Mondo Burrito RIP

[Steve Pope]

The Mondo Burrito near Santa Clara University has closed up,
with a sign saying they lost their lease after 19 years.

Are any other restaurants in the same general area (that is,
walking distance from Santa Clara Transit Center) worth a
shot? Much as I'd like to like Hula Dog, they are not what
I want all that often.


Steve

[Tim May]

Can't help you on places, but I've seen this happen near me. A
tacqueria that was in a fairly new building in the most crowded part of
Pacific Avenue in Santa Cruz recently closed. It was "Tacqueria
Vallarta," with several other branches surviving. The new tenant is
reported to be a Five Guys.

(This crowded area is across from a Pizza My Heart, Hoffman's, the
uber-Hipster "Assembly," and another pizza place. Apologies from this
ubermensch for violating the trademark of Uber.)

--
Tim May

[Tim May]

I forgot to mention that this means the best tacquerias in that part of
town--Los Perricos, Pinos, La Hacienda, Planet Burrito, maybe one other
I'm forgetting--are in older, more run-down buildings. It seems the
newer buildings, mostly built after the 1989 quake, are being sought
out by the trendy coffee places and burger joints. Oh, and women's
disposable clothing stores. There seems to be an insatiable demand for
this crap. At least it gives the women graduates with worthless degrees
from UCSC a place to clerk...for a few years before they fade out.


--
Tim May

[Mike D.]

The highlight would be Togo's on the other side of Lafayette.
There is an Ike's Sandwiches on El Camino, south of campus,
but that's a bit of a hike. Actually the cafeteria in Benson
Center on campus is probably your best bet. If it's after
hours there's The Bronco next to it.

[Mike D.]

On Thursday, December 10, 2015 at 4:17:06 PM UTC-8, Steve Pope wrote:

> The Mondo Burrito near Santa Clara University has closed up,
> with a sign saying they lost their lease after 19 years.

From the school paper, back in October:

The closing of Mondo Burrito, which first opened its doors on Jan. 13, 1997, comes as a result of an impending redevelopment north of campus. A 3-block parcel bordered by Benton Street, The Alameda and El Camino Real will be redeveloped by Irvine Company to create the new Mission Town Center, which includes a mix of retail and residential in its proposals. According to Mondo Burrito's press release announcing the closing of the restaurant, the development is slated to begin construction this summer.


So hold on, and a new Mission Town Center will be yours.

[infinitada]

On 12/10/2015 9:22 PM, Swertz wrote:
> I would avoid it just because
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
swe...@cluemail.compost
<i6x4dy0h0232$.d...@sqwertz.com>
3/18/2011 3:49 PM
Microsoft Internet News 4.70.1162
readnews.com - News for Geeks and ISPs
fa35d278.newsreader.readnews.com


Sorry I don't fit either of your Ideal Psycho Pal Profiles.

-sw
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'd prefer you use a sniper rifle on me from a few hundred yards away.
There you go - a reason for you to buy yet another gun and ammo.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Sqwertz]

On 12/10/2015 9:22 PM, Swertz wrote:

> I was forced to watch against my will.
>
> -sw

And the women you stalked?

[mwo...@colgate.edu]

Mike D. writes:
> There is an Ike's Sandwiches on El Camino, south of campus,
> but that's a bit of a hike.

The ramen place across the side street from Ike's Sandwiches is good too, as long as you keep your standards moderate. It is a college noodle joint, not an aficionado place.

Can't say I share your faith in the SCU campus dining options.


Rage away,

meg

[Mike D.]

Looking at the available options, though...
Quizno's -- meh. Hungry Hound -- below meh. Togo's -- meh.
Fiorillos is both meh and overpriced. Neto's couldn't make the old
VFW hall pay. And so on.

[Tim May]

What is a college noodle joint?

A single packet of "5 for a dollar" Maruchan ramen packets with a dose
of boiling water?

I guess the markup could be enormous...."A cup of Cup of Noodles for
$10" could probably compete with "A Six Dollar Burger for $7.99" at
that Kate Upton/Charlotte McKinney tittie joint.

I know a husband of a wife of a friend of mine who talks about opening
a great ramen joint in SF. Maybe I've never had great ramen, but I
guess I don't get the "slurp, slurp, this is SO worth $80" lines that
Bourdain utters.

--
Tim May

[Tim May]

On 2015-12-12 07:39:04 +0000, Tim May said:

>
> I know a husband of a wife of a friend of mine who talks about opening
> a great ramen joint in SF. Maybe I've never had great ramen, but I
> guess I don't get the "slurp, slurp, this is SO worth $80" lines that
> Bourdain utters.

Let me try to rephrase this: a husband who is married to the sister of
a wife of a friend of mine. I've met him a few times....he wants to
open a top ramen place, no pun intended. His recent gig was running a
well-rated sushi place.

When I heard him describe designer ramen, I could only think of some
yuppified version Cup of Noodles. Something Whole Paycheck would have
Maruchan make for them and then jack the price up to $5 per cup. (And
then sell an identical version as "365 Brand Ramen" for a dollar less.)

Maybe I'll someday try this real top ramen.

But it sort of sounds to me like it'll go the way of Chez Phranc in
Palo Alto. "The 10 dollar hot dawg for only $19.75!"


--
Tim May

[Peter Lawrence]

On 12/11/15 11:50 PM, Tim May wrote:
> On 2015-12-12 07:39:04 +0000, Tim May said:
>>
>> I know a husband of a wife of a friend of mine who talks about opening a
>> great ramen joint in SF. Maybe I've never had great ramen, but I guess I
>> don't get the "slurp, slurp, this is SO worth $80" lines that Bourdain
>> utters.
>
> Let me try to rephrase this: a husband who is married to the sister of a
> wife of a friend of mine.

