Name: Dizzle
Posts by Dizzle:
- Whiskey’s Smokehouse
- The Good Life
- Dick’s Last Resort
- Jerry Remy’s Sports Bar & Grill
- Champions Sports Bar
- The Whiskey Priest
- Lucky’s Lounge
- The Cactus Club
- Crossroads Irish Pub
- Sunset Grill & Tap
- The Texas Roadhouse
- Emmets Irish Pub
- Rock Bottom Restaurant & Brewery
- Buff’s Pub
- King of the Wing Competition
- Redbones BBQ
- Hooters
- Silvertone Bar & Grill
- Whatta Wing
- Flash’s Cocktails
- Boston Beer Works
- The Four’s
- The Kinsale
- Ole Scollay Square’s Red Hat
- Jacob Wirth
- Clerys
- When in Rome
- Up
- The End of the Line
- Blindsight
- 500 Days of Summer
- The Social Network
- Get Him To the Greek
- Bridesmaids
- 50/50
- Crazy Stupid Love
The Wing In Review
February 4th, 2012
The origin of the Buffalo Wing is unclear. There are four prevailing theories, three of which begin in local Buffalo, NY restaurants while the fourth theory has something to do with a mom looking for a fast snack for her kids. After just a few minutes of Internet research, I found the answer! Who cares – let’s just eat them and then let our Boston fans know where to get a good wing, and where to order the nachos instead.
First, some quick background information about Buffalo Wings. At their most basic, Buffalo Wings are deep fried chicken wings, tossed in butter, vinegar and cayenne pepper. From there, restaurants can add spicier peppers, honey or other ingredients to differentiate their wings from the guy’s next door.
Now, let’s get down to business. Who has the Best Buffalo Wings in Boston? Sadly, we at Shandeh.com have spent more time in more bars eating more Buffalo Wings than is probably healthy. The good news is that you can use our artery-clogging gluttony as your guide to The Best Buffalo Wings in Boston!
Click on your favorite bar/restaurant below to see a definitive evaluation of their Buffalo Wings. We use the same judging criteria at each restaurant and go into the reviews with an open mind even if we’ve dined there before (which we invariably have). As time goes on we plan to grow the list of reviews until we either sample wings from every major bar and restaurant in Boston or, more likely, Sasso’s doctor gives him an ultimatum regarding his arteries. If you have any recommendations for us to check out, please let us know. If you disagree with any of the reviews, you’re wrong, but let us know anyway. We’re more than happy to defend our reviews.
Dan and Sasso’s Top 3 Boston Wings
If you would like to take part in The Wing in Review. Simply download the Chicken Wing Evaluation Form and email your results back to info@shandeh.com . If you have keen insight into the world of wings and information the public needs to know, we will post your guest review here on www.shandeh.com.
Movies My Wife Makes Me Watch
January 17th, 2012It is well known that a good marriage is based on compromise. Nowhere is this more obvious than with the division of TV time. I like sports, the Wife likes dramas. I like my reality shows that feature pain, embarrassment and possibly the consumption of insects (Most Extreme Elimination Challenge & Fear Factor), the Wife likes reality shows where careers are made and lives are changed for the better (Project Runway & The Biggest Loser).
Movie night is an extension of this. Thanks to 40+ inch HD TVs and both NetFlix and OnDemand, I am spared the embarrassment of asking a stranger in a ticket booth for two tickets to “Like Water for Chocolate” or anything starring Hugh Grant. That doesn’t mean that I get out of watching such movies, it simply allows me to do so in the comfort of my living room with beverages that they don’t generally sell at movie theaters.
Movies My Wife Makes Me Watch examines my wife’s movie-night selections and how I made it through them. They aren’t all dramas. She has wide array of cinematic interests including documentaries, independent, foreign, and classical films. Be warned that all posts will likely contain plot spoilers. If you plan on watching “P.S. I Love You,” and see that my wife has already made me watch it (thank cheebus she hasn’t yet) you may want to avoid that post. But if you’re looking for an excuse not to watch a certain movie (I read a review on that…not so good), or just a laugh, check out the Movies My Wife Makes Me Watch.
Bullshitting Your Way Through Steak!
November 17th, 2011
The only thing manlier than eating a big juicy steak is slaughtering the animal yourself and hacking off hunks of meat for grilling. Even if you were to go all cave man on some poor cow, would you even know which cuts to take? Not only do the characteristics of different steaks vary dramatically, but beef is also one of the few foods that allow you to choose the cooking time. Combine steak options with an a la carte menu and a man could easily humiliate himself by resorting to asking the waiter for advice – which is a slippery slope to pulling over and asking for directions when lost.
