I tale from a guy named Bronto (Punkadyne Labs (Punkwalrus))

Years and years ago, there was a guy named Bronto in FanTek. He was a handsome dude; muscular and sort of reminded one of a young Michael York (like from Logans Run). He was part of a cable personality duo, “Bronto and the Bear.” I am not sure what the show was about, but sometimes he came to the conventions dressed in a lion skin (as in, wearing it like a chieftain, not in a furry suit). But it’s important to know that Bronto was a big and muscular dude.

So, he once sat down and told us this tale which I am not going to tell as well as he did, but it worth telling. It’s about how he put a seafood restaurant out of business.

Being a muscle builder, Bronto ate a lot. Being a muscle builder on a budget, he was always seeking places of cheap protein. He came along this seafood place in his town that had “All You can Eat Flounder” specials on Tuesday. It need say no more.

The first Tuesday, he sat down and ordered the flounder special. He got one fillet. He smothered it with tartar sauce, cut it into four pieces, and gulp, gulp, gulp, gulp... he asked for more. He also asked for more iced tea and tartar sauce. By the end of the night, he had downed 30 fillets, much to the consternation of the management.

The next Tuesday, he was back. They remembered him around the 12th flounder or so. Slather, cut cut cut, gulp gulp gulp gulp, “more please.” Repeat. This time, the manager came by and asked if everything was okay. Bronto said the service was great. The manager did not look happy when Bronto ordered his last fillet of the evening, #32.

Next Tuesday, same thing. But this time, around fillet #15 or so, the manager sat a few tables away, turned his chair backwards, and stared at Bronto. Bronto figured that the manager was making sure he wasn’t stuffing the fillets in some take-out box under his suit or something. The manager looked really displeased, but didn’t say much, possibly because he feared confronting Bronto directly.

Next Tuesday, the manager got clever. “Tell this man that he can eat all he wants of the fillets... but not tartar sauce.” Bronto always laughed when he came to this part. “No tartar sauce? Clever move. I could only eat about 15 then.”

Next Tuesday, the manager said, “Tell him we’re out of iced tea after his third glass. Only soda.” Soda has bubbles, and thus, swells up in your stomach. Bronto could “only stomach 8-9” without tartar sauce and iced tea.

A few weeks later, the restaurant closed down. They never did have many customers; Bronto said often he was dining with only 3-4 other filled tables even at peak evening periods. But he always felt a little guilty, like he might have put them out of business with “all you can eat” flounder Tuesdays he took great advantage of.

It reminds me of a bit by a comedian who said he was once told by management at an “All You Can Eat” Chinese buffet, “That is all you can eat! You go home now!” Posted in: all you can eat , bronto , fantek , restaurant , seafood

Restaurant De Vagebond (Kilala.nl (Cailin Coilleach)) by Cailin Coilleach

Yesterday we went out to dinner, to honour Marli's 24th birthday. I wanted to go some place special, where we'd never gone before, so I'd looked around a little bit. I stumbled upon Restaurant Week, an initiative of high-quality eateries where they invite people to come in and have a surprise dinner. I went for De Vagebond since their menu seemed very suitable for Marli (who dislikes fish and detests french cuisine).

Finding the place was easy, though it's hidden away deep inside Driebergen. It's about five minutes driving from the A12 high way. The restaurant's tucked away in a normal neighbourhood, though once you're inside you won't notice at all.

I'd checked out the restaurant's website beforehand, so I knew that at one time it used to be a cafe. They were supposed to have upheld the coziness and warmth of the old interior and I have to say they succeeded: loads of browns, yellows and reds, with green accents. Also: plenty of light! Very nice indeed, although to some it may come across as overly busy.

The food itself is great, though you may get a start at first. Judging by the interior and the fact that the restaurant offers take-away satay and ribs, you'd think that the food'd be very normal. Well, think again! It comes served in a rather posh fashion and they don't skimp on the ingredients either! That was a bit of a weird experience :)

The service was excellent. There were only two men in waiting, serving around twenty-five guests. Even though the place was rather busy, they never had us wait overly long and they -always- found time for a little chat about our courses. Very impressive!

Now... On to the food, shall we?

Amuse
Marlijne: Onion soup, Quail, Fillet of beef. Verdict: near orgasmic.
Thomas: Onion soup, Deep fried gamba, Fillet of sprat. Verdict: very good.

Starter
Marlijne: Roulleaux of chicken, Shredded beef sashimi, Salad. Verdicht: it was alright.
Thomas: Langoustine, Cocquille, Salad with shrimp. Verdict: good.

