I have never been disappointed by Bohanan's even once, and this visit last night was no exception. Let's go over my dinner here.
No. 1: The Bar,
This was the very first trip I took to Bohanan's where I had one of their famous cocktails. In this case, I ordered the "French 75" with vodka, champagne, sugar, lemon juice, and a lemon peel in a champagne flute (I don't have a photo, sadly, but search for it on Google and you'll know what I'm talking about.) I have to admit, I was impressed. It tasted great, and the vodka, while it did make me woozy, wasn't overpowering in taste due to mixing with champagne and non-alcoholic ingredients. And the glass sure was pretty. This is one drink you sip, slowly. There is no rush.
I have always liked Bohanan's Bar. It's one of the most charming places you will find, worthy of taking someone on a date or big business excursion.
No. 2: The main dining room's food.
I liked my steak quite a lot. It was very juicy, and very flavorful (though it could use a little less pepper. I also really liked their mash potatoes. One thing I might mention; this place's bread may have just managed to beat the original Carabba's in Houston on the bread game. It is REALLY good. I also really liked Mark's Famous Tortilla Soup. Not overpowering in the spice. I was OK with the amaretto cheesecake, but I think I like the Myer's Rum cheesecake with butterscotch in the bar better. My sister's wine had a good, nice spice to it that complimented the entire meal. I liked that.
No. 3 The atmosphere.
It's no secret that I love the downstairs bar. It has so much charm and character, I feel like it's one of the best places to discuss business or find a date in. The. World. I also like the main restaurant quite a bit as well, but I think the bar's decor leaves more of an impression on me. Wood paneling, leather booths, nice chairs, and a jazz band, this is the place for any aspiring bartender. Watching them make drinks and do other things beats watching Cocktail every day of the week.
As for the main dining room, it's still nice, with a good view over the street.
So what more can be said? Bohanan's is and always has been a must-see in San Antonio.
Saturday, January 9, 2016
Sunday, December 27, 2015
The Force Awakens review
The Force Awakens is a definite step up from the prequel trilogy (I liked Revenge of the Sith quite a bit and Attack of the Clones somewhat). The focus is back on the storytelling in the search to find Luke before the new form of the Galactic Empire, the First Order, led by Kylo Ren, General Hux and Leader Snoke do, and I like the characters of Kylo Ren and Hux as villains quite a bit.
We get some new characters here, and I do like them. I liked the older Han Solo the best, though; when I first saw this film in Kerrville, I thought it was a bit slow until he shows up. Then the characterization, action, and emotion build from there to a great climax at the First Order's Starkiller Base.
I also saw this in the D-Box seating gimmick at the Santikos Palladium AVX in northern San Antonio today, and, let's just say, it's like riding Star Tours at Disney World/Disneyland for two hours, but not too rough to make you lose your popcorn. That was a lot of fun, and I recommend you see this film, and in D-Box or IMAX if you can. Drive 5 hours if you have to.
Tuesday, December 8, 2015
Carrabba's review
I have been going to Carrabba's ever since I was little, and I've always loved it. I now have more reason to love it since I tried out one of their specialty classics for this go round.
First things first. You always start with some of the best restaurant bread anywhere, and a lovely dose of herbed olive oil to go with it. That oil was wonderful and delicious.
So what I got for my entree was the brick chicken with sides of mashed potatoes and fettuccini alfredo, and, I have to admit, I didn't know what to expect. I thought part of the chicken was tough, but it was mostly very good and very well cooked. Mash and pasta were great as always. My co-worker let me have some of her filet, and it was tender and really good.
I also had one of their specialty coffee drinks for dessert, Caffe Carrabba, and I liked it. Cappuccino spiked with Frangelico, Bailey's, and Tuaca, with cinnamon. Good for a little after-dinner drink.
Carrabba's is a must see when one visits Houston. It's classic Italian at some of its finest.
First things first. You always start with some of the best restaurant bread anywhere, and a lovely dose of herbed olive oil to go with it. That oil was wonderful and delicious.
So what I got for my entree was the brick chicken with sides of mashed potatoes and fettuccini alfredo, and, I have to admit, I didn't know what to expect. I thought part of the chicken was tough, but it was mostly very good and very well cooked. Mash and pasta were great as always. My co-worker let me have some of her filet, and it was tender and really good.
