Weekend Wrapup

An opera, a play, dim sum, a good steak restaurant and a great movie. Yes, we celebrated Shoko's last weekend before her 2 1/2 week trip to Japan in 'style'.

On Friday night we went to the Dallas Opera's season opener - the duo 'Cavalleria' and 'Pagliacci'. These two operas are almost always shown together. I had never heard Cavalleria and was struck by how beautiful the music and the overture and intermezzo were. Both were very intense marked by extreme displays of romance, jealousy and betrayal (hey - it IS opera). I should not have eaten so heavily before (the opera has a pre-opera buffet) as it made my blood want to focus on digesting my meal vs. enjoying the festivities.

On Saturday, we went to Al Biernat's - this is the restaurant that Carol recommended in the last podcast. Shoko helped a friend of her's move and her friend rewarded her with a gift certificate that helped us with the meal at this very nice restaurant. Shoko had a petite filet and I had a prime rib. The restaurant made two mistakes in my mind. The first is pretty basic for a steak restaurant. Shoko ordered medium-rare and recieved her meat cooked medium. No blood. I can understand mistakes are made sometimes, but it seems like a steak restaurant should know better than to overcook. Err on the side of undercooking. Ah well. They also did not offer us a knife or to check the middle of the steak and ask us for approval. Pretty low-rent really. Also my prime rib was very good. The problem is that it was big enough for a family of four. Literaly - no kidding. Why would anybody want a steak this big? The answer is that nobody does but this way allows them to charge more for it. I'm a huge eater and LOVE a big steak but this an unreasonable size. I percieved it as a cheap way to sell 'more' steak per diner. The prime rib that we had in Arkansas last week was better than this one for less than half the price. All in all, we both greatly preferred Nick and Sam's for steak in Dallas over Al Biernat's.

After dinner we went to the Undermain Theatre to see a play called "Margo Veil". The Undermain is a smaller, more soho-ish type of theater and the play and actors were absolutely excellent. I like the smaller venues since they are much more intimate. The play was funny and trippy with an overall-theme of film noir parody.

On Sunday we had dim sum at Maxim's. Our first choice, Kirin Court had too long of a wait during peak time (noon) of about 50 minutes. At Maxim's the wait was only about 5 minutes - just enough for me to park the car. We had a great meal even if the variety seems to be somewhat lacking. Separately both Shoko and I have eaten at Maxim's many times before. Neither of us have been to Kirin Court, so it is something that we will look forward to trying out (friends have recommended it to us) when she gets back to town.

Finally, we went to see the movie "Pride and Prejudice". I thought this was marvelous. It felt like an instant classic. Of course I am prejudiced in that I loved the book and the book IS a classic. The sets, cinemetography, scenery, the attention to detail and of course the story made this movie a pure joy to watch. Watching the intricate dynamics of all the parties as they dance and clash at the two balls are worth the price of admission alone. Bring a sweetheart!