Hopefully we can save you from such disgrace by educating you about the steaks that you will find in top steakhouses as well as how to order them. Your friends at Shandeh have scoured top steakhouses and mail order suppliers, interviewed actual butchers and sampled artery-clogging amounts of beef to bring you Beefology 101: Bullshitting Your Way Through Steaks!
Let’s start with one of my favorites, the tenderloin of beef, better known as filet mignon. Filets are circular steaks that stand one to three or more inches tall. They have relatively little fat which means that they take on the flavor of their seasoning. Filet seasonings range from a simple salt and spice mixture or bacon wrapping, to a topping of intricate lobster or crab béarnaise sauce. Filets are known for their tenderness so you should be able to cut them with your butter knife. Don’t do it…just know that you can. It should be noted that the filet is considered a lady’s steak, especially the petit filet.
The sirloin steak, also known as the New York Strip, comes in several varieties from top sirloin to butt steak – though you won’t likely see butt steak on very many menus. Sirloins also have very little fat but are less tender than filets. Sirloin steaks are generally cut pretty thin (an inch or less) though some restaurants offer “double cut” sirloins which are cut…wait for it…wait for it…twice as thick. This is a lower-brow steak that usually comes with French fries, which steakhouses try to class up by using their French moniker; pomme frites. Although the sirloin is a tasty steak, I think that cut is better left to steak tips and burgers.
If you have a solid appetite and can’t choose between a filet and a sirloin strip, then the porterhouse is the answer. Like the yin and the yang, the porterhouse is the perfect balance of tenderloin and sirloin in one steak. In fact, the silhouette of steaks in cartoons and dog toys is that of the porterhouse. These steaks are large and thick, much like the people who eat them. This is a serious steak.
A smaller alternative to the porterhouse is the T-bone steak. Both steaks come from the short loin but the T-bone contains more bone and less tenderloin. In my opinion, T-Bones are like a poor man’s porterhouse.
If the 6-10 ounce filet is the queen of steaks (petit, trim and clean) then the ribeye is the king. Weighing in at a heart stopping 20 to 26+ ounces, ribeyes, or prime ribs are about as big and fatty as they come. A good ribeye will have a “ribbon” of fat winding through the middle called a flavor kernel. This fat ribbon, combined with more fat marbled throughout the steak, and sometimes a big bone through the middle, give ribeye steaks a rich meaty flavor that some steak enthusiasts love. Not this steak enthusiast though. While I respect the ribeye, I don’t have the patience to cut around that much fat and grizzle. By the time I am done with a ribeye, there are more scraps left on the plate than beef I actually ate.
If one of the aforementioned steaks make your mouth water, the next question is how to cook it; rare, medium, well done, or somewhere in between. Cooking time is a matter of taste, so don’t bother asking your server what he or she recommends. Here are some guidelines:
Rare
Steaks should be light grey on the outside while remaining dark red and only slightly warm on the inside. Each cut should release bloody juices that will soon envelop everything on your plate. Meat cooked rare should be reserved for vampires only. If rare is your thing, make sure you are eating high quality meat or be prepared for some intestinal hijinks.
Medium
Steak should be grayish brown on the outside with some charring around the edges. The middle of the steak should be light red which fades to grey as it gets closer to the outside. Medium is great for adventurous beginners as it contains a hint of rawness but is mostly cooked. Medium steaks should be tender and juicy but not bloody like those cooked rare.
Well Done
Steaks should be charred on the outside and a uniform grayish brown color throughout the inside. Due to their longer cooking time, well done steaks are the tougher than medium or rare steaks. They also lose most of their juiciness and are therefore less flavorful. Unless chewy meat or crispy fat are your things, I suggest leaving well done to chicken and pork.
Medium rare and medium well are also standard orders. Nicer steakhouses might also have plus options such as medium plus which is cooked longer than medium but less than medium well. I personally order all of my steaks medium rare. I think that medium rare produces the most tender and juicy steak without being a bloody raw mess.
Whether you are at a fancy steakhouse or your neighbor’s backyard barbecue, knowing your steaks puts you in charge. Combine this with your knowledge of single malt scotch and you will own the room. So now that you know your porterhouse from your elbow, take your new found knowledge to the nearest steakhouse and order with confidence.