Let me try to rephrase this for you: "An acquaintance of mine"

;)

[mwo...@colgate.edu]

I wrote:
> > The ramen place across the side street from Ike's Sandwiches is good
> > too, as long as you keep your standards moderate. It is a college
> > noodle joint, not an aficionado place.

Tim wonders:

> What is a college noodle joint?

I meant -- as you probably know -- that it's a ramen joint that is trying to feed people at bottom dollar and maximum salt/fat (for the genre).

He continues:

> A single packet of "5 for a dollar" Maruchan ramen packets with a dose
> of boiling water?

You mock, but that is almost exactly what the local Snowvenian college noodle joint is. Some kid's entrepreneurial parent thought "What this college town needs is a noodle joint!" and proceeded to open a shop that puts blocks of instant ramen in hot water, doctors them up a bit (or in the case of one dish, not a single bit), and then charges $9 for them. And because our options are so narrow and so mediocre -- and because the noodle joint stays open for an hour after the students-only bar closes -- it's a hit.

There is no justice in this world.

> I guess the markup could be enormous...."A cup of Cup of Noodles for
> $10" could probably compete with "A Six Dollar Burger for $7.99" at
> that Kate Upton/Charlotte McKinney tittie joint.

I have long wondered: What's your willing price point for a really great meal? Is yours lower than mine, or is your taste just much more refined and selective?


Rage away,

meg

[Tim May]

On 2015-12-12 13:58:02 +0000, mwo...@colgate.edu said:

> I wrote:
>
> I have long wondered: What's your willing price point for a really
> great meal? Is yours lower than mine, or is your taste just much more
> refined and selective?
>
>
> Rage away,

It depends. Today, for instance, I may be visiting the Santa Cruz Wharf
to see the heavy wave action. And I may eat my favorite squid dish at
Riva. Beer-battered calamari with a double-dose of the fabulous tartar
sauce. (Julian claims a great tartar sauce is easy to make oneself. I
haven't yet tried. But most of the major brands--Beaver, Kraft,
Bubbie's--are inferior to the Riva version. And one brand, the only one
I've seen at Trader Joe's, is just so bad as to not even be in the same
category as Kraft's version. If anyone knows of a great tartar sauce
brand....)

So, I will probably pay about $12-14 for this....I haven't been out
there for a couple of years, so prices may have gone up.

Normally I go out for food during the day, not so much at night.
Restaurants tend to be Chinese, Thai, sometimes Indian (good Indian
food is more scarce in my area), Mexican. I haven't been to a good
steakhouse in years. Not too many Italian or French places. (My area
_does_ have a lot of well-regarded French and Italian places, like
Michael's on Main, Bitterwweet Bistro, Assembly,

I am definitely not much for long-winded, many-course food affairs.
Takes too much time and I reach the point of diminishing returns early
on. But after seeing the visit by Bourdain and Eric Ripert and Michael
Ruehl to the French Laundry some years back, I could sort of see why
spluring on a $400 meal *might* be worth it for some very special
occasion. (But it would mean driving 260 miles round-trip, probably
having to stay in some $200 a night hotel, so, probably "na gonna
happen."

In summary, I like to spend less than $10, but sometimes will go to $15
for lunch. The nachos with carnitas I had recently at Los Perricos in
Santa Cruz was only $7 or so and was much tastier than the cardboard
chicken mole I had for $20 at El Palomar a few weeks ago.

And the Hunan Beef with crispy bits of spiciness piled high at Hunan
Garden in Sunnyvale was my favorite dish there for years. I believe it
vanished, but that the chef opened Hunan Chili in Mountain View. I have
written about it over the years. It was my favorite, and our discussion
group often adjourned there for supper. It also had a great Hunan Beef,
as well as other great dishes. It closed a few years ago. But the chef
moved down across the railroad tracks and is now at:

http://www.yelp.com/biz/chef-zhao-bistro-mountain-view?osq=hunan

I don't get over to that area much anymore, but plan to check it out someday.

What I found with this particular dishes, and similar Sichuan dishes,

There are many fine Asian restaurants in that area, needless to say.
When I was living in that area, my favorite "fine dining" place, for
mundane things like dates or family visits, was Chef Chu's. It's where
I really started liking that kind of food, when I returned from
rainvania (™, Meg) to sunny California in 1982. The moo shoo pork was
what we always started with, then the hot and sour soup, and things
like crispy string beans (with little bits of crispy pork) and on an
ond.

I know it's fashionable to diss Chef Chu's as being too Americanized,
but I think this is misleading. It serves the standard reportoire of
Kung Pao this and General's that, and not so much of the "Ants Crawling
Up a Burning Ladder Made of Sheep Intestines" that true Chinese places
serve on the secret menu that roundeyes must not be exposed to,
granted. My dates at the time liked it a lot and often wanted to go
there. Even a Chinese guy and his white wife, whom I met while
Eurrailing against, er, around Europe liked it when they visited my
area. And Benny had owned a couple of Chinese restaurants in Toronto.
Maybe he was just being polite, but he said Chef Chu's was one of the
best Chinese restaurants he'd been to.

Oh, and the Whole Spicy Fish was often a special table treat. People
tell me the special menu that Mr. Chu provides on some days for the
upstairs dining room is superb.

I think the dinner tab for CC was about $12 back in the 80s, a bit more
when I've been there since. (Depends on how many dishes one orders,
drinks, etc. We used to order about two appetizers, two soups, and two
main dishes for two of us, or sometimes N + 2 mains for N people in a
group of 5 or so.

