Salty Dog Restaurant in Virginia Beach

We went to Salty Dog Restaurant on Shore Drive in Virginia Beach the other night to try things out as they’d just opened for business.

WOW!

Usually when you order a steak medium-rare to medium you get medium to well. Not at Salty Dog. I got exactly what I ordered, one huge ribeye cooked about medium-rare. It was fantastic! He must have read my method before cooking it. That’s a joke, ok?

Oh, I guess you want to know about the rest of the meal, huh? Sorry, the steak was so good I didn’t eat anything else.

Just kidding.

When you’re seated they serve you homemade hush puppies with their own spun butter that’s so soft and creamy you won’t believe it unless you try it.

As an appetizer we had Garlic Clams. There were about a dozen in the bowl with a garlic and clam juice broth. I chowed them down, and fast, too. Best clams I’ve had in some time. Food can be so good when it’s not overcooked.

My wife had the homemade crab cake dinner. I’m not sure what was in those huge cakes, but there sure wasn’t much in the way of filler. Honestly, there must have been at least 3/4 lb of crab in those things. I don’t know how they stuck together, but it didn’t matter, they were in a belly mighty fast.

My ginormous steak came with two sides. I got the potato cakes and sauteed spinach. The cakes were fine, but I would have preferred a more traditional baked potato or mashed potatoes. I think mashed potatoes were on the menu, but I’m not 100% on that. The spinach was great sauteed with butter and maybe some garlic and onion. I’m not a chef, so I don’t know all that stuff.

The wife’s sides were the potato cakes and broccoli steamed to perfection. No complaints from our table, that’s for sure.

We didn’t have desert because the baby was making his presence known and the dining room was filled to capacity by 7pm. Time to head out and get that boy in bed.

The waitstaff and everyone we came in contact with were great. The hostess was wonderful, even the busboy was cool.

On the way out we noticed the bar was jammed full of people. I took a look through the glass door that separates the bar from the dining room and noticed a well stocked bar and a bunch of flat screens on football. Those people were having a good time.

Can you tell we liked the place? And get this, my over a pound ribeye was only $19.99! I’d have paid $24.99 for the same thing anywhere else.

If I were you, I’d get down there right away before they realize they’re undercharging!

No, seriously we had a great time and the food was great. I’m sure it’ll only get better as they grow in experience.

They open at 11am for lunch and you can show up for dinner as late as 10pm. On the weekends they open earlier so you can even get breakfast.

Boobs and Baseball

Boobs and baseball go just fine together.  Much better than apple pie, anyway!

It’s too grainy to see anything, but you get the point.  Watch the gal behind home plate.

United Nations Wastes $23mil on Painting

Ugly, over priced UN painting.

Chalk this up as another reason the United States should put serious consideration into backing out of the United Nations.  Not only does the UN encourage anti-capilist, anti-democracy mandates, but next to our own government, it must rank second in the world in wasteful spending.

The latest example is the UN paying $23 million for a painting.  That’s $23 mil worth of food and assistance taken right out of the mouths of babes.

Excerpts from the news is here:

The U.N. Human Rights Council, frequently accused of coddling some of the world’s most repressive governments, threw itself a party in Geneva Tuesday that featured the unveiling of a $23 million mural paid for in part with foreign aid funds.

In a ceremony attended by U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Spanish artist Miquel Barcelo told the press that his 16,000-square-foot ceiling artwork reminded him of “an image of the world dripping toward the sky” — but it reminded critics of money slipping out of relief coffers.

“In Spain there’s a controversy because they took money out of the foreign aid budget — took money from starving children in Africa — and spent it on colorful stalactites,” said Hillel Neuer, executive director of U.N. Watch.

…..

Meanwhile, international humanitarian groups pleaded with the human rights panel to take time out from their party to address the worsening human rights “catastrophe” in the Congo, where the government is fighting a deadly battle with several rebel groups.

“Mass displacement, killings and sexual violence — involving hundreds of thousands of victims, if not more — require an urgent response,” according to a statement issued jointly Tuesday by Freedom House and U.N. Watch.

Top Ten U.S. Steak Houses

For those of you that know me personally you know how much I love a big slab of medium rare beef on my plate.

To me there’s no better food than an inch and a half plus thick ribeye that’s been rubbed and grilled to perfection.  No sauce, please.

With that in mind, this is my kind of top ten list.  From MSN’s City Guides section, the top ten U.S. Steak Houses:

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.: Gruet Steakhouse
When the winemakers at Gruet Winery decided to create Albuquerque’s best steakhouse, they didn’t miss. Gruet Steakhouse mixes an American love of beef with the French sensibilities of the owners, Laurent Gruet and Farid Himeur, who have been making French-style sparkling wine, Pinot Noir and Chardonnay in New Mexico since the 1980s.

