New BBQ Restaurant in Worcester!

There's a new BBQ joint in Worcester!  It's called Smokestack Urban Barbecue, and I went there for lunch with some coworkers.  The food and atmosphere were great, and I can recommend this place as a great place to eat and get some great beer (including some of the new Wormtown Brewing Co. selections!) - but not to drink lemonade.

I ordered a homemade lemonade to accompany my meal ($2) and when it arrived at the table I noticed it had a strange but familiar aroma of garlic.  I took a sip and was shocked to find that apparently they had substituted garlic salt for the sugar.

Minor question: HOW DOES THAT HAPPEN?

To make it even better, the waitress acknowledged that she'd had some earlier and thought it tasted bizarre...but she still served it to me anyway.  Very special.  I made a joke about crushing the ice and adding some capers, and a coworker termed the new cocktail a "Piccatta Coolatta."  Very interesting experience.


I'll definitely be back, but not to order lemonade.  This also won't replace the space I hold in my heart for West Side BBQ.

Google Maps FAIL

I noticed a bit of hilarity today when Google Map-Stalking my college stomping grounds. I mean, when people are showing off on Google Maps obviously I had to show them a few places! However, this is a little odd.

Note the photo below of the intersection of Ormond & Highland:

Buster, my favorite Crustacean is sitting proudly on top of the Sole - his summer hangout.


Now, look at the photo if you click one step towards the Sole:



Where did Buster go!? Also, does anyone know when he'll be returning to Worcester for the summer?

Welcome Back to Tronic Square

While Iced Tea Lemonade may have been in season for several weeks, the thaw was officially ended for me last night. Innaugural outdoor seating experience at West Side!!!

I'd visited a few times over the winter (not nearly as many as I said I would), but once the weather warms up how can you not just pick up a 12 pack and head on over!?

Big Bob was outside, wearing a mis-matched plaid outfit. Apparently, nothing ever really came of him shooting that guy that had his bro at knife-point last fall - although they did need to re-do the carpet. Also, how did I not realize that the world's best brother's store is open until 11 on Sundays!? Eileen, we need to keep this in mind.

All the other old faves were there too - a random table of college students with a 30 rack spilling over the table. The mysterious foreigners of unknown eastern European descent. The hoochies that always seem to accompany them. The expensive cars parked in and around the crosswalk. Yesss summerrrr hurry up and get here!

Auburn Mall Update

Awhile back, our friend LP metioned a truly special experience in the Auburn Mall. I had a similar one just a few weeks ago when I realized my cell phone was primed and ready for an upgrade! It was time to visit the mall that first made me realize how truly special it is to have a kiosk every 40 feet.

First on the tour: Guidos of the Verizon kiosk. LP, happy to report that in fact they are still there and they are looking FINE now that the summer is approaching for these Jersey Shore wannabees.

The Alltel cage came next. Now I'm not sure why these Abercrombie "meatstick" boys have such a "we're too cool to talk to you attitude." Seriously? You're pushing cell phones (not even for one of the big boy companies!) at 8:00 pm on a Thursday. I bet you don't have a whole lot going for you. Get out there. Maybe one day someone from the ATT kiosk will notice your ambition and pull you in.

A new player to the game, Metro wireless, had a round up of those men you often see piled into a Corolla with no more than (3) silver (read: plastic) rims. That's probably all I need to say.

Ahh, the ATT kiosk. This apparently is what those nerdy, sensitive boys in high school end up doing. You know, once they find hair product (use too much of it), loose their virginity to some obese girl, trim their nails incessantly after just in case they get to third base, live with their parents for about 10 years, and have that light green tinted skin from too much time in front of the monitor. How do I know thats what the skin tint was from? Probably because the kid offered to sell me his World of Warcraft membership. Thats right, he whipped the card out right then and there. The best part of all? Him casually browsing my account (well, my mom's account. still on the family plan, don't judge) to try to be textually active with me. What is this world coming to when a gal's textual relations aren't sacred.

Culpepper's

Actually, I don't know if I spelled that right.


From my current Worcester residence, I often will choose to pick up the pike in Auburn instead of 146 for one reason: the Starbucks on rt 12. After all, we're very much into Iced Tea Lemonade season here.


Today, I was feeling a little daring and decided to not only take 146 to the pike, but to also take a drive-thru one of several "independant-yet-not-boutique" coffee options Worcester has to offer. "Independant" in this case meaning not Dunks or Sbux, and "not-boutique" meaning less trendy and more homey, with less chance of boys in tighter jeans than me. See also: Boston Donuts (home of no fewer than 12 flavors of iced coffee), Go Nuts for Donuts, Donut Express, etc.


Getting into the drive-thru line at Culpepper's was sketchy enough - or at least the pickup truck behind me seemed to think so because he had to slam on the brakes when I omitted my turning signal and rolled into the parking lot on two tires. Once in line, I noticed a few things that struck me as odd. 1. The menu was nowhere to be seen. I finally saw what looked like it could be a sandwich board type of setup behind some landscaping, but the words were illegible. 2. I had to ring a doorbell at the window for service.