Main course
Both: Rack of lamb, with a herb/celery crust, Quiche, Stir-fried veg, with seasonal mushrooms and a balsamic sauce.
Marlijne: very good.
Thomas: very good.

Desert
Both: Curd of yoghurt (hangop in dutch), Sorbet ice of raspberry, Cheesecake of raspberry, Souffle of raspberry
Marlijne: it was alright.
Thomas: awesome!

As you can see, our overall experience with the restaurant was very good. The food is very well prepared, although not always entirely up our alley. We can heartily recommend this place to anyone who's looking for a posh-y dinner in the vicinity of Utrecht.

We ended up paying 66 euros, drinks included, because of the Restaurant Week offer. Without discounts it would have been around 70 euros and it would still have been worth it!

Posted in: de vagebond , driebergen , great food , restaurant

The start of a trend - A prediction (The DropRocket (Johnnyace)) by JohnnyRnR

I was just reading Sauce’s gossip section, and it looks like the restaurant closing trend I predicted is starting to begin.    In the last year we’ve lost:

Red Moon
Melange
Crossings Taverne
King Louie’s (Will be sadly missed)
Lagniappe’s
Shmeers
The Tuxedo Room
Arther Clay’s
Tanner B’s (downtown)
Rossino’s

In the grand scheme this is a very small list, and some of these were doomed from their first day.  However, I’m predicting that once Highway 40 closes we’re going to lose a lot of inefficient independant restaurants.

It’s not going to be a bad thing - All the young guns of my generation will get their chance to shine once the highway reopens and the suburbanites start dining in the city again.

UPDATE: I forgot to add M.P. O’Reilly’s to the list of closures. I didn’t care for their second location, but I enjoyed their first location. I scavenged their men’s room door when the place shut down, and used it on my bathroom.

Posted in: restaurant

Restaurant Naast de poort (Kilala.nl (Cailin Coilleach)) by Cailin Coilleach

Yesterday we went out for dinner and since I didn't feel like going to one of our regular places I dug around IENS.nl. IENS appears to be a relatively objective restaurant review site, where actual visitors of the restaurant leave their reviews and their scores. So I stumbled upon Naast de poort in Wijk bij Duurstede. They don't have a website of their own, so here's their IENS page.

The thing about Wijk bij Duurstede is that I used to come there relatively often as a kid. My dad used to take us on car rides over the dykes of the Rhine in summer, to gawk at the ships going through locks and to generally have a good time. We'd always end up in Wijk to have a drink or some ice cream, after which we'd head home again. In my teens Menno and I made a few trips from Veenendaal to Wijk by bike, going through the old parts of Rhenen and taking ferries across the Rhine and back. The town has a rustic, old center that I like to just wander around in.

And of course, Wijk is where Marlijne and I met almost seven years ago ^_^

But anyway... Back to that restaurant :) Finding it was no trouble at all with our trusted TomTom and parking was a breeze: the market place where they're located has a few parking spaces, although you're only allowed to park for an hour. The interior's rather charming in a minimalistic kind of way, which is a good thing since the dining room is not much larger than our living room! With around thirty seats it sure isn't the largest restaurant around!

There's only three members of staff that we saw (a waiter, a waiter/maitre d' and the chef), but they managed quite well for the first part of the evening. We were getting prompt service all evening, until a few familiars of the maitre showed up, which resulted in him chatting away for five minutes. But still, the service itself was impeccable and both waiters are -very- courteous. It seems that the maitre has elevated his gallantry into a character that he assumes at work. An interesting fellow, to say the least.

The menu is small, which is a good thing if we're supposed to believe Gordon Ramsey: five starters, two soups, five plates with fish and five with meat and one menu consisting of starter, main course and desert. Marli had the beef carpaccio (they were out of veal) and the pigeon, while I had pate of grouse and wild boar stew. We finished off with chocolate mousse and banana/chocolate cake. The cake was the -only- thing that I wasn't wild about; the rest was absolutely wonderful!

So yeah, a dinner at Naast de poort doesn't come cheap but it's not an arm and a leg either. All in all we ended paying seventy-four euros for the full meals and at least five drinks. That's around ninety dollars, for the USAdians reading this. Seems fair for the quality and quantity that we received that evening.

Posted in: good food , naast de poort , restaurant , wijk bij duurstede

Sad news: one of our refuges is closing down (Kilala.nl (Cailin Coilleach)) by Cailin Coilleach

=== CRISIS AVERTED. The restaurant is staying open. Read the update at the bottom. ===

Yesterday, after a long day of preparing for tonight's New Year's dinner party, I was quite beat and didn't feel like cooking dinner. Since Marli had a craving for chinese and I had to go out for some last-minute groceries I paid a visit to our regular chinese restaurant in Nieuwegein. Yes, even though we moved to Utrecht we always stuck with this particular restaurant for our take-out (even though there's another one no more than 200m from our doorstep).

