Mark S.'s Profile

Definitely a cut above chain Mexican.  I tried the "Nopales" (sauteed cactus) and found it a bit bland, but this is probably the nature of the beast.  The rice and beans were excellent.  My wife is a chips and salsa fan and found the offering here very good.  My son was pleased with his vegetarian fajitas.  The sopapillas were tasty though my wife say they're supposed to be soft; I supposed they've caved in to Americanization here.

The decor is attractive and original; check it out at their website: http://www.yerbabuenal....  The website also has the complete menu and you can make reservations on line, though I haven't tried this.

We've been wanting to try this place since seeing Mike I.'s review, and finally made it!  You start with your basic order and then go down the row, requesting various additional fixin's of vegetables and condiments.  As newbies, this took a while, but they were very patient and friendly with us (it didn't hurt that it was raining and there were no other customers).  My vegetarian kid and I both had variants on the basic hummus / falafel combo, and they were delicious.  We were on the run this time; we'll definitely come back and try some of the other stuff.  It's small and clean, with a handful of tables inside and outside.  See Mike I.'s review for the meat offerings and chips.
One star off only because this wasn't a thorough tryout; I expect that will change.

Just a brief "me, too" review.  I recently took the guts of a malfunctioning exercise bicycle (purchased elsewhere) in to them and received friendly consultation and an inexpensive repair.

My wife and I bought bikes here quite a few years ago and were quite pleased.  It's a spacious, attractive shop with a wide selection of gear.  (Caveat: this is the impression of a casual cyclist.)

Update: hey, you guys, go check out Diane S.'s cool review -- I'm just a barnacle!

Nice place -- better than I expected for a chain.  To Ellen's and Andrew's reviews I'll add that there are lots of choices (one would hope so!) for pancakes, waffles, crepes, and French toast (are we calling it that again?).  I had the pecan and raisin pancakes -- yummy!  Then there's weird stuff like lemon-poppy seed French toast which maybe I'll try next time.  The waitress was patient and helpful with my detail-obsessed son.  Everyone in our party enjoyed their choices.  The entire menu can be seen at the website.

WORD on the fresh-squeezed orange juice!

As a world-class research facility, Fermilab hosts a cosmopolitan population of really smart people, and stages a variety of cultural events to keep these folks happy.  Fermilab also tries to maintain good relations with the surrounding community, and as such shares these events with the community; additionally, a variety of programs are aimed at non-scientists to share what is going on not only at Fermilab but in other cutting-edge areas of science.

The Public Lecture Series, on occasional Friday evenings, features world-class scientists presenting their work for a lay audience.  In my experience, these talks have been challenging but very understandable, often with well-composed visuals that clarify, astonish, and amuse.  Most lectures are about physics, but some are also about biology, paleontology, climatology, etc.  Videos of some past lectures are now available online.  Tickets are $5 and available at the door but they do sometimes sell out, so advance purchase is always wise.

There is also an arts series featuring chamber music, folk music, acrobats, dance, you name it.  A film series features mainly foreign and art films, with occasional pop cultural surprises.

There are of course many educational programs from K-12 through undergraduate, graduate, and professional.  The Lederman Science Center features a small hands-on museum demonstrating how particle accelerators and other technology at the lab work.  The famous Fermilab prairie hosts a number of life science programs.

Oh yeah, there are tours of the lab, of course.  (Thanks to the other Mark S. for reminding me.)

I could go on forever, but that's what their website is for.  Or you can easily sign up for email updates.  Don't overlook this treasure chest of science and culture!

Short story: Sears repaired our brain-dead dishwasher and did some minor upgrades for free.  A genuinely broken part was replaced for $7.  One demerit because the customer interface didn't know I was entitled to it.

Long story: pull up a chair.