Were I to go back to either Chef Zhao's Bistro or Chef Chu's, I would
be happy to spend up to about $20-22, without drinks. (I favor water
anyone, especially if I'll be driving the bobsled run over the
mountains.) For lunches, less. For routine lunches at Chinese places, I
favor the many excellent lunch specials. Usually around $7-8, but
creeping up slowly. There's usually more food than I want or need, so I
take a carton home. They have the usual dishes, but interpretations
vary a lot. (*)

(* For some odd reason, Mongolian Beef varies the most, Kung Pao
Chicken the least. Some places make the Mongolian Beef very vinegary.
One place local to me, Golden Palace in Watsonville, serves the best
Beef Chow Fun I've had. While not Sichuan spicy, the flat noodles have
the best crispiness I've had. One order of this, for $7-8 gives me
lunch and supper, and it's even _better_ when reheated.)



--
Tim May

[Tim May]

On 2015-12-12 13:58:02 +0000, mwo...@colgate.edu said:

> I wrote:

> He continues:
>> A single packet of "5 for a dollar" Maruchan ramen packets with a
>> dose> of boiling water?
>
> You mock, but that is almost exactly what the local Snowvenian college
> noodle joint is. Some kid's entrepreneurial parent thought "What this
> college town needs is a noodle joint!" and proceeded to open a shop
> that puts blocks of instant ramen in hot water, doctors them up a bit
> (or in the case of one dish, not a single bit), and then charges $9 for
> them. And because our options are so narrow and so mediocre -- and
> because the noodle joint stays open for an hour after the students-only
> bar closes -- it's a hit.
> There is no justice in this world.

Do today's college kids really have that kind of cash (er, credit
cards) to throw money around this casually? If so, no wonder Chez
Phranc opened in Palo Alto. The surprising part is that it then failed.
I would expect Stanford hipsters to be all over $20 hot dogs.

When I was in college, everyone I knew was the same kind of poor I was.
A splurge was getting a couple of bean burritos at the new Taco Bell in
town. I never even went to the now-famous Hamburger Habit which started
right there in Isla Vista in around the late 60s or early 70s. (I could
pan fry a better hamburger than most burger places did, then as now.)

But, then, people back then graduated with little of no student debt.

I remember when a bunch of my friends wanted to skip the dorm food and
pay about $7 each at the local equivalent to what would now be a
Sizzler. (Probably is now....it was famous for having a big tree
growing in the center of it.) It was planned for several days, as the
Big Event. I declined to join them, as the dorm food was already paid
for and $7 back then would buy me a hardback book!

I didn't know about the muy autentico tacquerias in nearby Santa
Barbara, back even then, but there were none in Isla Vista at that
time. (There were some when I last passed through the area; and the
Freebirds burrito place started there. I've never eaten at a Freebirds,
but the chain seems to be having some problems, at least bsed on
closings in the Bay Area that I know of. Yeah, and I know the Isla
Vista one is separate from the Texas-based chain.)

--
Tim May

[Todd Michel McComb]

In article <201512121240...@att.net>, Tim May <tc...@att.net> wrote:
>I am definitely not much for long-winded, many-course food affairs.

>Takes too much time ....

That was my father's biggest complaint about "fine dining" -- takes
too long.

>http://www.yelp.com/biz/chef-zhao-bistro-mountain-view?osq=hunan

Chef Zhao is good. No ownership in common with Hunan Chili, and
at least in terms of strengths of the menus, no dishes in common.

Chef Zhao is not fancified, like Chef Chu's, and in fact some
non-Chinese diners find it offputting.

[Tim May]

On 2015-12-12 21:01:12 +0000, Todd Michel McComb said:

In article <201512121240...@att.net>, Tim May  <tc...@att.net> wrote:

I am definitely not much for long-winded, many-course food affairs. 

Takes too much time ....

That was my father's biggest complaint about "fine dining" -- takes

too long.

http://www.yelp.com/biz/chef-zhao-bistro-mountain-view?osq=hunan

Chef Zhao is good.  No ownership in common with Hunan Chili, and

at least in terms of strengths of the menus, no dishes in common.

I know there is no ownership in common, but I remembered reading about how the chef had moved as I described. Let me check it....

"4/25/2013

Chef-stalking?  Food hunter?  Lunch connoisseur?  In any case, my co-worker, who was fanatic about the soon-to-be-if-not-already-closing-Hunan Chili on Castro St in Mountain View, told us that this favorite chef there resurfaced here at Chef Zhao's.  He gave us approval to proceed with lunch."

Maybe, maybe not. Some stuff in articles about the new owners being from Chendu, or somesuch.

Some interesting mixed reviews. Bipolar distribution.

But in reading many of them just now, it occurred to me that my rave review of the Hunan Beef at the Hunan place in Sunnyvale and then at Hunan Chili in Mountain View may've named the wrong dish: I now think it was the Orange Peel Beef that I liked so much. I remember it was spicy (as most fruit-peel and orange-peel dishes to be) and was a tall pile on crispy noodles. (I see few such "-peel" dishes these days that the name had escaped me.)

And we've  talked a few times here about "Hsi-Nan" on University in Palo Alto, a few doors up from where Stacey's Bookstore used to be. (Last I saw, a Pottery Barn!)

Meg knew the John McCarthy crowd at Stanford, so she may've been there when people like Stallman were in the area. The story goes, I think it's in the print version of the Hacker's Dictionary, that this was Stallman's favorite. Something to do with "Laser Chicken" and the place being nick-named "Louie's."

I went there many times between 1983 and 1986, when I moved out to the Santa Cruz area. I particularly liked "Fruit Peel Chicken." Extremely spicy! I loved it. A girlfriend tried a bite and practically called for an ambulance. It was a very small place, with about 8 to to small tables.  It was gone at some time after 1986....I saw someone report that the owner and/or chef had another place up towards San Mateo. 

