Giveaway Winner

Congrats to Daniel who won the drawing for the movie viewing tickets for Where God Left His Shoes this Thursday at the Memorial Coliseum. Daniel, please email me at elizabethfuss (at) msn (dot) com. Thanks!

Hey Lady

One night last week, my plans fell through and I found myself up for some solo dining in the Pearl District. I walked by Piazza Italia and decided to give it a try. An Italian gentleman approached me in the doorway and held up one finger "Uno?" [Okay, disclaimer here. I know no Italian. Everything I heard, I heard in Spanish. So everything you read here is the victim of my interpretation.] I nodded my head. "Pregunta." He turned around and walked away towards some tables on the sidewalk.

I didn't know if I was supposed to follow him or not, so I just stood there. Then, an older Italian gentleman standing just outside the door motioned at me, "Hey Lady!" and he pointed towards the first guy, waiting at a table for me on the sidewalk. Snap, Crackle, Pop, I was seated, had a bread basket and a dish of olive oil and vinegar. It was remarkable - their organization and speed with which they serviced the tables.

My only complaint of the whole dinner was that the bread was dry - like it had been cut and then sat out for an hour or two before being placed on the tables. But it was good and dipped in the oil and vinegar, I didn't really care.

I ordered Gino's Favorite Linguini Squarciarella: prosciutto, egg, onions, parmigiano and black pepper (I think it was about $12.) It came out within about 10 minutes. While I was waiting, they refilled my olive oil. Did you read that? THEY REFILLED MY OLIVE OIL. Beautiful. The pasta was simple, fresh and delightfully laced with sharp parmigiano, salty proscuitto and a little spice with the black pepper.

I ate all of it. Then they took my plate. I was out of there in less than a half hour. Which was not my goal, really, but I didn't mind that their service was so practiced and down pat that they could serve me a nice dinner so quickly.

Impressive service, quality pasta and they refill your olive oil when you run out. Yeah, I'm thinking you should go.

Where God Left His Shoes (Giveaway!)

A few years ago, I volunteered at a homeless shelter and spent the night there, sleeping on mats, just like everyone else. I was struck by how normal some of the people were. One lady, wearing a suit, could have worked in my office. Sure there were a few crazies, but for the most part, these were normal people in unfortunate circumstances. The line between me and them vanished as I realized that maybe the only difference between us was that I had family in the area that could help me if I was in a bad way.

This coming Thursday, the 16th at 6pm at the Memorial Coliseum, there is a private viewing of Where God Left His Shoes, a film about a family who experiences homelessness, starring John Leguizamo. The viewing and discussion benefits the Bridges to Housing organization and the NAHRO Regional Scholarship Fund.


We have a pair of tickets to give away for this viewing - a $30 value. Leave a comment and I'll draw a name on Tuesday night. If you wish to purchase tickets, please go to the Neighborhood Partnership Fund.

Returning to the Scene of the Affair

Last year I went to Lincoln and had a slutty affair with a steak. I still think about it sometimes. I went back for Happy Hour a couple of weeks ago, to see if the feelings were still there.

The Lamb Poutine was subtle and rich, the gravy a thin dressing that soaked into the crispy fries and the cheese curds randomly melted throughout the heap of meat and potatoes.

Baked Eggs. In cream. With olives and breadcrumbs. With fresh bread sopping up the cream and the yolks, the olives punctuating the mild flavors with a little sharp, salty flavor.

Yes, I might still have a crush on Lincoln.

And then there was PIE

Pie seems to be *it* these days. From Whiffies Fried Pies to the tomato pies at Savor Soup House, they really are all the rage. And I can't seem to get enough. So when I found out there was a pie shop opening mere blocks from my house, I could hardly wait.

The artwork that is being created on the walls at Stone Pie Joe's is interesting. Faces. Lots of faces. In 3-D and in paint. I don't like it so much. Yet. But it's not finished, so I'll give it some time. The women at the counter were still trying to get the hang of things. I think we visited them only on their second or third day open.

I bought a breakfast pie to take home and eat the next day on my way to work. The girl told me to be sure to heat it up in an oven, not a microwave. Sure - that makes sense. It made even more sense when I got my whole order.

I had ordered a mushroom, zucchini and cheese pie, along with a blueberry pie. The savory pies had a crust that was much more similar to bread than crust. It was like a bread bowl. It wasn't bad. Wasn't my favorite either. And even though it was heated up in their convection oven, it was textured like it was heated up in a microwave, chewy and hard to pull apart with my teeth. Though as it cooled, it got easier to eat.

The filling though, it rocked. It was just the right combination of vegetables and cheese and seasoned very well. The filling from the breakfast pie was great the next day - it was full of eggs and sausage and cheese and when I heated it up in my convection oven, it was crispy and fluffy, which I loved. I will definitely be buying pies to take with me to work, since it's so easy. Also, all the pies are $2.85, which is much less than I usually spend on breakfast-y type foods in the morning.

The sweet pies have a more typical crust but aren't overly sweet. I really enjoyed it. Keep an eye on Stone Pie Joe's. I think they will be cranking out some interesting stuff. Vegan and Vegetarian options are plenty. Also, they are open at 6 am, so SCORE!


Stone Pie Joe's
Between Lovejoy and Marshall on NW 23rd

Because I'm a Cool Aunt

I took my nephew Joshua to the food carts tonight. The kid who earlier in the day threw away a Burgerville hamburger because it had ketchup on it, decided to try Jambalaya with crawfish from Bubba Bernie's and a raspberry pie from Whiffies. He wouldn't touch my spaghetti from Yarp, which didn't bother me, since I loved it and have no problem eating the whole thing myself.

Wi-Fi Makes it Better

The internet went out at my apartment building yesterday. It was terrifying. For hours and hours, I didn't check my email, my Twitter or my Facebook, let alone catch up on the blogging I needed to do. I was extremely anxious. [insert dramatic music here]

I drove over to the Eastside around 1:00 this afternoon, hoping to grab a cheap lunch at a cafe whilst using their wifi. I ended up at Broadway Grill and Brewery. I've been to this place lots when it was a few other restaurants. It's really never been good. I wonder if the location has a curse on the food it produces.

The waitress seemed hesitant about the Wi-Fi. "Sometimes you can pick it up. I mean technically we have wi-fi. I just know that lots of people have trouble with it." Because I was hungry and desperate to see Inbox (548) that would certainly be waiting for me, I decided to risk it.

*Luckily* the wireless fired up quickly. Sadly, what I saw was Inbox (1) and it was something about how some natural enhancement would help me... oh you know.

So anyway, looked at the menu, which was filled with burgers and sandwiches and fried fish and fried chicken and fries and onion rings and all the other typical sports bar fare. Oh did I mention it was a sports bar? It is.

I ordered the Greek Salad and the onion rings. The salad, while it looked pretty all layered, was difficult to eat. Everything kept jumping out of the bowl as I tried to mix it up. The lettuce was that part of the lettuce head that you don't normally choose to eat. The light green part that in this case was bitter. No amount of the oily dressing could hide it. The feta, artichokes and olives were fine.

Onion rings were typical, though the buttermilk dressing they came with did actually taste homemade. But not with buttermilk. It tasted homemade with regular milk. Wasn't bad though.

Anyway, who cares. Because I got to blog and email and Facebook and Twitter. The food wasn't horrible. Wasn't great. Was meh. But did I tell you they had wi-fi?

P.S. I forgot to tell you that they play ALL 80's music. And not in a good way. I heard Paula Abdul and Su Su Sudio (how the hell do you spell that?) and it nearly ruined my appetite. And then I went back to Twitter and forgot about it.