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by 80 Proof

Live Blogging Top Chef: The Finale

by Liza

Review: Pasta Mia

If you live in DC you are most likely familiar with the perpetual long line that forms outside of Pasta Mia, a not so special looking establishment at the corner of 18th and Columbia. For over a year now, the line outside Pasta Mia has baffled me, and also made me insanely curious about the restaurant. Is it that good? I mean people wait in the rain to get into this place!

So I FINALLY went, only because it was gorgeous outside so I wouldn’t mind waiting in line outside. By some chance miracle, my sweetheart Matt(y) (who will blog one of these days) and I were seated immediately.

First impression: Our table was squeezed a little too close for comfort in between two others (like to the point that we were just sharing olive oil with the table to the left of us).

Second impression: Call it an authority issue, but I hate going to places with rules. Like, I am paying you for a service, I should not have to be following rules here! The first annoying rule was that they only accept cash, so I had to leave to go to the ATM. And it’s not like this place is cheap- I mean we each had one glass of house wine and a pasta dish and it was 40 bucks without tip. The second rule I discovered was through an elderly couple sitting to the right of us (so basically at our table). They were so cute, and all they wanted was to split a salad and a pasta dish, because they knew the portions were HUGE. The waitress said she’d have to charge them for two entrees if they did that! WHAAAA! So they ended up just getting their own.

After the jump, the stunning third, fourth and final conclusions of Pasta Mia

Jackie and the Take Out Taxi

Recently I went to get my hair cut by my friend Jackie – yeah, I’m the luckiest girl alive to have a friend who is also an amazing professional hair stylist – and after leaving the glamorous Lux Studios where she works, we decided we should go have an equally glamorous dinner. But once we got back to her apartment and layed on her couch, we lost all motivation. Sometimes you just need the food to come to you! But instead of giving up really good food for generic Chinese, Jackie introduced me to Take Out Taxi – and OMG! It’s f-ing amazing!!!

Take Out Taxi will deliver you food from actual restaurants, and the variety of food is awesome! They have everything from Korean to Ethiopian food, seafood to BBQ. We decided to go with Irene’s Pupusas a Salvadorian restaurant. It was not only insanely cheap but ridiculously tasty! These were authentic pupusas, with the slaw to put on top and everything and clearly made fresh.

Take Out Taxi also gets HUGE props from Liza for offering Arby’s for delivery too! That’s just amazing in my eyes.

There is a surcharge for Take Out Taxi, so I recommend you order with at one or more other people.

in Uncategorized 19 comments

by BS

Who Killed the Mentos Kiss Cam?

Earlier this week, Mentos launched one of the most oddly skeezy advertising campaigns the Internet has ever seen (which is saying a lot), and now it has mysteriously disappeared!

The concept of the Mentos Kiss Cam is pretty bizarre: a busty blond in a skimpy swimsuit emerges from the ocean, comes this close to your computer screen, instructs you to turn on your webcam, and you’re supposed to make out with her. Not kidding. She actually waits there until you move your mouth up to the computer, and then you get to French her. In case you’re into dudes and/or horses, there’s an alternate make-out option involving a dashing white knight on horseback.

There’s no data yet on how many Americans were fired this week for licking their computer screens, but we do know this: After much viral mocking, the Mentos Kiss Cam is gone! No explanation on the site aside from the tagline “be back soon.” Did Mentos realize they had overstepped the line in marketing candy? Did someone make out so hard that they crashed the site? Or are they preparing a bigger and badder version of the Mentos Kiss Cam? Only time will tell.

Fortunately, the promotional video is still available on YouTube, minus the interactive aspect. Fair warning: this video may or may not be safe for work, depending on your office’s policy on outrageously excited nipples.

in Uncategorized 3 comments

by BS

LeBron Fans Call Foul on Papa John’s

If it’s a Monday morning in the middle of May, it must be time for Washington Wizards fans to look back on another first-round playoff loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers. As usual, there’s controversy, but this time, it involves food.

Jon over at So Good had tickets to the fateful Game 6 on Saturday night, and of course was on the lookout for any corporate giants to take down, so he was delighted to see Wizards fans wearing shirts that taunted LeBron James for being a crybaby, especially when he realized these shirts were sponsored by Papa John’s Pizza.

Some shrewd ~~marketing~~ pandering by Papa John’s to endear themselves to the quality-pizza-starved Beltway crowd, but unfortunately for the company, it turns out people in Cleveland have both television and the Internet. And they are not happy.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with LeBron James, his status in the state of Ohio is roughly similar to that of Jesus, albeit with less concern about genocide.

Fast forward a few hours, and angry Cavs fans are swearing to never eat at Papa John’s again, the Boycott Papa John’s website is up and running, and the corporate office has been forced to issue an official apology to LeBron Nation, complete with a $10,000 donation to a Cleveland charity and a slash of their prices in the Cleveland area to 23 cents per pizza (pick-up only, those bastards). Of course, if you take into consideration the high-quality ingredients used in Papa John’s pizza, they’re still looking at about a 22 cent profit on each pie.

After the j, check out So Good being interviewed (!) about the controversy on Cleveland television.

How Wheat It Isn’t

Living in New York, I could care less about skyrocketing gas prices – I can count the number of times I’ve driven a car on on my fingers. And to be honest, I’m about ready for this city’s real estate bubble to burst already (got half a mil? you can be the proud owner of a tiny apartment in the middle of a crappy neighborhood!) But this developing wheat crisis is threatening to hit me where it hurts – in the stomach.

That’s right, the pillars of the New York City food chain are about to topple, because rumor has it pizza is heading up to $3 a slice! But that’s not all – next up: bagels for more than a dollar a pop. And no, that doesn’t include cream cheese.

As a rough estimate, I’d say I eat a bagel for breakfast about 17 days a month, and grab a slice of pizza for lunch or dinner maybe 10 times a month. That means the monthly expenses associated with being a New York City bottom feeder just jumped by about $15. Let’s not even think about pizza bagels, which I can only assume are now going for the price of white truffles.

The reason? Bad weather around the globe has hit wheat crops hard, sending prices through the roof. So let’s start praying for some sunshine, people, because if this starts screwing with wheat thins in any way, I am just going to explode.

in Uncategorized 1 comments

by gansie

Ask Tom, Answer Gansie

Here’s more of Sietsema vs. gansie

one / eff off

Anonymous: Getting a jump on the chat today. Hope you will add this annoying terminology to the list of nevermores:

Roast off

Braise off

Fry off

I can see “bake-off” as it refers to a baking contest. But why are we now hearing the word “OFF” appended to the specific cooking verbs? Is roasting off something different than roasting? This is a fairly new construction – you, Tom, could do the nation a great service by consigning it to the scrap heap before it really takes hold. Oh, and, LOVE the chats!

Tom Sietsema: Here’s to raising the bar, not lowering it!

Good morning, all. Good to “see” so many of you in the room today. Bring me your questions, your gripes, your tired, your poor …

gansie: I’m usually one for bitching about annoying food phrases, but I have to say, this “___ off” phenom doesn’t really bother me. I mean, there’s like a million other things to get pisted about. Namely, and yes, I’m gonna go there, the lack of awesome pizza-by-the-slice in DC. I said it.