Most Sichuan or Hunan places are not nearly this spicy, though. (And Thai food used to be very spicy when I first noticed it in the early 80s in the South Bay, but has gotten markedly blander over the years.)

-- 

Tim May

[Tim May]

On 2015-12-12 21:01:12 +0000, Todd Michel McComb said:

> In article <201512121240...@att.net>, Tim May <tc...@att.net> wrote:
>> I am definitely not much for long-winded, many-course food affairs.
>> Takes too much time ....
>
> That was my father's biggest complaint about "fine dining" -- takes
> too long.

This hits on an interesting topic: why not more "small plate" places,
like tapas places? (*)

Between not wanting to eat a huge plate of food and the price, why not
more small serving places? (It's a reason I sometimes go to Blanda
Express, for a one-entree plate or bowl that is rapidly and easily
served. I never got the story on how rapidly the Mister Chau's empire
collapse. It filled a good niche.)

(* By "small plate" I mean neither children's menus nor "Chez Small
Plate -- Where You Pay $25 for a Tiny Amount of Food!" I mean places
that are actually more like Spanish tapas bars.)

Between the popularity of craft brews and ethnic food, seems to be a
good opportunity. Hipsters wandering along in a pub crawl with a
variety of different ethnic tapas-like deals. Maybe zoning laws and
food cart laws need to change (if they are limiting such things in
places like the Mission District or Castro in Mountain View.)


--
Tim May

[Steve Pope]

<mwo...@colgate.edu> wrote:

>Mike D. writes:

>> There is an Ike's Sandwiches on El Camino, south of campus,
>> but that's a bit of a hike.

>The ramen place across the side street from Ike's Sandwiches is good
>too, as long as you keep your standards moderate.

Google Maps UK says Ike's is a 16 minute walk to the train sation.
"Mio Vicino", on Benton is the same distance. Any reports on
Mio Vicino?


S.

[Todd Michel McComb]

In article <201512121351...@att.net>, Tim May <tc...@att.net> wrote:
>This hits on an interesting topic: why not more "small plate" places,
>like tapas places? (*)

I like small plates places, and they do seem to continue proliferating,
slowly. Only having the option of ordering a giant serving of one
thing is not what I usually want, although sharing can sometimes
address the issue. (I just ate half of a Philly cheesesteak, yes
with shaved ribeye.)

[Tim May]

On 2015-12-12 21:01:12 +0000, Todd Michel McComb said:

> In article <201512121240...@att.net>, Tim May <tc...@att.net> wrote:
>> I am definitely not much for long-winded, many-course food affairs.
>> Takes too much time ....
>
> That was my father's biggest complaint about "fine dining" -- takes
> too long.

Another thing I dislike about fancy restaurants is the expectation of
not being dressed like a slob. I usually wear jeans or my favorite
nylon trail pants, and then usually a Hawaian-type shirt for 9 months
out of the years. With nylon walking sandals or my old Danner boots.
And my outerwear may be a Levi's jacket, or a down vest, or a rain
parka. Or one of my leather jackets. My fancier clothes moulder in the
closets.

So when I'm out traveling, or in town for the day, the places I look
for what are now-dubbed "fast-casual." Ethnic places usually fit well,
In-N-Out fits well, etc.

I don't want to make reservations for a fancy place, drive there, wait,
order, wait between courses, wait for the check, pay high prices, and
leave feeling vaguely ripped-off.

I understand there's a whole community of folks who treat fine dining
as a cultural moment. Santa Cruz even has a bunch of these, between
Aptos, Soquel, and Santa Cruz.

The fanciest of these that I've been to is The Shadowbrook, in
Capitola, at the bottom of a charming tramway. I took my parents there
when they visited me a while back. The next-fanciest is The Crow's
Nest. I used to take dates there sometimes. These days, I go for the
excellent salad bar. At around $13 plus iced tea plus tip, maybe $18.
But the choice of ingredients is great, so I can feel I'm getting a
good selection of antioxidants and nutrients. It's an about once a year
thing for me. My normal salad bar is at Carpo's. Or even the salad bars
at places like Whole Foods, where one pays by the pound. Picking
carefully, it can be cheaper than buying the raw ingredients! I put a
lot of crumbled blue cheese and shrimp on mine.

--
Tim May

[Todd Michel McComb]

In article <201512121425...@att.net>, Tim May <tc...@att.net> wrote:
>Another thing I dislike about fancy restaurants is the expectation
>of not being dressed like a slob.

That's more of an issue outside the Bay Area. Few places here have
dress codes beyond the usual shirt & shoes.

These days, I mostly live out of a backpack. "Dressing up" is not
an option.

[Mike D.]

It's good, small, crowded, and noisy.

[Julian Macassey]

On Sat, 12 Dec 2015 12:53:36 -0800, Tim May <tc...@att.net> wrote:
>
> I remember when a bunch of my friends wanted to skip the dorm food and
> pay about $7 each at the local equivalent to what would now be a
> Sizzler. (Probably is now....it was famous for having a big tree
> growing in the center of it.)

Known then as the Fig Tree, on the Corner Valerio and
State streets. It is now an International House of Pancakes.

I used to live a block below there.

>
> I didn't know about the muy autentico tacquerias in nearby Santa
> Barbara, back even then, but there were none in Isla Vista at that
> time.

Milpas street, "The 'hood" has many great places and used
to have Whitefoot meats a real butcher shop, but they had their
property sold to be demoished and a Freash and Sleezy opened
there, to shut down a few months later.


