Text 4433, 69 rader
Skriven 2013-09-08 04:48:00 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
Ärende: trip 122
================
Dan and Barb met us at bag claim - Annie had just spent a couple
weeks in China and was coming back with a suitcase of souvies -
and then we went upstairs to the airport restaurant Cloud Nine,
where Robbie joined us shortly after.

We started with an order of garlic bread, which came smothered
in a quarter inch of inediblifying mozzarella and with a dipping
sauce of marinara and a dish of sliced peperoncini (usual vinegar
cure with a touch of sugar). I had a nibble of the bread, with a
pill, and it was okay, but I thought it would have done well
without all that cheese, plus most of the hot peppers. Also an
order of fried calamari, a smallish but nicely arranged ring of
rings (sad) around more of the marinara, so I had more than my
fill of that. The chef came by to say hello and creeped me out
slightly by giving me a hug; as he hardly knows me, I thought
that a bit of a forwardness. It's not as though I'm Craig
Claiborne or anything.

They have a prime rib weekend special - not a real bargain at
14 oz for $24, but when Robbie ordered it rare, I thought, why
not, there's nothing on the menu I'd rather have, so I asked
for the rarest, fattiest piece they had, with a salad with
dressing on the side. I guess I hadn't had any veggies in a while,
as I didn't mind eating all of the salad, with the aid of a few
dips into the balsamic, which wasn't bad at all.

My dinner came out medium and twice as thick as Robbie's - the
waiter had misinterpreted my request and given me an extra fat
slice, not a fatty one. Decent, previously tenderized meat with
some flavor. It ended up being billed with a $3 upcharge, making
the thing $27 for 28 oz, more of a bargain but also more than I
was comfortable eating, especially as it was weller than rare.
On the top surface of the meat was a rub of the floor sweeping
variety, herbs and spices and a strange little area that tasted
of clove; I have no great objection to this procedure, but
unfortunately the garlic powder used was of a very low standard,
with the distinct taste of dried-up shrivelled sprouted garlic -
okay perhaps as an accent in a sauce, but not so great in such a
prominent position. I nonetheless ate most of the meat and left
about 6 oz for later.

On the side a large blob of rather salty mashed potatoes
disappointingly made with margarine.

Kudos to the place for offering as the veg of the day a different
sort of medley - baby green beans, peas, and cabbage - and more
kudos for giving me enough meat so I wasn't remotely tempted to
eat more than a forkful of said vegetables. Okay, perhaps I
should have rewarded them by eating it all, but I didn't.

Annie, burned out from all that Chinese junk, announced that she
was getting comfort food - a turkey dinner, which I would have
been happy with but for its being white meat and coming with huge
blobs of starchy stuffing, starchy but tasty gravy, and that same
mash. Dan's pork roulade (with spinach, good, and cheese, bad)
went down the hatch rapidly. This is a trading tastes on request
only group, so no tastes were traded, though I offered some of
my roast beef around. I didn't see Barb's crabcake, as she was
all the way across our round table, but if it had been a big
crabcake I might have had a fighting chance of noticing it.

Peachy Paterno ice cream for dessert; I passed.

We broke up, and as Annie had been going for a long time, we
retired pretty immediately on getting home, around 9.

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