Chart House

Went to the Chart House in Cocoanut Grove, a very pleasant experience. The wait staff was professional, but some things still got messed up. I can heartly recommend the snapper Hemingway - it's one of those dishes my wife ordered that I wish I did.

Johnny

My dad's birthday was 20 January. He's been gone over 31 years now. After he died one thing that gave me some psychic satisfaction was the fact that I could still watch the Tonight Show with the same cast of characters he watched, continuing afresh each night. It was as if my father's world, if not him, still went on in some form. When Carson left the Tonight Show, I felt that I lost another bit of my father. There are not many more continuing enterprises on TV/radio that are of my dad's time.

I guess when Paul Harvey goes, that world goes with him.

Choco-Goo

The new 'Chantico' at Starbucks really is what they saying it is, a sort of 'liquid dessert', like a pourable dark chocolate mousse. Thick and rich, 400 calories in a little brown cup. Yummy - almost makes up for their generally nasty coffee.

Cracker Barrel Crank

One of the tastiest entrees they serve at Cracker Barrel, and paradoxically probably one of the healthiest, is the Spicy Grilled Catfish. It's much more spicy flavorful than spicy hot. We've eaten it for years, and the quality has been very consistent throughout that time.

But speaking of consistency, what's with their turnip greens? I never know from one day to the next what they are going to taste like, except that they'll probably need some flavoring to get them to edibility. I usually break up a buttered corn muffin in them, and douse them with green pepper sauce and salt, and whip them up into a fondue (but no lark's vomit!).

Pancake Patter

IHOP, at least here in South Florida, is pushing a new line of sirloin steak meals. The photos of the supposed steak on the menus are not totally confidence-inspiring. However one can't judge on looks alone, so one day I may be tempted to attempt a bite. Not today, though. The new menus are accompanied by new higher prices.

I usually get the Southwestern Chicken Fajita Salad, a pile of salad in a wonderfully greasy deep-fried flour tortilla shell, graced with blobs of fajita chicken, drenched in Italian Dressing, and served with salsa, guacamole, AND sour cream - an ultimate in grease layering. The wife prefers the Colorado Omelette, an Atkins explosion of what seems like 437 different meats folded in coagulated chicken embryos, and glued together with melted rancid bovine secretion.

They're also once again selling their Never-Empty Coffee Cup for $9, with free refills for life, or February 28, 2005 (whichever comes first). And we stopped getting their regular pancakes - the Country Griddle Pancakes, made with Cream of Wheat, are much better.

More Info

It seems the folks at 'Austin City Limits' got some new sound equipment in 2002, preparing for the digital revolution (http://www.euphonix.com/news/news2002/012402_austin_city.htm). Why the sound quality is still crappy is puzzling. With headphones on, Norah Jones sounded as if she were singing through a sock, her piano played like pillows were stuffed in it. Just as I drifted to sleep, the audience woke me with its well-recorded, perfectly balanced applause of her work. Well, I guess at least they could hear her.

Audio ACL Rant

I know that it is a venerable institution, and I had never had top-flight audio equipment for my TV, and maybe all 3 PBS stations I regularly watch all transmit it badly, but why do almost all the performers on 'Austin City Limits' sound as if they're singing in a closet somewhere? It seems to me the audience applause for these shows sound much better and crisper than the poor performers standing in front of microphones.