And the problem is?

http://www.kxan.com/dpp/news/texas/Sheriffs_Deputies_Behaving_Badly

This happened at the Twin Peaks near me and James. Unfortunately, we weren't there Monday night to witness the action firsthand.

AUSTIN (KXAN) - Sheriff deputies from Midland County, Texas are being investigated on allegations that they posed a restaurant employee in front of their patrol cars, holding a gun, in a Round Rock restaurant parking lot on Monday night.

While the pictures were not available for viewing and were not described at length in a police report obtained by KXAN Austin News, the restaurant was Twin Peaks- known for its scantily clad waitresses.

Girls in Party Hats

Back in college I remember Luke and Eric checking out a site called Fat Chicks in Party Hats. Yesterday, we were at Carl's Jr. for lunch. A group was sitting behind us and they had two rather large chicks with them that were both wearing dumb looking fedora hats. I know that the fedora is not actually the party hat that is used on the site, but these chicks were loud as crap and every time I heard them cackle all I could think of was Fat Chicks in Party Hats.

Pizza in NYC: Part II

Back up in NYC this week and since getting in last night I've hit two places (imagine that).

Last night I walked from the hotel and grabbed a slice over at Redstone Pizzeria. Not too shabby, but nothing to call home about. I would say it was better than the slice I had last time though. The crust was a little to crisp for my liking.

Today we had lunch at Piola. Now that was a good slice. I had the Honolulu which John wouldn't like because of the delicious pineapple on top, but why would you want to take pizza advice from a dude sharing beauty secrets anyway? I'll report more if I get the chance.

Pizza in NYC?

I'm staying in NYC near Rockefeller Center.  Any good recommendations on where to get my slice tonight?  I'm on W. 51 St. near 6th Ave. if you are trying to pinpoint.

I've seen some dumpy looking cafe's, a couple of Pronto Pizza places and I know there are a couple variations of Famous Original Ray's Pizza withing a few blocks.  I'm open to other suggestions.

Nunnrey is a Bia - Reason #24

Remember back in March when John mentioned the beginning of chicken wing madness?  No...here's a refresher:

• Feb 2008 - JT, John, Nunnrey, me embark on the 2008 challenge to visit 25 of the restaurants so we can have the wing parties.  Can read the details in my original post from June.
• Nov 2008 - I receive completed passports in mail from JT as documented here.
• Nov 2008 continued - I fill out the required forms and go submit the completed passports via certified mail for John, Nunnrey and myself.
• Dec 2008 - Everyone receives certificates for their wing parties which must be completed by March 31, 2009 (this is key)
• Mar 2009 - JT kicks off chicken wing madness with the first party in Minnesota (although he didn't report it to any of us).  John has his party the following week.  I have mine two weeks after that.

Which brings us to now.  

Backtoms: But James...looks like you missed listing when Nunnrey had his party.  

James: Oh, I didn't miss anything...Nunnrey conveniently waited until the last day of the promotion and was unable to have a party.

Backtoms: But why would anyone give up a party for free chicken wings.

James: That is a good question.

So if you needed another reason about why Nunnrey is a bia...here you go.

Ever Heard of Chicken Fried Steak?

Yesterday on my way home from work I was listening to some talk radio on Sirius XM.  One of the hosts was talking about his recent trip down to Texas (I believe the show is located in the New York area).  I didn't catch it all, but sounded like he must have stayed with a friend somewhere near New Braunfels (which is located just north of San Antonio).

I'll spare you most of the boring details I remember, but there were two things that he said I wanted to point out:

1. He had never had (or heard of) chicken fried steak.  He started making an issue about is it supposed to be chicken or beef...this is some crazy dish from Texas, etc.  The other guys on the show pointed out that he can get this "crazy" dish at several restaurants in their area.
2. Much like John, he had never heard of Twang.  He couldn't actually remember what it was called, but he saw lots of people putting the salt-like substance in their beer while tubing down the Guadalupe River.

