With foodiefriends Josh and Selena in from out of town, Marty G. was looking to check out Campagnolo, the latest offering from the gang who brought you Fuel. They were joined by Special Features Producer Ivon Bartok who is always up for a feast. I tagged along to document the evening.
We arrived at about 7:30 p.m., a late dinner because that’s the way you do it in L.A. I myself prefer to take advantage of the blue plate special along with the Ben-Gay but, on this night, it was either eat late or eat alone. The restaurant doesn’t take reservations but Ivon was kind enough to get there early so that by the time the rest of us rolled in, we already had a table waiting for us.
“What’s good?”asked Martin.
“Well, the Bianca pizza was excellent,”I began, “and the…”
But he wasn’t really interested, absorbed as he was in the menu. Martin ooohed. He aahhed. He gave one mystery item the eyebrow. After careful consideration, he finally glanced up at the rest of us and suggested: “How about we order the entire menu?”
Ivon balked, but he was overruled. Just in case, Martin deferred to our waiter. “We’re thinking of ordering the entire menu,”he informed him.
Now, normally, whenever Fondy and I over-order, the waiters are quick to tell us as much and attempt to steer us toward a more modest meal. However, not on this night. Our waiter didn’t even bat an eyelash. “Okay,”he said. But he did suggest we might want to strike some of the ancillary items from that evening’s culinary hit parade. We lost the marinated olives, the margherita pizza, and the sides. Everything else – all 18 items – were a go!
It says a lot about the quality of the dishes served that we weren’t able to arrive at any consensus favorites. When it came to the antipasti, my vote went to the carne crude while others picked the octopus salad or the surprising crispy ceci. My favorite cure course was the prosciutto while others went with the pate. When it came to pastas, Selena and I loved the penne, whereas Ivon, Martin, and Josh crowned the tagliarini king (although, for Josh, the risotto was a close second). I again aligned myself with Selena with the next course, choosing the Biana over the Salsiccia (which I felt was a little light on the actual sasiccia) but Ivon, Josh, and Martin were more forgiving and went the other way. There was, however, consensus on the main. Four out of five of us gave the Polderside chicken a huge thumbs up while Josh, so wowed by the proceeding dishes, abstained. For dessert, we split three nutella tarts and the olive oil cake. After our meal, I poked my head into the kitchen and asked Alvin about the nutella tart. They were delicious but…different. Yes, he admitted, they were somewhat shallower because the original version proved exceedingly rich for most diners. Most, but not all – and by not all, I mean me. I ended up compensating by having two to myself.
We were scheduled to follow-up with a meal at Fuel tonight but Martin begged off, claiming he was still full (read: hung over) from the previous night’s festivities. I sincerely hope he’s feeling better soon because he kindly volunteered to guest host the Weird Food Purchase of the Day: Liquid Edition in which he will sample a shot of every bizarre bottle of booze in my liquor cabinet.
Mailbag:
Jinx writes: “How on earth do you get a bite of a burger that big? And am I to understand there are actual spare ribs inside?”
Answer: Short-ribs, deboned. It’s admittedly a bit of a messy eat.
My Name Is Scott writes: “Assuming human aliens thrive in the other galaxies the Destiny encounters, are there good explanations for why they are there?”
Answer: As you pointed out, there were explanations for why human civilizations existed within the Milky Way and Pegasus Galaxies. In the case of SGU, no such explanation exists (that we know of) so the alien civilizations we will be encountering will not be human.
Patricia Lee writes: “How are Lulu and the other pups doing? Are they still on the sickly side or have they turned the corner?”
Answer: They are in fine form and enjoying the winter weather. Video evidence to be presented tomorrow.
Sparrow_hawk writes: “How do you get a burger that size in your mouth?
Is that white and dark chocolate in the center of the Clafoutis?”
Answers: The trick is to eat it sideways. And, yes, tat is white and dark chocolate in the clafoutis. It covers all the chocolate bases.
John Manzione writes: “ I watched the movie “Young People F’ing” yesterday and thought it was a MUH better movie than the title suggests. I quite liked it, easily an 8 out of 10 for edgy comedy.”
Answer: Then you might recognize Josh (pictured above) who played the role of the, uh, experimental husband in Martin’s movie. Also, Rob Cooper wasn’t involved in YPF. Martin co-wrote the script with friend Aaron Abrams, directed, and produced (alongside Aaron).
Luis writes: “If you and Paul are going to be consultants on Universe who are the show writers.???”
Answer: We’ll be writing some scripts along with Brad, Rob, Carl, Martin, Alan and….?
Angelus writes: “On one side people are saying Universe is going to premiere as a 2 hour event. On the other side people are saying the series premiere is a 3 parter.”
Answer: From what I’m hearing, although it is, effectively a three-parter, from a story standpoint the first two parts can (and probably will) serve as the premiere.
AnniefromFreemantle writes: “Hey Joe, that carnisphere would pack a lot of calories. Did you eat it all? Be honest! Did you roll the remainder of it home?
So are you saying that Jason, David and Rachel might NOT be in the SGA movie? If they’ve not been approached, that is just preposterous!!”
Answers: Re – the burger. Actually, Fondy had a few bites. As for the actors – I never said they wouldn’t be in the movie (unless they chose not to be in the movie). I can assure you that they will all eventually be approached.
Sheryl writes: “Joe, Please call your studio and have them put the chestnuts in the fridge.”
Answer: Done!
Halo Luver writes: “1. Are Wraith capable of drawing nourishment from other rational creatures besides humans? Perhaps Asgard or Goua’ld symbiotes?
2. Does mass have an effect on how much nourishment a wraith takes from its victim?”
Answers: 1. Although a wraith is able to derive some nourishment from other creatures (like, say, an Asgard), in the long run it will need to feed on humans to ensure its survival. 2. Good question. I think it’s not so much mass but maturity.
Inpa writes: “ I was asking if the planets and galaxies that will be encountered in Universe will also have humans on them through some means, or will planets generally be populated by other life forms?”
Answer: We’re aiming for other life forms (ie. bears with jellyfish heads, giant ethereal sunflowers, roving packs of sentient gum).
Green writes: “ And I’m a bit disappointed there isn’t a plan to have more puppetry or robotics as apposed to CG.”
Answer: We’ve done limited puppetry (yes, the Asgard are a good example) and may explore this avenue. However, for the really out-there-looking creatures, you want to go CG.
2cats writes: “Today I landed a new job. Technical Writers unite!”
Answer: Congrats.
TJ writes: “With all this talk of the SGA movie, I was surfing on IMDb and saw there’s a listing up for it…”
Answer: As the actors pointed out at the recent mewhosits Con (that my spell-check changed to Methodist Con), there are no deals in place as of yet.
Linda Gagne writes: “I finally got to order and drink an oatmeal cookie tonight. I knew there must of been Bailey’s in it. However, the taste was just not for me. I am not a big Bailey’s fan, it leaves an after taste for me. The drink was not awful, I drank it quit quickly. It just tasted like I was drinking a cinnamon candle. No, I never drank a candle, but it tasted like I would imagine a cinnamon candle to taste. Is there cinnamon in it?”
Answer: Indeed, there is. Goldenschlager lends it is cinammony undercurrent.
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