Yearly Archives: 2015

Not a lot of posting today. I have to finish a Groo letter column and then start on a new project unrelated to fictional characters who eat cheese dip or lasagna.

A friend of mine who used to work in the Washington press corps (and who wishes me to not use his name here) sent me the following…

I see you're puzzled why Huckabee's running for president. I don't think he knows what else to do. He may also have handlers who have convinced him he can win and they're not telling him that because they think he can win but because it could be extremely profitable for them if he runs even if (when) he crashes and burns. I think Huckabee's fighting to be relevant somewhere and it isn't Fox News because they won't treat him as a major on air personality. Also, we all know some of the clowns running for the GOP nom are going to self destruct and it's at least possible Huck could be the only man left standing. That's the only way I can see him getting the nom. He's about as popular with Repubs as Ben Carson and Carson is one of those guys who like you always say is going to get the same number of electoral votes as you.

Hey, I think I'm going to get more electoral votes than Ben Carson. I'm a shoo-in to get zero and he's likely to wind up owing some. When was the last time someone even came within a mile of the presidency who didn't have experience as a governor, a senator or a real prominent congressperson? Eisenhower, I guess…and we don't have war heroes like that anymore.

I'll be back later to post something. I don't know what yet.

I think I reran this once before but it's my blog and I'll run it as many times as I damn well please. Its first appearance was June 2, 2006…

For no visible reason, I'm going to tell a story from my past. Back around 1970, our local comic book club would sometimes adjourn its Saturday meeting and then a band of us would car pool to a local movie theater and take in a cheap double feature. One time, we caravaned to the Meralta in Culver City for the parlay of Kelly's Heroes — starring Clint Eastwood, Telly Savalas, Don Rickles and Donald Sutherland — followed by House of Dark Shadows.

I think it was a buck to get in and I hate to think what they could have charged us to get out. The Meralta (seen below) had probably been a lovely theater at some point but by the time we got to it, it was the kind of place where the cashier wore No-Pest Strips for earrings and the ushers were just cockroaches in uniforms. The seats were shabby and one out of every four was either broken, missing or filled with a dead body. The curtains no longer operated so (and this is critical to our story) the screen was open between films. And out in the lobby was a refreshment stand that sold popcorn that was stale when you could have purchased it to munch throughout D.W. Griffith's latest.

There were about ten of us there, crammed in a section of two rows with a gap or two where the seats were unsittable. We watched Kelly's Heroes and I don't think any of us particularly enjoyed it. Then came intermission. Some of us went out to the lobby but one of our group (a guy named Gary) stayed in his seat — he may have become permanently affixed by then — and handed some coins to another of our group (a guy named Barry). Said Gary to Barry, "Hey, while you're out there, get me a candy bar. Any kind." Barry was annoyed at being treated like an errand boy so he decided to go out and spend Gary's money on the lousiest candy bar he could find.

The Meralta refreshment stand had many to pick from but when Barry spotted a display of Idaho Spud bars, he knew that was it. The Idaho Spud is a popular candy in some parts of the country but apparently not in Southern California. None of us had ever heard of it before and I've never seen one since even though it has been manufactured since (their website says) 1911. The site also explains that it's "a wonderful combination of a light cocoa flavored marshmallow center drenched with a dark chocolate coating and then sprinkled with coconut."

And maybe it is. But you know what it looks like, in or out of its wrapper? It looks like a chocolate-covered potato.

Isn't that the first thing you'd assume? It's called an Idaho Spud and it has eyes all over its packaging. So what's the first thing you think of? Chocolate-covered potato, right?

And the Idaho Spud people have no one to blame but themselves. No one forced them to call it that. There isn't even a logical reason to call it that except that they're made in Idaho where, contrary to popular belief, not everything is a potato. In fact, I developed a theory that the guy who invented it turned to his wife and said, "Muriel, I've invented a new candy bar but I don't know what to name it" and she asked, "Well, what is it?" To which he replied, "It's a wonderful combination of a light cocoa flavored marshmallow center drenched with a dark chocolate coating and then sprinkled with coconut."

Muriel said, "That's easy. Call it an Idaho Spud." And the inventor, who was drinking to celebrate his new invention, was so plastered by this point that it sounded good to him. Especially because people would think it was a chocolate-covered potato. "That'll be great for sales," he said just before he passed out, face down in a bowl of vodka.

