philipcristiano's posterous

Thursday after my final class for the week I headed to Mad Mex for their happy hour. My friends had gone earlier in the week and mentioned how great their happy hour specials were. The specials seem to be the best near Drexel with 50% off drafts 4-6PM, a pretty good deal with their draft lineup.

Their website doesn't list any of the beers available and their white-board wasn't up to date either. I looked at the tap handles which apparently are the most up to date way to find out what's on. I started with a Great Divide Yeti Imperial Stout and was quite shocked at the taste; it was quite strong. I've seen many of the varieties of Yeti announced and was glad to try the original variety. There was a taste that I couldn't really pick out and didn't enjoy as an aftertaste but a great beer I will try again especially if I can get the other varieties. 

After trying Alex's Boulder Mojo Risin' I ordered one as well. While not to my particular taste it was good. Alex has started to move to IPAs in general so it was right up his alley. 

The happy hour specials here are great and this will probably wind up being a weekly location after classes before heading home.

I took another trip to Ron's Original Bar and Grille on Friday for dinner with my family. When we arrived there was once again a 30 minute wait for a table which was expected so we headed to the bar. This time the bar area was packed shoulder-to-shoulder when we entered. After getting our beer picks from the draft list on the wall we headed to the other side which was slightly less packed but had space to reach the bar. 

I was carded this time as well but so was Karen. She and my father both had Gift of the Magi while I tried the Avery the Czar Imperial Stout. The Czar was one of the most enjoyable imperial stouts I've ever had. It was thick enough that my father had to ask if it was tar. The chocolate was well balanced with it and had a good after taste. 

We finished our beers a few minutes before our buzzer signaled us to be seated but we didn't want to push through the crowd to get another drink. Once again Ron's doesn't keep a draft list on the tables which is strange since their beer selection is the only reason we go to Ron's. My other drinks that evening included the Terrapin Wake-n-Bake Coffee Oatmeal Imperial Stout and a Royersford Serious Ale. My family would go on to each try other beers but then return to The Magi.

The Terrapin was rather boring and seemed quite weak compared to the Czar. I'm not sure that I would have it again. It may be more suitable in the warmer months if I wanted a darker beer. I think I remember the Serious Ale being better at the Summer Ale Festival at the Philadelphia Zoo because I didn't enjoy it nearly as much this time. 

The larger disappointment of the evening was the food. I started with the fried calamari with marinara. It wasn't too bad but when the menu said "dusted" they really meant completely covered with bread crumbs. The basket also seemed to be about half fried bread crumbs. The last time the mussel were quite delicious with a broth that needed work. The mussels this time were only ok but the broth was horrible, it was mostly chopped celery which had a very off-putting flavor and I struggled to finish the bread with the broth. As Karen pointed out, the beer is the only reason to come here.

Karen and my father both ordered ovals because of the buy-one-get-one-free special they were having. Ron's takes pride in their ovals which is strange since it's only a pizza in the shape of an oval. I tried my father's buffalo chicken oval and found it too spicy for my taste but it wasn't horrible. As a concept though none of us seemed to care for ovals. 

I will probably go back to Ron's but this experience lowered it from the pedestal I seemed to have for it. 

I haven't been out too much lately but my family's Sunday dinner wound up going to Charolette's in Newtown Square. We were there at the opening at 3 PM and I went without expecting much of a beer selection and that we would probably get a few bottles of wine. I was pleasantly surprised to see Yuengling Black & Tan on tap, which I had only tried canned or bottled. I'm reminded each time how good Yuengling's other drinks are and that I like them much more then their standard lager. 

I noticed when drinks were brought out that Karen had a Hoegaarden and realized that I didn't even check out their bottle selection. For my second and third drinks I ordered Chimay Red. I took care not to pour the yeast of the first bottle into the glass but as I neared the end the waiter decided he should pour "the rest of the bottle" into my glass. It was served way too cold as well but to their credit they did have Chimay glasses on hand. Much more then I expected out of such a location. 

Originally I had planned my appetizer and main course from their menu online but naturally they had a special Valentine's Day menu that wasn't published. I was able to get the mussels in marinara instead of my desired garlic, and my originally planned Charlotte's Famous Crab Cake. The mussels, as I had previously learned from my grandparents, is always better in a lighter sauce as the thicker sauce only detracts from the taste, and this was still the case. My grandmother was quite grand and gave me a few of her mussels which she special ordered as a main course with garlic sauce instead. I probably should have done the same. 

My brother and I had quite similar taste in deserts and both wanted the tiramisu and chocolate peanut butter pie. In our adult-sense of cooperation we decided to share both of the desserts. The peanut butter pie wound up being far superior as he pointed out before ordering that the tiramisu was made with sponge cake instead of lady fingers. While I was aware that lady fingers were traditional I did not know that, at least for him, few places served it with sponge cake. 

Towards the end of the meal a short discussion was had about a birthday dinner for my brother and I. As I imagine is quite typical we get to pick a place to eat for our dinner. My brother and I seem to be quite similar in this respect as well since neither of us care for anything special. Our cousin does want to take us out to drink as a 21st birthday present which is late but still appreciated. It may be worth hitting up National Mechanics to use my free birthday entrée coupon. 

After finishing our requirements document for senior design, @JCourts, Tom, and I went out for a drink. Instead of our usual trip to Slainte Pub & Grill we went to try out Mikey's American Grill & Sports Bar. The last time J was there they had a better drink selection then Slainte, but it appears to have fallen since then. Mikey's has a chalk board of weekly specials and their full beer list but it wasn't being kept up to date, they were out of the beer I wanted to try. I settled with a Duvel and Justin had a Hop Devil.

We loved discovering that 8pm Tuesdays is quizzo night at Mikey's. Our table scored 3/3 on the last of the first round, although not so great on the second. Tuesdays work well since we have group meetings every Tuesday and it would be a decent place to play. Not that I can afford to go out that frequently.

The largest problem that night was the service. Our waitress was attentive for the first few minutes but we only saw her once more in the next hour until we paid the check. It was busy, they were having some sort of Red Bull/Skyy event that night, but it was still a major turn off for Mikey's.