Posts from — June 2005

Collina doesn’t have to retire- just yet. Cool!

Unrelated story: Ronaldinho Tanze Mit Ball! Just like Kostner!

Via sfgate.com-

So far, so good at the Bay Bridge, where the gridlock many feared would accompany the inauguration of three new FasTrak lanes has failed to materialize.


Traffic was zipping along with minimal delays this morning, even on the Interstate 880 approach to the new lanes on the north side of the toll plaza . an area known as the .mini plaza..


That.s where Caltrans has set aside three dedicated FasTrak lanes, and officials . not to mention commuters . feared huge backups as motorists jockeyed for position and the new FasTrak lanes reduced the lanes available to those without the transponders, which allow people to zip through the toll plaza without stopping to hand over $3.

I’ve always been shocked at the bridge admins. When I moved here, they didn’t have Fastrak, but when they put it in were worried about getting people to adopt it. There’s one way that I’ve suggested, but they haven’t returned my calls:
Make all the lanes but one FasTrak lanes. Then you’ll see a massive amount of signups in less than a week.

so annoying. . .

Pak and I used to joke at work that Mick LaSalle only gave good reviews if the movie was about a retarded Llama tender that has to cross Iran as the revolution was about to start and there was a subplot involving lesbian sisters striving to overcome the odds. Well, apparently he liked Bewitched too. Yuck.

Damn, I loaded up the Express-News’s website to look up Spurs pics and saw this:

Taco Land owner fatally shot

Ram was an icon in SA. I played at Taco Land with various bands, I hung out there to see and listen to other bands, I had some good times there. Taco Land was even immortalized in a Dead Milkmen song. My friend Laura Escamilla even made a documentary about Taco Land and Ram.

And my favorite bumpersticker EVER was given to me by Ram after he had broken out the tequila bottle one night, like he had on many previous nights. It was almost his motto. It was red with white letters and simply stated words a Texan could live by: DON’T BE A PUSSY!

RIP Ram. Que te vayas bien.

Vianna Davila
Express-News Staff Writer


The owner of Taco Land, a landmark San Antonio night club once immortalized in song, was fatally shot at the bar around 1:21 this morning in an incident that sent two other people to the hospital in critical condition, police said.


Ramiro Albert Ayala, 72, was pronounced dead at 2:25 a.m., according to the Bexar County Medical Examiner’s Office. Ayala is listed as the bar’s owner, the medical examiner said.


Details of the shooting were sketchy, but San Antonio Police Department Sgt. Matt Podwika said two men were inside the bar when words were exchanged and at least one of the men opened fire.


“We don’t know exactly what was said between ( the victims) and the suspects,” he said.


Ayala was taken to Brooke Army Medical Center with a wound to the left side of the chest. A 40-year-old woman who was shot in her abdomen, and a 54-year-old man shot in the side, were taken to University Hospital, according to Podwika.


It appears the two suspects fled in an unknown vehicle with the money in the bar’s cash register, the sergeant said.


A Dec. 12, 2000, article in the San Antonio Express-News said Ayala opened his business, at 103 W. Grayson, in 1965, selling food to workers from the soda bottling plants that once operated in the area. He turned the business into a bar in 1969.

Okay, I’ve held off long enough about these cars (or their drivers rather) but they finally made it in the top 3 of my top 10 hated cars (and their drivers).

Attention Prius drivers:
If you are approaching a hill get out of the passing lane. Your hybrid is not as fast as you think it is. As a matter of fact, you shouldn’t be in the passing lane to begin with. Thank you.

Top 3 hated: 1) volvo station wagons 2) [TIE] Toyota Prius 3) [TIE for 2] Mini Vans on 101 or 280 in the fast lane. Hrm, nah, just mini vans on the highways.

So I’m young for being a bitter old man, bite me.