While making some small talk with the ever so friendly girl behind the counter I was struck with a horrible surprise. On my question whether they'd be open on new year's eve she said "Tomorrow last day for Asian Tower". Seeing my puzzled look she added "New boss here" while spreading her arms to indicate the whole restaurant (her dutch and english were never that good).

As I said, I was shocked and I'm actually quite said about the loss of this restaurant. Asian Tower has been our regular chinese and japanese restaurant for the whole of our relationship.

While digging around their website I found out that Asian Tower was opened only twenty days before the start of our relationship (like it was made for us!). Their doors opened on the 8th of May 2000, while me and Marlijne met on the 28th of May of that year. Odd that I never knew this :)

In our early years, we'd occasionally visit the restaurant with Marli's family (back then neither of us had our driver's license yet). But when we'd moved in together we'd go there very regularly. Sometimes even once every month!

* When we'd feel the need for a posh dinner we'd go and have Japanese with them.
* When we had friends over we'd go get take-out at Asian Tower.
* When we'd want to take friends out to dinner, we'd go to Asian Tower.
* Had a huge group of family after a birthday party? We'd go to Asian Tower.
* Even for our wedding party with the parents we went over there, to have the uber-expensive Chef's Special Japanese menu.

So why go back there all those times?

Well, the food's quite good and not your standard dutch-chinese fare. The menu at A.T. is more varied than most typical dutch restaurants and they take a more haut cuisine approach to the chinese kitchen. This often results in some very interesting dishes.

Also, the people were always great! The manager, though not even remotely fluent in dutch, was a great guy and would always come to your table for a chat. Mr. Wong at the desk was a very sweet man with whom we'd always spend at least twenty minutes just catching up on things. And a few of the ladies in waiting were also just the sweetest ^_^

Even cooler: in their early years, Asian Tower used to organise themed evenings like Valentine's Day or for the Moon Festival. They'd set up special menus and arrange for entertainment in between courses. They were a great bunch!

Things changed though in late 2004 / early 2005, when new management was instated. Gone was the friendly, older Chinese guy and in came a dutch business man. Mr Wong had long-gone to another restaurant. Most of the sweet waitresses had been replaced with grumpier girls. Our favorite Japanese chef Poon had gone to start his own restaurant (which strangely falls under the same management) and a few of the other chefs had been replaced as well.

Things were going down hill from there when it came to the people in waiting. But we still kept on coming, 'cause it had become tradition and since the food was still good. In the meantime though we did find a beter Japanese restaurant in Utrecht: Konnichi Wa, on the Mariaplaats. So A.T. was no longer visited for the "posh" evenings.

Anyway: it really is a shame that they're closing down and I have no clue whatsoever why it's happening! The restaurant's always fully booked and seems to be doing quite well. I'm thinking of dropping by the restaurant around lunch time, to see if that manager guy's around to ask him some questions.

Asking the girl behind the counter what'd happen to her now, she said "Don't know. Looooong vacation?". I'm going to miss that girl ;_;

EDIT:
I just spoke to the current manager of Asian Tower by telephone. On the one hand he was unpleasantly surprised that I had heard about the rumour... Not at all pleased. But on the other hand he was willing to offer me a little explanation: Asian Tower _will_ continue their business, it's just that he has sold his share in the company to the other share holders.

In essence this means that not much will change immediately, although over time we'll probably see changes in both personnel and the menu.

I'm just glad they're staying :) Posted in: asian tower , closing down , restaurant , sad

keep Louisville weird ® [ma.gnolia] (Put together quickly (Haligan)) by MichaelBiven

Tags: louisville, local business, restaurant

Posted in: local business , louisville , restaurant

Lynn's Paradise Cafe [ma.gnolia] (Put together quickly (Haligan)) by MichaelBiven

Lynn's Paradise Café (Louisville, Kentucky) is a quirky independent restaurant with a national reputation built on great food, wacky décor, and wild events. At the Paradise,

Tags: louisville, restaurant, lynn winter

Posted in: louisville , lynn winter , restaurant

TV : Throwdown with Bobby Flay : Breakfast : Food Network [ma.gnolia] (Put together quickly (Haligan)) by MichaelBiven

One of my favorite restaurants in Louisville is on Throwdown with Bobby Flay.

Tags: food, lynn winter, bobby flay, louisville, restaurant, recipes

Posted in: bobby flay , food , louisville , lynn winter , recipes , restaurant