The Buddhists have a word for this season: Shitty.
The Gift of Pain
Josh is the greatest living writer you've never heard of. Also, he likes bugs.
Latest posts by josh (see all)
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67 Responses to “The Gift of Pain”
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Obstructed View Forum- Google glasses May 23, 2013 dmick89
- TV Dramas vs Movie Dramas May 21, 2013 BVS
- Closer by Committee May 19, 2013 BVS
- Mish is probably quite happy with the 24 news May 13, 2013 dmick89
- Cast iron cookware May 12, 2013 uncle dave
- televisions May 2, 2013 EnricoPallazzo
- Hope Monster, comics. April 22, 2013 josh
- Hannibal April 19, 2013 dmick89
- Veronica Mars movie April 15, 2013 dmick89
- The Borgias April 11, 2013 dmick89
I’m still searching for a good pizza restaurant in Chambana. They’re basically all delivery b/c of the stupid college. That wears on a dude. I miss Chicago food so damn much.
@ josh:
Something’s gotta soak up all that Keystone Light
@ josh:
Papa Del’s is at least decent, but its crazy expensive
@ josh:
Most universities are required to have a good pizza place. Or, at least, you would think so.
@ Jed Jam Band:
It’s all college-food, dorm room crap. I’m sure there’s one that the college kids love, but I’ve not found one I really thought was good.
Bear in mind I like crazy shit like Quattro Formaggio.
Seriously, Dubuque IA had this place where they made great pizza in a real pizza oven on a stone. They had Margharita and like spinach and other great stuff. I’ve not found anything like that here.
@ josh:
If we had some venture capital I would totally open a Chicago-style pizzeria at UIUC and make some bank.
@ Rice Cube:
…or I’d build a Waffle House in Chicagoland. Haven’t decided yet.
The problem is too many restaurants here try to appeal to students. That’s the wrong course. Students are cheap and stupid. You have to hook in the professors if you want to open a high-quality restaurant. Chambana has too many restaurants that are just bars that serve food. That’s okay sometimes, but other times you want to enjoy food that tastes good.
@ Rice Cube:
Actually, yeah, that’s a good idea. If there’s one thing Chicago has, it’s fatties.
I enjoyed Za’s, but those are personal pizzas. Papa Del’s was where we went to for good pizza, but when I was a student, it was usually Gumby’s or Papa John’s or some grossness.
Pizza Lab. Central City South Dakota. Yum.
I’d rather be a rock.
Mish wrote:
Ugh. Gumby’s is the fucking worst. I think I still have some undigested pokey sticks somewhere in my gastrointestinal system from 10 years ago.
RC, that Swiss Army knife link you put on the last page was hilarious. The enlarged picture was excellent.
Since we’re talking college town pizza, Casa Bianca had the best NY-style pizza in Madison. It closed over some developer bullshit with their building (still no construction, 7 years later). Roman candle is probably the best now, but $$$
@ Berselius:
Of course it is garbage. But it was cheap and they had good deals. I didn’t really work in school so the cheaper the better. (dying laughing)
I have it from a little bird that Black Dog Smoke and Ale House is pretty good in Urbana. It’s BBQ, not pizza.
Black Dog is great. Easily the best BBQ in the area (not saying much). It’s as good or better than many places I’ve been in Chicago.
In Champaign the restaurants seem to survive/thrive on drunk eating. That’s why Geo’s does great business every night, because it stays open til 3 AM and 6 bucks for strips and fries or a gyro seems great after a few drinks. The next day though, your colon hates you. (dying laughing)
This conversation is why I went to college in Chicago. And why I’m fat.
@ Berselius:
Yeah, this is what I’m talking about, Mish is (young and dumb)/(a college student). The standards are different once you have a job and can afford good food.
Za’s is easily the worst place I’ve ever eaten.
@ josh:
That place is so bad, you don’t even order your food and they write it down, you fill out a check list. They then microwave some garbage (which takes like 20 minutes for some reason), and then hand you a styrofoam plate of hot grease. It’s fucking gross.
@ Aisle424:
I hear ya. I visit Chicago every year and I think I gain 20 lbs over a long weekend. Sausage, Beefs, Sausage Beefs, Dogs and especially Pizza. That’s all I eat the entire time I’m there. I don’t even care about seeing my family, I want the food.
I would rather eat at McDonalds, and I hate fast food.
@ SVB:
And that desire itself is an essential part of your humanity.
Or something.
*fart*
@ josh:
If only we could convince them to build an In-N-Out Burger in Chicagoland…closest one is in Texas
@ josh:
Have you gotten a chance to check out Black Dog?
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
Blog changed Ozzie’s “L-O-L” to (dying laughing), BTW
@ Rice Cube:
You CA people and your In-an-Out. I’m going to eat there one day and discover it’s just White Castle with ketchup, aren’t I?
@ josh:
It’s approximately 2 or 288 times better than White Castle.
@ PFD:
You mean since this thread started? No.
I’ll check it out some time though.
@ josh:
(dying laughing) No, I didn’t realize you hadn’t been there before this thread started. That would have been pretty impressive though.
Anyone know if the Phillies let the Cubs keep Lendy Castillo once he was sent to the minors? I would think that would violate the Rule 5 requirements.
Also, us Phillie fans are watching Josh Vitters season very closely. He is currently the worst hitter in the entire league, and we have strong stock that Michael Martinez should win that title. Hopefully Vitters starts hitting a little to let Martinez realize his true calling.