Anyway, Barry bought Gary an Idaho Spud, took it back to where we were sitting and handed it to Gary. "Here's your candy bar."

Gary looked at it and said, "What the hell is this?"

Barry said, "It's an Idaho Spud. I think it's a chocolate-covered potato or something."

Gary recoiled in horror. "I didn't ask for a chocolate-covered potato."

Barry replied, "You didn't say not to get you a chocolate-covered potato." Gary had to concede the point. Sadly, he pulled the wrapper from his candy bar, took one bite, hated it and hurled the remainder of the Idaho Spud at the screen…

…where it stuck.

This was still during intermission and the curtains were open, the screen was exposed. We all saw the Idaho Spud sail onto the screen of the Meralta and just stay there, about two-thirds of the way up, slightly to the left of center. Then House of Dark Shadows started. For us, House of Dark Shadows starred Jonathan Frid, Grayson Hall, Kathryn Leigh Scott, Nancy Barrett and an Idaho Spud candy bar. And the Idaho Spud should have had top billing because it was in every damn scene. Prominently featured, in fact.

My friends and I paid no attention to the movie. We just stared at the Idaho Spud. Every time the camera cut, it had a new role in the film. Sometimes, it was a beauty spot on one of the actresses' faces. Sometimes, it was a fly on a wall. There was a shot of a door where it looked like the doorbell. At one point — I don't recall the exact dialogue — one of the actors said, "What is this thing?" And we all answered, referring to the brown lump on his face, "It's a chocolate-covered potato." This was years before The Rocky Horror Picture Show and home video made yelling back at a movie screen a national and annoying fad.

Other members of the audience picked up our fascination with the alleged candy bar and by the end of the film, I don't think one single person at the Meralta was paying any attention to what the actors were saying or doing; only to how the lump figured into each shot. At one point, there was an odd lighting effect that made it look like the Spud had fallen off and a moan of disappointment echoed through the theater. But then, in the very next scene, you could see it was still there and a little cheer went up. It was still there when we left, having little idea what House of Dark Shadows was about. In fact, it was still there three weeks later when I took a date to the Meralta to see Airport. On the sheer strength of superior acting ability, the Idaho Spud stole the movie from Dean Martin.

That's about all there is to this story. I'm not sure I ever went back to the Meralta so as far as I'm concerned, the Idaho Spud remained in place until they tore the place down, maybe even after that. It probably didn't but I'd like to think it did. Even now, when I find myself trapped in a particularly boring movie and my mind wanders from the storyline, I find myself wishing I had something of the sort to focus my attention on. A good movie, of course, needs no external help. But a bad movie can always use a chocolate-covered potato somewhere.

Mike Huckabee is out there lately attacking Gay Marriage. I understand that the guy's running for president and he can't get near the nomination without the support of the extreme right, which is lukewarm at best to him. Actually, I doubt he can get near the nomination with their support but that's a separate discussion. Anyway, he's talking a lot lately about wedding cakes.

It's amazing how much of the argument against Gay Marriage is about wedding cakes. I just read a bunch of sites and speeches opposing same-sex wedlock and I was noticing how much the case against it has evolved. It used to be that letting Adam marry Steve would bring down The Wrath of God upon the Earth and destroy us all. Then after quite a few Adams married quite a few Steves and nothing of the sort happened, the dire result was the annihilation of Straight Marriage, which also somehow hasn't occurred. So now, the horrendous consequence of Gay Marriage is that somewhere, someone with a cake decorator is going to have to write two male or two female names on the same application of frosting.

Huckabee also says that expecting Christians to accept marriage equality is "like asking someone who's Jewish to start serving bacon-wrapped shrimp in their deli." No, Mike, it's like expecting someone who's already serving bacon-wrapped shrimp to not refuse to sell it to anyone who walks into their deli with money. You know…the way we don't let realtors say they won't sell to a black or Hispanic family that's financially qualified.

The former governor of Arkansas would probably make the argument that being gay is not the same as being a racial minority and in some ways, it isn't. In this way, it is. When asked if homosexuality is a "choice," Huckabee usually dodges or double-talks. Saying it is is just going to get him the inevitable "When did you decide to be straight?" question which makes that position look foolish. Saying it isn't just makes the analogy to racial discrimination fit better.