Several years ago, we replaced our dishwasher with a slick Kenmore from Sears.  We were pleased with it.  As time went on, however, it became cranky.  At first we were doing double-takes.  "Didn't we start that a couple of hours ago?  Oh well, it's almost finished now."  It seemed to depend on the phase of the moon.  One day, it would work fine; another, it would start and then sit there gibbering with the "Minutes Remaining" numbers flickering.  Other times, it would show ... wait for it ... FORTY-TWO minutes remaining ... for long periods of time.  (Non-"Hitchhiker" fans see here: http://en.wikipedia.or...)

One fine day, as the dishwasher gibbered and flickered, I put a cup of coffee in the microwave in the counter above it and punched "Start".  The dishwasher purred.  My jaw dropped.  I stopped the microwave.  The dishwasher returned to catatonic mode.  This was straight out of the Three Stooges.  "Hmmm", thought I.  I threw a piece of bread in the toaster and started it up.  Purrrrr....

Flash forward.  The repair guy confirmed what I suspected -- the dishwasher's brain box was sensitive to over-voltage.  Under the right conditions, adding a high-wattage load would drop the voltage just enough to make the dishwasher happy again.  He replaced the brain box and a few other parts on which there were "service bulletins" and all was well.  (He also knew about it sticking at 42 -- "Oh, yeah, that's the {bla-bla-bla} hot water cycle.")

I had finally made a service appointment via the website when it looked like the dishwasher had quit altogether.  Of course, it resumed working before the actual appointment date.  I tried to call for some assurance that the service person would be prepared to replace the brain box; confusion ensued.  They certainly were not able to tell me in advance that I was entitled to the repair.  The normal minimum for a service call is $65, and didn't want to pay it only to be told there was nothing wrong.

As it turned out, the service guy was top-notch.  He called in advance, arrived on time, knew exactly what to do, and did it quickly.  He was frankly critical about the brain box design and said they had been steering customers away from that model for a while.  As of now, everything works great.

The cuisine here is Korean, and as the name would suggest, about half the dishes feature some form of tofu.  However, "tofu" does NOT imply "vegetarian"; though there are excellent vegetarian choices, there are also a variety of meat and seafood dishes.  My son fancies both tofu and mushrooms, so he of course got the "Mushroom Tofu Soup".  It arrived literally boiling, and he didn't want to put the egg in it, so he had to wait quite a while until it had cooled enough to eat.  Otherwise he enjoyed it.  I had the "Salad Noodles" and found the "house sauce" not excessively sweet and very tasty.  Our dinners came with the traditional Korean sides  of kimchee, sprouts, radishes, soybeans in a sort of carmalized sauce, etc.

The setting is not fancy, but it's attractive and clean and holds roughly 50 people.  It's in Ogden Mall midway between the theaters and the gelato place.  You take it from there.

If you go to their website, you may encounter some character set issues, but if you click on "Menu" at the very top, you will see a complete readable menu including photos.  I also took away a paper menu and there was a "10% off next visit" coupon on the back.  They take Visa and MasterCard but not Discover.

OK strip mall dine-in / carry-out Mexican; the kind with full-color pictures of the food on the menu and on the wall behind the counter.  My wife likes the chips here.  Pleasant and clean with friendly, fast service.

I love this place!  I find the delicacy, diversity, and strangeness of sea life hypnotic, and there's plenty of it here.  The setting of the dolphin pool is beautiful, and the show is positively scholarly compared to Brookfield Zoo's (where Evil Pollution Lady throws milk jugs into the water and the dolphins flip them out -- thanks a biggie for THAT dose of wisdom).

I can't believe I haven't been here since the coral reef rehab -- gotta make the trip sometime!

A spacious, well-organized discount book place.  Most things seem to be at least 50% off.  Most books seem uncirculated and in good shape -- seconds / remainders / whatever.  Good variety of subjects.  A fair number of moldy oldies as you would expect, but lots of reasonably current stuff, too.  Even the computing titles were only slightly behind the curve.  They say they get new stuff every 2 weeks.  It's in the slot where JoAnn's Fabrics used to be.

Bottom line: I took home more books than I have time to read.