I also had one of their specialty coffee drinks for dessert, Caffe Carrabba, and I liked it. Cappuccino spiked with Frangelico, Bailey's, and Tuaca, with cinnamon. Good for a little after-dinner drink.
Carrabba's is a must see when one visits Houston. It's classic Italian at some of its finest.
Monday, December 7, 2015
Inside Out review rating.
I loved this movie. I have a ratings scale now. It's called the Walt Disney "Black Diamond" Classics scale. And this film hits the top of the scale..
It is a Walt Disney Black Diamond Signature Classic!!!
Congratulations, Pixar!!
It is a Walt Disney Black Diamond Signature Classic!!!
Congratulations, Pixar!!
Saturday, December 5, 2015
AMC Studio 30 theater review.
Not a bad place to see a movie. It is starting to show its age, but I came here quite a few times as an adolescent, and aside from the front concession stand, Quantum Bits, being changed into one of AMC's new cafeterias with those lovely Coca-Cola Freestyle machines with the other two concession stands, Wildebeest Feast and whatever the other one was, being shut down, plus the IMAX being added, not much has changed. The seats were nice when this place opened 18 years ago, but they do feel a bit hard now, though the stadium seating gave me a perfect view of the screen. My concern is the area is a bit shady, though this is one of the theaters in the Memorial Village vicinity, and they decided to drive a theater at PlazAmericas/Sharpstown Mall, which was taking some of the shady people, out of business. I do call them out on that for giving the community a little more danger than it needs to have, but this is still a good theater for West Houston. Saw The Good Dinosaur here, and saw it late at night, when there weren't that many people here.
Saturday, October 17, 2015
San Andreas review
This is a pretty movie, but I was also pretty bored by it. One of my problems is this movie managed to hit every single disaster movie cliche pothole. Every. Single. One.
First was the estranged family, though this one barely meets that word since they are still on good terms. They might as well have still been married, and of course, they are together at the end.
Second was the "villain" character played by the original "Mr. Fantastic". That character was completely pointless. He does leave the daughter behind, but then he really has no purpose in the film afterwards since he doesn't meet the other characters, appearing on the street twice before getting crushed by a tanker. And how does he react to that? Exasperated. Not screaming, annoyed. If they wanted to lob a shot at big business, this is one that misses by a mile. This wouldn't scare Donald Trump in his sleep.
Third was the science of this movie was out of whack. Tsunamis were pretty inaccurate in this film.
I think this is one of the most laughable disaster movies I've seen yet, and I've seen 2012. That had some entertaining destruction and lines. San Andreas doesn't
Cue my Jeffrey Katzenberg quote: "It didn't work at all."
First was the estranged family, though this one barely meets that word since they are still on good terms. They might as well have still been married, and of course, they are together at the end.
Second was the "villain" character played by the original "Mr. Fantastic". That character was completely pointless. He does leave the daughter behind, but then he really has no purpose in the film afterwards since he doesn't meet the other characters, appearing on the street twice before getting crushed by a tanker. And how does he react to that? Exasperated. Not screaming, annoyed. If they wanted to lob a shot at big business, this is one that misses by a mile. This wouldn't scare Donald Trump in his sleep.
Third was the science of this movie was out of whack. Tsunamis were pretty inaccurate in this film.
I think this is one of the most laughable disaster movies I've seen yet, and I've seen 2012. That had some entertaining destruction and lines. San Andreas doesn't
Cue my Jeffrey Katzenberg quote: "It didn't work at all."
Wednesday, September 30, 2015
Alright, my review of Casino Royale.... the 1967 spoof version, sadly; this is one of the most infamous films of all time.
The Nostalgia Critic once said to review a bad comedy is one of the toughest things to do (and so is making a comedy) because you can only go, "That isn't funny", so many times before you get up and leave the theater. This movie is one of the worst examples of comedy, and they had the cajones to soil James Bond while they were at it.
First things first; before I get into the review, I have to give this movie a special stance called [[Echo Synth]] THE WAGGING FINGER OF SHAME [[end echo mod]]. If you watched Ebert & Roeper's review of the 2005 remake of The Amityville Horror, you would know that they awarded this to movies that the studios were too embarrassed to screen in advance for film critics. The 1967 Casino Royale was not screened for critics.
Anyway, the opening theme to the movie IS pretty catchy, but some of the music does feel inappropriate.