He usually opts to talk about how he has many "gay friends," which makes me wonder how a gay person could be friends with Mike Huckabee. I suspect the gay people he knows are more like acquaintances he doesn't know very well. That's if they exist at all. Could you be friends in any meaningful sense with someone who often said that you lead "an aberrant, unnatural, and sinful lifestyle?" and was not deserving of equal rights?

Like I said, I don't think Huckabee has a chance at the nomination. I don't even know why he's running. It's not, like some of the others, to get a good job on Fox News. He had one and he gave it up to run. Maybe he thinks that if enough people see him as a hateful bigot, he can steal Donald Trump's job on Celebrity Apprentice.

One of my favorite impressionists is a gent named Bob Anderson, who's been delighting audiences in Vegas and Branson for many decades. He's a pretty good singer when he's not doing impressions but he also has this amazing repertoire of mimicry. Basically, he does every male vocalist who ever headlined in Vegas including some pretty obscure ones. Last time I saw him, he did Frank, Dino, Tony and Sammy but he also did Mel Tormé, Otis Redding and Jack Jones.

Here he is on the 1979 Jerry Lewis Telethon. He opens as himself, then becomes Tony Bennett, Dean Martin and Tom Jones in that order. Jerry's reactions to the middle impression are priceless.

Anderson can currently be found at the Palazzo hotel-casino in Vegas starring in a Frank Sinatra tribute with a 32 piece orchestra. Having a 32 piece orchestra in that town in the era of (mostly) pre-recorded music is almost as impressive as any performer, Frank included, who might be singing to their music. But I'll bet you Bob is real good…

It's hard to believe that in 2015, we're debating vaccinations. Well, maybe it isn't. There seems to be a strain of opinion out there that views science and expertise as weapons of tyranny. It's like, "How dare they try to tell me what's right just because they know better?" The folks who start out their speeches about Climate Change with "Now, I'm not a scientist…" all seem to be implying, "…and I resent having to listen to them."

The best thing I've seen written about the vaccination issue is this satirical piece over at The Onion. Here, I'll quote the first paragraph just to give you the premise…

As a mother, I put my parenting decisions above all else. Nobody knows my son better than me, and the choices I make about how to care for him are no one's business but my own. So, when other people tell me how they think I should be raising my child, I simply can't tolerate it. Regardless of what anyone else thinks, I fully stand behind my choices as a mom, including my choice not to vaccinate my son, because it is my fundamental right as a parent to decide which eradicated diseases come roaring back.

This morning, Chris Christie's people are scrambling to walk back and play down a comment he made about how parents "need to have some measure of choice" about whether or not to vaccinate their children. Didn't we just go through a scare in this country about Ebola? Do we need to start new ones about mumps, smallpox, diphtheria, polio and measles?

I ran this on November 5, 2002 here, following a period when episodes of Hawaii Five-O (the original one) were turning up all the time on my TiVo. I actually liked the show, which is why I didn't block the TiVo from recording them and why I didn't just delete them unwatched. A couple of fans on the series however reacted badly to this piece, missing the part where I expressed my fondness for the early seasons, acting like I'd trashed an acknowledged television classic. I've watched more episodes since then and I stand by my list…but I must admit to more affection for the show when I don't see it too often…

My TiVo recently decided I must like old reruns of Hawaii Five-O and has been recording them whenever it has space available. In truth, my TiVo is wise, though a bit out of date. I did like Hawaii Five-O, at least for the first half of its 284 episodes. Along about its eighth year, it began to get a bit too repetitive. I also had a little problem watching its star, Jack Lord.

Mr. Lord, rumor had it, ruled his show with an iron fist and the belief that he was its one and only S*T*A*R. Such was his mania to preserve this reality that word began to leak, even while the show was up and operating, that its cast and crew seriously disliked the man who played Supercop Steve McGarrett. Writers and producers complained — within earshot of reporters — that he was rejecting scripts because they even slightly showcased other members of McGarrett's squad or didn't properly portray his character as brilliant, flawless and loved by women everywhere. Other cast members, sometimes anonymously, suggested the S*T*A*R had come to believe he was all that and more in real life. (Here's a link to an article that ran in TV Guide in 1971. For its time, it was surprisingly harsh about a major TV star.)

