Franklin Barbecue

I’ll be back soon with the rest of my Israel postings, but I had to interrupt with this quick post.  For some reason, I’ve been to Austin, TX quite a few times in the past couple of years, so I’ve had a chance to give a lot of the barbecue in the city a try.

Easily the best brisket I’ve had not just in Austin but, well, in life was at Franklin Barbecue.  Located just outside the main downtown of Austin, you’ll be able to spot it with no trouble by the crowd standing in line to get in.  Doors open at 11 am (only for lunch), and when we got there around noon there was already a one hour wait.  I know it sounds like a long time, but it’s worth the wait.

Because of the limited supply of meat they have each day, they don’t guarantee that they’ll have what you want once you get up to the register.  Waiters walk down the line every few minutes to give people an update on what supply is left.  Unfortunately for us, they had run out of ribs by the time we were able to order, but the brisket they let us sample (and that we eventually ordered) more than made up for it.  Moist, flavorful, fatty, meaty – it was done perfectly.

And they do not cheat you; for $13 you can get two meats and two sides with bread.  I opted with the brisket and sausage.  I could have taken the slabs of meat they flopped down on the plate and the two sides and made three meals out of it.  In hindsight – I wish I just gotten the $10 one meat plate, skipped the sausage since it was “eh”, but just had the brisket to die for.

Days: Tuesday–Sunday, CLOSED all Mondays
Hrs: 11am–sold out (just open for lunch)

900 E. 11th, Austin, TX 78702

Waiters will come outside and sell beverages while you wait to get in

There’s limited seating inside, but there is a bit more outside

So. Freaking. Good.

Jerusalem – Part I

After our little excursion to the Dead Sea and Masada, we headed out of the Negev desert and back to civilization.  Our next stop was Jerusalem which was what could be considered the main feature of the trip to Israel.

Driving into Jerusalem is tricky so be prepared for a high stress driving situation if you’re behind the wheel.  All the maps of the city that we had lacked the small side streets and the Garmin GPS struggled to find certain streets and pronounce the Hebrew accurately in understandable English (You don’t know on-edge driving until you’re in a different country and Garmin spits out “Turn left on Allafuweesa Hearzog” and the only sign you see is Kovshei Katamon Street.)

We eventually arrived at our hotel in one piece – the Eldan Hotel.  This place is located across from the famous King David Hotel, so you can use that as a landmark when trying to find it.  The hotel itself is very nice, with renovated rooms and it’s in a fantastic location (a quick walk to the Old City, which will be in the next post).  There is very limited and tight parking, so again, have a good driver behind the wheel.   You will pay a a bit to stay here – at least $200 US a night and there is NO internet (which was very bizarre for the price we were paying for the room), but its location in relation to the sites makes it worth it.  If you do want to use the internet, you have to go next door to the YMCA or the King David to get a free WiFi signal.

Here are a few of the highlights from our first day (apologies for the relatively scarce amount of pictures – most of these museums didn’t allow photography):

Israel Museum

Hours
Sun, Mon, Wed, Thurs 10 am – 5 pm
Tues 4pm – 9 pm (*Please note the Museum is closed on Tuesday mornings and during special holiday hours)
Fri and holiday eves 10 am – 2 pm
Sat and holidays 10 am – 5 pm

***Children under 18 free admission on Tuesdays and Saturdays

The Israel Museum is a solid starting point for your visit to the city.  There you can view the Dead Sea Scrolls and Aleppo Codex and get a nice, but admittedly typical, look at a range of Jewish artwork.  The Judaic portion of the museum is a good exhibit of the history of Jewish culture and worth walking through.  There is also free parking at the museum and some very good free tours that are offered throughout the day.

Yad Vashem and the Holocaust Museum

Hours
Sunday-Wednesday: 9:00 – 5:00
Thursday: 9:00-8:00
Friday: 9:00-2:00
Saturday: Closed

A trip to Israel wouldn’t be complete without a very necessary stop at Yad Vashem and The Holocaust Museum.  I’m going to say this right off the bat – this part of the trip will be extremely disturbing and emotionally draining, so be prepared for that.

At Yad Vashem, you’ll be able to look at the Hall of Remembrance – a dark, quiet hangar bay like structure that houses the eternal flame and the names of all the concentration camps carved onto the floor.  Down the way is the Children’s Memorial.  This memorial is a spooky, but beautiful tribute to the children victims of the holocaust.  The memorial is a completely dark walkthrough with only one candle in the center and mirrors all around that make the room look like it’s filled with starry candlelight.  The only sound that can be heard is the voice of one man reciting the names, birthplaces and ages of all the children victims.

Of the three big parts of Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Museum is easily the most impressive.  Being from D.C., I made the mistake of thinking the D.C and Jerusalem holocaust museums would be similar.  The museum in Jerusalem is shockingly long, so give yourself at least two hours to go through it and I will admit is FAR better than the holocaust museum in Washington, D.C.  As you go through each room and listen to the hundreds of stories and read the thousands of displays, it’s indescribable to fathom just how unbelievably and incredibly horrible of a tragedy occurred.  Don’t be surprised if you see a lot of people with watery eyes or if you find yourself crying.  At the end of the museum, if you take a look around at all the faces of the other tourists, you’ll just see mass exhaustion and the look that everyone just got hit in the face.  Needless to say, this is not a “fun” thing to see or do, but it is an extremely interesting experience.