- Dan
Editor’s note:
My condolences to Sasso who recently lost his battle with beef and has surrendered to vegetarianism. I can’t imagine having to read about such juicy deliciousness, only to go home to tofurkey and….whatever else vegetarians eat these days. Portobello lasagna, really? Good luck with that!
Bullshitting Your Way …
November 16th, 2011Your future father in law is droning on about his favorite brands of scotch and then out of nowhere, asks you for your thoughts. Could you impress the old man? You are at a lunch interview for your dream job when your potential boss mentions how much she likes oysters on the half shell. Could you step up and take charge?
Although no one likes a know-it-all, it is definitely cool to be able to talk intelligently about some of the finer things in life. Your friends at Shandeh are here to educate you about such luxuries. Since you cannot possibly be an expert on everything, we will show you how to bullshit your way through them. Presenting Bullshitting your way though…
How Much Pawn Is Too Much Pawn?
April 5th, 2011In these days of reality shows on every channel and for every interest, one show about a pawn shop just wasn’t enough. The pawn shop genre began with History Channel’s Pawn Stars, followed by TruTv’s, Hardcore Pawn and finally TLC’s Pawn Queens. Can anyone possibly watch that much pawn? Your friends at Shandeh.com bit the bullet and, for lack of another pawn pun, watched hours pawn shop reality TV to give you the lowdown.
Pawn Stars follows Rick Harris and his Las Vegas-based pawn shop, Gold and Silver Pawnshop, along with his father and son. Pawn Stars’ motto is, “One thing I’ve learned after 21 years, you never know what is going to come through that door.” They’re not kidding either. Beyond the standard jewelry and electronics, the Pawn Stars have purchased a working hot air balloon, a missile guidance system and Harry Houdini’s handcuffs. They have passed up such items as Robosaurus, Soviet shuttle launch keys and pirate treasure. The unintentional star of Pawn Stars is Chumlee, their lovable goofball sidekick, who steals the show with his child-like ignorance and occasional witty quip.
Hardcore Pawn follows Les Gold (yes, that’s his real name) and his Detroit-based pawn shop, American Jewelry and Loan, along with his son and daughter. Sounds familiar, but that is where the similarities end. Hardcore Pawn’s motto is, “Customers come in for fast cash and sometimes lose their minds.” Hardcore Pawn is a Jerry Springer-esque spectacle of insanity and overblown expectations that usually results in a shouting match or a security escort out to the parking lot. The Hardcore Pawn crew has dealt in such things a set of grills (straight from the guy’s mouth), earrings that were worth $45 and a stolen nail gun that didn’t even work.
The newcomer on the pawn scene is the Chicago-based Pawn Queens. Pawn Queens follows Mida and Nikki’s fledgling pawn shop, Naperville Jewelry and Loan, which caters to female clientele (hence airing on TLC). Pawn Queens’ pilot episode showed the owners literally melting down their gold to raise $3000 to purchase some kind of valuable Barbie doll. Their next purchase was a baby stroller that folds into a bicycle, which retails for $1,600. Though the stroller was cool for athletic moms, the Pawn Queen paid $1,400 for it, not leaving much room for profit. Although I read that TLC recently purchased eight episodes of Pawn Queens, I can’t find much about it online or even on TLC’s website.
When it comes to the battle of the pawn shows, the original is by far the greatest. Pawn Stars has the best combination of interesting merchandise and comedic characters who play well off of each other. Hardcore Pawn is almost sad. Les’ son and daughter are at each other’s throats most of the time and when they’re not fighting, the shop’s desperate patrons usually are. Having only seen one episode of Pawn Queens, it is hard to opine on the show. It may appeal to female viewers but from what I saw, it was really just amateur pawn (last pawn pun, I promise.) I suggest checking out each of the pawn shows at least once as you may see something in the others that I did not. Your friends at Shandeh will stay tuned. We just can’t get enough pawn! Okay, that was the last pawn pun.
-Dan
The Wing in Review: Ole Scollay Square’s Red Hat
March 31st, 2011
Between Government Center and Beacon Hill lies one of Boston’s oldest eating and drinking establishments, Ole Scollay Square’s Red Hat. Originally serving Boston’s maritime community, 100 years later, Red Hat is a favorite of state workers, college kids and yuppies like Sasso and me. Red Hat is a two story bar with statehouse and courthouse suits upstairs and ex-cops and college kids downstairs – funny story about that later.
