"Luke...I sense a disturbance in the Force": The Hotel Talisi Burns

Today they could be excused for overcooking the chicken

After four days of an L-Tryptophan turkey coma, no LITG member was prepared to do anything but eat left-over turkey sandwhiches while they pondered "The Butterfly Effect," you know: that theory that says that if you bop a baby seal in the head with a stick in Canada it causes a Puffin in Ireland to fly into a boiling pot.

THIS CAUSES THIS:

Well, today we felt the unseen waves caused by a disruption in the Fried Chicken Force that surrounds the Gump when we learned of the tragic fire that has damaged an icon of buffet lunchage: The Hotel Talisi. Who among you--if you are a true MontGumphrian--has not heard of nor eaten fried chicken or banana pudding at the Hotel Talisi in Tallassee? Who among you has not marvelled at the tacky victorian furniture in the lobby (that probably served as kindling) or wondered what it would be like to actually stay there overnight? (Do you know anyone anyone who actually stayed there overnight?)

Well say what you wish about Man-Made Global Warming E-mail hoaxes or The Butterfly Effect, we Gumpers all sensed a disturbance in the Force today. And although it did not affect the Gump proper, we all felt a little lower than our overeating during the Holidays and extra poundage could explain. I, for one, believe it was at least partially due to the effect of the loss--hopefully temporary--of our compatriate luncheon spot to the Northeast. We all hope the grande dame of grease will rise from these ashes to once again serve some of the best Southern Cookin' in these parts. At least, hope springs eternal when lunch is involved.

Update: 12/21/09: It's Worse Than We Thought....

Was visiting the River Region north of the Gump Sunday and snapped this picture of the Hotel Talisi, or what's left of it.  A return doesn't look promising, especially in this financial climate.

Pine Bar - Lunch in the Gump After Hours

What? You think we just eat lunch all the time? Sure, lunch is a great time to take a midday breather, catch up on the local gossip and postulate on which bank will fail next. We sample the Gump's best southern-fried, cooked-in-a-pot-of-grease, artery-clogging slow death, then wash it down with rot-your-teeth sweet tea. The fact that we do this at least weekly (completely without compensation) and then provide reviews free of charge, just adds to the near-utopian quality of life here in the Gump.

But Gumpers are only human (except for Shadow Pup). We have to unwind from the megadeals, mid-air rescues, test flights, brain surgeries and Perry Mason shit we do when we're not screwing off at lunch someplace. So at quitting time we need a drink.

There are some good watering holes here in the Gump and we feel it is our civic duty to visit every single one, and write 'em up here on the blog. So here we go.

Pine Bar is at 501 Cloverdale Road in that slick new upstairs/downstairs new urbanism live/work A&P loft/retail development between Nancy Paterson's Bistro, Village Kitchen, Roux and Derk's Filet & Vine (excellent joints in their own right). The Chop House at the Vintage Year (also excellent) is just a stumble down the block.

As the name connotes, Pine Bar is a bar, not a nightclub. The skilled bartenders know how to mix. You can get real cocktails like an Old-Fashioned or a proper Martini, maybe a Sazerac or a Sidecar. If your cocktail requires fruit juice, it gets fresh-squeezed right in front of you. If you just clipped Milton McGregor for a big jackpot and feel like a Booker's or a MacAllan, they've got 'em and won't stiff you on the pour. If you order a Sex on the Beach or a Screaming Orgasm, you are going to get tossed out on your ass, your fake ID will be gone forever and your parents will be notified.

Pine Bar probably has the biggest beer selection (draft and bottled) in the Gump, including those high gravity, knock-you-on-your-ass beers the legislature lets us drink now. The wine selection is interesting and ever-changing, if you are one of those wine-sippers.

Also, the Pine Bar has great food. Shown below is their signature dish, pretzel balls, and the soon-to-be-famous salad bar, which comes complete with olives, lemons, limes, maraschino cherries and those little onions. So once you wet your parched throat and take the edge off, don't feel like you've got to go hauling ass home for dinner right that second.

You won't go home hungry.

Other particulars? Let's see... The clientele at Pine Bar is about as sophisticated as it gets in the Gump, which isn't very sophisticated. But we still doubt you're going to have to deal with any gunplay among the patrons. You can sit outside or inside, but there's no smoking inside. That's good. The trolleys stop here if you need to get downtown or over to Fairview without getting a DUI. The owner has good taste in music and some big-ass TVs. Prices are reasonable and you get an honest pour.