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Masada and the Dead Sea

Driving north from Eliat, we made our way to the kibbutz that we would be staying in for the next couple of days – the Khalia Kibbutz.  The kibbutz is located a few miles from the Dead Sea and going into it I didn’t know what to expect.  I really thought it would be like an amish-type village thing, but quickly realized that I was quite mistaken.  As we approached the gate, there were armed guards who had to check us through due to kibbutzes being a frequent target of terrorist attacks.  We made our way past security, and we saw that that the kibbutz was a modern, fully-functioning community.

More like a vacation resort complex than a farm, the room we stayed in was modest, clean, and affordable with a little kitchen and back patio.  The staff was friendly, but like all Israelis they had a curt, edgy directness.  The Khalia Kibbutz is good choice if you’re looking to do something very Israeli and need a place to stay when visiting the following:

The Dead Sea

The Dead Sea was definitely one of the highlights of the trip.  We went to Mineral Beach, which is one of the beaches you do actually have to pay for to enter.  They also offer towels and lockers to rent and spa services (which are very overpriced).  The beach itself isn’t really a “lay out the towel and lounge” type beach.  The ground is extremely rocky, but there are several beach chairs for you to have so that you’re not sitting on the rocks.

Look Mom! No hands!

Regardless of that, the reason why you’re there isn’t to enjoy the “sand” – its to experience the water.  And it certainly doesn’t disappoint.  All the stories you hear about being able to literally float with no effort are 100% true.  Once you get in, all you need to do is lift up your feet and it’s like you’re on an invisible floating mat.  A few things to note though – DO NOT DUNK.  I cannot stress this enough.  The water tastes absolutely horrible and will cause serious harm to your eyes if it gets in contact with them.  Also, DO NOT SHAVE before going in.  The water is SO salty that any small cut or scrape will burn like crazy.  I didn’t shave, but there were a few small scratches on my legs that I didn’t know about and the water quickly let me know they were there.

Natural mud treatment

When you’re tired of floating in the sea itself, you can try giving yourself a mud treatment.  There are barrels of the mineral mud located on the beach and you’ll see everyone covering their skin up in this gunky mess.  When you wash it off, your skin feels absolutely smooth and fresh as the mud has sucked up all the oils and dead skin and washed them away.  Be warned, the mud also stings so if you’re going to put it on your face, just be prepared.

It’s also worth partaking in the sulfur pool.  This giant hot tub has the same water as the dead sea so you can float around in it with all the other people.  The water is very hot though and we couldn’t stay in there too long.

Hiking up the Masada

Another famous Israeli landmark is the Masada, a fortress that was built on top of a mountain in 37 B.C.  It’s famous for the great siege at Masada, where 960 Jewish settlers committed mass suicide to avoid capture from the Romans.  You can read more about the story here.  There are two ways up the mountain to see the ruins of the fortress - hike and the cable car.  The cable car will get you up to the top in a few minutes.  If you’re going to attempt the hike up to the top of the mountain, you’ll take the snake trail and that climb will take you 45 minutes to an hour or two depending on your pace.  You should also be in relatively good shape, the hike up is not an easy one if you choose the snake trail.  There is a significantly easier trail up as well called the Roman Ramp, but that requires you to drive 40 minutes around the mountain to the other side.  There’s a fee to hike and a fee for the cable car.  A popular option is to pay for the hike up and a pay for a one-way trip back down on the cable car.  Once you get to the top, you can easily spend a couple hours up there.  There are several pretty intact ruins left and the views of the Dead Sea are amazing.

Ein Gedi and Qumran

For more hiking, swing by Ein Gedi Nature Park.  There you can explore the park’s waterfalls, caves, natural springs and wildlife.  It’s pretty incredible seeing the lush flora and water of this oasis in the middle of the desert.  Qumran is also located close by.  If you have an hour, check out the site where they found the Dead Sea Scrolls and see how the ancient tribes that found them lived.  However, keep in mind that the actual scrolls aren’t kept at Qumran.  They’re housed in the Israel Museum in Jerusalem – our next destination.

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A couple of Boston’s best pizza offerings from the Boston Guide

Taking a quick break from the Israel postings for a bit here, you may recall that I’m always looking for write-ups from readers such as yourself.  This blog is meant to be as comprehensive as possible and I love it when you folks are as enthusiastic as I am about traveling!

With that, one of my best friends was kind enough to share his thoughts on what are arguably the two best pizza joints in Boston.  You can call him the “Boston Guide”.  Having lived in Boston all his life, he certainly knows what he’s talking about (especially when it comes to food) and I fully support his reviews having been a patron at both pizza places myself as well.  Buon Appetito and thank you again “Boston Guide”!

Regina Pizzeria
11 1/2 Thacher Street
Boston, MA 02113

Hours of operation:

Sun-Thu
11:00am -11:30pm
Fri & Sat
11:00am -12:30am

 

 

 

 

 

 

Santarpio’s Pizza
111 Chelsea Street
East Boston, MA 02128

*** CASH ONLY

Hours of operation:

Mon-Thu
11:30am – 11pm
Fri & Sat
11:30am – 11:30pm
Sun
Noon – 11:00pm

 

 

 

 

 

 

Boston may not have a namesake pizza “style” like New York or Chicago, but if you’re looking for a pie that defines the local style on your next visit to Boston, check out Regina’s or Santarpio’s.

