Restaurant: Ted's Montana Grill

Media mogul, philanthropist, and environmentalist, Ted Turner, is the largest independent land owner in North America. He also re-introduced Bison back into the United States... And bred them... And cultivated them... And opened up a chain of restaurants so people can eat them.

Ambiance: 3.5 / 5
Cleanliness: 4 / 5
Service: 5 / 5
Taste: 3.5 / 5
Presentation: 3.5 / 5
Price: $$
Overall: 4 / 5

Sometimes, it's the little things that make the difference. And for me, in this case, it was the paper straws. The food was decent, and the Bison steak, while a little chewy, was certainly leaner and healthier than beef. The service was superb, with the waitstaff exuberantly showcasing some of that 'Southern Hospitality'. But it was the paper straws that made the ultimate difference for me.

Sorry, only had my mobile to take photos with.

I stole a Bison Slider from my friend. A smallish cheeseburger, it was moist and tender, and cooked just right. The buns however, were a little disappointing. It didn't seem any different from the store bought ones. And there's nothing wrong with store bought buns, except that the restaurant claims their stuff is "made-from-scratch".

Being that it was my first time at Ted's Montana Grill where they feature a Bison on their logo, a Bison head on the restaurant wall, and Bison options over regular beef, I ordered the Delmonico Bison Rib Eye. This Ted guy, that founded CNN is pretty patriotic too. Every single dish served comes with an American Flag.Yes, that IS a hunk of butter on that rib eye. I should have asked if it was Bison butter. Ah well. Another time I suppose. You get to choose your sides, and I chose half and half (fries and onion rings) and their garlic mashed potato.

The rib eye was ordered rare, but was a little bit tougher than I would have thought, but I will attribute it to the fact that Bison is leaner than beef. But other than that, it was seared perfectly, and the onion ring was big, juicy, and perfectly drool-icious with the home made horseradish dipping sauce.

The one thing I really enjoy about heading into the Southern parts of the United States is the service. It's always friendly, and always warm. I guess they don't call it Southern Hospitality for nothing. And the service at Ted's was no different. We had our main waiter, with a trainee who were patient and warm, but also a couple of waiters who came around, just to make sure that we didn't need anything extra when our guy got a bit busy. We were very well taken care of.

At the end of the night, the manager came over and spoke to us to make sure everything was to our liking, and again, oozing that Southern Hospitality Charm. I'm not generally a big fan of chain restaurants, but this place was warm, welcoming, and inviting, and the food was fairly decent to boot. And using paper straws? Total bonus.


Ted's Montana Grill
1874 Peachtree Road
Atlanta, GA 30309
USA

~Cheers.

Blogger's Note: 1000 Page Views...

Woohoo!!! My little blog reached 1000 page views! *sniff*. I'm so touched by the amount of love everyone's shown this little blog. I said on New Year's that I will aim to improve this blog and keep at it for 2011. Congratulations to Carine for being my 2000th viewer. The next gift will be given at 2000 page views. I wonder if / when that will happen. eeep! haha. Same rules. First person to send a comment that they are the first comment on or after 2000 page views will get a little gift as token of my gratitude. Thanks again for all your continued support. Hope to send my next little gift soon!

~Cheers.

Movie: True Grit (2010)

Rating: B+

A passing of the torch from "The Duke" to "The Dude", and quite honestly, I'd have to say...I much prefer The Dude.

True Grit (1969)


True Grit (2010)


I love the detail that the Coen Brothers always put in their movies. But I'm not always a fan of the pace of their films. Somehow however, it works for this version of a movie based on a movie based on a book. Well, sort of. The 2010 version of True Grit, according to media outlets adheres much more closely to the novel of the same title by Charles Portis. The Coen Brothers, known more for their quirky, dark comedies like Fargo, balance some heavy material with some well placed comedy. 


Watch closely at the trailers at the disheveled look of Jeff Bridges' bed compared with John Wayne's bed. The new version makes Rooster Cogburn much more believable and much more...well...gritty. I'm not sure who Hailee Steinfeld is, but she does an admirable job keeping up with brilliant performances by Jeff Bridges and Matt Damon. Matt Damon really seems to be coming into his own as of late and proved yet again, that he's going to be here for a long time. But it is The Dude's performance that really stands out and beyond Oscar worthy. The Coen Brothers must have some amazing chemistry with Jeff Bridges, because they really do seem to bring out the best in him.