The Pine Bar is a great stop for a couple of after-work drinks and it's also a handy staging area for dinner at Nancy's, Village Kitchen Roux or the Vintage Year. You can also get primo takeout from Derk's, so you can be a hero when you get home, instead of just that liquorhead who pays the mortgage and forgets anniversaries.

Possibilities abound here in the Gump.

Re-Butt(al) in the Gump: He said we were WHAT?

Here's the deal: I have escaped the Gump via Pinnacle Airlines to the mecca of sophistication a/k/a Little Rock, Arkansas. I have spent two days listening to over-coached witnesses deny the obvious under oath. So I am a little fussier than usual.

I am staying at the very nice Capitol Hotel (across from The Peabody where the substitute ducks are and where Bill Clinton porked his various interns with his own cheap cigars while serving the Razorback State as Governor) and I am smoking a cheap cigar on the terrace with my boosted laptop surfing the net and see where there is a rating system for the top 10 restaurants in each city in this great country. I am trying to find a decent place to eat in the capitol of Arkansas. (There being no great blog like LITG about Little Rock). So, being a LITG regular, I check the listings for The Gump to check the site's veracity. There I find listed the "Top 10" places to eat in MontGumphery and I see some of the usual suspects (except I would not rate "The Pub" No. 1 even in West Shorter). I note No. 4 on the list is "The Farmer's Market Cafe" which was recently a LITG Classic review (I wouldn't rate it No. 4 in the Gump myself). I click on the icon and find the following:


"This place is unbelievably overrated by the hicks down here. Food is subpar at best, and the place is run-down and highly overpriced. I was all jazzed up about getting some good southern cookin' when I moved down here. Haven't found any yet - just overrated places like this, with wait staff as bored and filled with quiet desperation as the town itself."


Now, followers of LITG know that I, your humble Shadow Pup, may not be the most tolerant of the contributors to this blog. But, even though being a pound puppy from Detroit who cannot claim to be a native of the place we affectionately refer to as the Gump, like most members of the secret LITG gang I have more than a degree from a community college, have travelled a good bit in and out of the U.S. and can understand that the world outside the by-pass looks down on the South with derision and the assumption that Southerners are less intelligent than the geniuses who chose to remain in the Rust Belt. But this posting went too far. "Hicks?....HICKS?" Hicks live in Arkansas! We are just dumb rednecks here in the South. So, you can understand that when I saw the above condescending remarks about a classic LITG eatery, the fur on my back stood on end and I felt compelled to defend my adopted home and respond in kind and I apologize in advance:


"Listen you Yankee a**hole: We may not say 'youse guys' when we talk to women and we may talk too much and laugh too loud, but we know where to eat in our own city. We may even be too dumb to make it in any Northern town, but the LITG gang knows authentic 'southern cookin' a lot better than you and we, unlike you, are not quietly desperate about anything. Rather, we are 'loudly proud' of our little fortified Gump. Like 'Lynerd Synerd' (I cannot spell it either and am too lazy to Google it): 'We don't need you (or Neil Young) around here anymore.' So, whatever you pasty white overweight yankee slobs like to eat, have at it. 'Leave us be' as you say in your awful accents as you murder the English language worse than we ever have."

Pardon my french and thanks for allowing an expatriate Yankee and adoptive Southerner to vent. I feel a lot better and I realize now that "Top 10" site is a waste of my valuable wagging time.

Yours truly, The Shadow Pup. Your humble servant no longer riled up and headed for the Pine Bar when I get home....

Microgump: Capitol Inn Buffet Fizzles

The other Gumpers tried to tell me it would be a mistake. Whatever! I do what I want!

Unfortunately, this one time they were right.

There is nothing more annoying than writing a review of a place you used to like but you now have to rag on because things have fallen apart. Exhibit A: The formerly wonderful Capitol Inn buffet is now a terrible place to eat. The first clue was the fact that the doors were locked and the place was deserted. Last Thursday I practically had to force my way into the place with a crowbar, no kidding! Once inside I waited and waited for someone to ask me to sit and after a while I just gave up and sat myself. Then, as if things could get any worse, I walked up to the buffet line and saw that the bins were full of nothing but tepid water. There was no iced tea, no wonderful pork chops and no banana pudding. It was a total bust: service was non-existent and the food was non-existent. I could not even get anyone to take my money so I left without paying. At least parking was plentiful and the price was right. I paid what it was worth: Zip. Until things drastically change, I am simply not going back. I would rate the place as I found it last Thursday: .5 of 5 pork chops. They will never recover from this lambasting from Shadow Pup. Do not be surprised if they close for good. Sad end to a lunching tradition in the Gump. Sniff.