I have a love hate relationship with Trader Joe’s. I love their products, I like the stores, but sometimes I hate going there because it’s hard to get in and out of there and they’re so crowded. But I was there recently and picked up some of their Italian Roast Coffee as I was running out of beans and I *still* haven’t had my roaster repaired. I didn’t expect much out of the beans, but I’ve got to say, it makes a great espresso on Ms. Silvia. Trader Giotto’s Espresso di Roma, and it’s pretty cheap too. Who knew? Now, if I can get the hotties who shop there to give me the time of day I’ll be set. . .

I was reading some blog that mentioned a new(er) search tool called igrep. So I went to try it. Normally when I try a new search tool, I go into stalker mode and type my name, or some hottie’s name to see what I can find. This time I tried my own name. Igrep didn’t find anything, but offered a nice alternate suggestion.

At my last job, there wasn’t a big selection of lunch places in the immediate area. We were kind of trapped at the office unless we hauled ass down 101 to get to SSF (aka South San Francisco aka South City). [side note: for my non CA peeps, South SF isn't the south side of SF, it's another city, just north of the airport]. Grand Ave in SSF has a lot to offer and if I wasn’t down there, I was at the Taco Van for Taco Tuesday.

But of course once I LEFT that job I find out there’s supposedly a good Argentinian place on Grand that I must have walked by hundreds of times without noticing. It wasn’t until recently that I finally realized where Villa Del Sol was.
So, one night recently when I was bored and hungry (just like most nights) and in the neighborhood, I decided to give it a try.

For those in a hurry, I’ll cut to the chase and tell you what I had: Beef Empanada (casera), Asado de Tira (had to try that cut and report back to Jodi, my steak-partner-in-crime), some chimichuri on the side, a glass of Malbec and for dessert the Flan completo (which means home-made flan w/ a dollop of dulce de leche and some whipped cream on top). In short – NICE. Would I go back? Yup!

Now some details. VDS is over on Grand across from the Library/City Hall area. It’s a smallish restaurant that’s kind of quaint and unassuming. It seems to look different depending on what night you go by. Sometimes they have the TV on for soccer games or concerts, sometimes they have actual singers there performing. When I was there it was a bit of a slow night, there were only four tables taken including mine. I wound up being the last customer and talked to the owner(?) and the manager for a bit. They told me that in June a singer would be around for some of the weekends. I’d like to go back and check out what it’d be like to eat there when someone’s performing. It seems like it’d change the dynamics of the small elegant, but neighborhood-y restuarant – but not in a bad way. I’m just interested in how it’d change it.

Notes on the food:
the beef empanada was great. They have the fried style (instead of baked) but it wasn’t greasy at all. I could’ve eaten a dozen of them and just had some wine.

The steak was great too. It’s hard to describe an Asado de Tira cut, but basically it’s a short-rib(s) steak that’s cut cross-wise across the bones. I’ve never cooked one myself, but I’d have to assume that you’d cook it on the bones (if they’re long) before letting the meat side(s) hit the grill, but I could be wrong. Different restaurants will give you different sized servings (number of ribs). Villa del Sol’s serving size was very nice so I was happy. It wasn’t seasoned much (certainly much less than El Raigon) but it didn’t need to be. My steak came with some nice fries and a side salad. I tried their chimichuri sauce as well and dug it. Mmm.

I’d like to comment on the quality of their flan (it was nice!) but there was an incident in ‘95 where I said a friend’s (Adriana Chico of Guadalajara) flan was possibly the best I had ever tasted which led to shock from my family and problems with our friends, the Flores family, as my blasphemous opinion got back to Sra Flores (who arguably makes the best flan in the world). I’m not cut-off, but I haven’t had Flores-Flan in quite a long time.. . . So due to “the incident” I won’t comment on the nice dessert at Villa del Sol. They also have homemade Alfajores, so I’ll have to try those next time.