Regina’s and Santarpio’s specialize the same general type of pizza.  Both serve up thin crust pies perfectly charred in wood ovens – crispy on the outside and fantastically doughy on the inside. The tomato sauce is light, tangy and sweet.   Topped off with sharp, salty cheese.

Deciding which place you like more really comes down to the details.  I’m not going to try to pick a winner here because both places are awesome.  Instead, I’ll give you the information you need to decide which works best for your next trip to Boston.  Of course, you can’t go wrong with both.

Quick Tips

1. This is a review of the Regina’s in the North End – not the Regina’s branches.  There are a bunch of Regina’s branches scattered around town (South Station, Prudential mall, etc.) that don’t hold a candle to the original.  Skip the branches.

2. Don’t try to go to Regina’s during peak hours.  Regina’s is a tourist attraction in a touristy section of the city.   Don’t let that scare you away from Regina’s or the North End – you should check out the North End when you visit Boston – just understand that if you show up at Regina’s during meal times you will be standing in line out on the street for a while.

3. Both Regina’s and Santarpio’s have bars, so you can wash down your pizza with beer or wine.

4. Go to Santarpio’s if you’re looking for: a meal on your way in or out from Logan Airport (it’s just minutes away from the airport by car), the best sausage pizza in the city, a heartier slice, or local Boston flavor.

5. Go to Regina’s if you’re looking for: a meal in the North End, the best pepperoni pizza in the city, variety on the menu.

Santarpio’s

In overly simplified terms, Santarpio’s is the heavier, heartier pizza.  The crust is heartier, more charred.  Whereas Regina’s dusts their crust with a light flour, Santarpio’s trademark is a coarse cornmeal crunch.   Check out the legendary, delicious sausages cooking over open fire by the entrance.

Similarly, the Santarpio’s experience is a bit rougher around the edges.  Whereas Regina’s is packed with tourists, Santarpio’s is all local.  Expect: servers with thick Boston accents and some Boston attitude, local youth hockey teams eating after practice, the guy in the booth next to you talking about the “top 5 coldest Pats games” he’s ever sat through.

Expert Order: Sausage pizza, bring cash (‘Tarp’s is cash only)

Regina’s

Regina’s plain cheese slice is just about perfect – light, crispy, salty and sweet.  The menu also includes all the standard topings, as well as a variety of specialty pizzas.  I prefer to keep it simple – I think that lots of toppings can take away from a great slice – but Regina’s provides more variety than Santarpio’s if that’s what you’re into.

As mentioned above, Regina’s is a popular tourist destination.  Don’t expect anything fancy though.  Regina’s is still a no-frills pizza joint.

Expert Order: Pepperoni pizza (well done), white pizza (this pizza doesn’t include Regina’s awesome red sauce so make sure you get the pepperoni as well).

Perfect Alternative

If the line at Regina’s is too long, or if you’re just looking for a quick slice to carry out, Ernesto’s in the North End is a perfect alternative.  Choose from a wide variety of pies and keep in mind that Ernesto’s slices are HUGE.  For the full experience, carry out and eat in nearby Christopher Columbus Park with great views of Boston Harbor.

Driving to Eilat and the day trip to Petra

After our brief stay in Tel Aviv, we took our rental car and proceeded south towards the city of Eilat, which is pretty much the most southern city in Israel.  To get to Eilat you can take a quick flight if you’re pressed for time.  But if not, the drive through the Negev Desert is about 4.5 hours.

Heed this warning: Israeli drivers are aggressive and brazen.  I mean – really brazen. So much so that most credit card companies’ insurance WILL NOT cover any rental damages in Israel.  You’ll have to really do your research if you want to find a credit card that will insure rental cars in Israel.  We actually had to open up an American Airlines credit card in order to get rental insurance for our car (and it’s a good thing we did too because our car didn’t make it through the trip without suffering some damage – admittedly my fault).  And make sure to have a GPS!  The maps aren’t exactly easy to use for getting in and out of the urban areas (more to come about that in the Jerusalem segment).

The roads through the Negev are very mountainous and quite scenic.  On the route there are several sights to see such as Sde Boker, which is the sight where Ben Gurion’s desert home is located.  There are also several wineries to visit, however some of them are gated and you MUST have a cell phone to call them to open it up.

Once we arrived at Eilat, the first thing you’ll notice is it’s very modern.  The city is very commercial and much more of a beach town than anything else.  You won’t find much local cuisine as they’re catering to the tourists, so unless you’re there when it’s warm and you’re going to do some sunbathing – the city doesn’t need much more than a day to see.  However, though it wasn’t local, we did eat at a very good Italian seafood restaurant called Pago Pago that is worth trying out.  I had the shrimp & calamari butter oil gnocchi which was excellent.

So we weren’t in Eilat for the beach.  The true reason we stayed in Eilat wasn’t so much to see the city as much as it was our launch point to see the great ruins of Petra.