@ josh:
It’s a lot closer to a Steak-and-Shake burger than Californians will ever admit.
Coincidentally, I don’t go to college in Chicago. I’ve lived in Munster, IN for my entire life, no more than a short drive away from the city. Also, our town had several top-notch pizza places and our area had a whole bunch of good ones. Then, I get down to Muncie and we have like one halfway-decent pizza place that everyone here seems to think is the shit.
@ lorecore:
I believe he was in the minors under the guise of a rehab stint
I just looked back trying to figure out who started this food bullshit. And I realized it was me.
I’m so hungry right now.
@ lorecore:
Castillo wasn’t sent down (which would have been a violation of the rules), he was on a rehab stint after being DL’d in May.
One decent wood-fired pizza place is all I ask. Can a motherfucker get real olive oil on his pizza please!??!?
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
It gets hyped so much, I figure there’s no way in hell I’ll ever be able to enjoy it.
@ josh:
This is why I make my own pizza. With a few tricks, you will never want takeout pizza ever again.
@ josh:
It’s a good burger. But not better than Five Guys or Edzo’s.
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
I’ve grilled a few pizzas this summer with a beer bread crust. Quite tasty.
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
I do too. But it takes time. I proof my dough overnight or over 3-4 days in the fridge, but it takes time and preplanning, and sometimes I just want something relatively quick. I’ve never found a dough recipe under 30 minutes that I found satisfying. Still, I don’t have a huge wood fired oven, either.
Actually, I’m always searching for the perfect crust recipe, and haven’t yet found it yet.
@ josh:
I only proof for an hour and a half, but I use active dry yeast and bread flour. Make the dough, oil the bowl, ball up the dough, in the bowl. When it doubles in size, I punch it down, knead it, cut it into three pieces, ball those up, then put them under a wet towel for 10 minutes. Preheat the oven to 500. Roll out the first pizza, poke the holes, lightly sauce, bottom rack of the oven on a piece of parchment for 2 mins. Pull it out, light sauce, few pieces of cheese, a topping or two (I only put the toppings on before if i use sausage, bacon, tomatoes or onions, otherwise, they go on after also this is the point where you would put olive oil on the crust if you prefer it), back in the oven straight on the rack until the crust darkens and the cheese bubbles (about 5 mins). Slide the pizza onto a cooling rack for a couple minutes, then enjoy.
A Cubs blog did an interview with Callis.
http://viewfromthebleachers.com/blog/2012/09/06/an-interview-with-jim-callis-of-baseball-america/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheViewFromTheBleachers+%28View+From+The+Bleachers%29
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
I’ve never been to Edzo’s but I was at a Five Guy’s once. They must have done something wrong because I didn’t like it. Of course, my taste buds are not the same as your taste buds. I do agree that In-N-Out is about equal to Steak and Shake, but that’s probably because I like both (dying laughing)
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
Did you ask yourself this question and then answered it?
@ WaLi:
No, that’s from the interview link Rodrigo posted (dying laughing)
@ Rice Cube:
Yeah, it wasn’t intended to be a slight. Steak and Shake make a perfectly serviceable burger.
I love Five Guys, but you’re not the first person I know that doesn’t care for them.
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
I do like that (at least in the one restaurant I went to) they have bushels of free peanuts. I think whoever the head-cook or whatever they use at fast food restaurant was, used way too much grease for everything. My burger literally fell apart in my hands and left a pool of weird goo in the tray. I was disappointed.
@ Rice Cube:
Yeah, that’s on the cook. Never had that experience at a Five Guys and I’ve had them in 3 states. Sorry about that.
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
I may convince the wife to try it again as they opened one recently in Hyde Park. The other thing we were annoyed with was the price. For the same size burger and fries we would have spent less at Steak and Shake or In-N-Out. If we were going to spend that much for a burger it would have to be at least as good as the ones we got from the Shake Shack in NYC.
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
Also not a five guys fan. Ryno would be
@ Rice Cube:
We usually do a single apiece, share a large fry, and drink water, so it’s not too bad on the wallet.
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
I’ve never heard of either of those.
@ Berselius:
I need a special typing wand (dying laughing). What I was trying to say was that Ryno would be proud of the fact that I now believe Whataburger’s A1 Burger >>> all other fast food burgers. I put Culver’s in second place.
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
That’s basically what I do, though I got a pizza stone recently I’m trying out. It does a good job of getting the crust crunchy.
To me, the perfect crust happens after 5 days in the fridge, that’s when it finally acquires some flavors. But my failure rate is something like 10%, for some reason. Not kneeding enough, or kneeding too much, maybe. I do need to start investing in better flour. I’ve had more of a problem of crusts that I make quickly being bland. i’m probably the only person in the universe who cares what the crust tastes like.
My life to this point has basically been one long journey toward the perfect pizza crust.
I guess I’m making pizza tonight, (dying laughing).
@ Berselius:
I dont know if it counts as fast food, but I really dig Red Robin. Culvers is okay for drive through.
@ Berselius:
I’m going to eat my phone here in a minute.
This thread was good to keep up with leading up to lunch, though my homemade PBJ sandwich didn’t quite satiate my hunger. (dying laughing)
Just thought I’d add that this conversation made me go to Wendy’s to get a double. It was fucking tasty.
@ josh:
My favorite part of the pizza is the crust (if it is delicous) (dying laughing) When you perfect that crust, let me know.
New shit
http://www.obstructedview.net/commentary-and-analysis/alfonso-soriano-gold-glover.html