Bringing it back to the best barbecue!

Hello ladies and gentlemen, I have recently returned from my favorite barbecue restaurant in New York City: Dinosaur’s. I have tried many different dishes there and like some more than others, which makes me wonder: what is the difference between my first-place choice, Dinosaur’s, and my very close second-place winner, Blue Smoke? Well, let’s get some of the obvious out of the way:
1. Dinosaur’s is an eternally crowded restaurant, with strange décor, in the middle of nowhere (in Harlem, which itself is not an isolated area; however the restaurant is on 130th street and 12th avenue). On the other hand, blue smoke is a fancier barbecue establishment easily accessible on 27th street between park and Lexington avenues.
2. Dinosaur’s allows you to create combination platters, with either two or three different meats (I pigged out and got 3 last time). Blue smoke only offers one item at a time, with the rare exception of a rib sampler and maybe one other such dish.
3. Blue smoke has better side dishes, however you pay for them separately while you get two free with your entrée at Dinosaur’s.
4. Blue smoke has a great selection of different ribs, while Dinosaur’s has only one kind, (oops I mean no offense to the Korean ribs, but I came to a barbecue establishment after all), but their one type of ribs happen to be very tasty.

Bottom line: you can’t go wrong with either one of these fabulous barbecue restaurants. If barbecue food is not for you, well… I guess you could order a salad, not my first choice but everyone is entitled to their own opinion (mine happens to be right, sorry).
The next thing that I will say might be a little controversial: I generally do not like cafeteria-style restaurants. You know what I mean: you stand in line, get to the counter, order your food get on yet another line to pay, then get your own napkins and utensils and sit down. I bring this up because I am noticing a trend towards creating new barbecue “restaurants” that are merely cafeterias: hill country, daisy Mays, and now the number 1 rated (according to Zagat’s) barbecue restaurant in the entire city, you guessed it, it’s a cafeteria too!
In closing, I apologize to any of you whom I have offended. In fact, if you prefer that I review a different kind of food, then please comment below. Next stop: Italian food, Yankees, college stuff, I have so much to talk about!
Let me know your thoughts, as always, take care.
Dan

NEW food critic review: Sandro's Restaurant

Hi everyone, I apologize for my delay in posting a new food review, but here we go:
Sandro’s
306 E. 81st Street
New York NY
4.25 out of 5 stars

It was certainly a unique experience to try the delectable Roman cuisine at this small yet comfortable restaurant. A friend of mine has praised this restaurant's cooking to me more than once, so I decided it was time that I tried it out for myself. I was warmly greeted as I entered Sandro’s, and the wait staff were extremely nice and courteous during my meal. On the table, I found long and narrow breadsticks, Sandro’s makes these in-house, which were crunchy and tasted just a little like rosemary. Sandro himself came out to greet us and he was a very charming and friendly person. For the appetizer, I tried a special: calamari stuffed with mushrooms and, surprisingly, more calamari! This dish was entirely new for me, so I did not know what to expect. I was very happy with the result: three pieces of calamari, filled with a calamari stuffing and accompanied by a few kinds of delicious mushrooms. This appetizer turned out to be quite excellent: the tender calamari were perfectly matched with the various mushrooms, (I liked the taste of each one) and the subtle sauce brought all of the dish’s flavors together. As an entree, I ordered a pasta that was recommended to me by a friend: Bucatini Amatriciana. This dish consists of a homemade pasta, which looks like a thick spaghetti with a hole in the middle, served with tomato sauce onion and pancetta. I really enjoyed this pasta, I especially liked how fresh it tasted, the menu even says that they use organic eggs. It is very difficult to describe the tomato sauce, it was a bit rich but also showed me that it was different from many other sauces that I have tasted before in other typical Italian restaurants. In addition, I found the pancetta to be particularly Delicious, this is another kind of food that I do not eat so often but its saltiness accompanied the tomato and onion flavors well. For dessert, I tried “Grandmother’s apple cake”. I was served a piece of hot cake, which seemed to have more apples than cake (which actually was a good thing), along with some slices of fresh strawberries and a little whipped cream. By this point, I was extremely impressed by this restaurant, so it should not be a surprise to any of you that everything about this dessert was superb. In addition, the waiter brought out some small hot cookies with the flavor of orange zest.
Finally, I was brought a tiny glass of a digestive drink called grapa.
Normally I do not like this drink because the taste is so harsh, but actually this kind of grapa was smoother and was a very nice way to end a great meal.
I would like all of my blog readers to know that Sandro's is not an inexpensive restaurant, the pastas, for example, can cost as much as $22. However, everyone deserves a nice meal, and if that is what you are looking for, then I definitely reccomend Sandro's.
Dan