Petra is located just across the border in Jordan so it’s best to book a guided tour to help you get through customs.  This is not a cheap excursion however and it cost us around $300 per person as well as $60 for the customs entrance fee into Jordan.  IMPORTANT: Remember – if you ever want to visit a place like Lebanon or another Arab country that doesn’t recognize Israel as a state, you MUST get the Israeli customs to give you a separate, special visa to stamp so that they don’t stamp your passport.

The group we went with was EcoTour.  They were quite good, providing us with an excellent guide and delicious lunch/dinner (the place they took us had amazing hummus).  They also offer overnight Petra excursions for the serious trekkers, and in hindsight we wish we had booked the overnight tour as we quickly realized that Petra had much more to offer than we thought.

The drive to Petra is about 2 hours from Eilat.  The start of the Petra tour begins as you take the downhill (about 1/4 miles) walk towards the Siq (narrow passage).  Once you get to the Siq, it’s like entering a whole other world.  The stroll through this narrow canyon is surprisingly long, with several archaeological carvings and monuments along the way.   You have to mind your step every way because donkey pulled rickshaws come careening through the curves of the Siq.

As you walk through the Siq, you’ll eventually come to one of the most famous sights in history – most notably made recognizable by Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade: The Treasury 0r Al Khazneh.  It’s easy to see why this facade was used as the location where the Holy Grail was located, but unfortunately in real life all that’s inside is an empty chamber.  Sorry, no blades cutting off heads or leaps of faith to be had.  Still impressive nonetheless, the Treasury is best viewed in the morning when the light from the sun hits the facade perfectly.

Because Indiana Jones made the Treasury so famous, I didn’t believe that there was much more than that.  Wrong.  As we continued our tour, the Siq opened up and we came upon an impressive and expansive set of ruins that would rivals those in Pompeii and Ephesus.  Here you’ll see ruins of the entire city including ancient temples, buildings and columns all around.  I’m sad to say that because of the time constraints, we were limited in the amount of sightseeing we could do and sort of sped walked through the ruins without giving them their due attention.  This is why I said earlier that in hindsight we wish we had done the overnight excursion.

Even so, we got our money’s worth and as much as we would have liked to stay longer we saw the highlights.  Remember when I said we walked downhill at the beginning?  Well as we started walking back we quickly realized that we never really went uphill at any point.  So bear this in mind: the uphill walk all the way back will be a little challenging.  There are several locals offering horse, donkey and camel rides back to the starting point if you’re willing to spend a little cash for a lift (they’ll get in your face, but in general they’ll back off if you say no – unlike the guys in Egypt who will follow you and follow you).

I know the trip to Israel will already cost you a pretty penny, but if you’re already there and there’s any way you can get yourself to Petra, I would highly recommend doing so.

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Israel – Tel Aviv

For those of you who follow my blog, you’ll know that a couple of years ago my trip to Egypt was at the cusp of the revolution (unbeknownst to us of course at the time).  So when we found out rockets were being fired into the “land of milk and honey” a month before our scheduled vacation to Israel, we were uneasy to say the least.  Though we considered alternate plans, we decided to go forth with our visit to Israel and it didn’t disappoint.

After our ten hour flight, we landed at Ben Gurion airport outside of  Tel Aviv.  We hopped in a cab and attempted to negotiate a fair rate into the city, but after a day of traveling, the exhaustion won over and we ended up paying around 175 shekels (NIS) for a ride in.  If you’re up for negotiating, the fare shouldn’t be more than 150 NIS.  (As of this writing, 1 New Israeli Shekel = 3.7 U.S. Dollars).

Tel Aviv doesn’t look like much at first glance.  I would say that in all honesty it isn’t actually really a city you’d fall in love with on the surface.  There isn’t really any sort of standout landmark to give it any definition – and to me that makes sense.  I feel like Tel Aviv is a growing city with a bit of an identity crisis that has yet to really define itself.  But while it lacks in any sort of standout cultural staple, it makes up for with several other things.

For one (I can’t fully comment on this because I never really got a chance to go out in the evening) the nightlife is supposedly amazing and from what I did see, there were definitely several streets with clubs and bars side by side that were closed during the day, but had crowds people spilling in and out of them at 4:00 AM (which we did witness on our taxi ride back to the airport at the end of the trip).  So, if you’re looking for a club scene in Israel, Tel Aviv is the place to check out.

Another defining part of the city are their extensive beaches.  Being there over Christmas we didn’t have the summer weather to fully take advantage of the beach, but the walkway along the beach is still pleasant enough even in the winter time and worth strolling down.  Also, if you’re so inclined, you can take advantage of the free exercise machines on the sand and get a little workout in.  It’s like Tel Aviv’s own little Venice Beach.

There are also a couple of markets you can take advantage of for souvenirs, produce, goods, anything.  One is called the Carmel Market and the other is the flea market at Old Jaffa.  Both don’t really compare to the bazaar in Jerusalem (more on that later), but they are worth checking out to see the scene and it makes for a nice afternoon walk to go from one to the other via the beach.

And finally, the people are very friendly and love their dogs – Tel Aviv is a very dog friendly city.  Indeed, some of the populous are very straight forward (although not as many as the guidebooks would let you believe), almost to the point where you think they’re pissed at you based on the curtness of their talk.  But that’s just the way a lot of them are and you grow to see that their prickly outer demeanor is very thin and underneath is actually a very nice person.  Naturally we asked them about the situation with the Palestinians and the recent rocket attacks in November 2012.  Their response was this: It’s a fact of life around there that these things happen, but they’re blown out of proportion by the media.  They compared it to the Sandy Hook massacre in Newtown, CT.  They understand and live with the fact that violence exists in their society and that they could be victim to it – but they don’t go about their days living in fear.

