RIP Nate 'n Al Delicatessen (1945–2020)

It looks like Nate 'n Al Delicatessen (i.e., "Nate 'n Al's") is going to be closing its doors for good tomorrow. The article left a small opening, but it looks bleak.

I have been getting food from there for more than 40 years, and it has my favorite corned-beef sandwiches.

Well, I guess I ordered my last two corned beef sandwiches from them last night. :( I got it delivered. (I'll nuke the second one for dinner today or tomorrow.)

I was going to eat dinner there with some of my students on 14 March, but I necessarily cancelled that dinner. Some of them have tried it before, and I have now informed the one who mentioned last night that she might try it that today is the day for her if it's ever going to happen.

I'll share a different one of my childhood restaurants with my students. (The Apple Pan is a difficult choice when things get back to normal, though, given the way that seating works there.)

Update (3/29/20): Nate 'n Al's isn't quite dead yet. Hopefully, they'll make it through this crisis and come back around when we get past it.

Beijing Restaurant Displays Prices in the Form of Mathematical Expressions

A Beijing restaurant displays their prices in the form of mathematical expressions.

(Tip of the cap to Carlos Castillo Chavez.)

The Party Meets Up at the Storm Crow Tavern

I met up with the rest of my party at the Storm Crow Tavern. We started out as classless, but we eventually got some class and one person got up to 10th level.

Nobody decided to roll a d20 for a random shot from the bar, because a critical failure could be deadly.

And, despite the temptation, nobody ordered the Mac and Cheese of Cthulhu with the non-Euclidean chicken chunks (which online appear to be called Eldritch chicken chunks, but they were non-Euclidean in the hard copy). And that was even with the giant Cthulhu starting down at us from above our table.

How Rude!

I was at the The Mines shopping center next to the Mines Wellness Hotel in Malaysia. This shopping center is huge and is ridiculously insane. I don't remember ever being in an indoor shopping center this large. I walked around quite a bit, got a really nice blended hazelnut coffee drink (and parked a bit to read), played some pool but using a giant snooker table (the long shots were loooooooong, so it was an interesting challenge) because I didn't want to use one of the undersized pool tables, walked through a small arcade that had some Neo Geo (!) machines, and walked around some more. I then wanted to eat before returning to my hotel, and there was a Chinese restaurant on the 5th floor that I wanted to try.

I was (politely) refused from the nearly-empty Chinese restaurant because of a wedding party that supposedly was going to fill the whole place (probably true, but I'm not 100% certain) when I tried another restaurant (a Korean bar-b-que) two two floors from nearby escalators.

This second restaurant was also nearly empty. The host came up to me when I entered, so I asked for a 'table for 1'. He emphatically said "No!" and immediately turned around and walked away. I asked "Why not?", so he briefly and incompletely turned his head around and said "Sorry!" (yeah right) and continued walking away. The name of the place is "Seoul Garden" and it seems like a chain. Don't ever go there.

I'm not one for manners, but this was seriously rude.

(I then decided 'Fuck it!' and just ate at KFC. I then got a 'bubble' tea drink --- but with gelatin instead of tapioca balls --- at a place I had been eyeing, and the woman who served me there was particularly friendly. That helped ease the sting a bit, but I feel a bit irked. I guess it was a combination of my American accent and scruffiness that did me in? Or maybe I somehow rolled a 1 on my diplomacy check?)

Back "Angus"

I have been digging Very Demotivational (see the blog roll) ever since Justin told me about it. I need to point out this particular post. While most of the other posts are much funnier, I feel like I have to highlight this link for person reasons having to do with "colon cancer". If you haven't yet browsed through the Very Demotivational blog, I highly recommend it. It's often hilarious.