chapter 51: yankees, dreams, and... read on!

If you didn’t come here to hear about sports, and in particular the New York Yankees, then I encourage you to press alt f4 and exit this page immediately.
Now, is everyone gone yet? Good:
How can I express my feeling of satisfaction due to the Yankees’ latest success? I am not sure, but I will start my story here:
Once upon a time, I had dreams of baseball. I spent time thinking about the day when I would be announced as manager and could pick my own line-up, one that would bring wins and a world series to New York City. I hoped that one day we would actually finish first or second In our division (I became a Yankees fan in the 80’s so that is where my frustration came from). When Torre started as the manager of the Yankees, he brought my dreams to reality and my thoughts soon changed: let this guy handle it, I no longer need to worry about being the manager. Long story short, I have been a huge fan of this team for my entire life. Therefore, I am extremely pleased with the way that the Yankees have been playing this year, especially after the all-star break.
There is another reason why I like this team so much. The following is a chart which explains how I rank my interest in each sport.
1. Baseball
2.
3.
4.
(just imagine pages of blank space)
(finally you will get to the bottom of the list and find everything else)
I really enjoyed “watching” the Yankees in the late 90’s because I felt they had a great team chemistry (this is when I began to route for Jeter and he is still my favorite to this day). Each player was not playing for his own statistics (can you say A-rod, oops), and I truly believe that this was missing for several years. However, presently, it certainly isn’t 1996 anymore, but we are improving.
Yes, I know some of you are wondering, do I really watch the game? (What I mean is, as someone who is blind, do I physically watch it?) I technically listen, but I find it so natural to say watch. Sometimes I use the television like the Yes channel or ESPN, sometimes on the radio on WABC, either way I tend to say that I watched the game.
This summer has been quite busy for me. In fact, Monday will be the first free day that I have had (besides weekends) since June 1! Take care everyone, the birthday blog will be posted around the 24th.
Dan

turning thirty

What can I say? In two and a half weeks, on august 24th, I will be 30 years old. This feels like a very significant birthday for me, and it will begin a new phase in my life (not old, but headed towards middle adulthood in the Erikson’s stages of life). Depending on who you talk to, 30 can be viewed as young or old: last week a 23 year old girl at the VCB institute called me “over-the-hill”. On the other hand, people who are 40 or 45 years old thought that I was still pretty young.
Overall, I feel satisfied with the fact that I have done so much by the age of 30: I’m graduating from lehman in December with a BSW (and currently a 3.9 GPA, sorry I don’t mean to brag, actually yes, I do), , I owned a business, made a few close friends, and found and lost love. Isn’t that quite a lot of things to accomplish early in life?
I have big plans for the future: (trust me on this one, I wouldn’t just say “big plans” without really meaning it): first, I plan to get my masters degree in social work by the end of 2011. Next, I want to find a job where I can help people with disabilities like myself. Next, I will start hanging out with Bill Gates in order to try to get a part of that Microsoft fortune (just kidding, maybe).
All joking aside, I am proud that I am totally blind and totally independent (well, maybe not totally, but I can at least manage my little money, cook a little and be somewhat self-sufficient). I don’t want to become a statistic, one of those people with disabilities who is unemployed. No matter how long it takes, I have a firm belief that I can find the right job with ambition, motivation, perserverance, and connections? (For me, it’s not who I know but what I know, that’s why I watch Jeopardy).
Stay tuned for the next exciting and action-packed episode of: blind blog!
Dan