So if you’re visiting Israel during the winter you only really need to give Tel Aviv a couple of days.  If it’s the summer however, you could probably go a few more days to take advantage of the beaches and nightlife.  Just make sure that if you’re planning on seeing the whole country, don’t plan too much time around Tel Aviv.  Israel, as we soon discovered, has more to offer outside Tel Aviv and in my opinion is worth prioritizing.

Where to Stay

Sea-Land Apartments
Don’t let the shady exterior fool you.  For $150 a night, these are great apartments to stay in.  Their location is right in the middle of the action and you’re only about a 10-15 minute walk from the beach.  They are also conveniently located across from an AM:PM, which is the Israeli 24 hour supermarket.  The apartment themselves are extremely clean, very modern looking and come with a kitchen and patio.

Ben Yehuda 84 Tel Aviv, 63435 Israel‎
+972 77-410-0966

Where to Eat

Falafel Gabai
If you want a fantastic cheap eat in Tel Aviv – Falafel Gabai delivers on of the best falafel sandwiches I’ve ever had.  We went a couple times it was so good.  You would walk right by it by how modest it looks, except for the fact that there seems to a crowd of locals outside of the place that gives it away.  A Falafel with Pita sandwich is very filling, so if you’re not looking for a huge filler of a meal, go with the half pita.  And when they ask if you’d like it spicy, use caution – it’s VERY spicy.

Bograshov 25, Tel Aviv, Israel

Kurtosh
Literally a few doors down from Falafel Gabai, Kurtosh offers some of the best pastries I’ve ever had.  Not at the Paris level, but pretty damn close, the croissants, danishes, and strudels offered at this small bakery provide the perfect amount of sweet, flaky, crispiness that one can enjoy for breakfast or a tasty snack while in Tel Aviv.

Bograshov 39, Tel Aviv, Israel

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Why I Love JetBlue

Hello friends.  Sorry I was silent for a little while there.  As much as I would love to be traveling around the world 365 days a year, I’ve still got that little issue of vacation time to worry about.  That being said – this is a good time to remind all my readers – I ACCEPT SUBMISSIONS TO POST ON MY BLOG.  Obviously, I can’t go everywhere in the world, but with your help we can try and cover each corner of the globe together.  So, if you have any sort of reviews, pictures, stories, tips (especially tips) about any places, restaurants or sights in the world, please feel free to forward them on to me and I’ll load them up.

Moving on now.  The one bit of traveling I did do was going home to Boston for Thanksgiving.  And while I generally hate dealing with the craziness of traveling during that time of the year, one thing made it far more managable: flying on JetBlue.

I absolutely love JetBlue, especially now that it flies in and out of the much more convenient Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C. (as opposed to Dulles and Baltimore/Washington airports).   But aside from the convenience, JetBlue in my opinion gets everything right.  Because it’s a smaller airline, and generally flies mainly on the east coast, a lot of people haven’t had the chance to give them a try.  Here’s a rundown of why I think they’re the best.

- Just read this story about what did JetBlue did to help the family of one of the 6-year old victims of the Sandy Hook massacre:
http://www.travelerstoday.com/articles/3951/20121217/jetblue-airways-customer-help-families-newtown-connecticut-shooting-victims-sandy-hook-elementary-noah-pozner-emilie-parker.htm 

- Price.  Airline tickets are ridiculously expensive, but JetBlue has managed to keep their prices consistently reasonable.  Like Southwest, the first bag you check is free of charge – without the 100 commercials you DVR fast-forward through.  Though admittedly JetBlue’s ticket prices aren’t gonna be as cheap as Southwest’s in some cases, it’s worth paying the few extra dollars for all of the following…

- Customer Service.  Great customer service on every flight I’ve been on.  The flight attendants are always friendly, and on one occasion I saw the flight attendant help every single female with a carry-on put their bags in the overhead – every single one.  They also provide bottles of Dasani water, Dunkin Donuts coffee along with blue Terra chips and/or cookies, nuts in the gate area as well as on the plane ride.

- 32 channels of DirecTV and SiriusXM satellite radio for free.  I cannot tell you how many times I was so happy to have a chance to watch the end of football games on my flights home on Sundays.  And going back to the customer service thing – my co-worker told me that on her shortly delayed JetBlue flight, they gave all the passengers free access to all the movies as an apology.

- Legroom.  Unlike on the larger carriers, JetBlue’s regular seats have more than enough room to cross your legs without the “can I do this without awkwardly banging my dirty-ass foot into the seat in front of me or the passenger next to me” hesitation.  And those are just the regular seats.  The “Even More Space” seats have so much room, they’re good for parents with little toddlers who want to stand/waddle in front of them.

- The Red Sox.  It’s the official airline of the Boston Red Sox.  That one’s just for me.

JetBlue is essentially that perfect blend of budget airline and big carrier without the annoyingness of the getting loaded onto a plane like a bus, or dealing with such a big airline that you get treated as poorly as your luggage.  I would go as far to say that if I had the choice of a direct flight on something like United or having to have to deal with a layover with JetBlue – I would actually take the layover.

