suburban "suburbanrambler" r.'s Profile

in this next go-round, it turns out that my home gym in the desert  no longer reciprocates with HC. no matter. dean, the manager was very accomodating and offered a reasonable paid week membership [and if slightly longer, he could accomodate, he offered...]

the locker areas show their age hence a slightly irritating jack hammering work [expansion?] next to the showers-- it needs improvement. but staff are still infinitely nice and helpful.

i will keep on returning...

to sate the jetlag-induced hunger and impetuosity, i ate- nah, inhaled,  the half-pound ahi-limu poke in the car but brought a pound of it to mom/dads in this recent visit to hawaii.

that it was my first informal meal is appropriate [briny, and sweet and silken and protein rich and crunchy [from the limu] that made my tummy smile...after the bouncy plane ride close to honolulu, how better to tell your mouth that it's no longer in albuquerque?

They hold some good permanent  collection. The travelling (visiting) exhibits are sometimes good; the most recent, art from Cuba, was quite enlightening.

The cafe next door is good.

a good sunday brunch.

after previewing the hispanic cultural center's small permanent collection but with a current visiting exhibition of cuban art , we were up for some good new mexican food. this restaurant is located in the compound of the museum, in a seperate older adobe building. on sundays, there is a buffet brunch for a mere $13 that offers a panoply of choices: eggs, chile, posole, meat dishes [in this instance, a tasty roast pork and a chicken in white creamy sauce]. there is also enchilada and adovada and fajitas. it's a perfect table for moral hazards...

while chomping at these selections, there was a guitarist that unobtrusively played some gardel and other pleasant pieces. there were at least seven choices of desserts including cakes and flan, etc...

classy. deep dish pizza joint. next door to my hotel- hotel 71.

nice clean mod space of a restaurant that serves great sandwiches. we ended up here after trying to get into the zoo that is of Rick Bayless empire of restaurants nearby [Xoco, ......, ....] long wait....

are you kidding me? we stayed here for three nights in the recent jaunt to CHI this early Oct to check out the new Piano Addition at the Art Institute. this hotel has got to have the best river and skyline views in all of chicago! and what a location: one isliterally at the midpoint of ART [AIC]  and shopping [magnificent mile]

i've stayed at Ritz's and Crillons yadda yadda and one does not expect the same lux here so for what it is- a room with a view for just over a hundred clams-it's perfect, its cozy, it's central.

and if you happen to stay over the weekend and you have one of them river views, be sure to get up and watch the yacht regatta that literally stops traffic as the bridges open up to let them thru!. By itself that show is worth half the room costs! ;-)

If it's past 8 pm here in Albuquerque and you are seriously aching for some exotic food (non western, non fastfood) then you're out of luck. Goes the oft expectation and reality of not living in s metropolis. Or at least in a biggish town. Albuquerque, you see, is a town. That it is at the cusp of getting biggish lends NOT the  dining choices of big big towns. I think NYC. Chicago. LA. DC. SFO. even parts of Nueu Jersey (Hoboken, even Newark) and while you are at it Honolulu.  Jasmines, owing to Yelp, confirms that they open until 930pm. Friday night. The pad see yeiw is fair enough and conjures one but better a stones throw from my east village apartment [a mom-and-pop shindig on 7th not far from mcsorleys], and a much much better one on upper west ninth avenue in the Theatre district in manhattan (49th st? I'm tempted to guess...) regardless, the 3 stars if due more to it's 'we open later than most' aspect of it's operation rather than it's food speaks volumes indeed of the kind of compromises one makes in moving to these smallish towns.

Their tacos are no wider than 4" disks of warm corn tortillas, double layered and then topped with piping hot chicken and beef, garnished with cool cilantro, and onions, hot peppers, lettuce = finger food/lunch of perfect portions that will infinitely rival the best offerings of your local Taco Bell.

Why can't I have a so kong dong in albuquerque? After seeing art most of my last day in LA during this recent visit, I decided against the safe predictability of a cheesecake factory in Pasadena and drove to culver city instead thru that hell of a winding freeway that is the pasadena frwy.  i found it thru YELP in my iphone-- both godsents. and Wow, what pay off. I wished I had discovered this place on my first day as I'm sure I could have come back for more meals than just one.

From their table top abbreviated menu of exactly sixteen items, the pork and beef bulgogi would have been familiar territory. so i opted out of that comfort zone. not that i have not had korean tofu soups before-- these had been hearty comforting bowls for the frigid winters of NYC consumed invariably at wonjo on 32nd street. the only difference here were the amount [more] of silken/soft tofu and the raw egg cracked over the still bubbling and steaming bowl that my waitress had offered upon delivering it to my table. this must make an excellent hangover food after an all-nite clubbing. also this dish could have stood on its own or sufficed if the other dishes-- banchans in korean-- had not been served. but these crucial redundancies, palate teasers, their own amous bouche are exactly the reason why i love korean food so very much:  a half a dozen of generous portions of robust flavored dishes in little shallow bowls crowds your dinner table: wonbok kimchee, raw crab, fried tofu, bean sprouts, cucumber kimchee, in this instance.

i would definitely come back here again. in fact, i am tempted to visit LA just to sample many more of its korean restaurants.