Wednesday, November 16, 2005

The Rosa, Portsmouth

The Rosa - November 16th
Members in attendance: The Count, Moxie, Mycroft, Hot Sauce, Lady Aubergine, Prag 4. Zeus and Solids went with a tag- team presence for the event.
Prag 4 ate a tasty pizza with tomato, spinach, and cheese. The Count had beer battered Haddock. Hot Sauce ate one of the specials with an undercooked Gouda risotto. Zeus ate a pasta primavera. Lady Aubergine chose to eat eggplant parmesan that was more fry than eggplant. Moxie sat across from me, and even though I tasted her meal and know it was served with linguine, I can't remember what it was!
Overall, Movers agreed the food was not memorable. One merit to The Rosa came in the form of a rare steak. Mycroft was pleased with his steak, as it is a feat for many restaurants to achieve rare even when asked for it. Also, the atmosphere was far better than any Olive Garden or chain Italian place you might find. Lovely black and white photos (presumably) of the family and of Portsmouth hang in antique frames. You can find newspaper clippings from the early 1900's in the hallways. Also, I appreciated the traditional carafes of wine (the house red was better than the first bottle we chose, even if that's not saying much).
Though the food was mundane, the conversation was spicy! The Movers covered the issues that came up during the previous week's meeting and had very good discussion about our voting policies. Let it therefore be known that The Movers - after many wonderful side journeys- have agreed to a form of voting which is not yet named, but which we are sure will take off quickly in secret dining groups all over the globe. I will not try to explain the reasons behind the methods, as they are too complex for even I to understand, yet they are as follows: All Movers present must vote, even if the outcome seems obvious. A re-vote can be taken on any topic at any time. When voting, all Members of The Movers must vote in the affirmative, save for one; one member must vote No for the item to pass and be accepted as Mover's Rule. I like to think of this as Near Consensus with expectation, nay requirement! of an ornery individual to make the voting interesting. Others may see it as more spiritual or philosophical, but I'll let them speak to it themselves, should that be the case.
An enjoyable and high spirited evening!
- Lady Aubergine

Wednesday, November 09, 2005

El Mexicano Jr.

This is going to be a really short post - because I figure it will work better if everybody writes about what they ate in the comments because there were so many differerent things going on.

In attendance:
Ace, Hot Sauce!, The Lady Aubergine, Zeus, Solids, The Count, Wasabi, Mycroft, Prag 4 and myself, Moxie.

The food was divine. I ate or participated in the eating of: chorizo tacos, deshebrada tacos, milanesa con papas (breaded steak with fries that was misleadingly decribed as steak covered in bread and fries) which came with deliciously divine beans and rice, tamales, and a gordita.

I loved the gordita which was like a mexican pita pocket - the pita being made of masa dough.

And my all time favorite still remains the chorizo taco. Fuckin' yum

We also held the induction of Prag 4 into The Movers, this being his 3rd meeting and all. On a sad note, this was a low point for The Movers as an organization. Not our best. Disorganization ruled the day, with everybody shouting at the same time while we stood outside El Mexicano Jr in the rain. Rules were called into question, and there was much debate about what the rules really were/are. We may have to hold a special and dedicated meeting in order to avoid such debacles in the future.

What should have been a happy occasion, inducting a new member after the finest meal in recent memory, was instead a travesty.

--------
From: Ace

I have to say I completely disagree about how the night ended, I didn't see travesty at all. It was a fun experience all around and a little bit of political maneuvering and conflict just added to the spice of the night. So in this Mover's opinion, not a travesty at all.

And the food... since Moxie already broke the cursing barrier... fucking wow!

Chorizo tacos, Deshebrada tacos. I can't decide. I would travel the two hours back and forth for these every day if I could afford the gas. Just too good for words. Everything was wonderful. I ate pretty much everything that Moxie ate plus some Tostadas. Which were also quite awesome.

Ace, Ready to Move

Saturday, November 05, 2005

Wings Your Way

Durham, NH

In attendance: Mycroft, Moxie, Ace, Solids, Hot Sauce!, The Lady Aubergine, The Count, Wasabi and special guests Prag 4, Thor, and Monique

First, a disclaimer for those reading who do not know me personally: I am a wing snob. I am a New Yorker, an upstate New Yorker to boot, and so it is in my blood. My parents schooled me in the ways of wing eating from a very early age. I am very very fussy about what I consider good wings, because I've eaten bucketloads of good wings. Good wings are as common as beer in NY.

Second, a rant: wings in NH suck. They truly do, in general. NH people frequently call tenders wings if they happen to be splashed with a little Frank's RedHot. They are in general rubbery (50% of wing quality is crispy-ness) and weak (50% is flavor of the sauce)(note: chicken quality is not super important, neither is atmosphere of dining establishment).

Despite many obstacles to pleasant wing eating experiences, I am willing to order buffalo wings anytime, anywhere, any day of the week in the off chance an acceptable experience is to be had. I am a desperate, fussy, snobby, hungry person.

Cutting to the chase: Wings Your Way is acceptable. Given no other acceptable alternatives on the seacoast of NH, I will revisit Wings Your Way early and often. If Wings Your Way were re-located to Buffalo, NY it would be stoned to death. I will not bring my father, wing eating titan that he is and current resident of upstate NY, to Wings Your Way. I will bring ex-New Yorkers and others desperate for decent wing experiences there.


Some notes:
  • the first 20 wings we ordered, in order to get the lay of the land, were the 'regular' (out of mild, regular, and way hot). These were crispy enough that we didn't flee, but had no flavor. When Lady Aubergine ordered 50 way hot, and told them not to pussy around, they offered us their 'special reserve' which kicked most of our asses.
  • Hot Sauce and Prag 4 did not get their asses kicked. Indeed, they should be awarded special medals of commendation
  • only 1 little tub of blue cheese (and crappy blue cheese at that) is free, the others are $.25 each. That is utter crap. I will badmouth these bitches over the point until the day I die.
  • All of the special guests proved their mettle in the hot food and wing loving department. I was going to suggest it should be a Mover requirement, but then I realized a. some people are vegetarians, and b. The Count.
  • Choices of beer are slim. Hot Sauce! argues that the choices were entirely appropriate, the choices being: Bud, Bud Light, and Redhook. Cheap beer only met to get you buzzed and cool down your mouth. It was cheap enough. The wings were not cheap enough - the largest order being 50 for $25. I believe this was Ace's biggest complaint about the place.