Red Hat’s menu is standard bar fare including burgers and sandwiches, token salads and multi-ethnic appetizers (Santa Fe Egg Rolls – really?) All of the food is very reasonably priced with the majority of items costing less than $10.00 and none more than $13.00. There is an ample selection of beer both in bottles and on tap, as well as wine and a nicely stocked bar. Although the Sam Adams Brickhouse Red I ordered was flat as a board, the Red Hat Lager replacement more than made up for it. Well stocked bars in Boston are a dime a dozen, so how do Red Hat’s Buffalo wings stack up?
I’m going to cut right to the chase for this review. Red Hat’s Buffalo wings are in my top five of Boston’s best Buffalo wings. Where to start, the wings or the sauce? The sauce of course! Red Hat’s Buffalo sauce is heavy on the vinegar and butter without ignoring the cayenne pepper. Though they weren’t has hot as they could have been, there was enough sauce to generate some decent heat after just the second or third wing. The wings themselves were small-to-medium in size which allowed them to be cooked very crispy on the outside while remaining tender and juicy on the inside.
The wings were very reasonably priced at $6.99 per order though we got them for half price since it was a game night! Not sure if that usually happens on Wednesdays since their menu said that ½ price appetizers are Thursday night game nights only, but who am I to question half price wings? Red Hat’s Buffalo wings are served on cheesy plastic plates with a few sticks of celery and a small cup of weak blue cheese sauce. None of that bothered me once I smelled the vinegar and then took my first bite – these were some great wings.
Pros: Possibly the best Buffalo wings in the city! Perfect wings mixed with phenomenal sauce. ½ price wing deals.
Cons: Sauce could be spicier and blue cheese sauce was not great.
I would recommend Red Hat’s Buffalo wings to anyone looking for some of Boston’s best Buffalo wings. These wings remind me of why I got into Buffalo wing reviews in the first place. Red Hat as a bar is a lot of fun as well. There is a large dining area with a small bar upstairs, and a large bar with a small dining area downstairs.
Speaking of downstairs, as we were leaving the bar, Sasso and I overheard a humorous debate between a few of the older patrons. Between their intoxication and thick New England accents, we weren’t 100% sure what was going on but it sounded like they were debating which one of them was an ex-statie (a Massachusetts state trooper) and which was a quee’ah (a homosexual.) Note to Ben Affleck – we would like to sell you a scene for your next Boston-based movie. Have your people call our people and we’ll discuss it over Buffalo wings at Red Hat.
Dan
Movies My Wife Makes Me Watch: Get him to the Greek
March 23rd, 2011
Before reviewing this week’s choice of Movies My Wife Makes Me Watch, I would like to announce a discovery that I have made regarding modern cinema. Now, I’m no film major and I’m barely a film critic, but I believe that I have discovered a new genre in cinema. Movies began with the basic genres, including drama, comedy and romance. Later came science fiction and horror followed by combo-genres like the dramedy and science fiction/horror. Though there are a bunch of others, I have discovered the Outrageous-Buddy-Weekend-Adventure-Comedy. The name needs some work so I’ll use the acronym OBWAC.
The main characters in OBWACs are one or more men, who are either in committed relationships or are otherwise not exactly “ladies men,” and generally live their lives on the straight and narrow. Once the characters are established, our protagonists are taken for the ride of their lives, which means massive amounts of booze, drugs and sex in a short period of time. Sound familiar? Recent OBWACs include The Hangover, The 40 Year-Old Virgin, Superbad, Cedar Rapids, Due Date, Hall Pass and this week’s movie my wife made me watch, 2010’s Get Him to the Greek.
Get Him to the Greek is a spinoff of 2008’s Forgetting Sarah Marshall, and has much the same style of comedy. We begin with the fictional British rock star Aldus Snow, shooting the video for his latest song, “African Child.” African Child was serious in the movie but actually a spoof of the recent trend of African adoption by celebrities. Taken seriously, the song and video are incredibly insulting on many levels. I wouldn’t even know where to start, so click here for the video on YouTube (NSFW).
Needless to say African Child bombed, with hilarious reviews such as, “African Child was the worst thing for Africa since apartheid.” The complete and utter failure of African Child kicked off a very slow and very public meltdown of Snow’s career and private life. After an unsuccessful bout with sobriety Snow hit rock bottom with the loss of his long-time girlfriend, fellow rocker Jackie Q – to Lars Ulrich from Metallica.