Microgump: Making a List and Checking it Twice at Isaiah's

[Ed. Note: We welcome the "Carp" to our fold with his first submission]

Although technically not a "Lunch in the Gump" target (since it is not open on Mondays), Isaiah's at 135 Mildred Street meets every other criteria as a locally-owned lunch spot that serves "comfort" food mostly to those in Gump Central. However, I will say that if you Google the place you will see numerous favorable reviews from travelers from all over the country such as this annoymous lady from the Land of Fruits and Nuts shown here with Isaiah himself.

She raved about the lemon crusted carp err catfish. She even took a picture of it:
Looks yummy.

(the fried corn is at the top and the poor little corn muffin to the left)



On Friday a quorum of LITG reviewers gathered for a microgump at Isaiah's at the suggestion of Mimi Furst. Present were: Tojo, Reginald, Docartie, Mimi, Shadow Pup, Pikedaddy and yours truly. After raising our 1/2 and 1/2 tea/lemonades to the memory of poor burked Binion, we reviewed our menu/check-lists and made our lists and checked them twice. Pens were thoughtfully provided. Cool thing about filling in your own order with the prices listed for each entry is that you cannot whine about it when you take your own list to the register to pay. (Of course, that would not stop the Shadow Pup from denying her own paw prints).

My only gripe was, of course, about the cornbread. The check-list menu clearly stated that my lemon baked chicken would come with one side and my requisite corn muffin. When the order arrived, dressing and gravy had been substituted. Granted, it was very good dressing and gravy but the omission of the muffin forced me to beg a muffin off the dentist who had just had his own teeth cleaned. By the time the begging had been sucessfully accomplished, the muffin was cold and lifeless and no butter was nearby. Thankfully, the chicken and gravy was fresh and good. Not so much the "fried corn."

I will add other comments from our staff of reviewers as they trickle in below. Suffice it to say that with a total charge of $9.13 with tax (or 5 shares of Synovus stock), its proximity to Gump Central, its friendly staff, and ONE HUNDRED HEALTH RATING, Isaiah's is a place worthy of being a regular on your lunch rotation.

Happy Thanksgiving to all our LITG followers!

Mimi: My comments are these:The lima beans are my favorite—they have a subtle lima and pork gravy that holds them all together and sticks them to the ribs, and in my case, probably the hips too. Collards are just right. I have had the sweet potato pie, and it is a slice of love. In the summer, the cream cheese pound cake with fresh strawberries is not to be missed. Enjoyed the talk of the shady developers busted projects, the booming downtown of trial lawyers and pub crawls. Swapping tips on the best way to avoid the new camera red light tickets and DUI’s (other than not running the light or driving sober of course). The Old Ship AME Church light-up sign across the street says “Faith is fragile—Handle with Prayer.” Love a place you can get lemonade and sweet tea mixed (an Arnold Palmer). Don’t forget the secret rooms and 100% health rating. [I didn't]

Cuts in the Gump: Fronduti's

No, they don't serve food. But I did go during lunch hour.

Maybe someday, when this recession has receded, I'll splurge on a haircut and food on the same day. But that day's not here yet, so you're getting a review of the place where I get my hair cut. With the economy in the crapper and all, I've pretty much put hair care down near the bottom of my top 100 things to accomplish this fall, somewhere behind "catch up on the mortgage" and "get that funny-shaped mole looked at." But my head had become shaggier than the carpet in the back of a '74 Chevy Van so I called up my friend Mark Fronduti, of Fronduti's fame, to get this situation nipped in the bud before anybody else asked me if I used to be in Metallica.

I also want to look sharp at Binion's funeral. See Wednesday's post. Sad.

So here's the deal: When you go to Fronduti's you understand why your mom went to the beauty parlor every week. It's just a damn fine place to get your hair cut, is what it is.