Ordinarily, I would not take such bad press at face value. But I ran into Jack Lord twice in bookstores, and heard tales from friends who'd also had the dubious pleasure. The way he acted — brusque and demanding, treating salespeople as servants to be ordered about — certainly made the reports easy to believe.

And ordinarily, I would not let that affect my enjoyment of a TV show or movie. But in this case, it did…at least a little. It somehow made the whole character of Steve McGarrett seem pompous and hollow.

That, coupled with the repetition, kind of ruined Hawaii Five-O for me, at least as a weekly pleasure. Recently, thanks to TiVo, I've been watching a few again. I like them as an occasional treat, but am reminded of the fact that every episode seemed to be a new arrangement of about eight of the same twelve scenes. Here is a list of them…

1. The governor puts pressure on McGarrett. Someone is murdering people all over Hawaii and getting away with it, but the governor somehow thinks that alone doesn't motivate McGarrett to catch the killer. The state's chief exec has to make it clear that, despite the fact that McGarrett's office has solved every crime in the state for the last ten years, they'd damn well better wrap this one up soon or there could be some big changes. (This scene sometimes prompts a brief outburst from McGarrett — "Get off my back!" — but he quickly recovers his equilibrium, apologizes and promises to work harder. And the governor understands that McGarrett is under a lot of stress because he cares so.)
2. McGarrett seals off the island. With a known criminal out there somewhere, McGarrett decides to prevent anyone from arriving on or departing the island of Oahu. "This island is like a rock," he usually says. "No one gets on or off until we catch this guy." One can only wonder what impact this would have on Hawaiian commerce or tourism if the Hawaiian police did it once, let alone every other week.
3. McGarrett sends the Hawaiians to search the island. The Hawaiian aides who work for McGarrett are there largely to be sent out on ridiculous missions. So McGarrett has evidence that the suspect eats grilled cheese sandwiches and he says to Kono (played by Zulu), "Get the boys and search the island. Visit every delicatessen, every coffee shop, every place someone could possibly get a grilled cheese sandwich. Someone must have seen something."
4. The Hawaiians quickly find an incredibly good witness. This one usually connects with the previous one: "We're in luck, Steve. Chin Ho found a druggist who runs a lunch counter on Molokai. Seems he distinctly remembers selling a grilled cheese sandwich to a man just four days ago. He thought the man was acting odd so he watched him walk to his car and wrote down the license number."
5. McGarrett gets philosophical. Sitting alone in his office, usually late at night, McGarrett muses on the nature of the criminal they're pursuing. One of McGarrett's aides (usually Danny Williams) finds him there and hears a speech that includes the phrase, "What kind of man…?" as in, "What kind of man would murder six accordion players, three stationers and an overweight nun, and leave a large bowl of tapioca to identify himself?"
6. McGarrett gets mad. This usually consists of him staring out his office window and saying, "He's out there, Danno…and he's mocking us."
7. The beautiful witness in swimwear. McGarrett, in a suit and tie despite the 90-degree weather, visits and interrogates a beautiful woman who is lounging by a swimming pool. She is obviously attracted to him.
8. McGarrett goes casual. McGarrett's underlings visit him at home or on a weekend retreat with either a new nugget of information or just to hear him brainstorm the problem at hand. In this scene, they're all in suits and ties despite the 90-degree weather while McGarrett is lounging by a swimming pool wearing shorts, a loud Hawaiian shirt and a broad, floppy straw hat. Just to show he's a regular guy who doesn't always wear a suit and tie.
9. McGarrett is windswept. This one seems to have begun in the later seasons, when comedians and TV critics were making jokes about Jack Lord's hair being sculpted of plastic. At some point, McGarrett's investigation would carry him to a high cliff or pier where breezes would blow his hair around. (Also sometimes achieved by having him meet someone coming off a helicopter or riding in one, himself.)
10. The Amateur Actor. After about the third season, there was apparently a shortage of professional actors in Hawaii who hadn't appeared several times on the show, and the producers didn't want to fly someone in from the states for a bit part. So there's always one scene where someone (often, a uniformed cop) has two lines and is so awful, you just know it's one of the camera operators or the caterer's brother. This one is invariably a highlight.
11. Some innocent remark gives McGarrett the answer. This one was actually seen in about half the TV detective shows ever done. Someone makes a stray comment like, "Well, let's get your mind off the case for a while. How about a cup of coffee?" And then Mannix, Barnaby Jones, Cannon, McCloud, McMillan or McGarrett says, "Wait a minute…coffee. Coffee is made of beans. That's it! The killer is hiding in the old abandoned bean warehouse, just outside of town!" And, of course, he is.
12. "Book him, Danno. Murder one." He didn't always say this as the last line of an episode of Hawaii Five-O. It just seemed that way.