The opening scene of the movie feels disjointed, and the scenes in the castle feel even worse with overheavy accents, bad dancing, and pointless scenes until everyone starts falling down. Are they dead or unconscious? Who cares? And even that has no point.
Bond is one of the most famous womanizers in every other movie, but this spoof turned him into an old prude and drastically altered his character. This is James Bond in name only; even Austin Powers makes a better 007 that this one does, and that's saying a lot.
It only gets worse. The villain group, a take on SMERSH, has a cheesy battle map with a guy running the place named Dr. Noah, who turns out to be Bond's nephew, Jimmy, a character played by the not-British Woody Allen when the real Bond and the top impostor are played by Pink Panther's David Niven and Peter Sellers, and this is a character that's only mentioned once prior to his reveal at the end of the movie. SMERSH is behind everything, which leads to Sir James Bond taking over MI6 and the heavily-accented people who run it, and hiring a bunch of impostors, including his illegitimate daughter, whose mother is Mata Hari, the World War spy. She has a good intro scene, but that's it.
Her mission in Berlin is where if you were taking the movie seriously up to that point, you stop here, because the bidding scene didn't seem to have much purpose, or any they made clear. The main impostor Bond, Evelyn Tremble, gets himself into Casino Royale and his game with the only major villain from the book, Le Chiffe, played by Orson Welles, the second horror vet to take the role after Peter Lorre did in an early 50's TV movie. This version of the character is a way-too affable magician and not a spy, Soviet or SMERSH agent, or even a good gambler; he's cheating, and while we do know how he's cheating, it's not used against him, and he and the fake Bond are killed in his little "torture machine" which Tex Avery uses.
Eventually, the bad guys kidnap Bond's daughter, bringing the real Bond to the casino and into SMERSH's headquarters; Jimmy Bond is poisoned with a pill that will blow the place sky high at this point, and, while the good guys do get the right idea of actually leaving, a brawl that turns the casino into a ridiculous and childish Cowboys and Indians game just. Stops. Them. Cue Jim burping 400 times, cue the building blowing up and wiping out the cast. The world is saved, but that's an anti climatic and ridiculous way to end the whole thing.
This movie is filled with all the cliches of the Bond series (after only 4 films with a 5th to follow in 2 months, at that) played badly. And I just remembered, M supposedly died at the beginning, but this movie is written so badly, they never explain it and thought to trust us to take their word for it. There are several other bad explanations, and a lot of the conversations have no emotion to them. As for the pacing and feel, the movie starts very slow, and just devolves into an insane concoction of action right out of Tex Avery. Makes you wonder what drugs the makers were doing. I wasn't expecting much, but if you're going to use Bond, do something that's not a poor-man's version of Pink Panther. The special effects are bad, some things in the film, like the U.F.O., were not dealt with in a manner to where we're supposed to laugh or take it seriously, and the dialogue can be laughable. It says a lot when the Austin Powers movies can show more emotion and, for their ridiculous plots, be more believable.
There are two good things about this film. The title track from Herb Albert is pretty catchy, and I kinda liked the scene with the introduction of Bond's daughter, Mata Bond. There was some good to decent choreography there. The rest of the film is a Frankenstein's Monster patchwork of scenes, and one thing that should tip you off to this being bad: there are 5 directors credited. Outside of the music, I really can't remember much; this version of Casino Royale is sadly an enjoyment-free dead zone, and it convinced the guys behind the real James Bond series to fight hard against something like this happening again, which set the stage for some nasty legal work that was only settled for good two years ago. This movie's from 1967; my father was in high school.
I cannot recommend this one at all; it makes no sense, and it's shoddily edited and directed. It's a very poor version of one of the Roger Moore films, and those are still somewhat competent. THIS is one of the biggest turkeys ever crafted in Hollywood, and I just know, when The Nostalgia Critic gets to Bond movies, which I see happening with a new one coming in November, this movie will be one of the movies he reviews.
The Nostalgia Critic once said to review a bad comedy is one of the toughest things to do (and so is making a comedy) because you can only go, "That isn't funny", so many times before you get up and leave the theater. This movie is one of the worst examples of comedy, and they had the cajones to soil James Bond while they were at it.
