Text 11566, 95 rader
Skriven 2011-05-30 12:37:00 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
Ärende: trip report 410
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Fiorella's Jack Stack - Freighthouse Square is right
across the tracks from Union Station, which is attached
to the hotel and the Hallmark factory and various other
things by an all-weather walkway. It's not publicized,
but we could see part of it from her room and part of it
from mine, and putting one and one together, we decided
that we could get there in air-conditioned comfort. This
was mostly true - from Union Station to Freighthouse
Square the walk, though protected, is open-air. Our group
had just begun to coalesce around the bar (some of them,
including Rob, the one who had made the arrangements, had
cheated and gotten happy-hour appetizers, not planning to
eat real food at real prices), where Boulevard pale ale and
a few other things were on tap, settling down for a friendly
chat, when some guy tried to pick a fight with our friend
Ryan; this is what I pieced together: some of us were in
the parking lot, when this guy's wife drunkenly dropped
a beer bottle out of their truck as they circled, looking
for a parking place. She was suitably mortified and picked
up part of the bottle, but the guy sped off, whereupon Ryan
picked up the rest of the bottle from the pavement - but
instead of finding a trash can, he ran up to the truck and
gave the remains to the couple, perhaps a provocative act.
So this guy, this is what? a beer or two after the fact,
comes out looking to pick a fight. Hey, here's my friend
the boy scout, says he, looking drunkenly menacing.

I quickly got between them and snarled at him, an inch
from his face, "WHO ARE YOU?" He beetled off, with a
muttered insult or two, not to be seen any more except
when he left, he shouted something incoherent from the
parking lot. There can be fun every day if you wish.

Our friend Sean, who had shown up in the meantime, gave
us some Astor Chocolate Relax - milk chocolate with raspberry
and chamomile, supposedly very soothing: fairly nice, with
the berry flavor dominant, the milk not being spoiled in
the American style but rather a mellowing influence as it
should be.

Happily, we were eventually able to take cover inside
the restaurant proper - a big table of about 10 and a
nearby booth for 6 that ended up seating 8 I think as
others of us made our way here. We ordered various of
their sampler platters to share. What we ended up with:

beef ribs - giants, not too meaty, a little old-tasting
but not terribly so; no doubt remanufactured from the
smoked prime rib of which they sell many servings

pork ribs - quite nice, meaty, fatty, thankfully not
"falling off the bone," but rather with a bit of bite
and chew to them

lamb ribs - a little smaller than the pork but not that
much so, so therefore almost mutton and quite gamy in a
not unpleasant way, but a small dose is plenty.

Sides included the famous cheesy corn, cole slaw, fries,
and beans, all I understand to have been respectable, but
none of which I tried.

One of the samplers had the renowned crown prime short rib,
maybe 10-14 oz of meat on a rib bone, cooked low and slow
and offered at a premium price, as it's so good. I agree -
it was excellent, moist and fatty but not too fatty, just
what a short rib is supposed to be. I enjoyed my one bite
share so much that I ordered one for myself (which I ended
up sharing much of anyway, sigh).

My friends Eva and Bret showed up, and there was so much
food on the table that they got away with just ordering
onion rings and fried mushrooms. A short stack of rings,
enough for 4 or 5 as an appetizer, and, when Eva ordered
the mushrooms, the waitress said, 5 or 9? So, thinking
how big can a mushroom be?, she said 9. The mushrooms
turned out to be the size of my fist. To prevent waste,
I ate two of them, quite a feat in itself. Eva is the
one who keeps egging me on to eat more and more, when
everyone else is full. She is also the one who refers to
Lilli as my "travel wife," with perhaps a touch of
jealousy (she's fair, fat, and forty and a lot of fun,
but not quite for me, though when she was thirty I gave
her a passing thought).

We eventually staggered out of there, each $30-40 lighter
depending on how much beer we'd had. I showed everyone
the path back to the hotel (Bret and Eva and Sean were
at the Hyatt, another walkway down, for similar reasons
to ours), and we repaired to our respective lounges for a
nightcap before turning in to rest up for our big Q day.

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