Java Joe's Blueberry Scones

Just when I needed a new way to rekindle my love of Java Joe's I came across my newest obsession, the blueberry scone. Not as sweet as a blueberry muffin, but with all the blueberry goodness one would expect, this little baby rocks my universe.

Throw in one of those famous $2 cappuccinos and you have yourself one hell of a breakfast.

I <3 you, Java Joe's.

Best of Orlando

The May 2007 Issue of Orlando Magazine has the list of their 2007 Dining Awards. Some of the Restaurants were former employers of mine:

Roy's Orlando
Best Restaurant - 3rd Place

Kres Chophouse and Lounge
Best Service - 3rd Place
Best Power Lunch - 2nd Place
Best Late Night Dining - 1st Place
Best Wine Pairing Dinner - 2nd Place
Best for a Business Dinner - 2nd Place
Best Steakhouse - 2nd Place

Congrats! I'm especially proud of Kres Chophouse, which fired me in December 2004 for complaining on my blog that I wasn't making any money working there. See, it all worked out in the end; You're winning awards and I'm winning awards. Go us.

Noticeably absent from the categories of restaurants were Best Seafood and Best Dessert. Roy's Orlando is by far the best seafood restaurant in Orlando and Chef Marian's Carrot Cake is the best dessert in the World. Hey Marian, are you still working at Wolfgang Pucks?

One last thing:

I noticed that PF Chang's is named as the Best Chinese Restaurant. Um....no. Orlando Magazine just lost all credibility.

Ruth's Chris Steak House

I've only eaten at Ruth's Chris Steak House once in my life, about a week before I moved to Japan. I loved it. It was expensive as hell, but the food was some of the best food I have ever eaten. When I visit Orlando, hopefully sometime later this year, I plan to stop in for a visit.

My brother Alex works at the Ruth's Chris in Winter Park. Scott Joseph, the Orlando Sentinel food critic, recently published an email he received about that store. It reads:

"The guys, however, had a distinctly different experience: a young, aggressive server giving the impression that some items "were on him" for the celebration (he really milked that birthday aspect). The kicker was the $154.30 stuffed lobster -- $125.35 for the lobster plus a $28.95 crab-cake entree to stuff it with. Now, mind you, the boys had already each ordered appetizers (plus they 'Just had to try the crab cakes with bleu cheese'-- extra charge for cheese), salads and entrees -- but then 'Let me bring you a lobster, it's such a special occasion.' . . ."

So I have to ask the question, Alex, is he talking about you?

As for the email and diners having buyer's remorse, a restaurant doesn't want their customers walking away feeling like they've been ripped off, but you have to balance that with the fact that Ruth's Chris is one of the most expensive restaurants in the universe. You should go in expecting to be gouged. Enjoy every minute of it!

On Internet Cafes

I have a confession to make:

Rick, I've been cheating on you. I haven't been going to Java Joe's as often as I used to. I'm sorry. Yes, there is someone else.

I've been going to Cafe at the Park. You see, it's not you, it's me. I live in Gualo Rai and my office is in Garapan, so it is just more convenient for me to go to Cafe. I know, I know, we had a lot of good times together, but I'll still visit you for the We Love Saipan blogger meetup on the last Wednesday of every month. I may stop in once in a while just to say hello...because I love those chicken nuggets!

More On Customers...

Been a long time since I have contributed to Chopsticks, and for that I apologize. I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to comment on this topic, however.

I worked as a waitress for 4 years prior to being a corporate minion at Starbucks for 2.5 years. We had our fair share of wonderful customers, and crappy crappy thoughtless selfish people who thought that you were put on this earth to be their slave for minimum wage (actually less if you were a waitress).

My Starbucks was what we refer to as a "Million Dollar Store", which basically meant we were consistently busy. We were also located in an outdoor mall, in downtown Boca Raton, Florida. That means money. All kinds of money. Trophy wives who leave their kids with the nanny so they can go to the gym and take yoga classes in $200 velour track suits, kind of money. Anyways, most of our regulars were cool. Hell, if you are going to have someone make your coffee everyday, you might as well have a friendly exchange, ne? Well, not everyone felt this way. In fact, out of the 5 other Starbucks in a 3 mile radius, we had the lowest average weekly tips. Thanks, I guess I know why you can afford that plastic surgery now.