The movie was also beautifully shot, using some retro looking scenes, paying some homage to the 1969 version and providing the western additional authenticity. It's not a fast paced, action packed action movie; rather, a great character study of some pretty interesting characters and a throwback to an instant classic Western.

~Cheers.

Critique: Huck Finn. Censored.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, a classic by Mark Twain is in the news again. This time, because they've censored out the words "nigger" and "injun", replacing "nigger" with "slave". Huck ranks 5th on the American Library Association's all time most banned books list. What the Huck?!

Mark Twain's writing depicts a time in history. A time when such words were what these people were called. At no point in time is Huck ever derogatory in his usage of the word. But the argument is that it is the word in and of itself that is derogatory and offensive. In many instances, editing out these words simply render passages empty, or diminishing the meaning intended by the author. The "N"-word, is not a synonym for slave! Editing out these words is nothing more than revisionist history. People USED those words back then. As literature giving us a picture into the past, changing the words would simply change the way you view the past. And if it bothers you that much?! Don't read it! Don't stop others from forming a proper literary picture of the past.

Furthermore, editing out these words is a slippery slope. Where do you draw the line? And are you going to completely eliminate these words from the English language? What's next? "Nazi"? "Chink"? Or how about "fuck" and "shit"? Then what? Some people think "stupid" is a pretty hurtful thing to say too. Forget about offending people and say what you mean. Euphemisms are for hypocrites who are too scared to speak their mind. Free your minds people!

"It's not just the books under fire now that worry me. It is the books that will never be written. The books that will never be read. And all due to the fear of censorship. As always, young readers will be the real losers." ~Judy Blume

Restaurant: 巴屬人家川菜館 (Bashu Sichuan Restaurant)

For those of you who don't know, I don't handle spicy food very well. And Sichuan food...well...tends to be rather spicy. I can eat the damned stuff, but the result doesn't tend to be very pretty. It's like someone decides to turn on the faucets to my head, and ONLY to my head. But this is the dedication I'm giving to this little blog. HAHA.

Ambiance: 2 / 5
Cleanliness: 2.5 / 5
Service: 3 / 5
Taste: 3.5 / 5
Presentation: 3.5 / 5
Price: $$
Overall: 3.5 / 5

While it took an inordinate amount of time for the food to arrive, when it did come, it was like they decided to serve EVERYTHING at once, so I'm just going to go through this in the order I tried the dishes. Since there was some varying levels of spiciness in the dishes, I decided to go from the least spicy dish to the most spicy dish.

巴屬全家福鍋仔 (Bashu Meat & Seafood Pot)

A mish mash of "stuff" served in a steaming broth. There's tofu, and shrimp, and fish, and ox tongue, and fish squares, and scallions, and mushrooms, and beef stomach, and... Heck, I can't even remember what else was in there, oh... With a healthy dose of pepper. How did it taste? Like it was a mish mash of STUFF. With pepper. Don't get me wrong, it doesn't taste bad... but it just... didn't taste like much of anything.

金鉤冬瓜 (Winter Melon in seafood sauce)

After tasting that first dish, I was a little worried about the rest of the meal. I was wondering if the restaurant management expected to burn all the taste buds of of the patrons' tongues with all the spicy food so they won't care how the rest of the dishes taste. Fortunately, this 金鉤冬瓜 was surprisingly good. Cooking all of that together, the winter melon absorbs much of the flavour from the dried shrimp and broth without somehow, losing its own distinct flavour. Very well done.

沸騰魚片 (Filet of Fish in Spicy Sauce)

Looks pretty spicy huh. Actually, it wasn't TOO horrible. The burn of the peppers somehow barely permeates the outer layer of the fish, leaving centre of the fish with the sweetness of the fish's original flavours. It was a great counter balance of flavours, neither one overpowering the other. And on top of that, the fish was perfectly tender. That being said, I DO wish that it was fresh fish instead of the frozen fillets.

