121308 Mon Feb 10 15:49:57 -0800 2003 12 8 Midwest 0 660432 The response to my third negative review from Josh and Foodie invites some discussion. Perhaps I misunderstood the subject of this discussion board. I thought we are supposed to discuss food in the area. I did not know that we are only supposed to discuss food POSITIVELY. Perhaps there is a separate board for negative remarks I am missing? Seriously, I think these ad hominem remarks are very impolite and reflect badly on the people of the Twin Cities. They make you sound like a bunch of unsophisticated yahoos, and I know that people of the Twin Cities are considerably more than this. Is the issue that you think that I have contempt for your native town? Because I do not. I appreciate very much the cuisine here. I love ethnic cuisine and it is much better here than it was in Philadelphia, my previous home (and my favorite city in the world). I have recommended several exceptional establishments. Two, China Crown and Krua Thai, I claimed were better than anything comparable in NYC, and this remark also invited an ad hominem remark, presumably from some partisan of New York. I think that posters should confine their remarks to the post and not the poster. I find very hard to believe that ANYONE who HAS been to a NYC deli could like Cecil's. Furthermore, I would be surprised to find any supporters of Peking Garden in a city with so many better choices in Chinese restaurants. Finally, my wife, an excellent cook, is an upbeat and positive person, and she was revolted by the slop at Yarusso's. I have liked most of the restaurants I have tried in the Twin Cities, if for one thing only. I have just had a run of bad luck lasting a few weeks. I am not sure why posters should hold this against me. Should I balance my criticisms of bad establishments with compliments to soothe your tender feelings? I appear to have done that and I think I remarked about the very sweet staff at both Cecil's and Yarusso's. I even complimented the tiramisu at the latter. I for one certainly hope that people make honest remarks about the establishments they eat at and are just not flattering and empty. I eat out a lot and I have no friends here to guide me to the better places. I need to hear about disasters so I can avoid them. I sense an underlying insecurity, as if you have to hear about the excellence of the Twin Cities dining scene. You should not need this, and I hardly think this is the place for such reassurance, but take comfort in the fact that I do appreciate your city though I do not think it shall be my home for very long. Mon Feb 10 15:49:57 -0800 2003 0 Battistini 1 660434 In your reviews, you use words like "bad" and "disaster". When people ask you what you meant by that, you use "disgusting" and "nauseating". It doesn't mean that they're attacking you if you won't tell them just what it was that you experienced that "nauseated" you. If you aren't willing to get more specific than that, they're going to have to guess what's going on here. Mon Feb 10 17:12:11 -0800 2003 660432 0 ironmom 2 660443 Oddly, the replies to my remarks seem less ad hominem than the other posts. When I have been asked for specifics, I gave them, but I will re-double my efforts. I thought I was specific about the dishes that upset me. I do think that if you review the replies to my posts, however, they do seem to be rather attack-oriented. One, for example, criticized my punctuation! Tue Feb 11 11:09:11 -0800 2003 660434 0 Battistini 3 660447 well, i'm the punctuation guy. like others have mentioned it was the overly severe langauge that bothered me. i totally understand and respect reviews that aren't favorable. it just seemed, to me anyway, that several reviews in a row were extremely negative. my comment about the commas was in response to a lot of "big point" scrabble words and was unnecessary and childish. that's my fault. one example would be using the phrase ad hominem three times in two posts. but maybe that's just me being picky. in any case i'm not insecure about the twin cities food scene. it's great for the variety and cost for the most part and there are much larger issues in the world for me to worry about. i hope that bastiani finds some places to eat at and enjoy. but i still find the overall tone of his recent messages to be bothersome. on to some actual food news. two roomies and i ventured to aj's smokehouse on lowry off of dara's recnt advice. aj himself was a wonderful, friendly, man. we tried the jerk chicken and curry chicken which were both outstanding. the beef ribs and ox-tail stew were quite good as was a fruity cole slaw. fried okra was light and not greasy but a little underflavored. the pressure cooked chicken wings were a big hit and i loved the baked beans. great sauce with a nice apple flavor. plus some real ginger beer and jamaican pineapple soda to cool us off. it was a great break from the actual weather. aj came out of the kitchen and talked with us for quite awhile and told us about his deep fried turkeys and smoked turkeys. which he will do on a special order basis. carry on, hans Tue Feb 11 12:19:57 -0800 2003 660443 0 hans 1 660435 You've taken the comments about your reviews and yourself far too seriously. If you can discern "you think that I have contempt for your native town” and "I sense an underlying insecurity" from a few sentences, I applaud your creativity. I don't have an issue with you posting a negative review; it's the language you use to describe the food. It seems to me the "unsophisticated yahoo" would use phrases such as "revolting slop" and "tasted like contamination". Enough said. Let’s get back to the food. Mon Feb 10 22:38:04 -0800 2003 660432 0 Foodie 1 660437 Since you brought me into this, can you help clarify what was wrong with my repsonse. Like you, I agree that the reviews on this site should be both positive and negative, and my reviews have fallen into both camps (for negative reviews, see my comments on King's Palace). I have no problem with harsh reviews, in fact I really appreciate being steered away from real duds. All I was saying was that if there was a deli that you did not like, there are a couple others in town that I think are superior to the one that disappointed you -- go check those two out. Does that make me an unsophisticated yahoo? Tue Feb 11 00:34:25 -0800 2003 660432 0 Josh Resnik 1 660455 well, sometimes you certainly misunderstand people pretty easily. when you went off on how a thai place you found in minn. was "better than anything in new york" and i guess i called you out on it you responded by saying i had no experience with minn. thai restaurants. to that odd response i thought huh? who said that? it was clear i was talking about new york thai of which there is better than you knew. the reality is your local thai is 'better than anything you were aware of at the time' in new york but you had some trouble with that. other than that maybe you sometimes use some odd harsh terms (nausiating, etc.--huh? did you vomit or something?) but you write informative reviews. if and when i get up there and it will be sometime soon i would be sure to re-review your otherwise enlightening and well written comments. keep eatin & writin man. Tue Feb 11 17:37:18 -0800 2003 660432 0 mrnyc 2 660457 I thought everyone knew that the best Thai food in the US is found in LA. Tue Feb 11 18:31:05 -0800 2003 660455 0 Mistermike 3 660464 well no one was talkin about 'la' dude. this is the midwest forum and we were talkin la and minn thai. nyc now has one awesome thai finally but pshaw every one knows there is hella rightous thai in la. Tue Feb 11 22:40:52 -0800 2003 660457 0 mrnyc 1 660460 Well, I am heartened by the replies and at least one apology. I cannot use different words, I write as I speak. If a word is apropros then I use it, and frankly, I do not have the time to choose different ones. In any event, to those of you depressed and disheartened by my recent negative reviews, I say, I was more disheartened and depressed by the meals themselves, and I look forward to breaking my un-lucky streak (and so does my stomach)! I guess I will have to start recycling positive reviews if this keeps up! Now, a different topic. My wife and I love Belgian beer (I also love Hefe-weizen). There are three bars where one can get Belgian beer, Triple Rock, Williams, and Muddy Pig. There are two where one can get Hefe-weizen on tap, Glockenspiel and Williams. Does anyone know of any others (I prefer tap beer)? Tue Feb 11 20:45:52 -0800 2003 660432 0 Battistini 2 660473 nice to see the title of your post, as i am obsessed with belgian beer to the point that i have attempted to culture the yeast from a bottle of aarteveld gran cru so that i could brew it here. i'm not aware of any place in the cities other than the ones you mentioned where you can get belgian beer on tap. about a year ago, i read a food review by dara moskowitz, james beard award winner and city pages darling; i seem to recall her raving about a restaurant in mpls where you could get happy hour pints of a good belgian beer for $4. unfortunately, that's all i can remember. in st. paul, solo vino on selby, thomas liquors on the st. thomas end of grand, and ramaley's liquors on the cathedral hill end of grand all have great beer selections, though solo vino's (as you might guess) is pretty limited. however, since this is a midwest message board, i'll put a plug in for my favorite bar in the world, where you can get just about any damn beer you'd like. the bodega brew pub is located in lacrosse, wi, about 2.5 hours south of the cities. they have (i'm just guessing here) perhaps 600 different bottled beers available, and they chnage seasonally. additionally, they usually have about 15 beers on tap, which range from the local city lager (fuller bodied mgd, really) to their own oktoberfest brown (in october, naturally) to hard to find micros from around the state and country. i've never seen a belgian on tap there, but i'd guess they're one of the few places that would serve it properly if they did. oh--the belgian beer us turning out ok. --j. Wed Feb 12 23:55:07 -0800 2003 660460 0 john 2 660475 I've had hefeweizen on tap at the Black Forest Inn on Nicollet Ave. in Minneapolis. Thoughts of their lovely patio are making me hungry for spring. Thu Feb 13 10:45:34 -0800 2003 660460 0 McGeary 2 660485 Auriga (on Hennepin near Franklin), a fine restaurant, has a bar in back where they used to frequently have Wittekerk (sp?), a Belgian White beer on tap for 4 bills or so. They also used to regularly have a seasonal beer from Bell's Brewery in Kalamazoo, MI, on tap. Not Belgian, but always nice. Bryant Lake Bowl also had a Belgian on tap every so often (and plenty in bottles). Black Forest serves up tall glasses of Paulaner hefeweizen and also some Dunkelweisses from Germany. (and ditto that previous post about their patio!) Triple Rock is the bar I miss most in the world (having been exiled to New Hampshire 1.5 yrs ago): Belgian beer (and 40 oz's of Colt .45 served in Champagne coolers), all dishes available from totally Vegan to entirely Meat, possibly the World's finest jukebox, a serviceable-to-pleasant patio, and ownership by the Twin Cities' hardest working punk rock band. Hopefully things haven't changed too much for the worse. Thu Feb 13 22:37:46 -0800 2003 660460 0 b grubbs