"Ouais benh ça c'est suisse et c'est précis, très précis." -
"Jules" in the 1981 French movie "Diva".

[Steve Pope]

Thanks. I suspect it will be the next place in the Jesuit 'hood
that I'll try.

Steve

[mwo...@colgate.edu]

I wondered:
> > What's your willing price point for a really
> > great meal? Is yours lower than mine, or is your taste just much more
> > refined and selective?

Tim responds, in part:

> I am definitely not much for long-winded, many-course food affairs.
> Takes too much time and I reach the point of diminishing returns early
> on.

There's where we part ways. Two of my favorite things on this earth are conversations with friends and a variety of interesting flavors. A "long-winded many-course food affair" provides both in abundance -- so my price point is much higher.

I reorganized my pantry yesterday and was forced to confront the fact that I am a food hoarder. I do not need dried shrimps from three different cuisine traditions. I never used to be this way when I lived among you; only in Snowvenia, where I live an hour from a supermarket am I prepared for a zombie apocalypse.


Rage away,

meg

[mwo...@colgate.edu]

I wrote:
> > You mock, but that is almost exactly what the local Snowvenian college
> > noodle joint is. Some kid's entrepreneurial parent thought "What this
> > college town needs is a noodle joint!" and proceeded to open a shop
> > that puts blocks of instant ramen in hot water, doctors them up a bit
> > (or in the case of one dish, not a single bit), and then charges $9 for
> > them. And because our options are so narrow and so mediocre -- and
> > because the noodle joint stays open for an hour after the students-only
> > bar closes -- it's a hit.
> > There is no justice in this world.

Tim writes:
> Do today's college kids really have that kind of cash (er, credit
> cards) to throw money around this casually?

Foothill-DeAnza students don't, I'm pretty sure. Many students at elite liberal arts colleges do, and mine is worse in that regard than most. A full 65% of our students don't qualify for a penny of financial aid, which means that their parents are stinking rich. Which is why a bowl of Maruchan ramen is $0.33 if you make it yourself and $8.99 if someone else makes it for you.


Rage away,

meg

[Julian Macassey]

On Sun, 13 Dec 2015 06:58:45 -0800 (PST), mwo...@colgate.edu
<mwo...@colgate.edu> wrote:
>
> Tim writes:
>> Do today's college kids really have that kind of cash (er,
>> credit cards) to throw money around this casually?
>
> Foothill-DeAnza students don't, I'm pretty sure. Many students
> at elite liberal arts colleges do, and mine is worse in that
> regard than most. A full 65% of our students don't qualify for
> a penny of financial aid, which means that their parents are
> stinking rich. Which is why a bowl of Maruchan ramen is $0.33
> if you make it yourself and $8.99 if someone else makes it for
> you.

I wonder about the stoonts at Clairmont colleges, when I
was making Mickey Mouse phones next door, there seemed to be an
inordinate number of decent restaurants nearby, even a sushi bar.
Seeing as really we were in Pomona, only the occupants of
Clairmont could explain it.

But as for having other people feed you when your parents
aren't there to do it for you, there are the places that serve a
bowl of packaged cerial, which is sugar food for children, to
people who have not progressed from the larval stage and emerged
as adults.

In London's East End there is a place selling bowls of
packaged cerial to hipsters. What is really depressing is that it
is in Brick Lane, which for over a century has been home to funky
ethnic restaurants - eel and pie, kosher, Bangladeshi. Now the
overgrown children have ruined a funky part of London, just as
the Bros have ruined the funkt parts of San Francisco - also a
place that sells cerial to hipsters. When you realise that
pouring dry matter in a bowl and then adding milk is the easiest
food prep in the world you see that these hipsters are either
totally helpless indiciduals are too entitled to do such menial
tasks.

While I'm at it, there is also the venture capital
financed chain of places selling a grilled cheese sandwich.

--
"We tend to forget. Ours is a society where things are like instant, so
therefore, history almost is like so far back it doesn't count."
- GW Bush, 3/29/06

[Aahz Maruch]

In article <slrnn6r87p...@adeed.tele.com>,

Julian Macassey <jul...@tele.com> wrote:
>
>When you realise that pouring dry matter in a bowl and then adding milk
>is the easiest food prep in the world you see that these hipsters are
>either totally helpless indiciduals are too entitled to do such menial
>tasks.

You're forgetting that there's one critical step in the process:
maintaining a milk inventory. If you want one bowl of cereal every
couple of weeks and don't otherwise use milk, it can be a real pain,
particularly if it's a last-minute craving.

Other than that, I agree with you.

>While I'm at it, there is also the venture capital financed chain of
>places selling a grilled cheese sandwich.

Assuming it's a really good grilled cheese sandwich with cheese I don't
normally have in my fridge -- I might be willing. Or if I'm otherwise
away from home.
--
Hugs and backrubs -- I break Rule 6 http://rule6.info/
<*> <*> <*>
"Do not taunt happy fun for loops. Do not change lists you are looping over."
--Remco Gerlich, comp.lang.python

[Julian Macassey]

On 13 Dec 2015 09:03:18 -0800, Aahz Maruch <aa...@pobox.com> wrote:
> In article <slrnn6r87p...@adeed.tele.com>,
> Julian Macassey <jul...@tele.com> wrote:
>>
>>When you realise that pouring dry matter in a bowl and then adding milk
>>is the easiest food prep in the world you see that these hipsters are
>>either totally helpless indiciduals are too entitled to do such menial
>>tasks.
>
> You're forgetting that there's one critical step in the process:
> maintaining a milk inventory. If you want one bowl of cereal every
> couple of weeks and don't otherwise use milk, it can be a real pain,
> particularly if it's a last-minute craving.

