CUP IT UP

I read about this restaurant several weeks ago. Here's what  i remember: it was started by 2 golfers who wanted to keep playing  the game but were also hungry but didn't want the mess or the grease or fattiness of the usual fare offered on the green (i'm not sure what this encompasses since i don't golf.) so they came up with a cup concept. Put a lot of good fresh food in a cup that can be eaten with a fork or spoon.

So voila! there is Cup it Up in the former home of a bbq place near trader joe's on wilmot and speedway. The first time we went here was for dinner and they had just closed at the ungodly early hour of 7pm!! This time we went there for  lunch during our weekly Friday grocery run.

The restaurant was just as bone chilling cold as the first failed time so we ate outside. The menu is on the wall giving you the steps to follow; pick out meat or fish as the base (we had herb citrus chicken) and then grains (we had white rice) but you could also get brown, barley or quinoa. Then lettuce or kale or spinach and they will grill it for you if you want. then some toppings; most come with the price of the cup and in our case it was $8. bill and i shared it and it was a more than ample serving for both of us. also we didn't get it in a cup (they will either mix it up for you and put it in the cup or layer it in the cup); we asked for a bowl which is a takeout container with a plastic lid.

so back to the toppings. there was tomatoes and peppers and jalapenos and onions  and mushrooms and then you got to choose 2 "superfood" toppings and if you wanted more there was an additional charge. These toppings included blueberries, garbanzo beans, avocado, edemame beans and some others that we can't remember.

Then you pick a sauce; they had a cheesy one and then their house sauce and a peppercorn one; we went with the house sauce. I don't know how to describe this sauce; slightly salty and slightly sweet with a tad of garlic. It was delicious and just enough was put on to not drown the concoction.

We were very satisfied and passed that on to the owner who was milling about.

The bathroom situation is sort of a hassle. All the businesses except for Trader Joe's shares a bathroom in the center of the strip mall and i had to wait till one of the server gals could go back into the restaurant and get the key and then walk me to the bathroom.!!! Not ideal.

 Not enough of a "problem" to prevent us eating here again.

HAIL, CAESAR

Pretty good film; way more enjoyable than i thought it would be. In my opinion (well, that's what this blog is, isn't it? MY opinion.) the Coen Brothers can put out some fairly dull and goofy stuff.

This movie was a satire on the old Hollywood studio days. Josh Brolin has the main part as the head of production; Tilda Swinton plays 2 - yes, 2 - gossip columnists; George Clooney is a very popular heart throb leading actor; Scarlet Johansson is the lead in all the Esther Williams type swimming extravaganzas. She  is unmarried and pregnant and a husband has to be found quick. Ralph Fiennes is a director of staid British parlor type movies. Anyway, there are a lot of actors in this one; some like Frances McDormand has barely any screen time but add to the mayhem of the studio/making movies/keeping the stars in line plot.

The movie was way funnier in the beginning but it did have scenes throughout that were either witty or out loud laughing humorous. One of my favorite ones (and i was pounding the arm of the seat and thumping the floor with my leg and i couldn't catch my breath for awhile) was Ralph Fiennes trying to direct an actor who only had appeared in cowboy movies and didn't have to talk hardly at all except to say "giddyup" and "whoa" and ride horses all the time; an entrance and then some lines talking to his sweetheart in the movie. The line was staidly British-old England "may i thwart my love who hither and yon was not forgoing pithily." (this is not an exact rendition of the words.)

They rapidly went back and forth with the cowboy actor continually screwing up his pronunciation and the order of the words and it just got funnier and funnier; the whole audience was roaring.

So the film rated a 6.5; entertaining but not consistently so.

CASA DEL RIO

What a delicious find! This Mexican restaurant was recommended by my friend Jacki who is also my hair stylist and the lady who is going to add some pizazz color to my hair. Its located on the NW corner of 22nd and Pantano.

The place had a great atmosphere with lots of booths in the main room and tables in an adjoining room.  Good service. The chips and salsa and water were brought to the table within a minute. Not much decoration but I was more interested in the food.

The chips were wonderful; very thin and crispy and flavorful and the salsa had just a very mild zing. Bill had a tamale and rice and I had a combo: tamale and cheese enchilada and a machaca taco. I saved the tamale for lunch today; just couldn't finish it. Bill loved his tamale; the masa was good and it was stuffed end to end with tender beef and the sauce wasn't too spicy. and i was super satisfied with my entree. The taco had lots of meat in it and was covered with cheese, lettuce and tomatoes.

The only thing i wish had been different was no cheddar cheese and instead queso fresca.

Very happy well fed full belly's on sat. night.

FRESH SUSHI PHO

Located on the NE corner of Kolb and Broadway; near DSW. Its open every day except Sunday till 9pm.

I didn't really like anything we ordered but we will come back anyway because i loved the atmosphere of the place and the portions are generous and the prices low and there's many other items on the menu that appeal to me.

Lots of bamboo and fans and "coolie" hats and wood frames and mirrors shaped like a zen   sand garden and the sushi area looked like a tea house. The service was good.

No booths and i think 4 of the tables, maybe 5 had those high chair/stool seats which i don't like at all.

So we ordered spring rolls because i got confused and thought i was getting egg rolls. the rolls were fresh and big (2 of them) and the sauce was tasty - a hoisin based sauce but i don't like spring rolls; too much rawness; like eating a salad in a cigar.

We also ordered a chicken ban mi; traditional Vietnamese sandwich. Unfortunately, this one lacked; the amount of chicken and pickled vegetables and the clear fish sauce and the bread which was a French baguette was a tad stale and way too crusty.
 