employment and technology institute: the good bad and strange

Hi everyone, well I recently came back from the Visions employment and technology institute. I had a great time despite the weather and food? (that question mark was intentional, not a typo) Anyway, I attended several workshops and seminars including confidence building, interview preparation, cell phone accessibility, and affordable assistive technology. I am very interested in technology, probably more than most people I know. Therefore, I learned more from some of these workshops than from others. In addition, I was able to network and meet new and interesting people with whom I hope to stay in contact with. The best part was that I won the highest merit award: (not bragging, sorry, just stating what happened) I won an ipod! Pretty awesome, I think. However, now I am returning to reality and I am back to work.
The Yankees finally lost! (I know, we had a great winning streak going there for a while) When I was young, I was a big fan of offense and of hitting, I always valued hitting more than pitching. However, now that I am more mature and grown up, I realize that maybe pitching is what makes the difference in the end. I noticed that during our winning streak, the thing that really stood out was our dynamite pitching staff! Yes, the offense helped us out, but what really won games was pitching.
That’s it for now, please comment on this blog and let me know your thoughts. Thanks. Dan

My top hamburgers in New York City in random order

Hey, well today I thought I would share some of the findings from the qualitative research that I have been doing lately. This is a very scientific study, you see, to determine the top hamburgers in my town. This is basically my opinion, but I wouldn't mislead you (or would I?). Here is a list of places I have tried which I believe to be tops:
(This list is in random order, not number 1 through 7 from best to worst, and please forgive me for any misspelled words.)
1. Primehouse: I went here recently, they make a great hamburger for lunch or brunch, the beef is very high quality, seasoned properly, with excellent fries.
2. Rare bar and grill: I like this restaurant, and they make an incredible, incredibly expensive, t-bone burger which is so good.
3. Shake shack: What can I say, I went from the expensive to the affordable. I prefer the newest location on columbus avenue (near my old internship, hint hint). Their burgers are nicely seasoned and their shakes are to die for (literally?).
4. Rue 57: This place is very touristy, but their burger is pretty good. Oh yeah, and the fries aren't bad either.
5. Ottomanelli's: A local favorite of mine, best burger in the immediate area. This restaurant is quality through and through, you can't go wrong with any dish here, although I am not telling you to travel from outside of manhattan to try it out.
6. Union square cafe: This is always rated as one of the top restaurants in the city, and their burger does not disappoint. (Their calamari is quite excellent as well.)
7. Peter Luger's: Now, I haven't tried this burger yet, but everyone puts it on their top ten lists. In addition, if the beef used for the burger is anything like their steak, then we have nothing to worry about.
8. Burger king: The wopper is... (just kidding, but did I fool you?)
A few popular places didn't make my list, and I am still anxious to try out other fine hamburger establishments. Let me know what you think about my first list, I have a feeling that it will be very contraversial.
Dan

back to work, summer 2009 edition!

Hi everyone, as I am typing this I am starting my second day of work for my summer internship. (no, i am not skipping work to do this, it's just that nothing is happening right now so I figured this would be the perfect time to blog) Anyway, I am working at the same agency as last summer, and I am enjoying it so far. The staff are very nice and we get along well. I really like helping other people with disabilities, I feel that I can empathize with them because we are in the same situation. Part of my responsibilities here is to do research for the staff, which makes me wonder: was there a time before google? I mean, I'm sure there was, and I was around during the days when you could do research in one of those places, you know, those buildings filled with various books, oh yeah, a library! However, today people have become so reliant on the internet as the only place to find out information. (Yes, I have done this a little bit too, but I never forget about growing up before the internet craze). I am not complaining, I just think it's beneficial to remember where we came from, and I wish I wasn't so attached to the net myself, but that's life.
By the way, I didn't spell check this, so if you find any errors, sorry! I am writing this blog quickly so that I have more time to work, or to google. Have a great day world, I'll talk to you soon. Dan