Okay, I'll give him not knowing about Twang.  But not knowing about chicken fried steak?  If that is the hidden gem of the South that he made it out to be then people are missing out.  Maybe I should open a place in New York specializing in chicken fried steak, steak sandwiches (The Project style), and putting Twang in the beer.

Chicken Wing Party #2 Scheduled

And I'm claiming #2 since nobody else has yet...not sure what JT and Nunnrey have planned for their shindigs yet.

When: Thursday, March 19 starting ~6:00 PM

Where: Hooters of Round Rock

If any of you are in the area come on down and we'll eat wings, drink beer and watch basketball.

1 wing party down, 3 to go

March chicken wing madness has officially started. We had our first wing party last night (thanks JT!). Definitely not feeling 100% this morning.

The Project Lounge

One of my favorite places to hit while in Biloxi is The Project Lounge.  It's a very dark and seedy bar on Iberville drive that is a nice place to finish up a long evening of drinking.  The bar used to have hundreds of caps lining the ceilings, but recently it appears they have redecorated and replaced the caps with hard hats.  The bar is complete with a jukebox and free popcorn.  It's a cash only establishment and they have one of the best steak sandwiches known to man.

Friday night, after drinks at Treasure Bay, we (JT, Lisa, Shey and me) headed over to The Project for dinner and to wrap up the night.  The bartender/owner/waitress came by and took our drink orders and then came back to get our food order.  We all ordered the steak sandwich and she asked each of us how we wanted the meat cooked.  Three of us opted for medium and JT went for the medium rare.  As the waitress walked away she commented that she was surprised that it was a man at the table that knows how to take his meat.  She obviously doesn't know JT very well.  By day he is a 9-volt battery tester, but by night he knows how to work the meat.

Later in the evening Shey decided to switch from beer to water and went to the bar to get one.  As she ordered, one of the shady characters sitting at the bar commented about the bar serving water.  The bartender quickly reached over the bar and slapped the shady character to put him in his place.  You gotta like a place that will get violent with it's patrons.

Lisa had been drinking 7-up and somehow or another I was tasked with getting her and Shey a refill.  When I went to the bar I asked for another 7-up (I believe it was her 3rd or 4th serving) and a water (Shey's 2nd serving).  As the bartender filled the glasses she commented, "...that is one 7-up sucking b!tch!"  I couldn't agree more.

Keeping the story alive

You may recall the origin of Nunnrey's other alias, the Chicken Lover. Just in case here is a small recap. Back in 2000, while I was living with boy Shay in Flowood (outside of Jackson, MS) there was a weekend when JT, Nunnrey, John came in town to visit for a weekend.

The night started off at the apartment and John was trying to get in touch with another high school friend known as The Dr. Come to find out The Dr. actually lived in the same apartment complex as me. After The Dr. and John got their bearings they figured out they were actually looking at each other on balconies across the parking lot.

The Dr. came over to have some drinks with us and reminisced that some African-American gentlemen used to live in my apartment before us. He went on to explain that they had this large, red couch that he could see from his apartment. At that point boy Shay interjected that this was actually his old couch. After The Dr. took his foot out of his mouth we all had a good laugh.  While I don't actually remember seeing the red couch I will never forget it.

Next, we all headed out to get our grub on at Outback Steakhouse.  While I know the name is misleading, this is actually a restaurant that specializes in steaks.  I seem to recall that we had a rather large party that included a couple of females.  When the food started coming out I can remember the waitstaff calling out entree names so that each of us could claim it.  I distinctly remember both females having some sort of beef related dish.

Somewhere along the line we heard Alice Springs Chicken being called out.  I believe the music must have come to a screeching halt as everyone around our table looked up to see who ordered the chicken.  While Nunnrey will tell you now that they messed up his order it was indeed what he had asked for and a new nickname was born.  We salute you Mr. Chicken Lover.