First of all, an unopened pint of homogenised milk will
keep for a couple of weeks in a fridge set at around 5 degs C.

Next, in hipster areas there are plenty of 24 hour
supermarkets and convenience stores, they sell milk.

>
> Other than that, I agree with you.
>
>>While I'm at it, there is also the venture capital financed chain of
>>places selling a grilled cheese sandwich.
>
> Assuming it's a really good grilled cheese sandwich with cheese I don't
> normally have in my fridge -- I might be willing.

See note about supermarkets above.

> Or if I'm otherwise away from home.

In a normal urban setting, as Tim can explain to you,
there are lots of tasty low cost options rather than paying
through the nose for some factory cheese and sliced bread.

--
Germany is known as 'the land where Israelis learned their manners'.
- P. J. O'Rourke

[Todd Michel McComb]

In article <56126135-5648-4a1b...@googlegroups.com>,

<mwo...@colgate.edu> wrote:
>Foothill-DeAnza students don't, I'm pretty sure.

My youngest daughter takes some Foothill classes. She also works
fulltime at a dotcom startup, and part time at a friend's small
business. She gets paid more than I do, that's for sure. Anecdotally.

My older daughter attends one of those Eastern schools where a lot
of people are stinking rich. She does the "you buy the food, I
cook it" thing with people there to good results. Actually, she
insists on doing the cooking: "Yes, I'll come to your place for
Thanksgiving, but only if I'm cooking the turkey."

[Tim May]

On 2015-12-13 14:58:45 +0000, mwo...@colgate.edu said:
>
> Tim writes:
>> Do today's college kids really have that kind of cash (er, credit>
>> cards) to throw money around this casually?
> Foothill-DeAnza students don't, I'm pretty sure. Many students at
> elite liberal arts colleges do, and mine is worse in that regard than
> most. A full 65% of our students don't qualify for a penny of
> financial aid, which means that their parents are stinking rich. Which
> is why a bowl of Maruchan ramen is $0.33 if you make it yourself and
> $8.99 if someone else makes it for you.

This is part of the reason the third generation of wealth is, often
enough, no longer wealthy.

FWIW, I grok that supermarket ramen packets are not especially healthy
(*) but I sometimes improve them (*) with a dollop of peanut butter and
some rooster sauce. Even some peanuts or almonds for crunch. A little
more like dan dan noodles.

* I'm reading Huddleston and Pullum's introduction to English grammar,
and also Bryan Garner's "Modern American Usage," so my antennae are
more tuned-in now to proper grammar. So, is "healthy" OK to use, or
must it be "healthful"? Garner writes:

"In fact, though, many writers use healthy when they mean healthful,
and healthy threatens to edge out its sibling. Such a development would
be unhealthful, since it would lead to a less healthy state of the
language."

I expect H & P will say, descriptively, that the informal use of
"healthy" is fine.

On "improve," am I improving the ramen packets? Or the dish?

I'm boning up on grammar because of a project I'm diddling with in
Haskell, using "Grammatical Frameworks." This came out of CSLI and is a
Haskell-based tool for doing computational linguistics.

tl;dr alert: This is really obscure, perhaps, but I've gotten intrigued
by the uses of "of" as in "from," or "out of". All of the variants in
Germanic and Roman languages that gives us words or names like:

Pavlov, Kolmogoroff, Vucovic/Vucovich, Gizdich, Lubowicz, and other
Slavic surnames. Very common in Russian, with English "of" in variants
like Krushchev, Chekov, Smirnoff, and even double-patronymics like
"Shostakovich." This is what took me down this path, trying to simplify
the names of so many more foreigners I now see on the World Wide Web.
Polish surnames, especially.

There are many mappings in other languages, of course. But the Eastern
Europeans seem to like building longer names by accreting more of this
sort of patronyms and matrinums. I'm still looking for a triple.

And in my area there are a lot of Croatians, from a big wave of
immigrants to this coastal area more than a century ago. It seems that
a third of the names in Watsonville could come from this list:
http://www.croatian-genealogy.com/most-frequent-croatian-surnames/



--
Tim May

[Tim May]

On 2015-12-13 16:44:19 +0000, Julian Macassey said:
> But as for having other people feed you when your parents
> aren't there to do it for you, there are the places that serve a
> bowl of packaged cerial, which is sugar food for children, to
> people who have not progressed from the larval stage and emerged
> as adults.
>
> In London's East End there is a place selling bowls of
> packaged cerial to hipsters. What is really depressing is that it
> is in Brick Lane, which for over a century has been home to funky
> ethnic restaurants - eel and pie, kosher, Bangladeshi. Now the
> overgrown children have ruined a funky part of London, just as
> the Bros have ruined the funkt parts of San Francisco - also a
> place that sells cerial to hipsters. When you realise that
> pouring dry matter in a bowl and then adding milk is the easiest
> food prep in the world you see that these hipsters are either
> totally helpless indiciduals are too entitled to do such menial
> tasks.

One of those cereal places opened in Santa Cruz a few years ago. It
didn't last long.

I glanced in a few times. A sterile place, tiles on the walls, very few
customers. Didn't check the prices, as I'd already heard the depressing
news in an article on these places.

>
> While I'm at it, there is also the venture capital
> financed chain of places selling a grilled cheese sandwich.

I was visitings some friends in SoMa and one of them suggested a light
supper at "Melt," of these grilled cheese sandwich places. Fortunately,
it was closed. We ended up at Chipotle, which was filling.


--
Tim May

[Todd Michel McComb]

In article <slrnn6ra3c...@adeed.tele.com>,

Julian Macassey <jul...@tele.com> wrote:
>On 13 Dec 2015 09:03:18 -0800, Aahz Maruch <aa...@pobox.com> wrote:
>>Or if I'm otherwise away from home.