I took my best guess, and ordered a large iced coffee w/ skim & 2 sugars. $2.39, so similar price point to my standbys, and the large was about the same size as a medium at dunks. However, minus points for that definitely NOT being skim milk.

Canal District/Roma

Let's take a moment to discuss the Canal District. As most of you know, there is in fact NO visible canal in Worcester, nor has there been for over 100 years. At one time, the Blackstone Canal linked Worcester, MA to Providence, RI, and in effect made the case for the Providence-Worcester rail line, which in turn actually created the Heart of the Commonwealth. Today, the Canal is buried deep under downtown, and actually serves as an integral part of the city's combined sewer overflow system (look that one up on Wikipedia). Basically, in an extreme weather situation, an amount of the "sewage" is allowed to be discharged into the water source without being treated. Fun Fact: Worcester is one of the few cities in the country to have an Environmental Protection Agency approval of their CSO- most others had to completely redo their sewer system. My roommate and I explained this in the parking lot of the Home Depot

Recently in Worcester, there has been a big movement to "Free the Blackstone" to celebrate the historical influence the canal had on the economy of the city. Let's keep in mind that the structure was interred in the city after several years of requests from citizens - it was dirty, it was disease ridden, it actually became an open river of sewage through the city. There are actually people who feel this would attract business and visitors.

Another option that gets tossed around would be to create a non-functional, yet water filled, replica of the canal. This is what I personally would rather dine next to, and what I'll assume the derelict sign I saw from the window of Roma saying "For Lease! Canal Front Property!" was referring to.

Anyway, scenery of Worcester aside, I tried Roma on Friday. The absolute first thing I noticed (and completely kicked myself for not researching before!) upon our 9:30 pm, fashionably late arrival, was that it was BYOB! How could I have missed this little tidbit?! Oh right. I usually only see it as a classier alternative when making what I like to call the "Run of Desperation" to Wings Over Worcester. Anyway, after I finally interrupted the hostess from her very complicated erasing, she decided perhaps she could seat us. We had the BBQ chicken pizza, sans onions. The sauce was very "tasty", and not too sugary. Sugar, I am told, is a main ingredient in almost all BBQ sauces according to Men's Health. And, it was much better than the close-to-caramel pizza we had at Uno's the week before. Service was quick, and the place was pretty bumpin' considering it was after 10 by the time we left with mental notes to return with booze. We followed the guy with the empty cooler and the wine bottle haning out of his jacket pocket. Don't worry, we let him have a head start. Good thing that Canal isn't there just yet.

A Gluttonous Weekend Winter Wonderland Atop Airport Hill

glut·ton·ous (gltn-s),adj.

1. Given to or marked by gluttony.

2. Indulging in something, such as an activity, to excess; voracious. See Synonyms at voracious.

Well, this evening, while struggling to recap our weekend of decadence, Eileen and I did see synonyms:

vo·ra·cious (vô-rshs, v-),adj.

1. Consuming or eager to consume great amounts of food; ravenous.

2. Having or marked by an insatiable appetite for an activity or pursuit; greedy: a voracious reader.

But, let me start at the beginning. Rather than at the Ciao Bella takeout we are eating a few inches behind our laptops in front of the TV. In tandem.

Friday evening brought a failed attempt at the $5 bar menu at the Sole, followed by a failed attempt at the Boynton, followed by a walk of shame to full priced bar menu at the Sole. Yeah, I know it's a difference of a few dollars, but still. It's the principle. We followed that up with a blurry sharing experience involving winter warmers and family sized yellowtail, with none of us admitting defeat until trying to walk up the stairs.

By the time we recovered sufficiently to be interested in a meal other than Bud Light, it was about 3pm. The natural decision was Moe's, and a Moo-Moo and a Homewrecker later we were done for. A few hours later, it was all too easy to talk everyone into Blue Jeans. Sidenote: did you know you could order Blue Jeans online, just like Wings Over Worcester? The delivery guy visited the house twice in a span of about (2) hours, once with an "El Mexicano" (w/o olives), and then once again with a Buffalo Chicken. I think the driver probably thought we intentionally did that. I lost track of how many varieties of wine, beer, and liquor were present at this point, which probably explains why I got woken up (at 10:30 pm) with my jaw hanging open while sitting on the couch watching Independance Day. LOVE Will Smith, even if there was that business with the boys and the madam and such.

Sunday brought a wakeup call of 6.5" of snow, as well as Moe's 2.o, and (2) Shaws trips. One of those trips resulted in a pound of nachos, and the other in no less than three versions of carbonated beverages to later be mixed with no less than two brands of rum. What could be missing you ask? Why, Chinese food of course! By 8 pm, we had filled our kitchen table with Foodworks containers (clearly labeled "Chinese delicious food", just in case there was any confusion) and had played one round of "is it sesame chicken...or sesame pork?"Horrific.

We swapped to wine after finally giving in to trying Root Beer + Rum= cream soda, and munched on a few nachos before bedtime.

Another 4.3" of snow early this morning, but at least Eileen was able to get her car all the way up the hill. So, I'll again leave you to the mental imagery of us eating Ciao Bella, in front of the TV, with our laptops open.