Las Vegas, NV

In general, I adhere to the saying “What happens in Vegas, Stays in Vegas” so I won’t go too much into the details of my time in Sin City – but I will give you all a general idea of the things we did and saw.  If you do Vegas right, you’ll only really need about three or four days before you get drained out.

Tip if you’re going to Vegas from L.A.: If you can afford to fly, then fly and don’t drive.  Google will tell you the drive takes around 3 hours.  With all the traffic, the drive ended up taking us like 7 hours from L.A.

Truly a city that never sleeps

They don’t call it America’s playground for nothing.  The city is an absolute shitshow, especially on the weekends.  People are spilling in and out of hotels (most with libations in hand), the streets are filled with Transformers, Victoria Secret Angels, Michael Jacksons, you name it, and the Las Vegas “slappers” are out in force trying to get you to take one of the porno pamphlets they slap in your face.

When we finally did get ourselves settled in (it was around 10 PM), the night was just starting.   The hotel we were staying at was Treasure Island.   Located relatively close to the middle of the strip (the prime hotel locations are places like the Bellagio and Cosmopolitan), TI has been completely renovated and the new rooms are surprisingly modern for what looks like an older hotel on the outside.   If you stay there, try and get a room facing the back or side or else the fire and explosions of the nightly “Sirens of TI” show go off right outside your window.  (Note: The show itself is pretty cheesy, so I wouldn’t go out of my way to see it.  But if you happen to be in the area, it’s free so you may as well check it out.)

While the rooms look like they got a little work done to them, the casino itself isn’t really anything to write home about.  The pool area is decent, and the expected club music and drunk flashing occurred, but as far as pool parties go – Treasure Island’s was pretty tame, but fun (tame for Las Vegas you must realize is a crazy, shitshow anywhere else.  The word shitshow is clearly being used a lot in this post).

One thing you should definitely check out is a Cirque du Soleil show at some point and TI has one of the oldest running performances called Mystere.  If you’re unfamiliar with Cirque du Soleil, it’s one of the most impressive acrobatic shows around – you’ll see feats of strength, balance, and agility that you wouldn’t think are humanly possible.  The members of the cast really are some of the best performers and straight up athletes you’ll ever see on stage.  One part of Mystere that blew my mind was the performance of two bodybuidlers who (and I’ll try to explain this as best I can) slowly, lifted each other in crazy positions using only one arm or leg, or hamstring or whatever to form what could best be described as bizarre, homoerotic sculptures.

Aside from Treasure Island here are few other highlights:

STK
We decided to treat ourselves to a really nice dinner on one of the nights, and STK was the choice.  STK is the steak restaurant at the top floor of the atrium in Cosmopolitan.  Take your time walking up there and you can see the amazing chandelier bar that is 4 levels encased in a ginormous chandelier.  You’ll also pass the notoriously swanky club “Marquee” which is literally the hottest place to be in Vegas right now.  You’ll see no shortage of young ladies in dresses that are no bigger than my neck warmer flowing into the club and masses of dudes in their best collared shirts who have no chance of getting in unless they’re ready to drop like $2000 or are arm in arm with a cadre of hotties.

Chandelier bar at Cosmopolitan

Back to the restaurant – we made it to the top finally – and had a reservation for 11:00.  If it’s the weekend don’t plan on sitting at your reservation time.  When all was said and done, we finally got our table at 11:45 – let’s just say it was the nighttime version of brunch.  Although the restaurant is a “steak” restaurant, it didn’t have that quiet, fancy feel.  The music was so loud that even when we were sitting in our booth, our seats were vibrating from the bass.

The prices are expensive, so be ready to pay out a handful.  However, they weren’t any more expensive than a nice steak place in any other city.  Because I was already past my budget for the trip, I went with the 12 oz. skirt steak, which probably is their most affordable, but not as high quality cut choice.  I can only imagine what the $50-$60 steaks must be like because the skirt that I ordered was actually really damn good.  Extremely juicy, and came with its own steak sauce (You don’t need to pay for one of the extra ones on the menu, the standard dipping sauce is quite good) which gave the steak a very robust, meaty flavor.  The mac and cheese side was also well done, served in a tradition iron cast bowl with the perfect proportion of cheesy, creamy, bread crumby goodness.  Grade: B+ only because I don’t like not being able to hear any conversation and when my table is bouncing while I eat.

Dealertainers at Imperial Palace
Who doesn’t want to play blackjack with Michael Jackson, Elvis, or Lady Gaga as your dealer? Don’t get scared off by the construction as they remodel the hotel – the Dealertainers are worth checking out as they perform on stage and stay in character as you try to hit 21.

River through the Venetian
No need to travel thousands of miles to see the rivers through Venice.  Vegas provides their own version of it at the Venetian Hotel.  Like everything else in Vegas, it’s absolutely ridiculous in the best way.   Shops line the indoor river as gondolas flow back and forth through the hotel.

Lion Habitat at MGM
Make sure to walk through the MGM Hotel not only to see the indoor amusement park, but to walk through the Lion Habitat.  If you time it right, you’ll be able to see the lion caretakers in the habitat with the majestic animals and hear their talk.