I will now provide you with two "behind the espresso machine" perspectives. We had the homeless lady who would come in and order a venti cup of water with ice. Ok, that's fine and free. She would go to the condiment bar, dump out 1/4 of the water, put in about 10 packets of sweet & low, and then top off the cup with cream. ??? Mmmm... delicious. Then, she would fall asleep in the fluffy armchair and pass gas all afternoon. I tell you of her, because she was rather harmless, we didn't much mind her, and she was nice enough.

The real problem was "triple shot espresso in an iced venti cup". Everyday she would come in with serious attitude, demand her beverage, and after bestowing us with her bitchy remark of the day, would walk to the condiment bar and fill her entire venti cup with 1/2 and 1/2, often emptying out the cannister. At which point she would return to us, and scream about how we were lazy and didn't have the cannister topped off. This is an infamous beverage in barista circles, because if you order like this, your drink costs about $4 less than it would if she actually ordered an iced triple venti breve latte, her drink's real name. Did I mention how wealthy this woman was? Seriously? Stealing 1/2 and 1/2? We confronted her several times, because she was so mean, and snuck in a milk charge a few times. Whoa... the rage. She tried to get several of us fired, but even the District Manager hated her. Good times.

She would often change her order and demand something else that either wasn't on the menu, and required a lot of extra time to concoct. Or, she would request a particular barista to make her drink, because they know exactly what she wants. I had to come to the front several times while doing cash counting in the back room, to make her f(*&%ing drinks. If she ordered regular drip coffee, she made us fill the cup to the brim. This burned several baristas, because you can't put the lid on properly when the cup is so full. Oh... the lid. If you touch any of the inner part of the lid, you must throw the coffee out and make her a new one, for it has been tainted! The hilarious thing about all this was she thought we LIKED HER!? Clearly crazier than the flatulent homeless woman.

So, yeah. I agree with Angelo. Some people need to die.

On Difficult Customers

When I worked at a restaurant out at Disney from 1998-2003, there was a customer that everyone in the restaurant used to call "The Spinach Sushi Lady." Come on, have you ever even heard of spinach sushi?

Of course not! It doesn't exist. Yet somehow this lady decided that she needed to have spinach sushi everytime she came to our restaurant.

Pretty much everyone in the restaurant hated dealing with this lady and her family (the family is a whole other story, I'll stick to spinach sushi lady). She had to sit at a booth. This restaurant could seat almost 400 people at any given time, but there were only four booths. God forbid they all be full when this lady walks through the door.

Drama EVERY SINGLE time.

When she was seated we always knew that she would order spinach sushi. She'd say something like, "I know this isn't on the menu, but I've come in here before and they said that it isn't a problem."

Only problem, it was a problem.

She'd order the spinach sushi and I'd have to go check with the sushi chef to see if he could make spinach sushi today. He'd tell me to go talk to the chef to check if there was any spinach today (there was always spinach, but they'd always make you check). If the chef wasn't talking to some hot girl at the bar, he was sweating bullets behind the food line trying to crank out meals for the 400 other hungry guests waiting for their dinners. Either way, he didn't want to talk to you.

He'd usually say, "Oh, is SHE here?" and then direct you towards the keeper of the spinach. Then you had to take the spinach to the sushi chef, listen to him grumble about the special order, and then get back to spinach sushi lady in time for her to tell you that she was cold and that she'd like you to turn down the air conditioner.

Then she'd start bitching about how the restaurant was really going down hill, blah, blah, blah...

To make a long story short, they complained through the whole meal, made special requests for EVERYTHING, left a horrible tip...and always came back the next week...or worse, sooner.

Restaurant guests like that deserve to die. That's all I have to say about Difficult Customers.

And don't think that I was some self-absorbed server who didn't care about my guests. This family hated being alive and did their best to ruin the lives of everyone around them. I cringe whenver I think of her bleached blonde hair and fat husband.

(erg)