Text 6795, 114 rader
Skriven 2008-05-10 11:18:00 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
Ärende: big city tastes 289
===========================
Having serious cabin fever, I made a lunch date with this guy who
used to use me as a sounding board for some of his loonier-sounding
economic and governmental ideas, back when he was considered quite
a nutcase. As it turns out, he was was a bit ahead of his time and
is now considered quite an expert on the mathematical analysis of
social systems, stuff that is, truth be told, quite beyond me, but
back in the '70s (in person) and beyond (by e-mail) I played the
role of intelligent lay audience, which can be fun if exhausting
at times. Hitched a ride to the Worcester train station for the
almost 2-hour public transportation saga to get to Cambridge.
Tried the MBTA free wireless aboard the train experiment but
couldn't get connected longer than momentarily; whether this was
owing to the shortcomings of my computer (plausible) or those of
the MBTA's implementation of everything (plausible) I can't guess.
The train chugged into South Station actually 2 minutes early, and
the connection to the red line was almost seamless, so I had almost
two hours to kill at the music library, where I discovered that
there was free wireless, so I did hardly any work at all.

Roger was there to meet me at the Casablanca, an old college haunt
(among other things, it enforced a drinking age of 18 no matter
whether the real legal age, which fluctuated periodically, was 18
or 21) now gone upscale. The place is kitschy as ever and still
has a fun vibe, despite having been renovated beyond recognition.
The famous or infamous murals (Lorre, Bogart, Greenstreet, Bergman,
etc.) remain. We on the other hand are not subject to renovation,
and I was acutely aware of the pathos of two unprepossessing-looking
old farts sitting among a sea of glamorous wealthy yuppies all of
whom were less than half our age.

Service was friendly but hideously slow, and I was reduced to
having to drink a glass of water before my beer arrived. Otherwise
not a problem, as we didn't have anywhere to go for hours and hours.
One of the advantages of being a distinguished visiting professor
is that nobody tells you what to do. One of the advantages of being
a poverty-stricken musician is ... the same thing.

I had slow-roasted shoulder of lamb with charred tomatoes, spicy
yogurt, and flatbread; this came with an unannounced topping of
onion confit. Pleasant food, though this wasn't anywhere near Ana
Sortun's Spoon lamb (she used to work here); it actually was a
little stringy and had a bit of crust on the outside from reheating
- I don't mind, as textural contrast is a fine thing. Good flavors,
and even the minted and cayenned yogurt contributed nice things to
the dish. The charred tomatoes were sort of oven-stewed and didn't
have much char taste. The bread was like a Persian crackerbread.

As he's careful about his calorie intake, Roger inquired about
vegetarian options and was steered to a dish of eggplant and
zucchini with mozzarella and baby spinach, which he pronounced
good. This came with yet a different kind of flatbread; and on
the table there was yet a third kind (a fairly standard pita).

I ordered a Guinness, which didn't come until we flagged down
the pleasant but spacy waitress a third time, total elapse
15-20 minutes; it did go nicely with my meal, and the second one,
likewise ordered, reminded, and reminded again, went even better.

He was going to get the same, but I suggested as he was having
something lighter and might want to sample the local product (he
hasn't done business out east for 30 years), so he ended up with
an amber ale from Cambridge Brewing Company, which of course
wasn't around when we were students.

We reminisced about the '60s and '70s, and he gave me a quick tour
of his application of game theory to political systems: to give him
credit, my eyes didn't glaze over in the first ten minutes. To give
me credit, my eyes didn't glaze over in the first hour. Or even
the first two hours. By the time we got to the middle east, I was
beginning to get a hair tired of this, and Roger had to get back
to do professorial things, so he headed back to his office after
mutual promises to get together at our college reunion next month
(#35!) and I pondered the pressing question of where to have supper.

Which was another yuppie bar, Z Square, where I again turned heads
by being the only white-haired old person on the premises. Z Square
is a trendy overpriced takeaway-bar-restaurant (three discrete but
adjoining spaces) where the infamous Wursthaus, sometimes referred
to as the Worst House, used to be. The saving grace of this place
is the burgers, which are from organic hormone-free grass-fed beef,
cooked as ordered, and served on nondairy rolls: they are great, and
one can substitute pea-and-potato curry for the French fries. This
time the burger was kind of fatty, which was fine with me, and the
curry was kind of bland, which was not. The bartender (I eat at the
bar) kept shaking parts of her anatomy in my direction whenever she
came by. I reflected on how this was an effort to get a good tip
rather than a good anything else. All too soon it was time to tear
myself away and take the bus up to rehearsal.

Lobster Parisienne
cat: starter, shellfish
servings: 6

6 Lobster tails,cooked/chilled 
6 Tb Mayonnaise 
1 ts Mustard,prepared 
1 ts Lemon juice 
1 ts Tarragon wine vinegar 
1 Tb Chives,finely minced 
1 Tb Parsley,finely minced 
Salt to taste 
Pepper to taste

Remove lobster meat from tails. Reserve tails. Chop meat into 
bite-sized pieces. Combine remaining ingredients and blend well. 
Add chopped lobster, blend with a fork, and refrigerate until 
chilled. To serve, stuff lobster tails with chilled lobster 
mixture. Serve as first course on lettuce-lined small plates. 

source: astray.com

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