Text 28227, 80 rader
Skriven 2015-06-15 16:11:00 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
Ärende: midwest trip - bbq 835
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My original cheapest available itinerary was scheduled
to arrive really, really early, and I was going to sit
around for several hours maybe getting snockered at Vino
Volo or somewhere waiting for Lilli's flight, but I had
rearranged things, given the irregular operations, to
connect through Dallas and meet up with her there; also
I had no problem changing her seat to be next to mine,
which has some creepy stalker potential if one thinks
about it.

I was quite early arriving and considered making a pit
stop at Dickey's or Railyard but thought better of it.
Wandered around the construction zone that is DFW and
took the train to Lilli's arrival gate, where she seemed
reasonably pleased to see me.

AA 340 DFW MCI 1210 1352 M80 3EF

I admit that the first row of the cabin is somewhat
nicer than the last row, but the differences are pretty
negligible. The company makes more difference I think.

The American red wine is quaffable if not palatable.

We landed on time after a slightly bumpy flight (a
harbinger of things to come) and went right off to the
car rental center, where a medium-size SUV awaited us
for the weekend: it took Avis a bunch of time to get
the rate right, but eventually it did happen. It was
really more car than we needed.

The Sheraton Crown Center, in its current incarnation, is
a pretty nice place to stay. It's been renovated at least
twice in its 35-year history and is pretty nice, with no
echoes discernible of its dubious history. We were issued
a quite nice, very big suite on a lower floor, the main
disadvantage being that we had to switch elevators to get
to the executlve lounge, which we didn't make much use of
anyway, as we fed and watered ourselves very well this
weekend, thank you, and eschewed breakfast next day so as
not to spoil our quest for burnt end nirvana.

We parked the car as usual across from the Westin and went
through the enclosed walkway to the usual opening haunt for
this do, Jack Stack Freighthouse Square, where we were
fairly early arrivals but still too late for happy hour
prices, so our snacks cost twice what I had budgeted for.

Our people trickled in gradually and as they did, the
food and drink orders increased in size and frequency.

Burnt ends were a mixed bag. The first batch were decent,
flavorsome, partially fatted, a little stringy in spots.
Subsequent orders got progressively more burnt, sad to
relate. Multiple iterations of Boulevard Amber helped down
both the good and the not-quite-so-good. After a while I
got tired of this and switched to Dark Horse Reunion rye,
eye-openingly rich and spicy, reminding one of brandied
Christmas pudding, almost enough to make one switch from
Cognac to whiskey as tipple of choice. Almost. I was
pleased. Lilli stuck with the Rodney Strong Cabernet. At
8 something it was deemed that our select group was
complete (somewhat smaller than in years past), so we
headed to our table inside. For Lilli and me I got a
pleasant also spicy and rather too sweet (great with
barbecue) Ravenswood Zen of Zin 2012 to go with our
split order of ribs and burnt ends, both quite good, the
latter redeeming their reputation from the shrivelled
examples of the last batch outside. Sides were cheesy corn
(in a liquidy Velveetoid sauce) - I gave some to this
cute Korean girl Katie next to me on the other side, and
she liked it a lot - and coleslaw, which I didn't bother
to taste.

We stayed until closing time and beyond, having had far too
much fun.

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