Apart from #10, I grew tired of seeing some sequencing of these scenes in every episode. If you think I'm oversimplifying, they run the show every morning on the WGN Superstation. Watch and see. Aloha!

Right again!

I'm not watching.

I predict that every year and so far, I've never been wrong.

My favorite musical group, Big Daddy, takes recent hits — in this case, not so recent — and rearranges them as they might have sounded in the Golden Age of Rock 'n' Roll. This is their most recent video and the premise here is: "What if 'Stayin' Alive' had been recorded in the style of the Coasters?" What they did was like the Coasters' "3 Cool Cats" record, which I think was the "B" side of one of their biggest hits, "Charlie Brown."

This tune and others like it can be heard on their latest CD, Smashing Songs of Stage & Screen. It's highly recommended and available from Amazon via this link and also somewhere on iTunes. What they did to "New York, New York" alone is worth the price.

HBO has a new special, Mel Brooks Live at the Geffen, which debuted earlier this evening. If you didn't record or watch it, it's on about eight hundred times in the coming week. And in those rare moments between now and next Friday morn when they're not running that, HBO is rerunning last Friday night's Real Time with Bill Maher, upon which Mr. Brooks guested.

This was posted here on June 16, 2002 and I have nothing to add, nothing to change…

Everyone who ever avidly read comic books has a couple of issues in their past that made a big impression on them; that linger forever in the memory like a favored childhood toy. They may not be the best comics ever done but they hit you at just the right moment with ideas and imagery that were at least new to you. Just like a guy never forgets his first girl (or vice-versa), you never quite forget your first favorite comic book.

For most folks who are around my age — I hit the half-century mark last March — that favored first comic is usually a DC or Dell from the late fifties/early sixties. My friend Al Vey — the comic book artist with the shortest name in the biz, one letter less than Jim Lee — always remembered a Dell/Disney special called Donald Duck in MathMagic Land, which came out in 1961. He told me this some years ago at a party at one of the San Diego Conventions and, by one of those loopy coincidences, we were standing next to Don R. Christensen when he said it. Don is a lovely, older gent who has been in animation and comics forever, and who was an extremely prolific funnybook author. When Al said what he said, I immediately turned him around to face Don and made him repeat it. The conversation went as follows:

Al: I was just telling Mark that my favorite comic book when I was growing up was a special called Donald Duck in MathMagic Land.

Don: (after a moment of reflection) Oh, yes, I wrote that.

I love moments like these: Al was thrilled to meet the man who'd created his favorite comic book. Don was thrilled that someone Al's age (and in the business) remembered the book all those years and loved it so.

Anyway, it wasn't the first comic I bought or even the hundredth but I always liked Around the World With Huckleberry and his Friends, a Dell Giant that came out the same year as Al's fave. The book was drawn by Pete Alvarado, Kay Wright, John Carey and Harvey Eisenberg. Years later, when I began writing comics, I got to work with the first three of these gents and — I have to admit — there was a giddy little thrill there. It was the same as the thrill I got working in TV with people like Stan Freberg and June Foray, whose work I vividly recalled loving as a kid. Never got to write a comic drawn by Harvey Eisenberg — he died before I got into the field — but I did work with and became good buddies with his son, Jerry.

The writers are unknown but, at the time, a lot of these comics were being written by Vic Lockman, Jerry Belson, Del Connell, Lloyd Turner and several others. Lockman and Don R. Christensen were the most prolific writers but Don tells me he didn't work on this particular book.

Its contents may seem unremarkable — short stories of various Hanna-Barbera characters of the day, each dispatched to a different foreign clime. Huckleberry Hound went to Africa, Pixie and Dixie to Switzerland, Yakky Doodle to Australia, Augie Doggie and Doggie Daddy to Ireland, Yogi Bear to Egypt, Snagglepuss to Spain, Snooper and Blabber to England, Hokey Wolf to Italy and Quick Draw McGraw to the Sahara Desert. I can't tell you what I found so delightful about it and I really don't want to oversell it, since the joy of most of the stories was in their simplicity. But the Hokey Wolf tale, to name one, was about a criminal who was running around Rome, chopping up all the spaghetti so it was impossible to get long strands. At age 9, that premise and its resolution (the culprit was a messy eater, traumatized by having stained his clothes, determined to make chopped-up spaghetti popular) struck me as outrageously funny.

