The ‘Boys host a team whose greatest former star was nicknamed “Bambi” on Sunday. Another “fact” about the club that can’t decide on the right shade of blue…Chargers running back LaDainian Tomlinson credits his sure grip on the ball to intensive training as a teenager. Even now he spends several…
“Where do you want to sit?” the waitress asks as I step inside Urban Crust. It hardly matters, so I shrug in response. The waitress—her name was Lauren, according to my receipt—looks over the space, a long, narrow room cluttered with tables and booths, bounded by rough brick walls, with…
Drive down Henderson Avenue past the newfangled, valet-only “establishments” named after flowers whose froufrou names you can only pronounce correctly if you whisper them (“No, it’s Hibiscus. There’s a silent raised eyebrow.”), and somewhere near Ross Avenue you’ll find a cute little brick building with cute little bars on the…
The ‘Boys host those pushovers from SoCal on Sunday. Another “fact” about the land of vegetarians…Before joining the Chargers, running back Darren Sproles played the role of “Sprout” in Jolly Green Giant commercials.**Source: Some publication–most likely AdWeekly, Advertising Age or Mad Libs…
The ‘Boys host Philip Rivers and whoever else in on the Chargers Sunday. Another “fact” about socialism…Several superstitious members of the Chargers must have special pre-game meals. For example, Antonio Gates eats an entire container of Play-Doh before every game–and has done so since he was in Pop Warner.**Source: A…
The ‘Boys host those baby blue bolts on Sunday. A “fact” about this country’s gateway to immigration…Although they claim to be part of the ‘land of fruit and nuts,’ the city of San Diego is actually the land of jellyfish and seagulls–local favorites that have not been popular as export…
I may have mentioned a month or so back that we had finally come up with a scheme to give out prizes.Good ones, too: I have Jon Bonnell’s Fine Texas Cuisine, The Field Guide to Candy, Chili Madness, Cooking Dirty (has nothing to do with Blythe Beck) and other food-related…
The ‘Boys travel to the Newark suburbs on Sunday. A final “fact” about the city not even native Americans wanted to keep…Manhattan clam chowder originally had quote marks around the word clam, as it was invented to clean up a tadpole problem in channels feeding into Gowanus Bay. They still…
The On The Range piece about Machacado con Huevo last week brought back some old memories from my childhood. I was born and raised in South Texas by immigrant Mexican parents. My mother was from Guanajuato, and my father migrated from San Fernando, Tamaulipas. Mom’s home cooking mostly entailed easy…
The ‘Boys travel to the garbage strike capital on Sunday. Another “fact” about Exit 16…When trapped by an avalanche during a hunting trip with his offensive line, quarterback Eli Manning drew the short straw. Fortunately, rescuers found them a few hours later, before they had consumed more than Manning’s “fries.”**Source:…
The people of Dallas love a good patio. But until places such as Dragonfly and Fearing’s began sculpting refined enclosures and The Londoner found a location set back from the road, most outdoor spaces butted up against parking lots or busy streets. As a result, some of the most popular…
The ‘Boys travel to the Empire State–or its neighbor, rather–on Sunday. Another “fact” about New York’s other team…Giants running back Brandon Jacobs was so uncultured when he arrived in New York from Southern Illinois, he mistook the team’s post game Champagne bowl for a urinal. It was three years before…
A recent survey conducted by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), ranked Spiral Diner’s Sketti & Meatballs among the nation’s top ten faux meatball dishes. You’d think the Spiral crew would be doing somersaults and touchdown dances over the news, but these guys are quite used to national…
The ‘Boys travel to the New Jersey dumping ground on Sunday. Another fact about the rotten apple…The Giants are named after large cockroaches found in every New York deli. Because of their number and size, the federal government allows a much greater percentage of insect parts in food sold in…
Wow, the end of November crept up on us.Things generally seem to slow down as we approach the end of a year. And while the days have ticked by with surprising speed, restaurant business lagged as the economy continued to wallow.Still, the month wasn’t all that bad. Sure, there were…
The ‘Boys travel to the meadowless Meadowlands on Sunday. Our first “fact” about the city that never sleeps because of the noise…Giants Stadium is built on a landfill (as is 90 percent of New Jersey). Tailgating fans have discovered that by digging up local “charcoal” they give burgers a little…
Craft is the Forrest Gump of Dallas restaurants. Not that the sophisticated space on the W Hotel’s ground floor is in any way slow or befuddled by events, just undeterred by economic reality over the past few years, moving steadily through the chaos as if with blinders on. Think of…
The ‘Boys host the silver and black on Thanksgiving. A final “fact” about the city that keeps Detroit off the bottom of the ‘best places to live’ list before we turn our attention to New York…Raiders owner Al Davis stays alive by eating a bizarre diet of puppies, spotted owls…
The ‘Boys host the team from the wrong side of the bay on Thanksgiving. Another “fact” about the witless rabble…When traveling, the Raiders go to restaurants as a team–not as a show of unity, but because only defensive lineman Desmond Bryant, a Harvard grad, knows how to read.**Source: The Raiders…
The ‘Boys host the godless, mother-hating horde from the bay area on Thanksgiving. Something you may not know about the Raiders’ home town…Although people immediately think of Napa Valley, Oakland has an even more impressive wine-making tradition. Labels such as Thunderbird, Night Train and MD 20/20 all owe their popularity…
Well, I’m running a bit behind with this, largely because Kristy Yang just came in from Vietnam with a bottle of…of…what the hell am I drinking?It’s been a busy week on the blog, too. A number of comments worthy of mention–and several deserving of a decent prize. So we had…
Next week, we find out more about Oakland. For now, one final peek inside the beltway:The ‘Boys host the NFL’s answer to the Washington Nationals on Sunday. Another fact about the team whose mascot wore a bonnet…The Redskins earned the nickname “Hogs” not for their eating habits, as many believe,…
