri tip sandwich form. the only thing missing was the onion rings. i solved that by getting rings instead of fries. and for those of you outside of california, here's a little piece on tri tip.

i'm not sure exactly how much time it took between ordering and receiving my meal, but it was a good amount of time. not so fast that i assumed they had everything sitting in the back, ready to go, and not so slow that i was left wondering what happened to my meal.



ah, the food. very good. in fact, much better than the meal i had here on the buffet. the tri tip was tender and tasty. the chipotle sauce was nice, and the combination of spices between the sauce and pepper jack cheese had my lips tingling. it even opened up my sinuses a little, but maybe this is too much info. so back to the food. i even liked the bread. i was a little worried that the bread would be toasted, which i dislike. but it wasn't. instead, nice and soft with good texture & taste. held together well, didn't get soggy from meat juice, sauce, etc. the tomatoes on the sandwich were nice and fresh, and i really think the lettuce was top notch. i'm serious about that one. frequently, the lettuce you get on sandwiches at lunch places are wilted iceberg pieces or shred. i'm not positive, but this might have been romaine or looseleaf lettuce. good stuff. as you can see, i enjoyed the sandwich. one thing, i didn't eat the onions on the sandwich. i like red onions, but i'm not a big fan of raw onions (prefer them grilled). if i had realized that there were onions (should have read the menu a little closer) i might have asked for them grilled, but probably would have just told them i didn't want the onions.

the onion rings, good as well. seriously. the flavor was good, and they weren't over-battered like some places do. also, they weren't too greasy. i mean, they are onion rings after all. fried food is going to have a little bit of grease to it. the rings tasted great when they were hot. what surprised me was how they tasted after they had cooled down. you know how sometimes the last few rings you eat just taste gross because the oil has all cooled and the flavor changed? not these. after i finished my sandwich, i still had four rings left. i ate two of them and was happily surprised that they still tasted as they should. at that point, i was pretty full and left the other two behind. sorry guys.

to drink, i just had a soda. that was refilled 2 times. hey, it was warm outside, i was thirsty. whatever. but, i did skim the wine/beer list. i'm not a wine connoisseur, so i don't know how good of a selection it is. but, in looking at it, i thought it was cool that they featured california wines. i did think that the beer list was a good selection.

wine list 1


wine list 2


beer selection list


finally, i felt that the service at joe's was great. really, the waitress was very friendly and helpful. i appreciated that she gave me an honest opinion on the options, and that they accommodated my substitutions without any problem. also, she was on top of drink refills, something that is my unofficial measure of service quality. the restaurant was clean, the temperature in the restaurant was cool and nice. the music playing wasn't too loud, and although i don't really listen to new country, i didn't mind it in a steakhouse. and, as i mentioned before, they validate. let me say that a third time, they validate parking! that's really cool to me. and, since i decided to take the stairs instead of the elevator in the garage, i got to work off a little bit of lunch right away.

so, to sum it up, joe's good. food good. lunch prices fair (i don't know about the dinner menu). service great. validated parking. you should definitely go and eat there. honestly, next time you're downtown (an event on the fulton mall, a game or concert at the chuck, jury duty, the philharmonic, concert @ selland, need your marriage license, whatever) and want to get a bite, go to joe's.

Joe's Steakhouse & Grill
831 Van Ness Ave
Fresno, Ca, 93721
559 486-3536

(btw, this is cross posted here.)

a lunch review - thaiphoon

the other day, i was talking to a friend about thai food. he was wanting to try it out, and i said we should have some thai food for lunch on saturday (before watching football). so, a couple of us went out for lunch. we first walked over to million elephant cafe. i knew that they had stopped serving lunch on weekdays, but thought that maybe they might have a weekend lunch. nope. but that's alright. so, we headed down olive towards thaiphoon.

now, i actually had wanted to go to thaiphoon, but figured that i'd check on million elephant because it's a little closer. i am glad that it worked out and we we able to make a first visit to thaiphoon.

we started out with the appetizer sampler plate (2 spring roles, 2 shrimp, 2 cheese crab crab dealies- i can't remember the actual name of the last one) served with a plum sauce. i think it was for $7. all the parts were good, but the crab won ton-ish thing stole the show. fantastic. i could eat those all night at a party. or, i'd definately have just that appetizer on its own.

all the meals came with a complimentary pepper soup. cabbage, chicken, and a little other stuff. delicious but spicy. not spicy hot, or overbearing, but definately had some kick from the pepper. but the taste was good. what made it even better was that we didn't even know we were going to have it. a pleasant surprise.

for entrees, we ordered a curry noodle w/beef, a pad thai w/shrimp, and a fried rice w/beef, broccoli, & snow peas. i think we all ordered medium (none of us wanted to weep right away from ordering some crazy spicy dish.)
-the curry noodle - came with a coconut curry sauce. it was mildly spicy, but did provide a bit of warmth on the tongue. overall, i think this was the best dish of the three. the beef was nice and lean, and worked well with the noodle.
-the pad thai - good, shrimp wasn't overcooked. the person that ordered it thought it was spicy, but the other two of us that it was fine. in fact, i think it could have used a little more kick. but, the combination of flavors was nice.
- the fried rice w/beef, etc. - i think this was the weakest link of the meal. it tasted fine, but it just didn't stand out. it really could have used more heat to it. my buddy that ordered it tried two of the different hot sauces on the table, and felt it was best with the really spicy one. i tasted the dish as well and thought it was good, but it just didn't stand out.

overall, we really enjoyed the food. everything tasted good and we were all happy with what we had ordered. i think we would recommend the spicier rice though. the portion sizes excellent as well. at first, i thought it looked a little small, but as we dished it all out it was actually quite a bit of food. we also had two sodas and a beer. i didn't ask, but it looks like they don't have their full liquor license and just had beer and wine to offer. i also appreciated the decor. very clean looking, with nice etched glass. i'll definately go back, and would love to have dinner there with some friends.


(this is also being posted on my fresno famous blog.)