I'm not suggesting you seek this comic out. Unless you're nine, it probably won't have the same impact on you…and it also helps to have a certain fondness for the early H-B characters, as I still manage to retain. I don't like everything that I liked then but somehow, the early Hanna-Barbera output — the characters primarily voiced by Daws Butler — still strike me as amusing. And of course, when I devoured the comic books of them, I had Daws's superb voice and comic delivery in my head, and was able to read the word balloons accordingly. It all made for a comic that has stayed with me for more than forty years. Best twenty-five cents I ever spent…

John Oliver was on David Letterman's show the other night and Chris Wade makes an interesting point in comparing the two men. Letterman's act has really devolved into doing jokes about how lame his show is. I don't think it's that lame and I doubt he does, either…but that has become his main topic.

Boy, I liked this guy, once upon a time. I really do hope he resurfaces in some new show but it would be nice if it was a show that challenged him and fired up his enthusiasm. What that show might be and where it might air, I have no idea.

Speaking of ineptness: Did you see the two episodes of The Late, Late Show hosted by Regis Philbin? It felt like some amateur was out there, not running a talk show but instead doing his bad impression of Dana Carvey's good impression of Regis Philbin. Mr. Philbin's rep as a broadcaster has long seemed to me to be based on endurance…and he gets some solid hurrahs for that. But like Larry King and sometimes Letterman, he long ago seemed to have reached the point where it was all about Showing Up and nothing else except sometimes a certain amount of self-parody.

Last week, one website reported — unsourced — that Jay Leno had been invited to appear with Dave before Mr. Letterman leaves the 11:35 berth. Other sites picked this up and treated it like it was a huge story, which it isn't. It's been reported before and it's kind of obvious both sides want it to happen. It's in Jay's interest to go on because it'll show the world Letterman doesn't loathe him and because Dave will be gracious and it will end that aspect of The Late Night Wars.

It's in Dave's interest to have Leno on because…well, I'd like to think it's because Letterman is a bit embarrassed by how much he trashed his one-time friend and contemporary and wants to undo some of that. Even if that isn't the case, it would be a big ratings bonanza and it would probably be a real good show. So I can't see why it wouldn't happen and I assume they're just trying to figure out when.

Here's Buster Keaton doing a candy bar commercial in the sixties when he was not a young man. Watch the physical move he makes when he is "mooed" off the platform…

Back in this post, I mentioned Johnie's Coffee Shop, an L.A. landmark that is no longer really a restaurant. It was a restaurant but now it just plays one on television. TV and film companies rent it out as a filming location and it's been in more movies than Michael Caine. Our friends over at Eater LA recently got a tour inside the place.

While you're over at that fine site, they have a list up of 26 Classic Restaurants Every Angeleno Must Try. Here's a rundown on them from my Lifetime Angeleno perspective…

