can you hear me now?

So, here it is folks, the debut of the much fabled food review. This is actually sort of shotgun being that the restaurant I am about to critique is somewhat commercial. It's a place I ahad not planned on writing about just yet, but the thought of putting down on "paper" just what this place means to me filled me with the giddyness only a five year old should feel. I'm talking about The Original Steakhouse and Sports Theatre on Joppa Road. I have died and found my final resting place. Start the iv's and whatever drips and heart surgical procedures needed to keep the blood pumping through my red meat clogged arteries. The Original Steakhouse has a great atmosphere, with 6 by 8 foot big screens enclosing the bar. For someone with as much A.D.D. as I, that does not bode well. TOO. MUCH. SPORTS. Of course there is no such thing as I love to get highlights and ten screens helps oh so much. I suggest getting there early as it tends to get a wee bit packed. While your waiting for your seat, you can drool over the fantastic cuts of meat, filet minon, new york strip, sirloin, porterhouse,mmmm. Not to be outdone, there are other offerings of chicken and low carb fair. I personally suggest the porterhouse. Very tasty, seasonings are well portioned, very tender, not overpowering or tough. The sides are generous to get you almost to the point where you might think, "MM, maybe 20 oz. of meat may be a bit much", but then the hefty plate arrives and removes all doubt. Ceasar salad, yes please, red meat, indeed, beer, why not! It's definetly a typical guys type of joint, but who cares, if you love a good steak, hit it up. The bar is choc full of tasty brew, the restaurant is full of tasty grub, and to be a bit of a pig, the waitresses are easy on the eyes. I give it 10 grill marks up. Now go, fire one down, I'll wait....GO....NOW!

Metallica singer stopped at airport for 'Taliban' beard07/11/2007 2:00 PM, Yahoo! Musiccourtesy of NME.com Metallica frontman James Hetfield was stopped by security officials at London's Luton Airport for allegedly having a "Taliban-like" beard.
The band was on its way to perform at Live Earth on Saturday (July 7).
Hetfield was briefly questioned by airport officials until they realised who he was. No explanation was given for why he was stopped, but his bandmates speculated that it was due to his beard.
Meanwhile, Metallica's new album is due out in early 2008, with bassist Robertt Trujillo telling Blabbermouth: "There's a lot of everything, man. There's speed on this. There's a couple of tracks where you're gonna go, 'Wow!' and I know you're gonna like it because it has the flavor of the old. But it has this kind of groove and power behind it that I think is us today."

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Plane ticket to Uk: $300

Gibson Explorer Pro guitar:$1159

Looking like you belong to a terroist group: Priceless

Let me just say that as a baker I love cooking shows. I think even if I wasn't I'd still enjoy them just the same. The show that I'm really hooked on this summer is Hell's Kitchen and I've got to say, it's probably the best show I've seen in a while. It's very real, not in that geeky, I just want my face on tv reality whore show, but there's a goal, something real to win. Of course there's a monetary prize, and the chance to run your own restaurant, but that's the real prize. Someone's career, their life, can be created just by the showing what they can do in a high pressure, high stakes environment. I'm a huge proponent of being able to see what someone can do by how hard you can push them. Alot of people just go to work, do their job, go home, just waiting for the clock to tick five. But this type of work is not a typical job, there is so much more involvement in the actual process of creating the work for yourself. Not to mention the pride it produces when you see someone truly enjoying the fruits of that labor. I know I'm not a great baker, I'm a mediocre cook, but when I hear people telling me how good something is that I made, you always enjoy the compliment, but when you hear the comment days, or weeks later, that sense of accomplishment is something to relish.

In addition to Hells Kitchen, Gordon Ramsey, the head chef on Hells Kitchen, has a new show slated to start in the fall called Kitchen Nightmares. It's basically about Ramsey going into problem kitchens and putting the right pieces of the puzzle in their respective spots. Lazy cooks, bad waiters or dispondent owners are going to be put to the test, which I can't wait to see. There were a couple of places I've worked at where I wish I had the clout, time in, and renown to basically call all the shots and straighten bosses out.


Going along with the whole cooking tangent, I've been watching a great tv show in dvd called Kitchen Confidential. Now this shows been canceled for a long time, but just came out on dvd not too long ago and I think it's great. I really wish it wasn't canceled but it was pretty much a shock to the cast too. Anyway, the show was based on another renowned chef, Anthony Bourdain. This guy has traveled all over the globe and wrote many a cook book. The show was well put together and really conveyed the life a cook leads. The environment is totally made up of course, but it's still realistic and believable to see someone take great joy in their career.

And with that, when I get back from my vacation, I'm going to start a new column on this piece of shit. I'm going to go to a different restaurant, once a week, different places, different cuisine, and write a column critiquing the food. I love to eat, I love to go to new places, try new things, even if I don't wind up enjoying the food, or the place. But I'm the type of person to dive in with both hands, never been one to shy away from doing shit. So that's my plan for the upcoming summer and fall and so on. I hope whoever reads this and the other columns that I'll write or have written will enjoy whats to come and can take what I write to mind whenever they travel out.