Today's coif was at noon, but I really like to go for the twilight triple-header when I can swing it: a haircut, a couple of scotches and some takeout pizza. Fronduti's has the perfect location for this on East Fairview between Bud's and Tomatino's. They'll even bring you a pop for while you wait. Hell, you can have another drink while they cut your hair (it's not like you're at the dentist or something). Oh, and there are usually better-looking women at Fronduti's than at Bud's, unless you want to wait around Bud's until midnight then go home all shitfaced and smelling like the bottom of an ashtray. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Anyway, back to the haircut. My wife told me it looked good, which, considering the material Fronduti's had to work with, is a pretty smashing endorsement.

Call 265-3003 for an appointment. When you get there, tell them Lunch in the Gump sent you and you'll get a blank stare, absolutely free with your excellent haircut.

Dumped in the Gump: Binion Burked by The Beast

He's under there somewhere...

Former Casino Magnate Suffocated by Hamburger Steak Smothered in Onions

(From wire reports)

MONTGOMERY--Leonard Theodore "Ted" Binion was found dead today in his home after apparently being "burked" by a oversized hamburger steak from local restaurant Sundown East appropriately named "The Beast." According to unnamed sources, Binion, former proprietor of the Horseshoe Casino, was in the witness protection program after testifying against members of an alleged crime family before Congress in 1988. Court records reflect that Binion plead guilty to falsifying federal food inspection reports to cop a plea deal with the FDA prior to being granted witness protection. He lived in secrecy in several cities after finally being moved to Montgomery where, according to sources, he foolishly broke protocol and began blogging under his real last name about local lunch spots. Investigators are interviewing the owners of Wintzell's and Corsinos concerning allegations that they may have tipped off those in Las Vegas with an axe to grind against Binion's turkeyneck after not so complimentary reviews appeared on the blog. The owners of Sundown East, from which "The Beast" emanated, have confirmed that one of their waitresses did not report to work the day of the discovery of the body and that one fully-cooked hamburger steak was unaccounted for. The waitress had recently undergone breast augmentation surgery so her absence was not unexpected, the owners said.

The medical examiner for Montgomery County released a statement confirming that Binion was found on his back in his kitchen smothered by a 2+ pound hamburger steak itself smothered in onions and gravy. A Harley-Davidson t-shirt, un-naturually streatched across the chest, was found at the scene soaked in gravy. According to the county coroner, "burking" is an obscure method of gangland murder designed to leave little evidence of a crime. It essentially involves drugging an individual and then placing a heavy object on their chest causing suffocation. "The Beast," aided by gravity, supplied the downward pressure that resulted in in aspyixiation, the examiner said. Here, however, the hamburger steak apparently did not flea.
Rumor has it that Binion was burked to make room for new contributors to a local underground blog that has gone viral: lunchinthegump.blogspot.com. An official for Blogspot confirmed that the "Lunch in the Gump" blog had become popular and that Blogspot rules appeared to limit the number of contributors to 10. According to this spokesperson, the Lunch in the Gump blog was at its capacity at the time of the demise of "Binion." The capactiy has since been increased to 100 due to the popularity of this blog, the spokesperson said. Local law enforcement officials refuse to confrim or deny whether any of the blog's contributors were suspects. One, Tojo Yamamoto, is a former professional wrestler who performed many faked acts of violence and had a "patented wrestling move" that simulated "burking." Yamamoto also jibed with Binion on posts found on the blog. However, unnamed friends say Tojo is thought to be a gentle giant and student of Zen incapable of performing real acts of violence. Another, Shadow Pup, is alleged to be an unabashed right-wagger said to be involved with underground "rescue" missions against governmental animal shelters. Shadow Pup refused to speak with representatives of the media.

Another theory is that federal agents discovered Binion's blogging activities and wisked him out of the city before he could be located by those that would do him harm. Just how the FBI would have been able to fake Binion's death is not known. But, according to local funeral homes, the body was not processed locally although the hamburger steak was creamated.

Binion is the second Lunch in the Gump contributor to die in as many months. Doyle B. Cooper, the famous 1970s hijacker of a 727 jet who bailed out at 10,000 feet from the rear door and was thought to be dead, apparently had been living in Montgomery for years and died here in October after an encounter with a rogue hotdog. He had been known as "Doyle B" on the popular lunch review blog.

Posters on the blog expressed sadness for Binion's passing and suggested that memorials be made to Binion's presumed charity of choice: The Make a Wishbone Foundation.

Lunch in the Gump: The Farmer’s Market Cafe—Taxidermy and Jalapeno Corn Bread!!

You're not eating the venison are you?