Aaron Green is an up and coming employee for a music production company, who comes up with an idea to have Snow perform a 10-year anniversary concert at the Greek Theater in Los Angeles. The only problem is that Snow is back to his hard partying ways in London and Green only has 72 hours to…get him to the Greek. To do this, Green is forced to leave his live-in girlfriend and babysit (or party with, depending on your point of view) Snow as he parties his way through London, New York, Las Vegas, and finally Los Angeles.
Green’s general awkwardness combined with Snow’s outrageousness was funny enough on its own, but once they began their drug and alcohol induced rampage, things got hilarious. Following the template of the OBWAC, Green hooked up with several women, threw up, possibly overdosed and ended up…well, this is one movie that I will not spoil for you. Memorable scenes include crazy bathroom sex, a trippy absinth night, disastrous accidental pocket dialing, and a great fight between Puff Daddy (Green’s boss) and Snow’s whacked out father.
I know what you’re thinking, how is this considered a, “Movie My Wife Makes Me Watch?” All I can say is that it was her call. I do wonder why The Wife had me watch it. Is she buttering me up for something? I did come through like a champ on Valentine’s Day this year. Whatever the reason , Get Him to the Greek was a great pick and had me laughing out loud and chuckling over some lines even the next day. So if you are interested in the OBWAC genre of film making or just want a good laugh, check out Get Him to the Greek.
The Wing In Review: The Four’s Restaurant & Sports Bar
March 1st, 2011
This week’s Wing in Review comes from one of the country’s first sports pubs, The Four’s Restaurant & Sports Bar. Located right across the street from the TD Banknorth Garden, home of Boston’s own Celtics and Bruins, The Four’s has a very manly, 1980’s vibe with its dark wooden tables and chairs with maroon cushions. I can almost picture The Four’s back in the day, packed with armchair quarterbacks smoking cigars and shouting plays to Bill Parcells through the bar’s televisions.
The rest of the décor of The Four’s is all about local sports. Photographs of Boston and New England athletic teams from decades past cover most of the walls. Any extra space is taken up by signed basketballs, footballs, helmets and just about any other memorabilia you can think of. Sasso and I sat under a seat from the original Boston Garden and next to a couple of old wooden oars from one of Harvard’s past rowing teams. The Four’s has TVs in every corner but they are surprisingly underemphasized for a sports bar.
The Four’s motto is, “Rub elbows with the stars at The Four’s.” Sports Illustrated voted The Four’s the #1 Sports Bar in America, while the Phantom Gourmet said, “The Four’s is gourmet greatness.” So how do The Four’s Buffalo wings stack up?
The Four’s Buffalo wings are very different from other wings we have reviewed. For $7.95 an order, they are served on a bed of baby spinach and lettuce with a carrot and celery garnish. The presentation was nice but a bit more gourmet than we require – is the bed of baby spinach really necessary? The menu describes their Buffalo wings as “tossed in Louisiana hot sauce” which is exactly what they taste like. That is a bit disappointing since I can easily toss wings in the Louisiana’s Pure Crystal Hot Sauce that I keep in the door of my fridge. What I could not do however, is cook the wings themselves as well as The Four’s.
The Four’s wings taste like they were slow roasted on a rotisserie. The meat falls off the bone and is tender and juicy. The skin was not crispy or soggy, but light like rotisserie chicken. The sauce was cooked into the chicken leaving them dryer on the outside than on the inside. The cup of blue cheese dressing was very chunky but milder than I would have liked. Sasso vouched for the carrots and celery so I took his word for it.
Pros: Wings were cooked incredibly, even if the skin was not crispy. Presentation was probably the nicest we have seen.
Cons: Sauce was neither creative nor abundant. Blue cheese was too mild for my taste.
I would recommend The Four’s Buffalo wings for anyone who is more interested in the wing than the Buffalo. They also offer Sweet and Smoky BBQ and Four’s Style which our waiter described as, “Oriental flavor with no spice.” We’ll stick with Buffalo, thank you. We didn’t rub elbows with any stars during our visit to The Four’s but it was fun to discover a unique take on Buffalo wings. Check out The Four’s take on the Buffalo wing and be sure to ask for extra sauce.