Fast forward 8 years to present time.  Earlier this month I was placing an order to Omaha Steaks.  My wife chimed in with a money idea, "How about you order some chicken from there for Nunnrey for Christmas?"  What a genius idea.  So I went ahead and placed a gift order for Nunnrey so he would receive some of the finest marinated chicken breasts from Omaha Steaks.

That package arrived this week and I received the following text message from Nunnrey:

Hahahha you fools... You ordered chicken and ham from omaha 'steaks'... What a bunch of morons!

Note: The ham he is referring to came free with every delivery.

Anyway, I thought it was an appropriate gift for the Chicken Lover.  Maybe he'll cook us up some chicken fajitas with it the next time we visit.

Sweet Tea Vodka - Texas Style

As mentioned in John's liver story; he did try out his own brand of sweet tea and vodka since he was unable to partake at the Vandy game. I took a sip and I can't say it's as good as the Fire Fly, but after the 8 or 9 beers I had it was decent.

And you can see the Chicken Express logo on the tea. John tried to buy a t-shirt, but apparently you must be an employee to get that hot item.

John ate his liver

Yesterday, we had some Chicken Express for dinner.  Every time I see their logo it makes me think of Nunnrey.  The chicken tenders are great, but I would still prefer some Raising Cane's sauce over the white gravy.

Anyway, Shey for some reason has a liking for fried chicken livers.  I learned this on a trip to Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles.  I'm not a huge fan of the livers as I think they are a little gritty, but since I saw them on the menu at Chicken Express I decided to pick some up (specifically for Shey) to go with our chicken and catfish dinner.

John claims he's never had liver so I told him he should try one.  He refused, but Shey called him a sissy so he gave it a whirl.  There were no fava beans or Chianti for John's Hannibal meal, but he did have some sweet tea with vodka (not to be confused with The Sweet Tea Vodka).  Once John got through the fried goodness and his teeth sunk into that liver he started whining like a little girl about how gross it was.  

I'm not sure if he actually swallowed it or not, but this one goes up there with his fear of roaches for how much of a little punk he is.  I assume this means you'll never see John on any survival shows in the future.

Vandy Trip Wrap-Up

We had a really good trip down to Starkville over the weekend.  Here are some of my notes:

• Ran up a ~$500 tab at The Grill Friday night.  Even better than that...JT picked it up.  What a guy!
• Sweet Tea Vodka is good...no...actually it's awesome.  Thanks Lukey and Vanessa for bringing down your stash.  Shay, next time you mix one up remember to use half water.  And thanks to this drink we actually ran out of bottled water before we ran out of beer at the tailgate.
• Had a nice setup in The Junction for tailgating.  Big shout out to Devin for taking care of the cooking duties.  Although we didn't get any Luther Burgers, Devin did hook us up with some of his Deebo's Delight burgers.
• Potato salad from Bulldog Deli is still like ambrosia.
  
• Pool + JT + Nunnrey = lots o' water displacement
• Devin really is a dirty Mexican.  After digging around in the mud to try and find Vanessa's shoes (walking back to get truck after tailgate), he bathed in the water fountain in front of the Comfort Suites.
• Pork chop and gravy biscuit from Hardee's hits the spot pretty well in the morning while you're hungover.
• JT and I took a tour of the Little Brown Crackhouse.  It's still pretty much the same, but the flooring in the kitchen has been replaced and they have a dishwashing machine now (that's BS).  Oh yeah, and it smelled like hippies lived there.  And I was a little disappointed that there was nobody over there drinking on a Friday night of a home game.
• That's what Deebo loves about college girls, man.  He gets older, they stay the same age.

Definitely had a great time and I always enjoy getting back together with the crew.  We should try to make it a yearly thing to make it out to at least one home game.

Dinner Topic

Last night we went to dinner with John and Stef for my birthday dinner. The dinner was great, but there was some very disturbing discussion going on between John and Shey. The same person does their micros and they both have the same facial wash. Next time I assume they'll be comparing their other feminine products.

Are you jealous that this is not the stuff that you get to talk about at dinner?