Just chilling with some napping lions

Fountains at Bellagio
Due in part to the ending of Ocean’s Eleven, the Fountains at the Bellagio have become an icon of Las Vegas.  Chances are you’ll walk by the hotel several times since it’s located at the middle of the strip and if you time it right, you’ll catch one of the fountain shows that run every 15 minutes.

There’s no way to get all the activities that one can do in Las Vegas into one blog post (and I obviously left the naughtier bits out).  When it comes down to it, there’s no shortage of things to see or places to have fun.  It’s like the entire world shrunk into one city – everything is big, bright and in excess.  You just have to experience the sensory overload for yourself.  Go play.

Los Angeles, CA highlights

Twice a year my company holds a sales meeting out near the headquarters in Thousand Oaks, CA.  In meetings past, the location has been in places like Santa Monica or San Diego, but it’s always around the southern California area giving many of us remote East Coasters and Midwesterners a chance to see the sunny West Coast on our company’s dime.

Obviously, this is a work trip so much of the time is spent in conference rooms, but my company does do its best to treat their employees well and take us out for group activities.   And usually after the meetings, most of us take the weekend to enjoy being on the west coast for a little vacation.  Here’s a recap of a few of the highlights during that trip.

Westlake Village Inn – Our meetings were held at the hotel where we all stayed.  Located in Westlake Village, this resort isn’t really located in any sort of “going out” type area, but is ideal for those looking to get away and enjoy the southern California weather in peace.  Because of the size of the resort and the picturesque pond it surrounds, the hotel is a great location for meetings or weddings (my co-worker’s aunt being one such bride).   The rooms are extremely comfy, each with a little deck to sit out on and they make you feel like you’re crashing at a rich friend’s summer home.  FYI – my deck light was really bright which flooded into the room at night – keep that in mind for you light sleepers.

The resort is also adjacent to a golf course for those looking to play a few holes (and was right outside the meeting room window for all of us to jealously look out onto).  Also, Bogie’s bar in the resort  apparently is the hot place to be on weekend nights, but since our meeting was during the week I can’t confirm whether or not that’s actually true.  The bar itself though was pretty fun when we were there and has a lot of outdoor seating.  And finally, the pool and gym are both a little small, which is surprising considering how much nicer the rest of the resort is.

View from my balcony at Westlake Village Inn

While the food was actually quite good at the resort, there are a slew of restaurants within a few miles of the resort.  A couple that I’d recommend are :

Cisco’s, a local mexican chain with fantastic Samuel Adams Beer Battered fish tacos and massive margaritas.
Boccacio’s, which is situated on Westlake lake and has a tremedous view of the Santa Monica mountains.   I would highly recommend the Chilean Sea Bass.

Sunstone Winery – Located in Santa Ynez, CA, this was the first of many wineries I would visit in the days to come (stay tuned).  Fans of the movie Sideways will recognize this area as the setting of Paul Giamatti and Thomas Hayden Church’s escapades.  And while the vineyard at Sunstone was beautiful and the wine tasty, the 2 hour drive from L.A. only makes the venue worth a visit if you’re in L.A. for an extended period of time and if it’s a nice enough day to enjoy the coastal drive up.  If you do decide to visit, the tour is very informative and the tasting room at the end allows you to sample several of their vintages and olive oils – be sure to try the garlic olive oil.

The Beverly Hilton Hotel – Renown for hosting the Golden Globe Awards and more recently, the site of the death of singer Whitney Houston, the Beverly Hilton Hotel has a long history of hosting the rich and famous (myself included).  Located at the heart of Beverly Hills, the hotel itself surprisingly seems rather old in some ways, but also new in others.  The resort is the type that has a weird Rat Pack feel to it, but also is the type that has TVs in the bathroom.  Our room was located very conveniently by the pool (literally, we could walk out of our room and the pool was four yards in front of us), and we took advantage of this by going for late night swims at 2-3 in the morning that the staff didn’t seem to mind.

TMZ Hollywood Tour- I’m not a TMZ fan, I’ve only seen parts of it on parodies such as The Soup.  But when our friend suggested we go on TMZ’s bus tour (he’s a big TMZ fan), I decided to roll with the punches and go with it.  In actuality, the 2 hour bus tour starting at Mann’s Chinese Theater was quite entertaining and gives you a pretty good “paparazzi’s” eye of Hollywood.

Don’t go on this thinking you’ll see huge celebrity houses in Beverly Hills.  Rather, you’ll go down Rodeo Drive to see million dollar cars and stores, drive by Beverly Hills Police HQ and the comedy club where Kramer famously dropped the “N” word over and over again.  You’ll also see notorious hotels (where Cher and Elton John own the top floors), sidewalks where naughtiness occured (the curb where Hugh Grant got caught), and restaurants where celebrities frequent (we apparently just missed Halle Barry at one of her favorites).  It’s a trashy tour at best, but I can’t say that I wasn’t throughly amused throughout the ride.

Recognize the hotel? It’s the one from Pretty Woman.