Right. I prefer my own food, not just for cost, but because I
prefer my own cooking. However, I don't prefer it to such an extent
that I want to hang around the house every day.

>In a normal urban setting, as Tim can explain to you, there are
>lots of tasty low cost options rather than paying through the nose
>for some factory cheese and sliced bread.

Well, that grilled cheese chain you're talking about, I think, isn't
that great, although their prices aren't so high either. A good
grilled cheese is every bit as good as a good hamburger, or BLT or
such in my book, though. It needn't be disdained. It's not as
though cooking any of those things is some kind of trick.

I would certainly pick "The Melt" over Chipotle.

[Al Eisner]

On Sun, 13 Dec 2015, mwo...@colgate.edu wrote:

> I reorganized my pantry yesterday and was forced to confront the fact
> that I am a food hoarder. I do not need dried shrimps from three
> different cuisine traditions. I never used to be this way when I
> lived among you; only in Snowvenia, where I live an hour from a
> supermarket am I prepared for a zombie apocalypse.

I looked up Snowvenia on a map. It appears (at least on a Google map
which shows main roads) to be in the middle of a triangle formed by
Syracuse, Binghampton and Schenectady. Is that sort-of like Bermuda's?

It seems odd that a university town wouldn't have a supermarket.
Are the kids there all *that* rich?
--
Al Eisner
San Mateo Co., CA

[Al Eisner]

I didn't care much for The Melt the one time I tried it. (I found
the soup more annoying than the sandwich.) I've never been to a
Chipotle, but based on recent news you are more likely to
survive the experience of eating at The Melt.

[Todd Michel McComb]

In article <alpine.LRH.2.00.1...@iris03.slac.stanford.edu>,

Al Eisner <eis...@slac.stanford.edu> wrote:
>I didn't care much for The Melt the one time I tried it.

I guess I had the names mixed up between the chain and the non-chain
place in Soma. The latter ("Grilled Cheese Kitchen" I see now) has
pretty good food, albeit with higher prices. The chain was quite
forgettable, although I'd still pick it over Chipotle.

[Mike D.]

On Sunday, December 13, 2015 at 11:23:14 AM UTC-8, Tim May wrote:

> tl;dr alert: This is really obscure, perhaps, but I've gotten intrigued
> by the uses of "of" as in "from," or "out of". All of the variants in
> Germanic and Roman languages that gives us words or names like:
>
> Pavlov, Kolmogoroff, Vucovic/Vucovich, Gizdich, Lubowicz, and other
> Slavic surnames. Very common in Russian, with English "of" in variants
> like Krushchev, Chekov, Smirnoff, and even double-patronymics like
> "Shostakovich." This is what took me down this path, trying to simplify
> the names of so many more foreigners I now see on the World Wide Web.
> Polish surnames, especially.

Most Polish surnames are adjectives, as you point out. They inflect
according to gender. Some are nouns. I worked with a Zajac, which means
hare.

[Mike D.]

On Sunday, December 13, 2015 at 11:23:14 AM UTC-8, Tim May wrote:

> And in my area there are a lot of Croatians, from a big wave of
> immigrants to this coastal area more than a century ago. It seems that
> a third of the names in Watsonville could come from this list:
> http://www.croatian-genealogy.com/most-frequent-croatian-surnames/
>

The odd thing about that list is that the most common Croatian
surname is Horvat, which is Croatian for Croatian. Horvath (or
Horwath) is also a common Hungarian name, meaning Croatian, of course.
Which reminds me there is a number of surnames that mean someone is
foreign. An Italian named Tedesco is of Germanic origin. There
are French people named Langlois or Lallemand, for "the English one"
or the German one.

[Steve Pope]

Julian Macassey said:

> While I'm at it, there is also the venture capital
> financed chain of places selling a grilled cheese sandwich.

What a croque.


(Sorry couldn't resist.)


S.

[Tim May]

They do have Hamilton Whole Foods, though it looks from Google Earth
Street View to be one of the new nano-versions.

(No wonder they only carry Colgate-branded toothpaste.)

On the plus side for tiny Hamilton, looks like a couple of Wegman's are
two corners of that triangle, along with at least some Trader Joe's and
Whole Foods places.




--
Tim May

[Ciccio]

On 12/12/2015 2:25 PM, Tim May wrote:

> The fanciest of these that I've been to is The Shadowbrook, in Capitola,
> at the bottom of a charming tramway. I took my parents there when they
> visited me a while back.

During the past 30ish years I've gone to Shadow Brook about 10 times.
The last time was about 10 years ago. I've found it OK [shrug]. As you
allude to it's a charming place to bring visitors. Though I've had a few
business meals there.

The last time I dropped a chunk in that neck of the woods for "upscale"
was at Pacific Edge.

[Ciccio]

I don't wear shorts, sandals or caps to restaurants. Most often to
sit-down places I wear a buttoned shirt, slacks, and leather slip-ons.
If I'm dressing down at a casual dining sit-down I'll wear a polo/golf
shirt and Dockers.

Ciccio

[Ciccio]

On 12/13/2015 6:58 AM, mwo...@colgate.edu wrote:

> Foothill-DeAnza students don't, I'm pretty sure. Many students at elite liberal arts colleges do, and mine is worse in that regard than most.
>A full 65% of our students don't qualify for a penny of financial aid,
which means that their parents are stinking rich.
> Which is why a bowl of Maruchan ramen is $0.33 if you make it yourself and $8.99 if someone else makes it for you.

One of my kids graduated from Pomona (where I think you used to teach).
She thought the food at the Claremont Colleges to be above average for
college food.