The only weakness of Villa del Sol would be their wine list (I hate writing that). But I think they’d let me take my own in next time- especially if I offered the staff a glass. They were out of a few items and I wound up having a nice glass of something random which wasn’t bad. But still, I have some stuff I’d like to have with a nice steak soon.

So if you find yourself down in So.SF and have time for a nice dinner, swing by Villa del Sol. Great food at a reasonable cost. Oh, and you don’t have to speak spanish there if you don’t know it (or don’t want to). Someone had told me that the owners didn’t speak English, which isn’t true.

After deciding we were already missing Argentinian food, Jodi and I decided to try El Raigon for a nice steak dinner.

It was quite nice, although certainly not as nice (or inexpensive) as the restaurants that we went to in Buenos Aires (Oh, La Cabrera, how I miss you so. . .). We both were quite excited that they had Cavas de Weinert Malbec on their wine menu, but it turned out that they were out of stock when we showed up.

El Raigon’s just up the street from Washington square. It’s an unassuming looking place that’s almost hard to see unless you’re looking for it. I must have passed it a million times before and not noticed it. The dining room is a nice, medium-sized brick affair with sparse decorations- a set of the ubiquitous bolas along the back wall, and some maps along the other walls. Not that I cared, but the acoustics weren’t too bad, but I wouldn’t consider it a quiet date type of place. I did notice another couple move tables after a 10-top of guys came in looking like they were either about to go out for a bachelor party, or celebrate something that the marina-dork-golfer-type-I-wear-my-shirts-untucked jackasses celebrate. I don’t blame that couple for moving. [that reminds me, if you have a large party, El Raigon has a Prix Fixe menu].

But more importantly- the food was good. We started with some beef empanadas caseras, and started a bottle of Felipe Rutini while we waited for our typical order: Jodi’s Asado de Tira and my Bife de Lomo. We also ordered some calabaza and asparagos just so we could say we had our vegetales for the evening. You know how it is, if you have your vegetables, you don’t feel guilty about the Flan Casero and the Helado “Tango Gelato” (mmm dulce de leche) that you’re eating for dessert. [menu]

So would I recommend it? Yeah, I would. The beef is cooked right, and is high quality. And that’s one thing this Texan loves. Was there anything I didn’t like about it? Yeah, I’m a snobby asshole as most people know- and I didn’t like some of the other diners that were there. I don’t know if they were regulars, but so what? Don’t let that stop you from going. But I swear, if I ever see that annoying lady again with the fake knit stole bitching to the hostess that she and her husband want to sit at the other table, even though it’s a 4-top and she and her husband were seated at at deuce during dinner, I’ll .. . well, knowing me, I won’t do anything- but I’ll make fun of her on my blog! Touche!

There were only three negatives that don’t include the other diners- 1) we were hoping for portion sizes similar to BA 2) they were out of Weinert (not that big a deal, the Rutini was great, but it made me wonder if I should’ve taken a bottle of Tikal and paid for the corkage. . . omg I can’t believe I wrote that, I’ve become one of them. . .) 3) the bill wasn’t AP$100. But the positives outweigh any of those three minor kennyisms (unless your budget is tight).

I’ll be posting a blurb about the other Argentinian restaurant I went to on Monday or Tuesday.

Speaking of Argentina, Spurs, Baby!! Spurs! [pic]

We got spirit yes we do. . . We got spirit how ’bout you?

I went to Hangar One after the Rosenblum Wine Fest recently. I didn’t try everything as I was the chauffeur. But I did wind up with a bottle of their whiskey and some of their pear liqueur. Both are quite tasty. Actually, all their stuff is tasty and interesting. Take the ferry over to Alameda and check them out, or look for their stuff in your local bar.

I don’t think I would have been as keen on their pear liqueur had Kallen and Andreas not been chatting about pear William brandy on irc recently. (we don’t chat during work hours, and if we did, we sure wouldn’t chat about alcohol) Keep in mind- the Eau de Vie’s are strong.