art s.'s Profile
DateSt. Louis, MO 63101
(314) 621-9600
Renaissance St. Louis Grand Hotel
Categories:
Hotels,
Venues & Event Spaces
Neighborhood: Downtown
Saint Louis, MO 63102
(314) 621-2000
The Westin St. Louis
Category:
Hotels
Neighborhood: Downtown
Ridiculously convenient to Busch Stadium.
Friendly + helpful restaurant team, even right @ 6am when they've just opened.
Chicago, IL 60651
(773) 844-2815
JC Granite
Categories:
Contractors,
Handyman,
Kitchen & Bath
Neighborhood: Humboldt Park
* He was willing to take it on in the first place.
* He was flexible enough to come visit me, scope it out, come back and pull the stone out of my kitchen.
* And he was patient with my multiple requests for revisions to the project (for which I paid him, of course, but still, I moved the goalposts on him a couple of times).
Would definitely recommend him and use him again.
Chicago, IL 60640
(773) 784-6969
Hamburger Mary's
Categories:
American (Traditional),
Bars,
Burgers
Neighborhoods: Andersonville, Edgewater
* sliders (best things we had -- the traditional, the lil' spicy and the lil' princess)
* loaded ta' tas (kind of a mess, okay I guess)
* lettuce wraps (whatever sauce they were using to flavor the chicken was too syrupy for my liking)
* mac n' cheese fritters (not very cheesy, served with what tasted like store bought bbq sauce)
Maybe the lesson is just stick w/ the burgers? With so many other places, though, not sure I'll go back for thirds.
1 Previous Review:
-
6/24/2007
Decent place to eat and chill outside, wouldn't really want to eat inside unless perhaps I needed to get fired up for some roller derby battle.
The wife and I were thinking burgers were the call tonight and we wanted to eat outside. Those were our two criteria. So we strolled to Andersonville and were able to grab a table outside at HM's, which was fortunate b/c the music was cranked inside. I'm sure some folks are fine with it, but we just wanted to relax a bit.
The food
Burgers were great. And though I'm not usually this delicate, I actually decided to go the fork and knife route with my 'Spicy Mary' [pepper jack cheese, pickles, red onion, tomato, some kind of sauce, lettuce - it was madness, but a tasty madness]. I am sure I looked like some kind of freak or Fauntleroy, but I just didn't feel like dealing with having sauce running down to my collar bone, but neither did I feel like passing up on that Spicy Mary, so I struck a little bit of compromise with my dignity. I'm prepared to have my man card suspended - so be it. Side note: the slaw is pretty fine, too.
On a menu featuring some pretty provocative items, my wife went with the most salaciously named option: the 'Guacamole B.J.' B is for bacon, think the J might be for Pepper Jack. I hope so. Anyway, she liked it, too. At least half of it. The other half we ended up giving to a guy on the sidewalk of Clark St. Yes, I gave half a Guacamole B.J. to a guy on Clark St. And what of it?
We also got the Popper's Tini, which is stuffed jalapenos and asiago cheese olives or something. Jalapenos were mediocre, but the olives were a nice little somethin' different.
Service
Overall pretty good. Seemed like they might be a little tired, exasperated, envious or a combination of all three as it was Pride weekend and if the table of geeked up over-laughers behind us was any indication, the servers surely had dealt with a few hundred folks whose energy and escapism levels would be hard to keep pace with all weekend long.
Random note
Your bill comes tucked into a woman's shoe [a pump? I don't know - see the photo]. Shtiky, maybe, but it kind of works here.
New York, NY 10012
(212) 515-8899
Freshco Burrito Taco
Category:
Mexican
Neighborhood: Greenwich Village
New York, NY 10011
(212) 777-9515
Washington Square Hotel
Category:
Hotels
Neighborhood: Greenwich Village
On the plus side, there is a Starbucks right around the corner and walking around Washington Square early in the am with your coffee can be a pretty pleasant start to the day.