Ciccio

[Tim May]

I don't own those things. Which is one reason I avoid the hoity-toity places.

I _used_ to own such things, but stopped when I know longer needed to.
>
>

--
Tim May

[Ciccio]

Need? Well, I suppose I "need" to so my my hairy ass doesn't show. Jeans
and T-shirts were frowned upon at most golf courses, though over recent
years that's loosened up. Even when not golfing though, but just going
about generally my default attire is golf shirts and dockers. I do wear
jeans when doing other outdoor stuff, fishing, etc.

Ciccio

[Tim May]

On 2015-12-13 14:44:41 +0000, mwo...@colgate.edu said:

> I wondered:> > What's your willing price point for a really> > great
> meal? Is yours lower than mine, or is your taste just much more> >
> refined and selective?
>
> Tim responds, in part:> I am definitely not much for long-winded,
> many-course food affairs.> Takes too much time and I reach the point of
> diminishing returns early> on.
> There's where we part ways. Two of my favorite things on this earth
> are conversations with friends and a variety of interesting flavors. A
> "long-winded many-course food affair" provides both in abundance -- so
> my price point is much higher.

I suppose I haven't had as many interesting conversations over fine food.

Perhaps the opposite, even.

True story: In 1995 I gave a talk or keynote or some such at a
technology/media conference in Monte Carlo ("Imagina," I think it was
called). The invited speakers were given a dinner at a place
that--Wikipedia reminds me of--was called "Le Louis XV-Alain Ducasse."
Apparently pretty famous.

Many, many courses. I think the food tasted fine, but not as fine as
most of my favorite Chinese food places taste.

But sitting next to me was a creative cryptographer, David Chaum. I'd
read his work for years, and one may see the influences of his work on
mine.

And so we talked over most of the meal. For me, the food was barely
noticeable. Did anyone notice the food in "My Dinner with Andre"?


--
Tim May

[cph]

On Saturday, December 12, 2015 at 12:53:38 PM UTC-8, Tim May wrote:

>
> I remember when a bunch of my friends wanted to skip the dorm food and
> pay about $7 each at the local equivalent to what would now be a
> Sizzler. (Probably is now....it was famous for having a big tree
> growing in the center of it.)

Blue Onion/JK Frimples....now an IHOP
http://www.santabarbara.com/dining/news/2011/09/26/then-now/

[Julian Macassey]

The restaurant is on the corner of State and Valerio
streets. I lived on Valerio street. When I lived there the locals
were still calling it "The Fig Tree".

I never ate there. With all the great places to eat in
Santa Barbara, why would I?


--
Cutting Libraries in a recession is like cutting hospitals in a
plague. - Eleanor Crumblehulme

[Ciccio]

On 11/17/2017 2:29 PM, Julian Macassey wrote:

> I never ate there. With all the great places to eat in
> Santa Barbara, why would I?

An old irony of ironies which I still find amusing is that both the
Islamic/Black Muslim Bakery and Sambo's had their beginnings in the same
town--Santa Barbara.

Ciccio
--
If you're in these United States
reading this, thank a teacher;
if you're in these United States
reading this in English, thank a veteran.

[Julian Macassey]

On Sat, 18 Nov 2017 09:16:19 -0800, Ciccio <franc...@comcast.net> wrote:
> On 11/17/2017 2:29 PM, Julian Macassey wrote:
>
>> I never ate there. With all the great places to eat in
>> Santa Barbara, why would I?
>
> An old irony of ironies which I still find amusing is that both the
> Islamic/Black Muslim Bakery and Sambo's had their beginnings in the same
> town--Santa Barbara.

Santa Barbara has much to answer for they gave us the egg
McMuffin.


--
"The nice thing about standards is that there are so many of them
to choose from." - Andrew S. Tanenbaum

[David Arnstein]

In article <ouppsu$t3o$2...@gioia.aioe.org>,

Ciccio <franc...@comcast.net> wrote:
>An old irony of ironies which I still find amusing is that both the
>Islamic/Black Muslim Bakery and Sambo's had their beginnings in the same
>town--Santa Barbara.

Sambo was Indian, not black. That corporation got a raw deal.
--
David Arnstein (00)
arnstei...@pobox.com {{ }}
^^

[Ciccio]

On 11/18/2017 11:45 AM, David Arnstein wrote:
> In article <ouppsu$t3o$2...@gioia.aioe.org>,
> Ciccio <franc...@comcast.net> wrote:
>> An old irony of ironies which I still find amusing is that both the
>> Islamic/Black Muslim Bakery and Sambo's had their beginnings in the same
>> town--Santa Barbara.
>
> Sambo was Indian, not black.

That is a non-sequitur as certainly there are black
African-Indians/South-Asians, complete with a history of slavery, social
oppression, etc.

That corporation got a raw deal.

Yes, I heard Sambo’s owners assertions, when faced with protestations of
its name, that the Sambo character portrayed the dark child in a very
positive light. Further, that it was very rare for people of color to be
so portrayed at the turn of the century when the story was first
written/published.

Sure, I heard how the Sambo's name ostensibly resulted from a merging of
the names of its founders. Yet, at its founding in the late 50s, only
the most clueless person at the time did not know that “sambo” was a
pejorative toward black-Americans.

The term “sambo” for African-Americans of predominately African descent
mixed with white descent, however, long pre-dated the Sambo story.
“Sambo” as a derogatory term toward black-Americans, certainly, predated
Sambo’s restaurant.

Thus, the founders probably knew such, and like most white-Americans at
the time, they just didn’t give a shit. Unfortunate timing for them and
their successors that Sambo’s founding occurred contemporaneously with
the emergent civil rights movement. Oh well, that’s why it’s called
gambling.