幹鍋田雞 (Frog legs in a spice bowl)

Fortunately, it wasn't my first time having frog legs because otherwise, after tasting this pot, there was no way I would have known what frog legs tasted like. But like a trooper, with my corner of the table littered with sweat drenched tissues, I ate more. Perhaps it's because I don't handle spicy food so well, but all flavour, texture, and context was thoroughly covered by the sheer hotness.

手拉銀絲卷 (Hand-Pulled Silver Thread Bun)

After eating the frog legs, I had to clean my palate. I don't think I would have taken as much offense to these buns had they not indicated they were "hand pulled". These buns, when made right, are almost like noodles made of soft bread kneaded, and twisted together. And when you pull them apart, are individual strands of soft, fluffy bread. These buns were more like someone decide to make noodles of bread and mashed them together into clumps of...well...clumps. Such a disappointment to an otherwise, fairly enjoyable meal.

In all, I've got mixed feelings about this place. While some of the dishes exceeded expectations, others fell below par. I won't judge the frog legs, because unfortunately, my taste buds were far too numbed to taste anything. Sichuan food tends to be pretty spicy, so I'm going to give the benefit of the doubt and blame my own inability to accept such levels of spice.

巴屬人家
A01-A02
4771 Steeles Ave. E
Scarborough, ON
Canada

~Cheers

Movie: How Do You Know? (2010)

Rating: C-

For a movie starring Reese Witherspoon and Paul Rudd, you really really want to like this movie. Heck, the two of them in all of their roles that they've every played are so likable that...well, you really want to like this movie played by these likeable people. I mean....Really.



Romantic comedies generally plays to the heartstrings of viewers. They're supposed to touch you and make you smile, and maybe, just maybe, leave you with a small tear forming out of the corner of your eye. How Do You Know just leaves you wondering, Who Cares? Yes, it's a cute story, with a few funny spots here and there (most of which are already in the trailer), but you leave the movie not caring. And that's so hard with Reese Witherspoon and Paul Rudd. Both of whom, like I said before, just seem so likeable.

Writer / Director James L. Brooks teams up again with Jack Nicholson for the first time since As Good As It Gets, which had me hoping for some more great character studies. But Jack was a waste for this role. You could have cast almost anyone for the role and gotten the same effect. And pretty much for any of the characters. There are too many story lines, and too little depth to bring the viewer to care about the story lines. The lone bright spot of the movie came from John Tormey, the doorman...And he had like FIVE lines in the whole movie!


You simply cannot rely on 'cute' to you through a movie that runs almost 2 hours long.

~Cheers.

Blogger's Note: HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

I can't believe it's 2011 already.

I just wanted to take a moment to thank all of you who have taken a couple moments to stop by my little blog. I'm not sure what I expected when I started the thing, I mean, I was just looking for a reason to start writing again. But 700+ page views in half a month. That's better than anything I would have expected. So I do want to thank you all, and especially those who have kept coming back for your support. It's great added incentive and motivation to keep going. So thank you all. And please, keep spreading the love! =)~
I'm not sure how to do it, I'm not sure if there's a WAY to track exactly the 1000th page views, but I'm going to do this. I'm going to give the first person at 1000 page views that sends a comment, that SAYS they're the 1000th viewer, a gift. So if you see the little page view tracker at the bottom of the screen hit 1000 and no one has posted a message yet... leave a comment that you ARE the 1000th viewer, and I'll send you a little thank you gift. =)~

Now. 2011. Resolutions. I hope to be able to keep this blog going at a steady clip. With the help of all of you...HELPING TO SPREAD THE LOVE....feeding incentive and motivation, I hope that I will keep writing. And hopefully, it offers some insight on products, movies, restaurants, or whatever else I decide I want to critique. =)~
Oh. We should always set measurable goals for ourselves. For myself, I will try to publish something 2x a week. Since work gives most of us 2 week holiday, we'll do the same. So 50 weeks * 2 entries a week, that's 100 new entries by the end of 2011.

But I will need help from all of you. What do you guys think would be a good benchmark to measure success for this little blog? Let's be realistic and not shoot for the moon. But what do you guys think would be a good number of page views to shoot for?

I also hope that by continuing to write, my writing will improve, and hopefully my insight on matters I'm writing about will mature along with my writing. Always Be Better right?

That being said, Happy 2011 to all of you, and I hope to see more and more viewers, and more and more comments as this blog matures.

~Cheers.