With the choice for the spot of the week bearing down on all of us, Shadow Pup suggested a Montgomery standard. If you are still shaking off a hangover from a weekend of big football and you need a solid, no-frills workman’s lunch, you got to go with the Farmer’s Market Cafe. Shadow Pup and I arrived separately and in true community style, we were both offered seats by folks we knew and some we didn’t. Shadow Pup remarked “It’s sort of like the bar in Cheers, somebody knows your name so you never eat alone (even when you really want to).” Local celebrity sightings included Rep. Alvin Holmes “legisloitering” by the counter as per usual hoping some lobbyist would pick up his tab.

As our fellow Gumpers trickled in, each made the rounds in the dining room back slapping and hand grabbing until we all came to rest at a centrally located table, amidst lawyers, brick layers, law enforcement and secretaries. This proud cross section of the Gump’s best folks came together for a respectable assortment of baked chicken, veggies, slaw, cornbread and tea. Just the thing you need to ground you after a high flying weekend of fancy tailgate food and beer. The one that has no nickname especially liked the Jalapeno Corn Bread, which he says has the consistency of Twinkies. (Discerning palate indeed.) We all agree the fried okra is superb especially when combined with the smoky baked chicken.

As a bonus, you dine while being eyeballed by some pretty good taxidermy and photos of decades old football players like Buddy McClinton leaping, Charlie Trotman with a buster brown haircut, Zeke Smith with his Outland Trophy, and, of course, the Bear when he could personally kick ass.

As a side note, LITG determined that although LSU intercepted the ball, it would not have mattered, and that 50 year old refs don’t have 4.4 speed. SEC refs made for good lunch conversation among the Aubie/Bammers except for Tojo who doesn’t understand “armored wankerball”.



Tojo had just returned from a battle royal with the dentist’s drill and it was highly entertaining to watch him on Novocain try to chew his chicken and not his tongue. “Tojo have tongue for lunch. Unfortunately tongue belong to Tojo. Also have inside of cheek for dessert. Docartie very good to Tojo, only drill one bad spot. Feel like Tojo stick tongue in light socket.”

Frugal Gumpers also got drilled when ordering the traditional ice milk that used to be included in the price of a lunch, but now costs $.50. Leaving alone the ice milk brings the total to a workmanlike $9.00, and for the portions, it’s a sweet deal.

All in all we give it four out of five stuffed turkeys and a deer rack.

Farmers Market Cafe
315 N. McDonough Street
334.262.1970 or 262-9163
Fax 334.262.1970

Plenty of Free Parking or Take the Lunch Trolley Express
"FRIED GREEN TOMATOES EVERY DAY"

Lunch in West Shorter: Wishbone Cafe. Like sands through the hourglass...

LITG is running behind on this week's review because we had a two-hour lunch on Monday, so let us sum up: Wishbone Cafe - inventive Louisiana-style food, better than Wintzell's, as good as Lunde's, creative use of a former Quizno's, some of the best soup we've had... and too slow.

BamaBing! says:
Here is when slow is good: Slow is good when you're having lunch on a Friday in New Orleans with your lady and a crew of good pals, all at a downstairs table at Galatoire's and nobody really has to be anywhere anytime soon, and the group is seriously considering dinner at Galatoire's and then maybe a nice nap back at the hotel before things really get going. Slow is good on a day like that.

But slow is not good if you're having Lunch in the Gump and you've got a table at the Wishbone Cafe and you're with good friends who are way, way outside the friendly confines of the bypass and seriously in danger of losing their menial jobs and/or getting violated back to County by their PO's.

OK. Now that I have sufficiently chastised the Wishbone proprietors for their, uh, deliberate service, it's time to lavish some praise. This unassuming little joint at the end of a strip center way east on Atlanta Highway (emphasis on Atlanta) gets high praise for the funky New Orleans/Cajun/Creole eats. Nothing subtle about the food here. They know where the cayenne pepper is and they know how to use it. It's worth the wait and the couple of extra bucks, and the half-tank of gas.

Binion says - A Tale of Two EateriesIt was the best of luncheon experiences and it was the longest of times. When you pull apart the Wishbone Cafe, someone always gets the short end. Those coupon-clipping Martini-sipping members of the upper crust in no hurry to return to where they pretend to work found the two-hour portal-to-portal-to-portal trip from Dexter Avenue to the Wishbone and back "charming" and "quaint." It is a great place for those who live or work within walking distance and have not a care in the world. However, those with deadlines or a parole officer to report to were, after an hour of enjoying the former Quizno's ambiance, about to jump out of their skins hungry and worried they would be late back to the real Gump.

