Good news for fans of TV on the Radio: their stellar new album Dear Science is streaming in its entirety on their MySpace. If you’re (somehow) ambivalent about or unaware of the best active band in the country, you can now get a faceful of greatness for free.
Good news for me: I’m going to see their show in Philly.
So the girlfriend, her sister, father and I went out to Woodberry Kitchen to celebrate her birthday. Located in the Clipper Mill planned yuppie-oasis community, Woodberry is part of the organic locavore movement. Seasonal organic foods, locally grown–it’d all be very pretentious (and ok, maybe it still is), but the friendly staff, wood-fired oven and trendy-kitsch decor balance the austerity of the huge plate-glass windows and stone floor.
For all its organic New American trappings, the food isn’t too fussy. The goat cheese, basil and tomato flatbread was delicious–pillowy and charred the way only an ungodly-hot oven can produce. A cheese plate with aged gouda featured honey mustard and a caraway-seed bread, which was very tasty, but I’d recommend trying one of the others–goat cheese with peaches and vin cotto or aged cheddar with candied almonds. I ordered one of the specials, lamb chops with porcini mushrooms over polenta, and it was just about perfect: very balanced, with a thin layer of deliciously crisp fat protecting the succulent meat. The Girlfriend’s beef tenderloin came with squash and these little fried mashed potato things, which were both unusual and very good: fluffy potatoes surrounded by golden bread crumbs. No room for dessert, but I saw several go past (including to the table next to us), and they looked heart-stopping.
City Paper proclaimed Woodberry Kitchen “Best New Restaurant” in last week’s Best of Baltimore 08 issue, declaring it “Hands down the most anticipated restaurant opening,” and that’s accurate–at 8pm on a Monday night, it was pretty busy. But although I enthusiastically endorse the concept of good, local organic food, I’m not sure that Woodberry quite lives up to the hype. Maybe I should’ve tried the fried pepper rings with sweet corn relish or the tea-smoked pork belly (I did think long and hard about that one), but I didn’t have anything transcendental. If I didn’t know that my lamb was organically raised, then killed Anton Chigurh-style twenty miles away… Still, the food is very good, and I’d definitely encourage you to go, which is probably the real test. So that’s that.
After suffering a pretty gruesome-looking knee-to-the-head injury during the Ravens’ win over Cleveland, it looks like safety Dawan Landry is going to be ok.
If Martin Gramatica didn’t suck, the Saints would’ve had a pretty nice win at Denver. But he does.
How ’bout them Iggles? As long as Donovan stays healthy (major, major if), they can probably hang with just about anyone.
Didn’t watch it, but I got burned by Peyton’s last-second comeback last week, so I bet on him this week. And the sans-Sanders defense let the Jags win it.
So far, Cowboys-Packers is a pretty damn good game. As I say that, Aaron Rodgers throws a 50-yd strike to Donald Driver. And then the Green Bay offense rolls over, poops itself and dies with less than 10yds to go. And the Cowboys roll.
From certain angles, Aaron Rodgers looks like Ryan from The Office. Maybe it’s those dreamy blue eyes?
Update: The Cowboys have run that pump-fake-delayed-handoff play about thirty times in the second half. And it nearly always works. Maybe make a note of that, Packer coaches. Also, Jason Witten is just killing the Packers. They just cannot cover him.
Leftover note from Iowa’s 21-20 loss at Pittsburgh yesterday, because I am still a little grumpy about it: Ok, so there’s about six minutes left in the game, you’ve already run for 160 yds or so, and your quarterback has been pretty damn bad. In order to score without leaving time for a comeback, you’d want to run the ball a few times, right? Not throw it 80 times straight? I thought so.
Does anyone actually like Campbell’s chicken-noodle soup?
Same drill as last week, people. Picks in bold.
Last Week: 10-5 (2nd, tie)
Overall: 20-11 (3rd)
