PHO #1 - TUCSON, AZ

i love this restaurant. Its located near the intersection of Grant and Stone. Its a large space with lots of tables and booths and the service has always been great. The room is decorated very nice; colorful with dragons and gold and red tassels and pictures and those Oriental cats with big round eyes. oh, and the bathroom is always spotless.

We shared a Bun dish which is vermicelli noodles on top of cucumber and lettuce and bean sprouts and then topped with a variety of stuff depending on what you order. Last night we had spicy lemon grass chicken (super tender) which also had crushed peanuts and hair follicle thin slices of carrots. We've had their spicy chicken twice before; once on a Bun dish and the other time with rice and it has never been really spicy so with casual disregard we ordered it this time and wow; it was SPICY.

I only could 'handle' 2 pcs. of chicken but it was ok with Bill so he gave me most of the egg rolls which we had also ordered. They were the best I've ever eaten   so the dinner was a success and we left happy and full and satisfied.

CAFE FRANCAIS - TUCSON, AZ

What a horrid experience!

The prices here are so expensive and the service sometimes friendly (which it was on our yesterday visit) and sometimes haughty and arrogant with an attitude of "i've really got a lot better things to do than serve you a meal" and the food not very good. and you might ask, why in the hell did you go back?  I'm asking myself that without a good answer.

My almond croissant  was almost $6. Every other bakery that makes croissants are #1 cheaper and #2 larger and #3 better. Even Trader Joe's frozen almond croissants (for  $1 each) put these to shame. I also ordered scrambled eggs (ok), hashed browns (tasted frozen and they were greasy) and bacon (ok.) My bill was $15 and change.

 my friend, Chris, ordered a spinach quiche and it resembled a compressed spinach garden; very unappealing. She couldn't eat it so asked the waitress if she could have the quiche Lorraine instead. Well, the next thing we knew was the owner, Nicole, telling the waitress (why she didn't have the courtesy to talk directly to Chris i don't know since she was only like 4 steps away from our table) that she would have to charge for a substitute meal. that "she ordered it and she must eat it." and if she allowed an exchange for Chris she'd have to do it for everyone.

Does this happen that often? and if it does, wouldn't a restaurant owner want to know that because it just might be a clue that food quality is lacking. I've never never been in a situation where i've heard  the equivalent of "you've made your bed and now you lay in it". Isn't it illegal to charge for something the customer didn't get?

The owner repeated all this scolding a second time too. The waitress was very very apologetic.

Very unpleasant experience. Maybe this is why their other restaurant La Delice on Tanque Verde closed. Off with her head, I say!!

THE JUDGE

I wasn't expecting a great movie but i certainly expected an entertaining one since it stars Robert Downey, Jr. and Robert Duvall. my expectations were dashed (though Duvall was pretty damn good).

Run of the mill story. Father (Duvall) is a judge and hates his son (why was never thoroughly explained). Son (Downey) is a big city attorney who hates his father. Mother dies. Son comes home for funeral and ends up representing his father who has been charged with murder for running over a man who he had once sentenced.

Nothing was new or unique or in fact, really believable.  The crumbling marriage of Downey (the opening scene) was so forced and surrealistic. The 7 year old daughter of Downey was so mis-cast because she was part Hawaiian or Asian and didn't match or even come close to the pure causasian-ness of Downey and his wife.

The music was a lot of caterwauling. Naturally, one of Downey's brothers was retarded but in a "charming" and "funny" way. The other brother had his baseball career crushed because of a car accident and it just so happened that Downey was driving the car.

There was a big screaming emotional cathartic psychodrama scene in the courtroom. The father was dying of cancer. There was a long lost high school flame who ran the local tavern. There was a plethora of home movies showing the "good ole days" when everyone got along.

Oh, i disliked immensely this movie. and Downey's rapid fire witty sarcastic patter was wearing thin by the end of the first hour. and at this point the film still had over another hour to run!!!!!!!!!!

I gave this movie a 5 (though now as i'm rethinking it, i am tempted to lower the number). Bill gave it a 7.