It also was a better experience for those who had just collected from their local "man" after hitting a three-team teaser. Yes, the Cuban sandwich with honey glaze was different and the soup with the du jour sauce was outstanding. But $16 with tea is pretty steep for Lunch in the Gump not counting the four gallons of gas you burn driving out past AUM from Gumptown.

But, again, the basic problem is the passage of valuable time. On the way back at 1:30 p.m. The Younger and I were remembering "The Chef" in Apocalypse Now who got off his swift boat to fetch some mangoes and got chased by a real tiger: "Never get out of the boat. Never get out of the [freaking] boat!" he ranted when he barely made it back. We said to each other as we raced back to various overripe problems: "Never go outside the by-pass, never go outside the by-pass!" We have learned our lesson.

Tojo Yamamoto responds...Binion too impatient. Need to slow down like Tojo, enjoy Lunch in Gump. Enjoy slow little cajun creole hole in wall. Parole officer too busy with drug dealers and prostitutes, not concerned with white-collar recidivist criminal like Binion. Tojo filled with wonder! Cajun treats cooking in Quiznos conveyor belt roaster oven left behind by former tenant! Quiznos people go broke using conveyor belt roaster oven to make fast sandwich. Wishbone people say "Aha! Why not use Quiznos conveyor belt roaster oven to make shrimp po-boy real slow?" Tojo like zen approach. Tojo like Harry Connick music. Tojo gladly pay $20 for lunch at Wishbone.

Festively colored dish (Mardi Gras colors?)


NoGritsNoGlory says: Worth the Trip to West Shorter

As a newboy in the Lambda Gammas, I learned two valuable life lessons:


1. Don't take an antsy group of Gumpers to a place that takes longer to get your order in than Longshore takes to play the back nine--especially if it's the first meal since CDT became CST, and the old tummy didn't get the memo.

2. Never get up from the table to take a call--especially if Tojo is within surprise striking distance of your shrimp and pasta.

That said, I am forming a committee (the Make a Wishbone Foundation) to get this incredibly tasty Creole/Cajun/Quiznos eatery to relocate Gumpcenter in the Alleyway. Then Binion can just walk half a block, take half a Ritalin and enjoy the quizine du jour. Remember, an orchid isn't grown overnight.

Editor's note: NGNG is a man of few words.The name of this dish was "Shrimp & Pasta," which seemed like a very simple name for a dish in a place with the "Louis Armstrong" and the "Jeffrey Darter" with a ton of healthy-sized fresh shrimp with andouille sausage and a cream sauce big on "cajuny" spices, garlic and other good stuff. Oh, and pasta. NGNG was good enough to share this fine dish with the other gumpers, which was probably a mistake, because when NGNG very politiely excused himself and walked outside to take a phone call from some fatcat, the remaining gumpers had their way with the remaining shrimp.

BamaBing! adds:Fat Clemenza and I both ordered a dish called the Jeffrey Darter, which was basically sauteed hash-browns (shredded a la Waffle House - excellent!) topped with a spicy sauce topped by a very nicely-spiced grilled chicken breast, topped by some sort of prosciutto or something like that topped with some kind of cheese, served with red beans & rice and bread. It was, as Clemenza said, "over the top." I Googled Jeffrey Darter, expecting that I'd find a famous jazz trombonist or some pirate that haunts the Quarter to this day, but no such luck. When you Google "Jeffrey Darter" all you find is this guy:

Jeffrey Darter

Northwestern Mutual Financial Consultant

Grand Rapids, Michigan

www.jeffreydarter.com

The Soup:

On arrival each Gumper was presented with a sample of the Soup du jour, which was simply outstanding. We asked what kind of soup it was and our oft-missing server hadn't the foggiest idea. In any event, 7 out of 8 gumpers ordered the soup, whatever it was. Here's what it looked like, if anybody can identify this soup:

Soup of the Year

Shadow Pup Pipes In:
1. Bring a New York Times with you to read while you wait.
2. Do not come with a big group of amateur food critics. The conveyor oven is designed to make one order at a time. A group of six throws off the assembly line.
3. Du jour is not a sauce, Binion.
4. Bing, when you write a review--give the address.
5. Wish the Wishbone was downtown.
6. Chase Utley has hit four homey's in the Series! Go Phillies!!!