Another lovely sunny day! Wandered up to Fillmore Street again where there’s a Jazz Festival and barbeque for the next two days. Got the bus to Union Square, walked to Chinatown, had a great big feed in the Great Eastern restaurant…
Archive for the 'US' Category
Isn’t air travel a nightmare? Got bumped up to Business Class for one leg of the trip here, but it was still hellish. Must remember to break up the journey next time… Still quite jet lagged but considering it is now 2:30 AM in Ireland, not doing so bad 
Anyway, got to the apartment in San Francisco! So far, so great - the place is lovely… Wandered up to the lively Fillmore Street area where they have some cool restaurants and shops, and had lunch in a nice place called Galette; was very happy to find the print edition of The Onion for free in a newsstand there. Lots of food stores nearby so won’t starve: organic specialists Trader Joes, the more high-end Molly Stones, and then there’s Safeway for all the usual stuff…
Going to explore the city centre proper tomorrow, and of course July 4th is just around the corner…
I’m heading to San Francisco tomorrow on my holidays, so expect a disruption in normal service while I’m away
Tongue in cheek but fun 
Irish Voice, Wednesday, 18 May 2005
Cops Toss Irish from LA Hotel
by Sean O’Driscoll
AN Irish actor who was featured in Raging Bull and Titanic has hit out at Los Angeles cops after they aggressively broke up a sing song by Irish academics at the Beverly Hills Hilton last week.
Japan Today - News - Jenkins family leaves for U.S.
Interesting story about the former US army sergeant who deserted to North Korea during the cold war and was prevented up until now from returning to the US to visit his mother and family. His Japanese wife was one of those North Korean abductees, repatriated to Japan, and they have two North Korean-born children.
Blacksburg, Virginia 24060
Bogens is a popular college restaurant located about 5 minutes walk from downtown Blacksburg. It features an extensive menu with dishes named after local landmarks - Roanoke Airport, Burruss Hall, etc. I tried the “Blacksburg Electronic Village” - a Jamaican jerk-flavoured burger with waffle shaped fries - it was an interesting combination of herbs and spices. I also enjoyed their curried potato and spinach soup, and relaxed surroundings with Virginia Tech (”Hokie”) memorabilia.
**1/2
207 Main Street, Blacksburg, Virginia 24060
Backstreets is mainly a pizza and pasta restaurant located about a minute’s walk from downtown Blacksburg. I don’t eat cheese so my choices were a little bit limited by that. I started off with focaccia, a favourite of mine since I was in Italy a long time ago - unfortunately this starter was quite dry apart from the marinara it was served with: it had neither enough olive oil or salt for my liking… But anyway a pork dipped in tomato sauce and rolled in breadcrumbs entree looked enticing - going by the amount of cheesey items on the menu I decided to ask and check if there was cheese in it, and sure enough it was mixed in with the breadcrumbs even though not mentioned on the menu. I went for another pork (latte) dish cooked in a milky sauce and served with red and black pepper pasta. This was very tasty but there was way too much food there for one person, FOUR pork medallions (more like steaks) meant that I had to leave it halfway and take the rest away for later. Unfortunately I had no room for the listed desserts (tiramisu, chocolate mousse, cheesecake) - maybe next time. The alcohol menu was quite extensive, ranging from Oregon / Washington state wines to Chinese beer to Guiness (sp.) stout and “Harp’s lager”!
*1/2
108 Campbell Avenue, Roanoke, Virginia
I asked a couple of Roanokies if there were any good places nearby to eat. They mentioned a place that had subs / sandwiches and was good, or another place called Awful Arthur’s which had seafood dishes, was very good but pricey. I wasn’t really in a sub mood so I decided to have a look at the AA menu outside and see just how pricey it was. It turned out to be fairly okay, ranging from 12 to 16 dollars for the main course, so I ventured on in… I started with a tasty seafood gumbo, more fluid than solid as I expected something roux-ey (sp.), but it had a nice mixture of seafood, okra and spices. I then decided to try their creole seafood dish, which consisted of fresh fish, shrimp, scallops, alligator sausage (delicious), red / green pepper, white / yellow onion in a cajun tomato sauce on a bed of rice and served with a side of hot buttered baguette. It was filling and flavoursome, recommended. They had a wide range of seafood fare from lobster to fresh maki. I had a pretty standard dessert and the servers were a bit distant, but I enjoyed the rest of the meal. And I’ve just noticed they forgot to charge me for the gumbo…
***
Main Street, Blacksburg, Virginia 24060
Yet another restaurant in the town that begins with a “B”! Bordreaux’s speciality is cajun and bayou cuisine ranging from creole subs to rice-based dishes. The restaurant has two storeys and is very spacious, but the open plan layout of the downstairs needed more divides or plants or something as it lacked a certain level of privacy. Having said that, the food was delicious; I sampled a jambalaya to be proud of with shrimp, crawfish, chicken, sausage and vegetables I’d never even heard of, served with a hunk of southern “biscuit”. The best compliment I can think of is that I will be going back there again for more tasty cooking
**1/2
108 Campbell Avenue, Roanoke, Virginia
I asked a couple of Roanokies if there were any good places nearby to eat. They mentioned a place that had subs / sandwiches and was good, or another place called Awful Arthur’s which had seafood dishes, was very good but pricey. I wasn’t really in a sub mood so I decided to have a look at the AA menu outside and see just how pricey it was. It turned out to be fairly okay, ranging from 12 to 16 dollars for the main course, so I ventured on in… I started with a tasty seafood gumbo, more fluid than solid as I expected something roux-ey (sp.), but it had a nice mixture of seafood, okra and spices. I then decided to try their creole seafood dish, which consisted of fresh fish, shrimp, scallops, alligator sausage (delicious), red / green pepper, white / yellow onion in a cajun tomato sauce on a bed of rice and served with a side of hot buttered baguette. It was filling and flavoursome, recommended. They had a wide range of seafood fare from lobster to fresh maki. I had a pretty standard dessert and the servers were a bit distant, but I enjoyed the rest of the meal. And I’ve just noticed they forgot to charge me for the gumbo…
***
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