HUGE DAY

Today is the 5th Anniversary of the morning I woke up and went to the bathroom on MY WEDDING DAY to my dear D-Mom.

This is also my dear friend Sally Petersen's day to mark yet another beginning of a year gracing us.

My great friends, Chris, Debbie, Stu, and Michael will be helping me celebrate this day by joining me in one of the great joys of my life, playing music, tonight at The Lime Spider as part of a benefit to aid fellow musicians in New Orleans displaced by Hurricane Katrina. As Dolli loves to hear us play, this works just fine.

Thanks to everyone who was there 5 years ago, and to those of you who have joined or re-joined our lives in the days that have followed. I've been remrkably lucky and truly blessed.

"Gee, Harvey's blogs keep getting more and more maudlin. Ever since he had liver and onions with Dolli and Debbie at Luna, he HAS become 80 years old!"

LETS EAT!!! Or not…

With a couple notable exceptions, most Mexican restaurants in Akron pretty much serve the same stuff. The con queso is the same white goo (mmmm good), the carnitas is prepared the same, the same combination plates, the same salsa, the same, the same, the same. Now this is fine. If you like it, you can get exactly what you want in every corner of the city. Truth be told, it was the rare Mexican restaurant in NY that I’d run into that was very much different than any other either. Figure a lot of it just has to do with what Mexicans eat… or what Americans want as Mexican. Last night, though, we went to Mateo’s California Mexican Restaurant.

For you Akronites, this is in the Valley, where The Globe and many others lived before it, at the Noisy Oyster mini-mall on the right, just before you get to the BP as you reach the bottom of the hill on Portage Path. For those of you not from Akron, if you come, just call us and we’ll guide you there. Run by Guatemalan, Alberto Vega, named after his grandson, Mateo, this really feels like little fun Mexican restaurants in L.A. that I’ve been to. Now we didn’t do a Jane Snow and sample a lot of different things on the menu. We just ordered and ate.

Small place, sweet waitress, friendly welcoming owner.

The con queso was NOT white goo, but a delicious, quite spicy goo, and the salsa was pretty normal, but just a bit spicier, and a little chunkier than that found at the Poco Loco Toco grills. Dolli liked her Margarita and they gave me a chilled glass for my Negra Modelo. I was told they have not just Mexican beers, but Central American varieties, and will do beer and tequila tastings if arranged for in advance.

The cup of Tortilla Soup was unlike any I’ve had. No crispies and garnies floating on the top. Pretty dull presentation, actually, but just the best, meaty chicken soup I could ask for. Really delicious!

Dolli’s Chicken Chimichanga was enormous and unusually light, fluffy (yet crispy) and really tasty. The beans weren’t the standard Akro-Mex paste, but real refried beans, more like Three Amigos.

My 12” Mexican Pizza with chorizo was just plain indulgent. If you’re eating chorizo you have a death wish. I was tough on my friend the other day so I figured I should punish myself. I’m crying now. So it was big, plenty, cheesy, and greasy, just as it should be, served with dabs of sour cream on each sliced wedge-o-death and a nice mound of Guac on the hub.

They have music there on Fridays and Saturdays, sometimes Thursdays. Dolli and I hope to be there on June 24th to celebrate Mateo’s 3rd birthday with whatever music they have booked in.

When I lived in Manhattan, there was a corner, I think 3rd and E. 88th or 89th, where for some reason nothing could survive. It was like any eatery that opened there was a plant trying to make it in a Moroccan closet. The only place that lasted more than a biscuit was a bare bones bar serving wings called “Name This Joint.” The space Mateo’s is in seems similar by nature, and it would be a shame for this place not to thrive, so… try it, even once. If you like it, keep supporting it. I like Chipotle and used to like a couple things at Baha Fresh, but that’s completely different.

Here , you walk in, see a different menu, have a friendly waitress serve you a nicely made Margarita, and have a really nice time. Very cool. Oh , and their menu has outrageous deserts involving tres leche and pineapple ice cream burritos, and stuff… we were too full, but next time… absolutely!

Come & Get it! The Authentic American favorite! Authentic Sloppy Joes made with Authentic Meat Flavored Meat!”

Now later last night I had a conversation with someone who doesn’t like Mateo’s. The word “authentic” got used a lot, and this morning, I started thinking about how that word applies to this subject. I’ve been to Mexico and eaten pretty authentic there. I’ve eaten ’authentic’ Mexican in the tiniest mom and pop eateries, made by little round Mexican ladies for a room populated in large by multi sized, apparently Hispanic people, and frankly, to my tastes, it’s just not always that exciting. Sure, some people make it spicier, some flavor things a little better, some do more slow cooking, some dry out the meat, some let dark meat cartilage in the mix, some slop some sort of green ooze on an edge of the plate.

I mean “Authentic” American might include overcooked string beans and Del Monte asparagus cooked into mush. On the other extreme, authentic Indonesian deep fried Parrot head may be cool, but raised on Cocoa Crispies and Brisket, I think I’ll likely pass. So “authentic” doesn’t always carry the cachet we might think, when ya think about it.

This place, in fact, WAS different. As D-Mom points out, they don’t call it “Mateo’s Authentic !” They call it Mateo’s California Mexican Restaurant, and for the one time we’ve been, so far, we like it!! No matter. Just wanted to weigh in on that “AUTHENTIC” issue. Geez. I think I’ll run down to Canal Street and get me one of them authentic $2.00 Korean Digitals that’ll keep poor time until it turns my wrist green and busts completely by the time I hit Houston! There’s the ticket!

Sad Changes

While we’re on the subject of restaurants, Susan Aylward, after expending a tremendous amount of energy fashioning a really sweet tea/coffee/ fresh food joint in her image at ‘Enjoy’ has met with an abrupt change in strategy from it’s owner and has exited as manager. Given the way things were handled at this place, given the amount of free labor my brudda Michael Aylward put into it… regardless of what it becomes, we will be boycotting and urge all our pals to do so as well. We’ll miss you being there, Susan. I wanted to play there again.

OK, Food Hour is over. Thanks for reading. And remember! Tip your Waitresses.