vientianne!!

It's funny, but writing this blog I feel this pressure to eat at new restaurants rather than old favorites. But most of the new places that are opening are pricy and I can't afford to eat at restaurants like that very often. I'm really starting to notice that my higher rent is cutting into my disposable income (Duh, of course it is, I didn't get a raise, but somehow I thought the money would just stretch. At least Prez Bush has got my back with the gas prices. I'm sure they'll be dropping any day now). In short, no new reviews in a while. Sorry. But I hit up an old favorite again last night. Vientianne. So fucking good. And it was 12 bucks each with drinks and leftovers (why did we leave those leftovers, guys? was I drunk? I know it wasn't much but I could be eating it right now). We got the stuffed chicken wings (a must, indescribably good), green curry (so spicy!) and squid salad. This is the best incarnation of the standard Thai squid salad that I've had. The squid was warm and tender. It lovingly caressed my throat on the way down. OK, that's going too far, but it did have an amazingly flavorful dressing. And guess what? The dining room was almost completely empty, as usual. Remember folks, this family is hitting the road back to Laos in summer 2007, so you better get your ass over there.

Mike Dunne wrote a good review of Celestins. It almost makes me want to give that place another try, after that chicken skin gumbo incident. Despite the fact that he says the food has gone downhill, he made some of it sound intriguing. But at 17 bucks for an entree there are other places I would rather eat. The other Bee food writer also wrote a review of another chain restaurant, although he seems apologetic about it in the opening paragraph. How about just don't do it?***I misunderstood what the dude was saying about chains. Oops. It's not a chain.