First things first; before I get into the review, I have to give this movie a special stance called [[Echo Synth]] THE WAGGING FINGER OF SHAME [[end echo mod]]. If you watched Ebert & Roeper's review of the 2005 remake of The Amityville Horror, you would know that they awarded this to movies that the studios were too embarrassed to screen in advance for film critics. The 1967 Casino Royale was not screened for critics.
Anyway, the opening theme to the movie IS pretty catchy, but some of the music does feel inappropriate.
The opening scene of the movie feels disjointed, and the scenes in the castle feel even worse with overheavy accents, bad dancing, and pointless scenes until everyone starts falling down. Are they dead or unconscious? Who cares? And even that has no point.
Bond is one of the most famous womanizers in every other movie, but this spoof turned him into an old prude and drastically altered his character. This is James Bond in name only; even Austin Powers makes a better 007 that this one does, and that's saying a lot.
It only gets worse. The villain group, a take on SMERSH, has a cheesy battle map with a guy running the place named Dr. Noah, who turns out to be Bond's nephew, Jimmy, a character played by the not-British Woody Allen when the real Bond and the top impostor are played by Pink Panther's David Niven and Peter Sellers, and this is a character that's only mentioned once prior to his reveal at the end of the movie. SMERSH is behind everything, which leads to Sir James Bond taking over MI6 and the heavily-accented people who run it, and hiring a bunch of impostors, including his illegitimate daughter, whose mother is Mata Hari, the World War spy. She has a good intro scene, but that's it.
Her mission in Berlin is where if you were taking the movie seriously up to that point, you stop here, because the bidding scene didn't seem to have much purpose, or any they made clear. The main impostor Bond, Evelyn Tremble, gets himself into Casino Royale and his game with the only major villain from the book, Le Chiffe, played by Orson Welles, the second horror vet to take the role after Peter Lorre did in an early 50's TV movie. This version of the character is a way-too affable magician and not a spy, Soviet or SMERSH agent, or even a good gambler; he's cheating, and while we do know how he's cheating, it's not used against him, and he and the fake Bond are killed in his little "torture machine" which Tex Avery uses.
Eventually, the bad guys kidnap Bond's daughter, bringing the real Bond to the casino and into SMERSH's headquarters; Jimmy Bond is poisoned with a pill that will blow the place sky high at this point, and, while the good guys do get the right idea of actually leaving, a brawl that turns the casino into a ridiculous and childish Cowboys and Indians game just. Stops. Them. Cue Jim burping 400 times, cue the building blowing up and wiping out the cast. The world is saved, but that's an anti climatic and ridiculous way to end the whole thing.
This movie is filled with all the cliches of the Bond series (after only 4 films with a 5th to follow in 2 months, at that) played badly. And I just remembered, M supposedly died at the beginning, but this movie is written so badly, they never explain it and thought to trust us to take their word for it. There are several other bad explanations, and a lot of the conversations have no emotion to them. As for the pacing and feel, the movie starts very slow, and just devolves into an insane concoction of action right out of Tex Avery. Makes you wonder what drugs the makers were doing. I wasn't expecting much, but if you're going to use Bond, do something that's not a poor-man's version of Pink Panther. The special effects are bad, some things in the film, like the U.F.O., were not dealt with in a manner to where we're supposed to laugh or take it seriously, and the dialogue can be laughable. It says a lot when the Austin Powers movies can show more emotion and, for their ridiculous plots, be more believable.
There are two good things about this film. The title track from Herb Albert is pretty catchy, and I kinda liked the scene with the introduction of Bond's daughter, Mata Bond. There was some good to decent choreography there. The rest of the film is a Frankenstein's Monster patchwork of scenes, and one thing that should tip you off to this being bad: there are 5 directors credited. Outside of the music, I really can't remember much; this version of Casino Royale is sadly an enjoyment-free dead zone, and it convinced the guys behind the real James Bond series to fight hard against something like this happening again, which set the stage for some nasty legal work that was only settled for good two years ago. This movie's from 1967; my father was in high school.
I cannot recommend this one at all; it makes no sense, and it's shoddily edited and directed. It's a very poor version of one of the Roger Moore films, and those are still somewhat competent. THIS is one of the biggest turkeys ever crafted in Hollywood, and I just know, when The Nostalgia Critic gets to Bond movies, which I see happening with a new one coming in November, this movie will be one of the movies he reviews.
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