Text 15274, 86 rader
Skriven 2007-05-12 01:44:02 av Dale Shipp (1:261/1466.0)
Ärende: Blob's Park
===================
   As I said to Sacerdote yesterday, Gail and I went to Blob's Park
   tonight.  For those who want to read about it directly, go to:
   http://www.blobspark.com/

   It is an interesting place.   The inside is basically a very large
   hall, seats 1000 people (according to our waitress).  There is a
   decent sized dance floor in the center of the hall, about 50 ft
   square.   They are open only Friday, Saturday evenings and Sunday
   afternoons.

   They have a "band" every night.  It seems as if the resident band is
   called "The Rheinlanders" and according to the web page has six
   members.   Tonight, there were two of them present.  One guy on the
   drums and one guy singing and playing accordian.  The web page lists
   various visiting bands, but not on the weekend of our picnic.

   The crowd tonight was sparse, especially seeming all the more so
   because of the large hall.   At times I counted a dozen couples
   dancing and perhaps as many sitting out.  Although the band is listed
   as being a polka band, they claimed to play many other sorts of
   ballroom dances (rumba, waltz, charleston, etc.) and a few line dance
   type things -- mixed in with a variety of polkas.   Median age of the
   crowd was perhaps slighly greater than median age of the echo
   folks:-}}

   Food was decent and not expensive.   I had sauerbraten & Dumplings
   ($9.50). Gail had a combination sausage platter ($10.50) which had
   one each of bratwurst (pork -- her favorite), bockwurst (a white veal
   sausage) and Knockwurst (beef).   Both dinners came with a choice of
   two side vegetables.   She had German potato salad and sauerkraut.  I
   had pickled beets and red cabbage in addition to the dumpling that
   was part of the main dish.   We tasted across and both liked all of
   the dishes.   My sauerbraten was cubes of meat, not too sour, and
   quite flavorful.   Her sauerkraut was also not too sour -- which is
   what she likes.

   The portion sizes were adequate, about what I might expect from lunch
   size orders rather than what is often the trend of super-size dinner
   portions that you cannot finish.   We finished it all, and were
   satisfied.   We shared a small piece of Black Forest cake for $3.

   I also had an appetizer order of a crab cake for $5.00.   It was not
   bad, perhaps better than the one I had for twice that money at
   Kaufman's a week or two ago.   The waitress said that they were made
   there (as opposed to pre-formed from Phillip's restaurant or the
   like).   The meat did not seem to have much filler.  It did not have
   much in the way of lump meat, but it was a little bit less shredded
   than the Kaufman version.  Size was bigger than a golf ball, but not
   by too much.  For that price, a decent buy.

   We each had a beer.  One pint for $3.75.  Gail had a bitburge pils,
   described as a pilsner.   It was light in color, good flavor and the
   type she likes.  I went for a darker brew called spaten oktoberfest,
   which was the type I like.  We both enjoyed our choices.  Both of
   those beers could have been available for $10 per pitcher.  I am
   going to guess that a pitcher would be 3 or 4 pints, and a better buy
   *IF* you could drink that much.   For just the two of us, the glass
   was as much as we wanted:-}}

   There was a $5 cover charge per head for the band and dancing --
   although they did not seem to be uptight about whether to collect it
   or not.  By the time we were all done, total price before tip but
   including the cover, beers and a shared piece of chocolate cake was
   $46 for the two of us.

   All in all, I think that this is a place worth considering.   It was
   fun to sit and sip our beer and people watch the dancers.  I don't
   know that I'd want to be there for one of their oktoberfest events
   when they fill the hall, but on a summer friday night they have
   plenty of space.

   Keep it in mind.   We have yet to go to another place under
   consideration -- called Timbukto.  I'll report to all when we do.

                               Dale Shipp
                  fido_261_1466 (at) comcast (dot) net
                              (1:261/1466)




... Shipwrecked on Hesperus in Columbia, Maryland. 00:36:59, 12 May 2007
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