Downtown felt like uptown when we paid $2.75 to park our ding dang cars at Weiland's Brewery. Oh, but if you eat at the restaurant, they validate 75 of your hard earned cents back to you. We started late, almost 9:30 before the group was complete. Garlic fries and onion rings made the rounds first. Consensus? Great BUT GREEZY. Tom and Joy couldn't get enough of the garlic fries and various and sundry folks kept holding out little paper napkin cornucopias filled with the damn things saying: "Have you tried the fries? Have some fries? You simply must try these fries! ALRIGHT ALREADY! God, sometimes the pressure at these dinner things can be unbearable.

Anyway, Howard sez service is warp speed. Got his water 20 secs post request, coffee ditto. Cake's Chinatown Chicken Salad kicked ass...he cleaned his plate: no, I mean, like, CLEAN. That wuz one well-licked platter, homeboy. Robert's Batter dipped fish n' chips: tres yummy!, although also guilty of the greeze, still extremely moist and meaty within. Lentil veggie soup (du jour) had a kick that warmed the cockles of the soul. Prickle thought the potato pancake/salmon appetizer a bit dry, as Joy Faye piped in "GREEZY!" ChrisLove and Trixie shared that potato thing and thought the pancake itself was sort of dull and tasteless, and yes, greasy and drowned in sour cream (bleck)--but the smoked salmon on top was excEllente!

Tom sez Buffalo burger rules. Specially likes the very unusual selection of burger toppings available. Wasabi mayo and red pepper aioli anyone? Who'da thunk it possible? Veggie burgers rocked. Prickle rolled with the mouthwatering swiss cheese version with grilled onions and says yes all the way. Joy Faye and Patrick shared another version and felt the same. Pasta was filling, but nuttin to send Mom a special delivery announcement about, ya know? Penne Florentine in particular seemed guilty of this mediocrity. The pasta guys will order burgers next time. Nuff said. Caesar salad came off pretty OK, according to Sherry. And Alex thought the sauteed spinach was drowned in cheep white wine however still OK. But Kari is just lovin her garlic mashed taters (stolen from Liz) of SOOO MUCH she is lickin the ashtray clean! SLURP SLURP. Trixie and ChrisLove also shared a spinach salad with balsamic vinaigrette and carmelized pecans, with a substitution of blue cheese instead of bacon. It was delicious and refreshing next to a side of buffalo wings with three different batters: Kahlua BBQ; Cayenne; Teriyaki. All three had their merits and the chicken was moist too. Beer was full-bodied and only three bucks which really pleases this crowd and kinda makes up for the parking costs. Kinda. However,it should be known that a good portion of their menu goes on sale after10 pm, they slash prices in half for late night happy hour! Us midnight snackers like dat!

Ambiance was spacious with tall ceilings, plenty of seating, and bright lights. Maybe the lights were a little too bright for the late-night scene. There was this general feeling of angst amongst the group that could have been influenced by being able to see each other too well. ChrisLove thinks maybe it was just that mercury is in retrograde and everyone is generally confused and inspecting the interior black hole that pops up every now and then somewhere in the vicinity of the heart and/or brain regions. Looking around the table, one got the impression that inside every Body present rested potent and unsaid things. Maybe it WAS just the bright lights? One thing's fer sure, nobody stuck around for the 2AM closing. " Al's Bar?" "Naah, I'm just gonna go home and chill" reverberated between tall, still figures that resembled SDC members but couldn't possibly have been. AH well, February was a hard month after all.

As mentioned before, and worth reiterating: the service was extremely efficient, friendly, and FAST--WhOOSH!

(CL)

Words that rhyme with Greeze: Cheese please, freeze, breeze, squeeze deze specialteze! striptease, jeeze Louise! cranberries, trees...

Top five reasons why music is important in restaurants (hint hint): 1. Music makes yer blud move faster, thereby increasing your digestive rate. 2. It's fun to sing along and eat at same time. 3. Thematic music gives you feeling of being in another country. 4. Music fills in empty spaces between conversation while people chew, or during awkward dates. 5. Dancing after eating has been proven to cause people to fall in love which makes world go round, of course.

trixie, ChrisLove, Elton Kriste, Prickle, Joye Faye, Baz, Patrick, Corky, Tim, Howard, Erich, Michael, Sherry, Gusto, Photodol, Tom, Jeff, Robert, Gringa, Alex, Kari Kaos special late night appearances made by: yukistar, neils,jennifer, ronika

RECOMMENDED DISHES: lowbrow food and salads