Jimmy Kimmel Live – Probably one of the top experiences of the summer was being able to sit in the audience during the taping of Jimmy Kimmel Live.  One of my co-workers was able to get a few of us tickets through an old college friend of hers who works at the show.  We definitely let the feeling sink in as we walked past the crowds waiting in line outside for tickets and into the backdoor “Green Room” entrance.  We were all hoping that we might get a glimpse of the evening’s guests, Jennifer Garner (Alias) or Paul Scheer (The League) back there, but we weren’t that lucky.  After downing a couple free beers, they escorted us into the studio where we were entertained by a comedian who gave away t-shirts for various different reasons.  The studio itself was shockingly smaller than how it looks on television and when Kimmel came out to do his stand up routine at the beginning, he’s practically in the front row.  Obviously, his TV personality isn’t going to be the same as his off camera personality, but Kimmel was certainly friendly enough to the crowd in-between the recordings and entertained us with back and forth banter between him, the band, and Guillermo (his famous Latino sidekick).

No pictures allowed inside, so this is us outside getting into the Green Room. No Guillermo at the door unfortunately.

We were lucky enough to have crowd pleasing guests in Jennifer Garner (who is as hot in person as on TV by the way) and Paul Scheer, so the crowd’s laughter didn’t need to be forced.  The musical guest was The Fixx, who before that night I had not heard of and my guess is most of the crowd hadn’t either, so we were strongly told to cheer louder (and we even had to re-tape on of the songs because the audience wasn’t into it enough).  Funny part was that when we watched it later that night, they only showed one of three songs that they sung, and not the one that they re-sang.  It was a great experience overall and certainly made the Los Angeles experience that much more authentic.

On a final side note: I was surprised at how much seedier Hollywood was than I thought.  Yes, the Hollywood Walk of Fame is pretty cool to see, but the sidewalks were packed with the homeless, drunks and solicitors.  Definitely not a place where I’d spend a lot of time, but glad I saw it to say I did.

Up next: We jumped in a car and headed our way to Las Vegas.

Chicago Pizza and Oven Grinder Co.

2121 North Clark Street
Chicago, IL 60614
(773) 248-2570

***NO RESERVATIONS
***CASH ONLY

MONDAY – THURSDAY	4PM-11PM
FRIDAY	4PM-MIDNIGHT
SATURDAY	11:30AM-MIDNIGHT
SUNDAY	11:30AM-11PM

Chicago, Illinois is considered by many to be the New York City of the Midwest.  And while there are many similarities, there are several differences that make each city unique.  One of those differences is the style of pizza.  I think unless you live on Mars or a farm in Wyoming or something, you know that Chicago has the deep-dish style pizza and New York has the thin crust.  As a native New Englander, I always prefer thin crust, but like they say, “When in Rome, do as the Romans do”.

I’ve been to Chicago several times and been to many of their famous deep dish pizza joints, such as the original Pizzeria Uno.  But this last trip I took, my friends brought me to an even more unorthodox pizza venue.  As locals, they say it’s one of the best pizza places in the city.  Now, I’ll say this right off the bat – it’s a good pizza place that WILL NOT satisfy a pizza craving.

Sounds weird right?  I’ll say it again – if you’re really craving a thin slice, or personal pan deep dish, this is not the place to go.  However, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try the Chicago Pizza and Oven Grinder Co. if you’re looking for a good meal.

Located non-descriptly in a block of row houses, the venue is small and doesn’t take reservations, so expect to wait.  While we waited, we split a bottle of wine out on the sidewalk, which may or may not have been legal, but it seemed to be an acceptable practice among the several others waiting.

The interior has a cool, woody, cabin feel – very much like a family summer home you might have.  The atmosphere is lively and loud, as they’ve packed as many people as they can into what is essentially an english basement.  The menu itself is simple, with their signature dish, “The Pizza Pot Pie” highlighting the options and to be honest, I don’t think many people order anything else.  You can order a half-pound or one pound ”Pizza Pot Pie”.  This isn’t a deep dish.  You have to use a knife and fork.  And like the name of it says, it literally is like a pot pie made of all pizza ingredients.  If you’re hungry, a half-pound is a perfect size (I was starving and wasn’t able to finish it).

The pot pie was very good.  The ingredients inside as a mix gave it sort of a cheesey, meaty calzone consistency that made me think “this is like the ultimate poor man’s comfort food”.  You can’t help but feel very blue collar as you spoon forkful after forkful of cheese, meat, thick tomato sauce and dough into your mouth.  I could see how this place would be the spot to be in the cold winter months.  I would say that only thing I had against it was that it was too doughy for my taste and I could feel myself bloating up with each carbo-loaded bite.

I’d also recommend getting one of their salads and the surprisingly, really good Mediterranean bread.  I really like Olive Garden salads and this salad and dressing takes the Olive Garden salad to the next level (it actually blows it away).  The flatbread comes out on a plate that’s too small for it and the edges flop down on the table.  You have to tear pieces of it off like you’re at an Ethiopian restaurant.  Be sure to dip the bread in the salad dressing and make sure not to fill yourself up too much.

The simplicity of the restaurant was great – no nonsense, small menu, homestyle fare.  I throughly enjoyed the meal, but I’ll say that I probably wouldn’t find myself going their regularly ONLY because I’m not the type that would “crave” that style of pizza that often.  That being said, it was a fun place with a unique twist on a crowd pleasing food and the pot pie was delicious enough to make you forget you had any sort of thin crust or deep dish craving beforehand.    Grade: B

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