Saturday

I was correct in that I never got to the blog yesterday. Very enjoyable evening. Victorious over at Augie. A win tonight in the second round is a ticket to the Sweet Sixteen next weekend. My pal Pete's son had an unusual double-double: 28 points and 10 steals.

Good to see 3 back in the area. She got in late last night and is over in IC to visit friends tonight. Back to C-town tomorrow.

The wine list over at the Chop House in Moline had about four bottles of red wine priced below $50. And none that I recognized. We got a California cab that was ok, but nothing special. The entrees were all $30+, and the sides were a la carte. Even so, I tried to pull the old, "I've got to go to the restroom" routine to get the bill from the waitress before she presented it to Roy. But I was out-foxed by Roy who had made previous arrangements with the waitress. And the manager was no help. Roy was very proud of himself.

The new martini place, Graze, that opened up a couple of weeks ago, has had mixed reviews. I think that it had a negative impact on the business at Biaggi's on that first Friday night that it was open. I'm sure that it will do ok in the short run, but martinis and appetizers may not be the long term answer. 3 said that the Graze in IC and Burlington were good places to go to.

It's interesting to see what works and what doesn't when it comes to restaurants in a community. There have been lots of failed attempts here in the last few years. I'm not sure that it's the menu, the location, or the ambiance that makes something work. Price comes into play. Trends also. Maybe more than anything, the preferences of the population around the place will determine if it will be successful. Then you get into the shifts in commercial and residential development. Smarter people than me can figure it out.

Enjoyed 1's comment on Thursday's entry. She didn't describe it there, but she had excitement at school last week with a bomb threat. No actual problem, but her school is not the easiest place to work. She can give us more details later.

Closing for now. 2 and I are headed to Augie.

BCOT