• Philippe the Original — Terrific (and cheap) dip sandwiches in a very old building with very old prices and very old clientele. Fortunately, the food is fresh so any time I'm in the area…
• Cole's — Great old quasi-cafeteria but in a bad neighborhood with (sometimes) very bad parking. You can get much the same chow easier at Philippe but try Cole's some time just for the feeling of history that comes with the food.
• Musso & Frank Grill — Billed as the oldest surviving restaurant in Hollywood, this is a superior place to eat steaks, chops, seafood, chicken pot pie when they have it…almost anything except the Italian dishes, which I find substandard. Any item on the daily menu with the word "braised" in it will be delicious and your waiter, who is not an unemployed actor, will be super-efficient.
• Dan Tana's — Never been here. Keep meaning to. Haven't gotten around to it.
• Polo Lounge — Every time I've been there, it's because someone important insisted on having a breakfast or lunch meeting there. That's a good reason to go and as far as I can tell, the only one.
• Tam O'Shanter — Another oldie, this one run by the folks who own Lawry's. I used to love the place, then I had several bad meals in a row there and dealt with Management that responded to my polite complaints with the attitude of "We're a legendary restaurant and no one else is complaining so you're wrong." So I now love the place from afar.
• Pacific Dining Car — Not unlike Tam O'Shanter. Loved it. Had an ugly time with a Manager who insisted I was wrong about an inedible steak — and who scolded our server who sided with me. I always thought the Pacific Dining Car was overpriced for what you get and that visit ended my love affair with it.
• Formosa Cafe — This used to be a fun, folksy place to get traditional Chinese Food. Then one day, apparently under new management, it went all trendy and "Asian Fusion" on me and stopped offering anything I wanted to eat. So off my list it went. I don't think people go there to eat, anyway. They go to drink and if they're hungry, eat.
• Taix French Restaurant — Never been there. I'm indifferent to French restaurants so I've never been motivated to try this one.
• El Cholo — Never been there. I rarely see anything I want to eat (or given my food allergies, can eat) at Mexican restaurants. I've only been to a few, always under protest, and this is not one of them.
• The Galley — Decent, friendly seafood served in an environment that's usually so crowded and cramped, you want to take your entree out to the parking lot and eat it there.
• Tom Bergin's — This Irish Pub was wonderful once but it went so far down in quality, I stopped going there. So many others did as well that it closed. It's reopened under new management and I haven't been back yet.
• Pink's Hot Dogs — This world-famous hot dog stand is proof that world-famous (and a much-promoted celebrity clientele) does not equal good. It just ain't worth the long lines or cramped seating. Skooby's and Carney's (among others) have better dogs.
• Lawry's the Prime Rib — A class act all the way, and they really do serve the best Prime Rib in the business. Did I ever tell the Jack Nicholson story on this blog? I must have. Anyway, make sure you get the creamed corn and that you help yourself to the free homemade potato chips in the waiting area.
• The Apple Pan — Once, and I'd like to think forever, one of the greatest burger stands in the state. My last two visits were disappointing but I'm not ready yet to give up on the place.
• Langer's Delicatessen — Hailed by many for the best pastrami in the country. The location and limited hours make this deli less than desirable and I'm sorry…I don't think the pastrami's worth the effort. But then I prefer corned beef to pastrami anyway so maybe you don't want to listen to me on this vital topic.
• Canter's Delicatessen — My favorite deli…and it's open 24 hours. If you ever have a cold, go there, eat the Chicken-in-the-Pot and you'll be cured in 20 minutes.
• Taylor's Prime Steak House — Good, folksy place to get a decent steak without having to take out a Reverse Mortgage on your home. Not a good location, though and you may have to climb many stairs to your table.
• The Fountain Coffee Room — Never been there. Never heard of it before this.
• Yamashiro — High up (too high for me) on a mountain top, it serves eclectic Japanese cuisine that looks to be too eclectic for my tastes and allergies. So I've never been.
• Dominick's — Like Dan Tana's, I hear good things about it and keep meaning to try it.
• Dresden — Never been there. Dresden is right across the street from Il Capriccio, which is one of my favorite restaurants in the world…so when I'm dining in the area, that's where I'm dining.
• Du-Par's — This is a historic chain of coffee shops that's terrific for Breakfast, so-so for other meals. They're open 24 hours but at 3 AM, I prefer Canter's.
• The Original Pantry — If you're Downtown and you want a decent economy steak, it's fine…and fun. They're also open 24 hours but beware: When you sit down, they try to serve you cole slaw without even asking. The best thing I can say for the Pantry is that even that doesn't keep me away.
• Casa Vega — Another Mexican restaurant I've never been to.
• Tito's Tacos — Need I explain?

If I'd made up this list, it would have had most of these places plus the original Tommy's, Carney's, The Palm, The Grill on the Alley, Andre's, a couple of stands in Farmers Market, maybe Zankou Chicken, Nate 'n Al's, The Smoke House…I'm not sure where to stop because I'm not sure of the geographic restraints of the list. But it ain't a bad list even if some of those places do serve cole slaw.

Here's another interview with me in which I talk about some of what I've done lately. I don't talk a lot about this stuff here so if you care, there it is.

One thing: It says on a caption there, "Mark Evanier co-created Groo with Sergio Aragonés." No. Sergio created Groo. Mark came along as of the second story. If I'm going to go around pointing out when co-creators are not properly acknowledged, I have to correct when I am wrongly credited. Fair's fair.