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February came in the same way January went out. More interest in food than writing about it. Here are some photos from the joyous check celebration at Iggy's. Go Colts!

 

  

 

And finally, the relatively small number of quotes from today's fanfare...

"What would be less colon-intensive."
"Can we get a new waiter? One who actually waits? Oh, he's waiting plenty."
"Just because somebody dies doesn't make their music any better."

New Territory

So the GPaK took a break today.  Not from eating, but from scribing... at least to the level we've become accustomed to. Rather than a full-blown blog, we give you photos as we pay a repeat visit to Coachmans. Truly a first for the blog. Comments from the Crew may (or may not) follow. 

A vinter day at Vinto

 

After an all-day corporate meeting that included lots of food and snacks on Thursday, I wasn't sure how hungry I was going to be for lunch on Friday. But then Wingnut's socializing led to a late start for our little GPaK three-pack, so by the time we arrived at Vinto, I was ready for some vittles.

I was a bit skeptical going in, I must admit. It seems like you can't swing a dead cat without hitting a new, stylish pizzeria these days, and when the parking lot was filled with BMWs, I thought perhaps we were in for a meal of tiny pizzas at high prices. And as we walked into the bright, modern-looking restaurant, my fears grew.

However, I see now that those fears were unfounded. I went with the pasta special of the day, the meat lasagne with ricotta, tomato sauce and parmigiano. It came to the table quickly, and it was piping hot. One quibble is that the pizza Wingnut and SuperScrunch ordered didn't arrive until several minutes later, but I'll let them talk about that. I tried to wait for them, but the lasagna smelled delicious, and I caved before their meals arrived.

I wasn't disappointed. The lasagna was cooked perfectly. All of the flavors meshed well, and the the ample portion held together as I sliced and diced it with my fork. It also wasn't watery, as some lesser lasagna tends to be.

Bottom line: I left with a full belly and a smile on my face, even when I walked down the wrong row between tables and missed the exit entirely. D'oh! Hopefully we'll be back to a full GPaK next week, but this was a good way to start the year.

Man-up possibilities: 8
Food quality: 8.5
Service: 7.5
Fizz-o-meter of Coke: 8
Overall: 8

— GPaK

Quotes of the day:
I'm looking at you, fart-face.
I swear I'm gonna kill him.
I have a feeling that it could be the man-down pizza.
It's not, like, pay-water, is it?
It kind of looks finger-ish, doesn't it?
Is that a drip of water on your nose, or is it snot?
Just do the crotch one.

A belated Ho Ho Ho from the GPaK Crew!

Hope you all enjoyed a Merry Merry Christmas with family and friends this past weekend. Since Christmas fell on a Friday, we felt it appropriate to share our Christmas feasts with our large readership.

Without further ado, I give you most of the GPaK Crew's meals from December 25th!

SuperScrunch
--Marinated Pork Loin, Sweet Potatoes, and Green Beans with Carmelized Shallots.
Overall rating: 10+

GPaK
--We had delicious ham (bacon's almost-as-tasty cousin), funeral potatoes, Jell-O (blue!) and Coke (I'd give it an 8 on the fizz-o-meter).
Overall rating: This one goes to 11

GMac
--
Overall rating: 5

Pancakes: I made. Fluffy and just right! With butter and maple syrup.
Scrambled Eggs: Kim's chickens made and Kim cooked. Well done!

Oatmeal, Cheerios and eggs This is the chicken flock's Christmas dinner. She swears they won't get mad cow disease if they eat their own eggs.

Wingnut
--
Overall rating: 9.5

Jules and my sister Lisa are amazing chefs...seriously, I'm not trying to butter anyone up. Our meal rocked.

And Big Red, those fresh green beans were wonderful.

My sister, who can multi-task with the best of them, LOL, made some killer scallop potatoes with Sun-dried tomatoes on top...the only problem was, she left them under the broiler too long despite being warned by Jules.

Other than that....the food was excellent, even the potatoes.

My favorite had to be Jules' cranberry salad which includes grapes, walnuts, cream and of course, cranberries....yummmmy!

-Wingnut

big.red

appetizers:

cooked shrimp, cocktail sauce, lemon wedges. perfect for the shellfish eaters in the crowd, chief amongst them, my daughter. these were delish, crisp and fresh.

spinach dip, dark and russian rye bread. staple at any of our parties, and this was prepared by my sister, angie. she kills it every time. gotta go with the orowheat russian and dark loafs.

assorted chips, dips.

main:

caesar salad. mom mary brought this, and hit it out of the park. romaine was perfect. the dressing was key: cardini's. we missed the fresh parm, but it was still awesome.

honey-baked ham, garlic infused. already pre-cooked, easiest entree to prepare, just don't overcook it! threw in about 6 cloves of garlic between some of the cuts. went with the 140 degree medium rare temp on the thermometer which was perfect. only minor glitch: we didn't do the pineapple! egad.

twice-baked potatoes. these were heidi's. and they rocked. they were creamy, not too salty, not too much butter overload (is that even possible!). well done, baby.

beverages, spirits:

2006 gallo reserve pinot noir. vanilla vodka and coke. gin and sprite. uinta cutthroat pale ale. assorted sodas. eggnog. coffee. pinot was dry. cutthroat was cutthroat. eggnog was egg-noggy. didn't do the others. heidi and my sister angie enjoyed the flavored vodka. mary enjoyed her crown and coke.

dessert:

peach pie, apple pie (no photos!). store bought, alas. still good.

overall: a great christmas feast, for which i am grateful to have been able to serve, share and make memories. i give it a 10.