ATLANTA: Kevin Rathbun Steak
Finding a 100-year-old Lea & Perrins Steak Sauce bottle, authenticated by the raised letters and the JDS on the bottom, referencing its first U.S. importer, John Duncan, was just one of the lucky strokes that preceded the opening of Kevin Rathbun Steak. Revived and renovated, the early 20th-century building retains its old touches, such as its textured brick walls.

AUSTIN, TEXAS: Finn & Porter
Executive chef Jeffrey Cummins (formerly of Napa Rose) is producing food good enough to make this a fine-dining destination for locals as well as traveling foodies. The porterhouse steaks have solidified Finn & Porter’s reputation, being some of the best Austin has to offer thanks to 28 days of aging and the kitchen’s expert grilling.

BALTIMORE: The Prime Rib Restaurant
Sexy black lacquer walls, a leopard-print carpet, a white, Lucite-topped piano complete with tuxedoed player teasing out jazzed-up standards — we get giddy just thinking about this place. Huge sprays of flowers fill the wall’s arched niches. And the vivacious clamor of a tony crowd, part power brokers, part romancers, greets us like the happy sound of ice cubes clinking in two-fingers of bourbon.

BEVERLY HILLS, CALIF.: Mastro’s Steakhouse
An import from Scottsdale, Ariz., Mastro’s embraces classic steakhouse traditions as warmly as it welcomes the moneyed clientele that frequent this bustling eatery. A relatively sedate dining room occupies the ground floor, while a lively bar scene — downright boisterous by buttoned-down steakhouse standards — awaits upstairs, along with additional dining space.

BROOKLYN, N.Y.: Peter Luger
For over a century, carnivores have been traversing the Williamsburg Bridge to the Brooklyn side to sample consistently excellent steaks at Peter Luger. Established in 1887, the steakhouse delivers plus-size porterhouse steaks prepared in a method that has not changed since the first day they fired up the grill. Start with a tomato and onion salad, doused with steak sauce — the sauce is there strictly for the salad and for dipping rolls into, and should not be allowed to touch the delectable meat.

CHICAGO: David Burke’s Primehouse
This hotel restaurant near the Magnificent Mile offers contemporary fare like the pretzel-crusted crab cake with poppy seed honey and lobster bisque with green apple essence alongside a lobster stick. But the focus is squarely on steak. Try “South Side” filet mignon or “Kentucky” rib-eye, the latter state acting as the source for all of the top-tier meat served here.

DENVER: Elway’s Cherry Creek
Walk in, turn right at the serene water wall and you’re smack-dab in one of Denver’s most popular local watering holes. Strewn with multiple TVs tuned to sporting events, a baby grand piano and a sports memorabilia display showcasing star Bronco quarterback John Elway’s impressive career, it’s a lively gathering place for singles on the prowl, pin-striped business executives and couples who enjoy the live music.

GREENVILLE, MISS.: Doe’s Eat Place
In these parts of Mississippi, Doe’s is a legend. And the word is out, far beyond the town of Greenville. Real foodies make the trek to this family-owned, bona fide holdout (circa 1941) inside an old grocery store. Since the original Doe’s debuted, a few other branches have opened up, but none pass muster like this one. Steaks aged for 21 days are cut daily. On checked tablecloths, indulge in the no frills filet mignon, juicy rib-eye and T-bone.

LAS VEGAS: SW Steakhouse
Wynn Las Vegas visionary Steve Wynn has his initials written all over this vibrant steakhouse. To reach it, diners ride down a regal winding escalator and enter its spacious foyer furnished with plush chairs and couches and a dazzling bar. They are then seated in the elegant dining room or on the patio facing Wynn’s Lake of Dreams backed by a lush forest with a calming water wall on which a light show is presented at 9 p.m. nightly

Hungry yet?

Poland Denies Barack Obama Cannibal ‘joke’

Sikorski and Obama

According to various sources, Polish foreign minister Radek Sikorski made the following cannibal joke about Barack Obama:

“Have you heard that Obama may have a Polish connection? His grandfather ate a Polish missionary.”

Now the Poles are trying to patch things up before Obama takes office under strained relations by stating the following:

“Mr Sikorski did not tell a racist joke,” said Piotr Paszkowski, the spokesman. “He was only giving an example of the unpalatable and racist ‘jokes’ that surround President Elect Obama.”

Are you kidding, of course it was racist.  Funny, but racist.  It was also the first of many that will unfortunately follow.

If you’ve been reading this blog then you know I’m no fan of Obama’s policies.  As a matter of fact, I believe they’re detrimental to America and what it stands for and represents, but I don’t want other country’s leaders making jokes of our president.

Obama is an easy target, but he’s also going to be the leader of the free world.

And yes, you can call me hypocritical because of this post I made, but that’s really funny.  So go ahead, I can take it.

Barack Obama’s Air Force One

Here’s Barack Obama’s Air Force One.  Ok, so it’s really Snoop Dogg’s “Soul Plane”, but none-the-less, it’s funny!

Honestly, I spit soda out onto the computer screen when I watched it.

I was ROTFLMAO!!!

I don’t know about that “God Speed” part at the end, but the video is hilarious.