AMP150

Brenna and I stopped at the WIDELY acclaimed AMP150 today for lunch. We had been looking for an excuse to have dinner at AMP150 for a long time but couldn’t seem to make it happen. Since we were driving by at lunch time and we were both hungry we decided to pop in for lunch.

We started with a mushroom and goat cheese flatbread which was wonderful. I never would have guessed that mushrooms and goat cheese would have been a good combo but it was simply wonderful. Next we decided to have four “small plates” and share them. These were a far cry from small plates and we nearly couldn’t finish all the food we ordered. Our choices were Shrimp and Grits which was not at all what we expected but definitely worth a try, cavitelli that was very nice, edamame falafel that was super tasty and seared scallops. The seared scallops were absolutely amazing!!! They are a must try if you stop at AMP150. I had heard that the mushroom soup was out of this world and when I told our server she gladly ran to the kitchen and grabbed us two small samples. It is all it is cracked up to be. It was delicious.

Our lunch could have been dinner since it was about twice as much food as we needed for lunch. I had a beer from a very nice beer selection. The drink and wine menus were very satisfactory. Brenna doesn’t drink at lunch so we were one drink away from a dinner sized check. We spent $55.00 for lunch but please remember that we could have easily done this for less than $35.00 if we would have ordered the right amount of food. We tipped our server fairly generously since she was very helpful and brought us a sample of the soup. Our total was $70.00 and it was worth every penny.

If you like sophisticated food I HIGHLY recommend AMP 150. The only thing I would change about the place is that I think it could use another wall to separate it from the hotel lobby. I give AMP150 4.5 out of 5.0 stars.

Ed and friends

All-Clad 12-quart multi-pot

The All-Clad 12 quart Multi-pot with inserts is a very high tech pot. We bought it from Williams Sonoma on sale for $100.00. It seemed like it was the greatest pot ever, “it does so much and it will make life in the kitchen a breeze”, we thought.

It is a great pot………right up to point that you have to clean the damned thing! The pot itself is great but the inserts are made with what looks like stainless steel screen door screen. We bought it to make pasta in but the pasta gets stuck in the mesh and then getting it out is horrible. We like to use scrubber sponges with that 3M scrubber stuff on one side. The scrubber stuff gets stuck in the mesh while trying to get the pasta out of the mesh and you are right back at first base. The steamer insert is just as bad with small things like broccoli. For green beans and larger vegetables it was OK.

My advice is if you need a 12-quart stock pot and you get a chance to buy this thing cheap then by all means do it. Otherwise just buy a 12-quart stock pot and save yourself the headaches of cleaning this rascal.

Ed and friends

Stranahan's Colorado Whiskey

Okay, time to get this thing rolling. It has been a while since I bought this bottle of Stranahan's Colorado Whiskey but it seems like a nice afternoon to sit in my office and sip a little whiskey and talk about it.

Let me start by saying that this is one of the finest, smoothest whiskey's I have ever had the pleasure of sipping. It tastes like whiskey but without all the burn and nasty aftertaste that you might associate with whiskey.

The bad news is the price! In Wooster OH I paid $42.00 for a 750ml bottle. This is pretty pricey for the light of wallets like me.

Ten bucks cheaper and I would give this wonderful whiskey 5/5 stars but the price brings it down to 4/5. I would still recommend it if your wallet is thick but for the average joe like me this is likely not going to be a staple in my liquor cabinet.


Ed and friends

What the hell is he talking about!?!?

OK, here is the deal. I want to read real life reviews of products, services, restaurants, beers, liquors and whatever else I can think of to review that aren’t written by pompous overbearing jackasses from Manhattan, Chicago or Los Angeles.

 I want someone to write reviews of products and establishments that I may actually consider buying or doing business with. I could give a rat’s ass if a $120.00 bottle of wine is good or not because there is no way in hell I am going to buy a $120.00 bottle of wine.

I want video reviews of products that are done by normal everyday people not models and/or actors. I want normal reasoning why a new song is great or stinks. I don’t want a lecture from some music professor talking about how overtones of the oboe overpowered the percussion section.

These don’t need to be long winded reviews; I don’t have time to read all that crap anyway. A few sentences will suffice. “The wine was nice it was medium dry and not overpoweringly to the point that my lips puckered up, and at a mere $9.25/bottle I highly recommend buying some to try for yourself.” I can live with a review like this. I don’t need to know that it had cherry undertones or that it was a little oaky.

So here it is a new blog for reviewing products and services. These reviews will be done by average people and written for average people. I hope you enjoy them.

Ed and friends