Quotes o' the day (Christmas special)
I want more penguin poop
Did you eat my salad yet
I'm full....my belly hurts
When your done your done
Sometime you don't want to be woken up
Be careful with them....remember they are fragile.
I'm sure not all Christmas dinners are as wonderful as the one we had
I don't want him running that truck over you
I say let them run till they stop and drop
It gives me heartburn
Julie loves her (own) cranberry salad
Do you by any chance have in tumms?
A little too much grease for me...tasted good going down
That's enough grandpa..save some for the rest us!
He's 31. She's 18. Do the math.
Now entering a drama-free zone!
It's a major award!

Express enjoyable! Even for a slow old guy.

It's ironic that “express” is in the name of the restaurant that we dined at and later (much later) reviewed. Obviously I need to visit the dictionary on the definition of the word.

So my sincere apologies for the tardiness of my Braza Express review.

But for those who were at the News on Friday, you know that it was an unusually hectic day filled with meetings, with barely enough time to enjoy the doughnuts and our lunch tradition.

I might add that GMac has yet to fulfill his obligation to the GPaK Crew and write another review.

But if you are a vegetarian, like our dear friend Gmac, then Braza Express is not for you.

For the meat lovers ... it’s time to rejoice!

I will admit, I was a little on the grumpy side going into Friday’s lunch, just looking for a few things to nit-pick. But to be honest, when I tried to come up with a few, they were just minor little things that every place would probably have on a given day. (I asked for a fountain drink, but they failed to tell me the Diet Coke was out.)

For my lunch, I chose the Mixed Grill, which included two pieces of each of the meats featured on their main menu: tenderloin, top sirloin, chicken and ham with tasty grilled pineapple.

This was a man’s meal. The portion sizes were huge, and there was no way this old grumpy guy was going to finish his plate.

Set up cafeteria style, this new Main Street eatery was a nice surprise. All of my grilled meats were cooked to perfection. Although, with their utensils, the plastic knife proved to be a little challenging. But again, I was easily frustrated. :)

With the Mixed Grill entree, my plate (the to-go kind — they ran out of the regular plates) came heaped with rice smothered in black beans, a small hunk of bread, 8 pieces of meat, steamed vegetables and another side of salad (they had four kinds from which to choose).

Braza is a breath of fresh air on Main.

-Wingnut

Man-up possibilities: 11
Quality: 9.9
Service: 9
Overall 9.9

Quotes of the day :

That was your opportunity to feed the bird.
You should really let your entire self-image be based on what others think of you.
Are you in trouble with the wife?
I can just feel myself flushing up.
I just keep getting rid of TVs and nothing's changed.
There's nothing funnier than little kids dropping the f-bomb.
I'm already at half-Kratz.
Do you have a light coming out of your crack?

Red Rockin' out with my, uh ... never mind

I learned today that the GPaK should move to Hawaii where it is warm year round. This would accomplish two things:

1) Greg would not steal my knit cap and throw it on the pavement because I wouldn't be wearing one.
2) Chuck could always wear shorts (or possibly parachute pants), which would reduce the number of nether-region follicle tears he experiences during a one-hour period. For the readers' information, today's count was three.

On that note, let's talk about the Red Rock Brewing Company, our lunch destination. I've been to Red Rock several times, but today was the first with a GPaK's Friday Lunch Blog hanging over my head. Needless to say, it was difficult to concentrate. Still, I was able to accurately predict the menu selections of all three of my fellow diners, a skill that will no doubt come in handy if I'm ever in the market for a new career.

I tried, but being frugal isn't easy at Red Rock, especially if you'd like something that doesn't come in a bread pocket (Red Rock eschews the time-honored bun in favor of the pita). Most lunch items cost in excess of $10 and several approach $20 or more. I ordered an Italian sausage personal pizza for $9.99. Red Rock makes its own sausage (so the menu said) and I found it to be reasonably tasty, with just a hint of heat. The pizza was a 10-incher and I ate about three-quarters of it before getting too full to continue. I also made it a point to sample some of Superscrunch's waffle-cut carrots, which were delicious and enjoyable to eat in a kindergarten-y way.

The place was almost full and we had to raise our voices several times to be heard over the din, but the surplus of ambient noise had its advantages, too, drowning out many of Wingnut's phone calls. I've enjoyed Red Rock the most when money wasn't an object (i.e., on someone else's dime). If you find yourself in one of those situations, be sure to try some of the available appetizers. The onion rings and mozzarella sticks are both very good; the calamari is too, if you are in to that kind of thing.

Go 'Huskers!

Man-up possibilities: 9
Food quality: 8
Service: 8
Overall: 8

Quotes o' the day:
REMARK: I smell Wings. REJOINDER: You smell yourself?
I'll have a spite salad, with a side order of idiocracy.
Diddle-fingers.
I just wet the bed so it forces me to get out.
We'll be the flying doughnut shop.
It's good to be us.
I ordered for the little lady today.
That's a fun way to eat carrots.
It's kind of hard to come up with words when you don't know any.
REMARK: Dude, you need a wax. REJOINDER: Yeah, get one, it's nice.
I can't get down.