- Dan
Movies My Wife Makes Me Watch: The Social Network
February 21st, 2011
On my first date with the woman who was destined to become The Wife, I did my best to wine her and dine her while laying on just the right mix of humor and charm. After wine turned into martinis, The Date invited me back to her place where one thing lead to another and… she showed me how to use Facebook and then helped me set up a profile for myself. Then she told me she had a great time and promptly sent me home. True story. That brings us to this week’s edition of Movies My Wife Makes Me Watch, Aaron Sorkin’s The Social Network.
The Social Network, starring Jesse Eisenberg, chronicled the controversial beginning of the most successful social network in history, Facebook. Much like our last movie, 500 Days of Summer, The Social Network was a series of flash forwards and flash backs from the first days of Facebook in the dorms of Harvard University, to intense three-way litigation in the cold conference room of a high priced attorney, and then back and forth again. We see Facebook explode into a global phenomenon, catapulting some to fame and fortune while leaving others in the dust. The controversy of The Social Network is not whether its famous founder Mark Zuckerberg stole the idea for Facebook (he kinda did) or screwed over his best friend and business partner (he definitely did). No, the controversy of The Social Network is whether or not Mark Zuckerberg is as awful of a person as the movie makes him out to be.
We begin with Zuck (can I call him Zuck?) in a bar in Cambridge being dumped by his girlfriend back when a “Facebook” was Harvard’s online student directory. Sure, he aced the SATs and was majoring in some kind of complicated computer programming discipline at Harvard, but he treated her like she was an idiot so she left him. Instead of finding comfort in a game of Dungeons and Dragons or whatever else nerds do to blow off steam, this guy trashed the poor girl on his blog, which of course got back to her a short while later. At the same time, as if to get back at all women who had ever rejected him, he created a website somewhat like www.hotornot.com but comparing pictures of women from Harvard’s facebook directory and allowing users to vote for the better looking woman. That wasn’t horrible until he mentioned that his original idea was to compare each woman to a farm animal.
So Zuck’s “Facemash” site got so much traffic that it crashed Harvard’s computer network drawing the attention of the cool kids. The “cool kids” were the Winklevoss twins whose passion for crew was only outweighed by their allegiance to the Harvard code – and their father’s lawyers. These jokers were so stuck up and privileged that I didn’t know whose side to take, theirs or Zuck’s. The Winklevi (Zuck’s plural of Winkelvoss) had an idea for a dating site with the angle that the men would be exclusively Harvard students or graduates so of course women wouldn’t be able to resist. Zuck tweaked their idea and created “The Facebook” which wasn’t exactly a dating site but a social network for all Harvard students with their pictures, personal information and ways of communicating with each other. On one hand, I had a tough time drumming up any sympathy whatsoever for the Winklevi. But on the other hand, Zuck agreed to build a dating site for them and lead them on for months while he built his own social networking site.
Zuck couldn’t afford to build “The Facebook” on his own so his best friend Eduardo Saverin bankrolled the venture in exchange for a 30% stake in whatever it was to become. After building The Facebook and expanding it to more and more schools, Saverin thought that the time was right to try to make some money off of the site. He began to shop The Facebook around to advertisers while Zuck, who made it clear that he wasn’t into this for the money, promptly sabotaged every meeting that Saverin set up.
Around this time, we’re introduced to Sean Parker, the founder of Napster, played by Justin Timberlake. (Side note, I’m a huge fan of JT. I can’t name a single song that he sings and I don’t like choreographed dancing. But between his performances on The Social Network and Saturday Night Live, I think that he is a great actor. Hey J.T., get out of the music business and into acting full time.) So, Parker is a cool but slightly crazy dude whose Napster was, up to that point, the biggest phenomenon on the Internet, only to be eclipsed later by Facebook. Parker saw Facebook’s potential and convinced Zuck to move the fledgling operation to Silicon Valley to develop it full time and drop the The from “The Facebook” – genius!
In doing so however, Saverin was left behind as he had taken an internship in New York City and was completing his undergraduate degree at Harvard. Upon his return to Zuck and Facebook, Saverin clashed with Parker, and was eventually forced out for the company. As if forcing his best friend (and Zuck didn’t have many friends to begin with) out of what was clearly becoming the biggest thing on the Internet wasn’t bad enough, Zuck apparently tricked Saverin into signing a contract that turned his 30 percent share of Facebook into just three hundredths of a percent.
