Ryan’s Place

Props to Walt Disney World for banning children from Victoria and Albert’s.  After my recent experience at Napa Rose in California they should do it there too.

Boo to the AP for this sentence, however, “Victoria & Albert’s is Walt Disney World’s only restaurant with an AAA five-diamond rating,” as if a five diamond award is easy to come by.

The prices have gone up since I went ($125/person, $60 for wine pairings), but I still have a hankering to return.  Check out some example menus here.

Denver refers to its airport as DIA despite its IATA code being DEN.

Kansas City refers to its airport as KCI despite its IATA code being MCI.

Orlando refers to its airport as OIA instead of MCO…

I had tried eating at Sushi Muramoto on New Year’s Day (after seeing No Country For Old Men), but was out of luck as they were closed.  I tried again this Saturday and was successful.

It was quite crowded when I first got there, and I actually thought I might not get a table.  They were nice enough to take my name and cell number and called me when a table was available.  That’s so much better than one of those JTech pagers that other places give out.  Ross and I headed over to the mall area to wait in the meantime, and were called about twenty minutes later.  Not bad.

The restaurant isn’t that big, and I wish it was bigger.  It’s very loud and the tables are close together.  The food makes up for a lot of that, but not all.

We started out with a crab cake appetizer.  It was served on top of a curried pumpkin.  Instead of serving it on a plate, they served it inside a deep bowl-type dish, making somewhat difficult to eat with chopsticks.  It tasted great despite that, though.

The menu features both sushi and a few regular options, very similar or the same as options on their downtown menu.  Ross had the black cod, which was equally as excellent as when we had it at their downtown location.  I had sushi.

I can finally say I’ve found someplace to eat sushi in Madison.  I’ve been to Takara, Wasabi, and Edo, but none of them quite hit the spot.  Muramoto did.  They offer a selection of nigiri, sashimi, and rolls, but also offer specialty rolls.  The nigiri/sashimi section is an expanded section, offering even more than places I’ve seen in Hawaii, including three different types of maguro plustoro.  What’s interesting about their listings is that they tell you where the fish comes from.  I had no clue all the different places that the fish were sourced from – I wish everyone did that.

I had an order of yellow-tail (from Brazil?) and unagi (from China), then a spicy tuna roll and the specialty Ecuador roll.  The Ecaudaor came with tuna and avocado, but also included a jalapeno and the whole roll was rolled in crunchy things.  It was excellent.  The spicy tuna roll was perfectly spicy – not overwhelming at all.  The tuna, which I always look forward to, was great.  I would come back just for the tuna.  And, at $5.50 an order, it wasn’t that expensive.

The disappointing part of the meal was the douchebag (DB) sitting next to me.  He was part of a party of three, and was clearly the expert on sushi.  Every time his male friend would take a bite he would annotate the experience like he was his coach.  It got quite annoying.

The worst part was that he wouldn’t let the other guy just eat.  One time the friend made the faux pas of not dipping the sushi in soy (wasabi-laced soy, that is, per the DB’s instructions) and the DB just about died.  I skip soy on probably half of the sushi I eat, but apparently this guy knows what he’s doing.  When the friend didn’t dip it, the DB corrected him quickly, then commented, almost rhythmically, on the process “Dip it, dip it….now soak it, soak it!”  It was kind of creepy.

I wouldn’t be telling you this had I just eavesdropped on their conversation*, but the guy was LOUD about it.  He wanted people to know he was a sushi expert.  When the food came out at first he told his friends “This is the gold plate, this is where the money sushi is at.”  Apparently that was the plate where all the good sushi was placed.

Having my camera with me, I did go as far as recording a video of the very end of their dining experience.  I’m not sure this is 100% accurate, but this is what I got as far as a script:

DB: Not on it!

Male: [moves pickled ginger off the sushi]

DB: Dude don’t, it’s still tainted.  Ginger [garbled].  Get it off the sushi.  Ohh my god.

Male: [Walks away]

I’m not sure if he walked away in frustration at this point or not, but he did walk away leaving the sushi that he was going for untouched.  I probably would have too.

[MEDIA=7]

*OK, I probably would still tell you.

I thought maybe my glasses were dirty this morning when I loaded Madison.com.  Turns out they weren’t and it was just that whoever does the site allowed an incredibly tiny picture to be used for the main image on the site.  Because of that, it had to be expanded to fit the big box on the home page and came out incredibly blurry.

If you squint just right you can make out a moutain with a well in front of it.  Or at least that’s what it looks like to me.  Click on the pic below to get an idea of what it looked like full-size on the homepage today.

I’m normally against restaurant chains.  In fact, I’m normally vehemently aginst restuarant chains.  When I travel for work my rule is that I don’t eat at a chain unless I’ve never eaten there before.  Despite having been there twice before, I put that rule aside last week and went to Ruth’s Chris in Middleton with my parents.

The steakhouse opened up a few months amongst the strip of other restaurants just outside of Greenway station.  From outside, it’s really nothing special.  From inside, I do have to say the decor is amazing.  It’s one of the better decorated establishments I’ve been to, and that says a lot.  The service, for the most part, was spot-on (I was walked to the bathroom instead of being pointed to it), and the food was as good as expected.

