Monthly Archive for May, 2007
I asked Michelle to dinner on Friday but (luckily) she was busy seeing Shrek The Third. This all for the best because tonight both her and Nick were free so we went to try the new restaurant at 1134 Chapala in downtown Santa Barbara – The Hungry Cat. Earlier this year, around the middle of February, my friend Karen emailed me the following:
Subject: OMG
Body: The Hungry Cat is going to open in SB! And before you ask, I’ll tell you what it is…..it’s an absolutely fantastic restaurant brought to you by Suzanne Goin (A.O.C a tapas place and Luques also good, especially the prix fixe Sunday dinners) and David Lentz (her hubby, who also cooked at Campanile and Opaline among others). The first location is out near the Arc Light Cinemas…..your location will be at Anapamu and Chapala and it should open around the end of March. Go try it!
During our French Laundry roadtrip I quizzed Karen on all things culinary and I was thoroughly convinced and impresed by her foodie knowledge. She schooled me a few times as well so I trust this girl.
I got there at 6:30 and Nick and Michelle had already put their names down. It was about a 20 minute wait altogether which was OK. It was a Sunday night but you have to take into consideration the small size of the place and the fact that it’s brand new and it had quite the reputation from the Los Angeles location. The hostess was very nice and seated us at a table near the window, on one end of the bar. The manager or owner (not sure which), gave us a thorough explanation of the specialty cocktail of the night (black/blue? berry infused Plymouth Gin). Michelle ordered the special, Nick had a citrusy margarita, and I had the Greyhound Proper which is described as containing Plymouth gin, grapefruit juice, and candied grapefruit. All were really really good. We started out with half a dozen oysters (mix of two types). Then followed it up with another order.
For our main course, Nick and I had (2 orders) braised claims, chorizo, sofrito and grilled bread. I think there was dollop of bechamel sauce on the bread. Michelle had the fish stew with garbanzos, fennel, garlic, and poached duck egg. They ordered another round of drinks (same one for Michelle and Nick had a cucumber martini he absolutely hated. They later traded) and I had a ginger beer from Australia which was so yummy. For dessert we had the chocolate bread and butter pudding which tastes nothing like a bread pudding. It tasted like a sweet souffle and was very subtle. The dark chocolate bottom was definitely needed or else it would have been too bland.
We came at an odd time because the sun was still really bright; in fact, I had to squint when it started setting. Toward the end of our meal, it got dark and they switched on the mood light. The place is very small and intimate and as you’d expect, loud. But it’s not too loud and they don’t play the music very loud either. I really like the decor and the setting. It screams of Hollywood and the trendy restaurants you hear or read about in magazines. The prices are about what you’d expect ($9 for cocktails, $20 for entrees) but they are very deceptive and it all adds up very quickly.
I thought the service was really good when it was there. The only peeve was the time it took us to get our first order of oysters (about 15-20 minutes). I don’t see why it takes so long to open some shells. They are raw afterall. Also, they gave 3 pieces of bread and no plates to eat them on. Nick and I agreed our dishes were on the salty side. Maybe more bread would have worked. All and all, I am really glad we went. We all had an awesome time and will be returning.
Thanks Karen!
I read an interesting article today from The New York Times (via Freakonomics blog) about Steven Udvar-Hazy, a Hungarian immigrant and UCLA grad who is the largest force in the airline industry. Many people, including myself, may be surprised to learn that most commercial airplanes are not owned by the carriers, but instead are leased.
As founder and chief executive of the Los Angeles-based International Lease Finance Corporation, Mr. Hazy has a fleet of 824 Boeings and Airbuses, with 254 more on order, that dwarfs any airline’s in the world. He owns more planes than the industry leader, American Airlines, which has 679, and more than the combined holdings of Air France (265), Lufthansa (245) and British Airways (239).
Who does own these massive vehicles, each priced in the tens of millions? Udvar-Hazy does, or more specifically his company International Lease Finance Company. This guy lives and breathes airplanes and has been doing it since his twenties, starting off with a used DC-8 and two partners.
He raised cash from a small group of fellow Hungarian émigrés and started making deals while an economics student at U.C.L.A. As a junior in 1966, he advised Aer Lingus on how to save money by reducing the aircraft types in its fleet, and, as a senior, he brokered the sale of a turboprop from Air New Zealand to Reeve Aleutian Airlines.
He is now a billionaire three times over and brokers so many deals that he is often called by Boeing, Airbus, and other leading manufacturers to consult. He owns nearly half the planes in service so it’s very likely that the plane you were on recently was his. Not surprisingly, most of his business comes from international companies, rather than domestic airlines.
“Big U.S. carriers, since the dawn of the jet age, act almost like superior beings,” said Mr. Hazy, who said that half his customers sought to re-negotiate leases after 9/11. “They want all the benefits when times are good, but if they are bad, they want you to sacrifice.”
Still, with I.L.F.C. making money at a time when American carriers are having financial problems, Mr. Hazy feels that he may have the last laugh: “Our company is stronger than any major U.S. carrier. The day will come when they need I.L.F.C.”
I wrote before about treedonlainsite.com, the scam site that charges you money for e-books you never purchased or even wanted in the first place. Since then, my Chase Mastercard (same card affected by the aforementioned site) has been completely comprimised. It’s not even worth mentioning where this breach may have come from. Could it be stolen from a large database (school, utilities, shopping). Or maybe a dirty waitress copied it when I paid the tab. Either way, the card is cancelled and I have a sinking feeling there are small $1-2 charges I missed. As the customer service rep read off the military e-book site and the TrimFast charges, I shook my head in disbelief. I am pretty careful with my finances but admittedly I only go back and analyze every charge every quarter. I simply don’t have the time to be super careful, though recent events have proven I should be.
As if the Chase card thing was not enough, today I received a letter from SavingSmart which said that if I don’t call, I’ll be charged. How does this work? When did it become legal for companies to just say “we’ll charge you unless you say something.” It’s like an opt-out instead of opt-in.
So in short, we learned that treedonlainsite.com and SavingSmart are scams, frauds, thieves, hooligans. And since I read that Bargain Network is involved and I think they are the dirtiest company in the world, I’ll throw that in for good measure too.
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