Wrapping up
Packing to leave, but yesterday was too eventful not to mention.
I played with Sally Woolsey, who is just delightful. We had a decent first game and a not so decent second game. Mike and Linda are in the National Mixed Pairs, had two good games and qualified for the finals.
Bob Etter gets a ton of accolades for coming over to me at the start of the second session and saying he thought I had mis-scored one board against him in the afternoon–I played 2♠ and scored it as making 2 (110 points) but had really made 3 (140 points). He insisted that I tell the director to make the change, which lowered his afternoon score and raise us by almost 1%, so we placed a bit higher and scored a few fractions of a masterpoint more. Bob has always been a decent and honorable guy; this is just further proof.
Dinner was exceptional. Sally was afraid of the cold, so it was just me with Micky and Linda. We went to the Dallas Fish Market. The menu is fish, obviously, with a raw bar and a sushi bar as well as full entrees and, this being Texas, some big slabs of beef.
The staff brought over the amuse, and it was a devilled egg just like at the Dallas Chop House–yes, they have the same owner. Except at the Fish Market there is no glass of sparking wine and the egg doesn’t have the white truffle. Prices here are better, too.
I ordered a salad and sushi, the Bandlers both had more traditional entrees. Luck prevailed when the the waitress came to tell us that the hot dishes were ready but the sushi wasn’t–they didn’t want to serve only the two of them, but they didn’t want the food to get cold, either. Would I accept a complimentary bowl of the lobster bisque? Why yes, indeed I would. Turned out to be the very best lobster bisque I have ever had the pleasure of slurping down.
Then my sushi came. I have complained about both high prices (Dallas Chop House) and tiny portions (Porta di Roma) on this trip, and saw the complete reverse here. My meal was a “Bama Roll” (crab and tuna) for $10 and a “White Russian Roll” (yellow tail, crab and escolar) priced at $14. Not only were they spectacularly good, albeit the Bama Roll is quite spicy, but the portions were enormous.
I’m not a guy who leaves much on the plate, but I was begging Mike and Linda to have some because I just couldn’t finish it all. This very excellent sushi, served in a beautiful modern facility in the high rent district, was actually cheaper than what I get at my local grocery store to take to bridge on Tuesdays and easily the biggest bargain I’ve ever seen in fine dining.
Micky and Linda went exploring after dinner, so I was walking back alone, stuffed and sated, and lazily decided to take a cab when one stopped right in front of me. Another adventure–I noticed that the driver didn’t cancel out the last passenger from the meter, just let it run. So when we got back to the Sheraton, he wanted $7.75 for the half mile ride. I wasn’t having any of that, gave him a fin and walked away. I guess I look like a rube.
Dallas has been fun. I won a little, lost a few, ate some very good food and some not so good food and always had fun with my friends from around the country. The Sheraton is an old hotel badly in need of renovation but the internet is free if you join their affinity program.
Now I’m off to Las Vegas to meet Gail, Kate and Brad and go to a pizza trade show. We’re staying at the Las Vegas Hotel, which used to be the Las Vegas Hilton–right where the next NABC will be in July. Doesn’t everyone want to go to Vegas in the 109° summer?
Totally Unauthorized 