Text 23361, 101 rader
Skriven 2012-04-05 22:52:00 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
Ärende: trip report 505
=======================
US 44 LAX PHX 0640 0800 319 2D was US 122 LAX PHX 0745 0917 319

Flight 122 was rescheduled to leave from Long Beach, and I
am lucky I checked, as apparently I'd sleepily accepted the
change without really knowing I had done so. Long story, but
my general level of consciousness is quite a bit lower than
it used to be. I had to miss breakfast (not spectacular at
this hotel) and get the 0530 bus shuttle over to Terminal 1.

It had been about a gazillion years since I'd been here, and
the US club is long gone, there being nowt but a sea of fast
food places and gaggles of Southwest pax to fill them, even
at breakfasttme. I plopped down next to an outlet and typed
away a bit on this elderly laptop, and then I heard various
announcements pertaining to US Air, so I hurried off and
discovered that nothing was happening.

So instead of a 6 something and a 7 something, US Air now
has an 0630 and an 0640, leaving from nearby gates, so that
the boarding announcements are easily confounded, which
makes an already vexed situation more stressful. It turns
out there were 15 passengers missing from this aircraft,
many of whom presumably had got on the previous one.

A perfect flight for sleeping, and so I slept.

Met Bill Swisher, who came in from Havasu for a few spring
training games; after some trouble related to an accident
tying up traffic on the 10 and some more related to
construction and rerouting around the airport, we met
eventually and (after a few more detours) checked in at the
Hilton Phoenix Airport, where we were given a smallish room
on the executive floor; it seems that an/the upgrade was
from the continental breakfast in the lounge to the full
$15 buffet in the restaurant plus free appetizers there at
dinnertime. I'd have preferred a little bigger room, but
looking at the room map, there's not much more available -
a couple giants, but they were probably taken already.

As my friend Alex is from Wisconsin, we arranged to meet
for the White Sox-Brewers at Maryvale. Pretty nice day, 85F,
cloudy enough to block the sun glare but not enough to
make one fear rain. Alex was happy when the Brewers jumped
ahead with runs in the 2nd, 3rd, and 2 in the 4th. We
decided to go scout the beer situation. It wasn't good. I
picked up a Coors Light for Swisher but found nothing
suitable for myself. Alex bought himself a bratwurst,
which he proclaimed most foul. To add insult, while we
were away, the White Sox scored 3 in the top of the 5th, a
couple more in the 7th, and put it away with one in the
9th to make a final of 6-4.

We decided to drown our sorrows in a pitcher of beer at Four
Peaks, but the place was fuller than full, and the wait for
a table was estimated at half an hour. Alex had read of a
noodle house in Chandler called China Magic, which CNN has
rated as one of the top 50 Chinese restaurants in the US,
so that was our next destination. It's a very plain square
room with the kitchen in back, a window cut into the back
wall where one can watch the pulled noodle master making
batch after batch of hand-pulled noodles.

Noodles in spicy sauce (vegetarian) was Alex's favorite -
sort of like dan dan noodles, a soy, nut, hot paste mixture
coating chewy yet tender noodles, the whole covered in
cilantro, which luckily was easy to pick off. Excellent
with the hot oil provided on the table. Some star anise in
the mix, though, which put Bill off. Also, the Internet
reviews agree that there's something shrimp-pastish about
it; I had bites of it that made me want to think so as well.

Fried noodles with beef was Bill's favorite - similar
noodles (a thicker, gummier batch, though) in a lo mein
treatment with cabbage, scallions, carrots, bean sprouts
and a small quantity of beef bits.

One of the specials of the day was salt and pepper shrimp
at an absurdly low price, so I ordered them. They had been
fried at a too low temperature and were insufficiently
cleaned. Alex blamed old oil. I'd forgotten that Bill
doesn't eat such things. I didn't think the oil was old,
just it had soaked into the shrimp, and the shells were not
crisp because of the temperature, so what should have been
a great dish was merely ok. There were 20 shrimp, close to
a pound. I ate about 15, finding them pretty palatable with
a dose of hot oil and judicious use of the extraordinarily
hot jalapeno bits that were thrown in.

Another special of the day was yu choy with oyster sauce,
which though a bit tough was quite tasty, and everyone liked
it. It was also a big serving. I coulda shoulda woulda got
a small dish of it for 2/3 the price.

Service was fine if sort of random and a little slow.

$13 a head for more than we could eat, most of it good.
Certainly not among the 50 best Chinese restaurants in
the country, though.
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