The roach that brought down a restaurant.

Disclosure: I hate roaches. They're my Kryptonite.

The wife and I decided to check out a certain unnamed fine dining establishment in downtown Austin a few months ago. We rolled up on a Saturday night and the hostess informed us that there'd be about 15-20 minute wait. No problem, we grabbed a couple drinks at the bar and within about 10 minutes we were seated at a table for two along the wall.

Now, this restaurant is in what appears to be an old house. My spidey sense had me checking out the wall vent 12 inches from me and scoping out the bookcase that was along the wall behind my wife. I also made a mental note about a small ceiling tile that was ajar. Our server dropped off some bread, and we proceeded to look over the menu. The next time I look up from the menu I notice a large roach has crawled out from the hole in the ceiling. I flagged down a waiter (not ours) and let him know what was up. He goes into the kitchen area to get his gear or whatever while I wonder how he's going to get this thing without making a huge scene.

For reasons unknown I took my eye off the ball for a second. When I checked the ceiling again it was gone. I'm on DEFCON 1 at this point assuming it's jumped to the floor and is going to crawl up my leg*. The server I alerted had also re-emerged and was puzzled by the lack of roach. I had had enough fun at this point, but my wife wanted to finish her glass of wine. As she takes her last couple sips I notice her eyes get really big and she's looking at the wall next to me. The darn thing (or a friend/family member) had crawled up the wall, and was sitting 10" from me!

I hop out of my chair, and do a quick inventory of items at my disposal for roach killin'. My cloth napkin is pretty much my only choice. I smash it and ball it up in the napkin (I hope they use bleach when they wash those things). The waiter I had tipped off earlier comes by and collects the carcass, and then comes back with a couple new (unnecessary) napkins... We leave at this point.

So what do I see a couple days ago in the local newspaper? That restaurant is closing at the end of the month. The owner's claim is that cost increases are hurting business and they're going to reopen in a month or so as a Mexican restaurant. Personally, I think the story spread about my encounter and now they need to de-roach and re-brand to ramp up on diners.

* In 7th grade I was sitting in a computer class and a roach crawled up the teacher's leg. So my paranoia is not without precedent.

Hooters...Hooters...Hooters!

Back story: Back in 2003, Hooters was celebrating their 20th Anniversary with a promotion called the Hooters Passport. They issued you a passport in which the goal was to go to 20 different Hooters within the year. Hardcore competitors (such as myself) were given: a certificate of completion, an entry into a drawing for $20K, and most importantly a party that included 250 wings.

I dragged many of you to various Hooters across the country that year (and several trips by myself) so I could finish the challenge. When I did succeed, I had a party at Hooters in the Fall of the following year. However, because of limitations on the party (of course it had to be in the middle of the week) I angered some of you (read between the lines: JT) that were out of state and could not attend.

Fast forward to 2008. This is now the 25th Anniversary of Hooters and they have brought back the promotion. Now you need to visit 25 different Hooters, the drawing is worth $25K and the 250 wing party is still on the table just for completing the challenge. I now know the error of my ways from last time and instead of going to the trouble of only getting my passport book stamped we (John, JT, Nunnery, me) decided to try and get four passport books completed. This time we are running the old divide and conquer method to take on the daunting task of visiting 25 different locations.

Progress report: I am proud to report today that my boy, JT, must think that chicken wings are going out of style because over the course of the last month or so he has by himself gotten stamps at 5 additional locations. That puts us up to about 15 total (actually 2 passports only have 14 b/c some chick in Phoenix wanted to be a stickler for the rules and only give one stamp per person). This leaves us with plenty of time in the year to finish up those last remaining stamps.

What does it all mean James? What it means is Houston and Dallas...you're on notice. There will be a Phatboy train running (of course not literally) through your town this year to get those remaining stamps. Even more exciting; it means that in 2009 we will be having 4 different wing parties. And if you are keeping your abacus handy that will be a total of 1,000 free chicken wings!