On to the main entree; a bun dish which was really a pho; it was listed under pho so i don't know why i expected something different. The broth was good and the vegetables (carrots and sweet and white potatoes and bean sprouts and cilantro) were cooked perfectly. There was lots of tofu which i didn't eat. But the vegetable and dumpling soup at Ha Long Bay is WAY WAY WAY better plus having a lot of different veggies.

I think the next time i will order egg rolls and one of their chicken and rice dishes.

GRANDMA

We both rated this movie a 9. Lily Tomlin is a lesbian feminist pro-choice grandmother of Sage who needs $630 for an abortion.

Elle (Tomlin) helps Sage by visiting several friends - past and current -  and lovers and  the father of  Sage's baby (irresponsibly clueless) and also Sage's mom.

The dialogue was marvelous; snappy and hilarious and witty and honest. The scenes at the abortion clinic and when Elle visits her former flame (played by Sam Elliott who is referred to in the film as a Biblical patriarch; wow; he is handsome.) were so believable. Nothing was forced or overboard emotionally.

And the ending was perfect.

BAI THONG

We gave this Thai restaurant on Speedway near Swan another chance. We  have quit going there (culinary boycott) twice because of the quality of their food and the toughness of their meat. And each time we have come back, the first meal was pretty good and then we go back again; uh oh, back to a chewing marathon and picking out gristle from the chicken which is not all white meat.

So i think we are again going to have to separate from this place and take it off our restaurant list.

We ordered pad woon sen vegetarian (the veggies were plentiful and perfectly cooked) but it tasted like the sauce was a can of Campbell tomato soup.

The yellow curry with chicken?? Well, let me just say i let bill eat all the chicken after i wrestled with my first piece and just doused the rice with the curry sauce and potatoes. The sauce was tasty and just spiced enough.

However, overall, the meal just wasn't real satisfying.

BROOKLYN

This is a10+ movie. Gleamingly filmed in New York and in Ireland with excellent acting, great dialogue with a lot of sharp witty humor, a story flow that was exquisite and characters that were believable.

I wasn't expecting much. This film was a 'fill-in' choice because i had rejected CAROL due to a friend's telling me it was painfully slow, I had also rejected HATEFUL EIGHT due to some reviews and the almost 3 hour running time and YOUTH (with michael caine and harvey keitel) that i did want to see was not in the theater at the Loft with stadium seating. SOOOOOOOOOO

I was amazingly grateful for my cinematic choice.

A young adult leaves her small Irish village to go to
America. The movie superbly showed the adjustments and transitions from leaving a birth home and landing in a totally opposite environment knowing no one. Her homesickness could be felt through the screen.

However, then she meets a young fella and she successfully completes some schooling and gets better at her sales job and things start to happen. Until she gets a call that necessitates a return trip home.

I don't want to say anything more because it will ruin the delightful and poignant twists and unexpected turns of the story.

And the ending was superb.

THIS is why i love going to movies.

DOLCE VITA

excellent Italian restaurant right next to sprouts on the  nw corner of broadway and pantano. It was not crowded and therefore, not noisy.  Lots of tables well spread out and no booths.

Our service was wonderful. Just enough attention.

The olive oil dip for the bread was very good but the bread itself was similar to a dollar loaf of french bread at Safeway; very doughy with hardly any crust.

 Each entree came with soup or salad. We had a salad; very fresh. I had feta garlic dressing.  Also a plate of bowtie pasta with peas in a very light vinaigrette as  an appetizer for the table. This didn't have much flavor which did NOT stop me from eating it.

Bill had chicken piccata which came with his choice of pasta and sauce. He picked angel hair with a garlic butter. He was very very happy and said the chicken had the best flavor and was so tender he didn't even need a knife. I had cheese ravioli with meat sauce which was a 10.

Both of us have leftovers for lunch today. Their desserts looked wonderful but i had made a chocolate magic flan cake so we passed on the sweets.

Oh and the bathroom was painted  the most striking combination of a lilac and mauve. Beautiful.

We will be back.

THE DANISH GIRL

I have decided i don't like Eddie Redmayne. His role in this movie seemed to me to be a Stephen Hawking in drag performance.

The movie was sooooooooo slow and everyone talked in whispers and amazingly in British accents even though the movie takes place in Copenhagen. There was no suspense or  tension and i couldn't identify with any of the characters; they all seemed unreal and like they had just stepped out of the book Pride and Prejudice (a 'silly sisters' sort of land) with restrained and muted facial expressions and speech.

There was an excess of skin self-love; lots and lots of stroking and tears? you wanna see tears? a schooner filled with brimming drops.

Summary: Man has penis
Man doesn't want penis
 but Wife wants  him to keep his penis.

EL MOLINITO

First time at this Mexican restaurant. Its so close that on a warm summer's evening we could walk to it; on the corner of Wrightstown Rd. and Pantano.

Its a really large place and has several rooms; some of the rooms are stark and too bright with no decorations at all but other rooms are filled with murals and wall hangings.

This is a mixed review because the prices were good; portions large and the food was ok. However, the bathroom was horrid; very dirty and one toilet was spewing a steady drip of water. and the service was desultory and slow (we waited about 20 minutes before our food came out; usually at Mexican restaurants the entree arrives almost as soon as you say LADA; like in enchiLADA.) and even then it wasn't all our food because our waitress said they had no ground beef to put in my chimi so i had to pick something else. which i did; chicken which was quite tasty and i have some left over for lunch too.

Also bill's order was incorrect and the beans were a lukewarm soupy swirl of beige; totally unappetizing.

However, (back to the positives), bill liked his tamales and the guacamole and as i said, my chicken was good. uh oh, another negative; the chips were cold and stale.

But we will be back maybe in 6 months.?? there are a couple more Mexican places we want to try that are close to us now that we are east-siders.!