Duffy's Tavern

Some places just hold a special place in your heart, and it's got nothing to do with the quality of the food and drink, the ambiance, the value for your dollar, or anything else you look for in a restaurant or bar.  It's something far more intangible.  It's made up of memories that are like a crazy quilt of impressions and half forgotten moments.  Duffy's Tavern is one of those places.

I went back there after many many moons away with GS, just as an excuse to use up a coupon deal and to score a cheap-ish lunch.  I like bar burgers more than any other burgers.  Usually.  But more on that later.

Duffy's was just as it always is, and always will be - a real BAR bar with a bunch of drunk regulars arguing about every subject under the sun - all the more vehemently for the less actual knowledge they had of said subject.  The same servers as always though, the service seemed a lot better.  The servers were very attentive and friendly but it may have been due to the hour and emptiness of the bar.  Or maybe they were always that nice and I just don't remember.  When we used to go to Duffy's I admit, we used to all get pretty damn wasted.

GS and I  sat at the table that my friends and I used to use when Duffy's was a weekly meet up for us.  I remember arguing my point in any given conversation and pounding my fist on the heavy wooden table for emphasis, often to the point of bruising my hand.  Awwww, just like a regular, *sniff*.

The Amberbock was delicious, sweet nectar - so much better from draft than from the bottle.  Man, we used to put gallons of that stuff away!  This day we just had a pint each, like respectable people.  The food was...meh.  I had sliders that were bland and sweet - sweet not being a flavor I look for in burgers.  Sweet onions, sweet bun - just not very flavorful at all.  GS's burger was not thoroughly cooked and unfortunately he got really freaking sick that night - at one point he was wondering if he was going to have to ask me to take him to the hospital.  I lucked out that the sliders were so thin that they were cooked well done all the way through, not the way I normally like my burgers but a good thing in this instance.  GS survived but was, let's say, clean as a whistle after all was said and done.  Hey, some people pay a lot of money for that very service ;)

They say you can never go back and in many ways this is a good thing.  I had some great times at Duffy's back in the day but it was also the beginning of the end for my marriage.  Getting trashed with your friends while your husband is at home is not a healthy sign for a relationship.  Driving home in that condition was not the brightest decision either.  Still, I remember things - smoking Black and Milds outside the bar, leaning against the brick facade (holding up the building as my former boss used to say), the jukebox that only seemed to play the best bar music EVER, and for the first time in over ten years being with friends rather than my ex.  It was good while it lasted and I'm glad we all survived it.

Sooo in August I'm going camping a couple weeks in West Virginia with GS, before he leaves for another one of his months long adventures.  Real camping, that is, with bears, foxes, bears, and ticks!  And as I mentioned in my previous post I'm actually "training" (I'm nooo athlete) to do a very short duathlon with my amazingly athletic brother in September.  I found this which looks amazing and I hope to convince my friends (and myself) to do it.  Just dooooo it!  And I'm back in school, too!  Wow.  Goals.  I haz thems.

The Big Cheese of Miami

Do you know that The Big Cheese used to be a funeral parlor?  It's true.  I know, because I confirmed with the staff after I heard the rumor, many years ago.  They also obliged with good natured jokes about how the pizza ovens used to be the crematoriums.  Cause that's how they roll.  The Big Cheese is the least pretentious place to eat that is NOT fast food.  The staff is easy going and casual.  A place you can feel comfy taking kids and where your portions will be so large it will supply leftovers for 2 or 3 more meals, easily.

My brother took me, my mom, and his family to The Big Cheese for lunch on Sunday, sort of a post birthday celebration on a budget.  I had the baked ziti with ricotta but I wasn't too crazy about their meat sauce-I should have stuck with my normal choice, spaghetti with pink sauce and shrimp.  I LOVE their pink sauce!  Oh, well.  I was a good girl and didn't stuff myself, because I'm in training.

That's right, as old as I am, I finally feel up to trying to do a race.  My brother is the most athetic guy EVA and he told me about an easy race that is a one mile run, 10 mile bike run, and three mile run.  It's held monthly by Mack Cycle (a bike store I quite recommend for having very friendly and helpful staff) and my brother is planning to do it with his son.  I would be so proud of myself if I did this!  I tried jogging and managed two miles-did feel very close to puking afterwards-but I have a few months to get into shape.  I need a lolcat for feline inspiration...

Pizza Rustica across from FIU (Main Campus)

Though it's unusual to have a meal at Pizza Rustica devoid of the special sazón an advanced state of ravenous inebriation brings (the kind that comes at 2am), the pizza doesn't need it.  It's awesome, even in broad daylight and completely sober.  I've heard that the location across from Sunset Place is not up to par, but the new location across from the FIU Main campus certainly is.

I had the Con 3 Funghi pizza for lunch while waiting for my turn in the queue at Happy Hour Nails.  It was everything I love about the pizza from the South Beach locations: Crispy crust, fresh and flavorable, good size, and a terrific selection of toppings to choose from.   It had big, fat cloves of roasted garlic as well as the shrooms...UM!  The young lady at the counter was natural, friendly and attentive - I liked her quite a bit.  She must be a model of patience to deal with the type of crowd I imagine wanders over from FIU. 

It was slow when I went - luckily - and I hardly had to wait at all.  There was one annoying customer that wanted his pizza "crispy" and not only had the girl put his pizza in the oven twice before he even tasted it, after sitting with it and taking one bite he sent it back again for further crisping.  I'd have burnt it black for him, but that's because I'm a bitch.  So I've been told.  I imagine a crowd of drunk college kids are less annoying that this guy who was quite old enough to know better.  He looked to me as if seeking my support for his peevish whining but he looked to the wrong person - no one who works with the public will sympathize with anyone but the counter girl.  I told her, "I would like to request that you heat my pizza as you would normally.  Thank you."

 I should also mention how pointless it is for the homeless to panhandle me; I've zero tolerance for the homeless - work has cured me of whatever I may have had originally.  I remember snapping at a homeless dude who panhandled me at Burger King on my lunch break - and he was one of my customers! - like I needed to open THAT can of worms and have them leeching off of me every time I take out my wallet.  They've already sucked my soul dry at work!  I gave at the office was never more true.  But I digress!

Anyway, this strip mall is culinary paradise as far as I'm concerned - Pizza Rustica AND El Rey de las Fritas???   Not to mention that Sarussi is only a couple blocks a way.  Absolute heaven.  Luckily it's not situated all that conveniently for me because with a diet like that, I'd be getting to heaven WAY faster.