Becoming the youngest billionaire in history like Zuck would be enough to give anyone an ego and a half. Zuck’s ego however blossomed long before Facebook took off. Back at the bar in Cambridge, Zuck seemed genuinely shocked when his girlfriend broke up with him even though she was cute and he was an annoying nerd – stereotypically speaking of course. Zuck was completely unapologetic in front of the Harvard review board after crashing their network and in class when he took off in the middle of a lecture. He couldn’t have been any more arrogant and rude to Saverin, the Winklevi and all of their attorneys during the depositions.
So, is Mark Zuckerberg as big of a jerk as The Social Network makes him out to be? Who cares… Zuck owns the majority of Facebook and is worth around $12.5 billion. Saverin somehow came out with a 5% share of the company, making his net worth a cool $2.5 billion. Finally, the Winklevoss twins settled for shares of Facebook totaling $140 million, though they continue to sue for more. We shouldn’t care if Zuck is a jerk, Saverin is a victim and the Winklevosses are a couple of whiners who will never live up to daddy’s expectations, and neither should they. Everybody won on the Facebook venture; some just came out with a larger part of the pot.
-Dan
The Wing In Review: Boston Beer Works
February 17th, 2011
Boston Beer Works is one of Beantown’s premier microbrewery/restaurants. Originally founded next door to Fenway Park, Beer Works has expanded to Salem, Massachusetts and our favorite location, Canal Street in downtown Boston. Between its proximity to the TD Banknorth Garden, and its selection of beers brewed exclusively on-site, Beerworks is a great bar for tossing a few back before Bruins and Celtics games.
At any given time, Beer Works has around 15 varieties of their homemade beer on tap, though they have dozens of seasonal and rotating recipes. Although Sasso and I are really not generally fans of microbrews, Boston Beer Works brews them better than most and I usually find a couple that I really enjoy. Being close to Valentine’s day, I went with the Milk Chocolate Stout which was a bit mild but still delicious. Sasso chose the Beantown Brown Lager which he said was too bitter, though he still sipped it like a fine scotch.
Beyond beer, Beer Works has an extensive food menu with a little something for everyone. From deep fried apps and burgers to pizzas and pasta, I have sampled much of the menu and can attest that their food is legit. Great bar food is easy though, how do Boston Beer Works’ Buffalo wing stack up?
Beer Works’ wings are available boneless (Sasso-style) and bone-in (Kean-style) in a variety of flavors including Honey Hot, BBQ, 9-Alarm Hot, and of course Buffalo. I ordered Buffalo with the bone-in while Sasso went for the honey hot with the bone, to my surprise, in! Way to step up to the big leagues Sasso.
Our orders came out very quickly and looked very impressive. Although there were only 7-9 wings per order, they were large in size and looked to be cooked perfectly. The heaping side of blue cheese sauce was literally spilling over the edge of the bowl and onto the celery garnish. My first impression was, “Looks great but where’s the sauce!?!”
My first impression was correct. Although the wings started with a blast of crunchy Buffalo goodness, they quickly dissipated into the taste of original recipe fried chicken. I found myself again in the familiar position of asking for an extra side of buffalo sauce, though I decided to teach my ulcer a lesson and try the 9-Alarm Hot sauce.
To my stomach’s delight, the 9-Alarm Hot sauce was a huge disappointment. It looked very oily and had a smell and taste that made me anticipate a blast of burning spiciness that never came. Though there was a sustained heat after my second or third wing, there were not nine alarms involved and the heat wasn’t worth the taste. I knew it was weak when I noticed that even Sasso was dipping his wings in it and we both started dipping our fries in the stuff. Not very impressive.
Pros: Wings were cooked perfectly, blue cheese sauce was great (and abundant), and the Buffalo sauce was tasty even if there wasn’t much of it. Great staff as well.
Cons: Lack of Buffalo sauce, 9-Alarm Hot sauce was weak.
I recommend Boston Beer Works’ Buffalo wings to anyone looking for a mild, yet classically delicious Buffalo wing. Although I lost on the gamble of the 9-Alarm Hot sauce, I think that I would have loved Beer Works’ wings had they been drenched in their Buffalo sauce – and a lot hotter. Sasso was thoroughly impressed with the Honey Hot wings and, for someone who doesn’t believe in mixing honey with chicken wings, I thought that they were as good as honey wings could possibly be. So whether you’re downtown to watch the Celts beat up on LA or Miami, or Sasso gave you his tickets to “Stars on Ice,” stop by Boston Beer Works for some microbrews and Buffalo wings. Just make sure to order extra sauce.
Dan