We split an order of crab cakes as an appetizer.  The crab cakes were more scoops of lump crab meet loosely mixed together with some breadcrumbs and vegetables.  It emphasized the taste of the crab by not filling your mouth with a ton of breading.  They were very good, but could have been a bit warmer in the middle.

I got the petite filet, with petite being an understatement.  The thing was huge.  Since I’d had it a few times before, I decided to get it bleu cheese-crusted this time.  The cheese was gooey, and somewhat tart, but not exactly as I’d expect it to be.  The flavor could have been a bit more pungent for my taste.

Ross and my mother each got the petite filet and shrimp.  Their steaks were cut into two filets, and the shrimp was set in a ring on top of the filets.  In fact, what looked like two very large shrimp on top were actually six shrimp.  My dad had a huge t-bone and managed to finish all of it.  Sides were a hash browns (a huge plate), mashed potatoes, and apsaragus.

 At some point in the meal my dad asked for another drink.  The waiter went away, seemingly to enter the order.  After 15 minutes had passed, we asked what was going on.  The waiter responded that the bar was backed up, but he’d go and check on it right away to make sure it was still coming.  Another ten minutes later the water was back, this time with a drink.  He comped it, but really who would pay for a drink that took 25 minutes to be delivered anyway?

Desserts were good, but not outstanding.  We got an apple tart and bread pudding.  As far as bread puddings go, this one wasn’t as spicy/savory as others I’ve had, but still stood out as one of the best I’ve tasted.

We had originally planned to go to Smoky’s for dinner, but found out the day before that they were closed for the holidays.  Why they’d close for one of the busier times of the year I’m not sure, but I guess it’s them missing out on the business, not me.  That aside, we ended up at Ruth’s Chris, and after expecting the normal chain experience, I can say I’m pleasantly surprised by what I’d got and I’d recommend that anyone in Madison looking for a good steak go and try it.

Note I said try it, not go there regularly.  My rule for chains is go once to new ones, but don’t bother going back unless you have to.

I’ve been contemplating getting a new camera for the longest time.  Not a little point and shoot one, I already have one of those, but an SLR, one to replace my old Digital Rebel.  For the past few months I’ve been eyeing up the Canon 40D and today, I finally pulled the trigger and bought it.

I have no question about how the camera will perform, but I am wondering just how the lens will work out.  I ordered a package from US1Photo.com (I’d never heard of it, but it got great ratings and offered the best price I’ve seen for what I got), which includes a Canon 17-85 IS USM lens.  It’s not a “fast” lens per se, but it does have a large range.  I figure it’s almost the same as what I had with my Rebel, so it’s not like taking a step down.

If things go as planned, I’ll have the camera by the end of next week.  I plan to use it like crazy when I go to Asia in April.  Expect to see some test shots once I get it.

I ate at Cuvler’s attempt at mid-range, non-fastfood dining last night.  My last out-to-eat meal of the year.  It was OK, but not great.  They call it the Blue Spoon Cafe, and it’s located on Parementer Street in Middleton.

The location is in a strip mall, next to Cousin’s subs, Carr Valley Cheese and some other random things.  It’s a corner store, so I guess it stands out.  It has an upstairs area as well, but I’m not sure if it’s dining or just sitting space for those getting counter-served items from downstairs.  The menu ranges from pizza to sandwiches, with a few things being listed as “classics,” despite the restaurant opening within the past year.

Ross had the prosciutto “Euro sandwich,” which had good, crusty bread, so-so pesto sauce, and run-of-the-mill prosciutto.  I had the prosciutto pizza (I’m not sure why, but prosciutto was the theme for us that night), with marinated artichokes and a tomato sauce.  The sauce and cheese were actually quite good, but the prosciutto was somewhat boring, and the artichoke smelled like fish.  To top it off, the pizza was doused with some olive oil, making it a bit too oily.

The food wasn’t miserable, and I don’t feel cheated out of money, but I can’t say I’ll be hankering to go back any time soon.   My main interest was to see what sort of market they were after, and it seems to me like they’re after people who eat fast food most of the time who are looking for a “nice” meal out.  It lands somewhere between Denny’s and Peppermill Grill (blech).

The Capital Times ran a story today about UW athletes taking directed study courses, seemingly only to boost their GPA or maintain their 12 credit minimum.  I’m sure the whole situation is an under the table scam, but it’s nice to see some reporting like this.  Universities are for learning, not playing sports, right?

In any case, my problem is that the writer seems to think everyone knows what directed study is.  That can’t be the case, though, because she puts the term in quotes in the second paragraph, as if it’s a foreign phrase.  You’d expect the next sentence or paragraph to go on to explain exactly what directed study is, but no, that doesn’t happen.  You have to read through the entire article and infer what it means, guessing at the exact definition each time the words come up in a sentence.

No, I’m not lazy or dumb.  Yes, I can determine what the term means by the end of the article.  But, it seems to me like you’d want to point out a definition like that pretty early on to provide some context for the rest of the article.