Definitely would not want to be here for stays longer than one night.
Chicago, IL 60640
(773) 828-8889
Adriatic Cafe Restaurant
Category:
Mediterranean
Neighborhoods: Andersonville, Edgewater
Reviews here have been all over the spectrum, but we caught them on a good night.
* Service was attentive and friendly
* Food was tasty.
Big part of the fun was trying something completely new to me -- the kajadjordjeva (sp?) schnitzel. a.k.a., fried, stuffed pork loin with squeeze bottle mayonnaise drizzled on top. Sounds weird, looked weird, tasted pretty great.
Bacon wrapped dates are always a good start. Menu suggests there is jalapeno involved in these, which sounded excellent, but unfortunately we didn't taste any evidence of heat at all.
* Wine selection focuses on the offerings of Montenegro, Croatia, et al. How often do you see that? Montenegran Cabernet Sauvignon I had was simple and drinkable.
I haven't yet been to any of the Balkan countries, but our night @ Cafe Adriatic made me feel like I stumbled into a low key, rustic restaurant on the Montenegran vacation I've never had. The table of native speakers behind us chatting away with the hostess and waitress reinforced that vibe. As did the eclectic mix of three different types of outdoor furniture they have on the patio. It may not be sleek, but I kind of enjoy a place that doesn't have that same cookie cutter / decor-by-numbers look that every other restaurant has.
We'll try this place again. Hope they survive and thrive.
New York, NY 10003
(212) 475-5700
Cooper Square Hotel
Category:
Hotels
Neighborhoods: East Village, NoHo
The walls are thin. Really thin. And unfortunately not all the guests are as classy as the environs.
So, if you're in 1101 and a Snookie wannabe in heat is in 1102, you're hosed. The drunk whining that started at 12:15am was annoying. The over dramatic sexnastics that followed were horrifying. My neighbors were working their way through the least inventive dirty-talk-by-numbers kind of dialogue you can imagine. It was as if Beavis and Butthead Scripted a Porno was being shot right next door.
Management was unable to quiet them down and wouldn't allow me to move to another room to get some peace unless I was willing to pack up everything (laptop set up, pressed clothes hung in the closet, etc.). Yeah, because that's super convenient at 12:45am when I am trying to get every minute of sleep I can between two long days on the road. Thanks, but no thanks.
Next time it will be another hotel where the walls are thicker and / or I'm more likely to have grown ups for floormates.
Chicago, IL 60605
(312) 765-0524
Mercat a la Planxa
Category:
Tapas Bars
Neighborhood: South Loop
Appreciate the flexible wine options (both variety and serving size)
Food ranged from really good to great
Great
Coca costillas de ternera
Datiles con almendras
Almost great
Patatas bravas
Wagyu "zabuton"
Really good
Truita de patata
A special squash blossom with goat cheese
The one quibble I'd note is @ $42 the wagyu's impact on the tab is much greater than its impact on the meal. It was the most expensive item by far, and it was good, but it was probably our third or fourth favorite item of the night.
Nonetheless, Mercat has secured a spot on in our rotation of nice places to have dinner and places to take visitors from out of town.
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Chicago, IL
Yelping SinceAugust 2006
Find Me InEdgewater, Loop, out of the country
My HometownNorth Dighton, MA
My Blog Or Website When I'm Not Yelping...I'm throwing away unnecessary dog sweaters my wife purchases
Why You Should Read My ReviewsI bring it
My Second Favorite Website My Last Meal On EarthQuesadillas at Los Sombreros Taqueria
Current CrushTommy Saxondale
* Starbucks in the lobby is convenient
* Flexibility to let me check in @ 10am was very helpful
* Mostly good experience in the lobby restaurant. The ham, egg, cheese and apple butter breakfast panini was stupid tasty. Smoked chicken salad wrap for lunch was also excellent, but unfortunately they just pulled it off the menu.