Ravings of an Intermittent Fool

Your Wikipedia link of the day: Nougat.

The latest restaurant to open in downtown Cincinnati is Cold Turkey which bills itself as "A Unique Sandwich Experience". They occupy the space on Sixth street that was formally Frisch's and the later Rise 'n Shine (the oddly conceived traditional American Breakfast and Thai food place). The interior has been painted brightly with local art on the all and appears much cleaner than it ever was under previous management. Other than that the original booths and booth configurations including the counter service remain.

The menu consists of a dozen or so sandwiches ($7), 3 salads ($7) and soups ($4) each and 8 sides ($2). The sandwiches come on white or wheat Texas toast (and there is an option for a wrap). The sandwiches cover chicken, turkey, roast beef and an assortment of toppings. Most sandwiches seemed fairly typical but a few standouts for originality include "The Death of Elvis" (cinamon swirl bread with caramelized bananas, peanut butter, honey and cocoa) and "The Maui Waui" (ham, bacon, tropical fruit relish, swiss). They also offer you the ability to make you own sandwich out of their available toppings. The soups are a bit more ambitious with both a Cucumber-Watermelon Gazpacho and a chilled Strawberry Soup on the menu.

I had the Ultimate Grilled cheese which included molasses cured bacon, cheddar, swiss, provolone and mozzarella with lettuce and tomato (I had mine without the tomato which they handled without a fuss). The bacon was salty, crisp and delicious. They didn't use cheap stuff for this sandwich. The bread was toasted and although the cheese wasn't completely melted together it was very nice.

A co-worker got the Buffalo chicken salad sandwich and enjoyed its flavor. Two other co-workers got the Maui Waui and really enjoyed the ham and fruit combination.

As we were leaving, I picked up a giant cookie (chocolate and peanut butter) and it was ok but a little bit too cooked on the bottom. Which brings me to my main complaint about the restaurant is that they might be offering the perception that they are too expensive for an every day kind of place. While I was satisfied with just a sandwich I could see others being a bit miffed for only getting a sandwich and getting the impression that they are suppose to order a side as well for an additional $2. They should take a page from Melt and offer a few mixed greens on the plate to give the impression that you are getting a full (and healthy) meal. It wouldn't hurt as well to price the sandwiches individually as well.

Lastly, service was pretty good especially for their opening day. The wait staff all wear t-shirts with their hand-print turkey logo on them and it is absolutely cute. The menu claims that they will be open until 6am on the weekends which is very unusual. I will give them another go and try a custom sandwich: turkey, bacon, swiss, horseradish-mayo and carmelized onions.

I have a few hours of DVR time devoted to recording season and series premieres of shows. In a 200 channel universe this means a lot of dreck is captured my hard disk. Little did I know how bad this could get. The other day I had noticed a show called Speeders on Tru TV had been recorded. I paused and thought, no that really can't be all there is to a tv show is there? I played a few minutes of the show and found myself slackjawed at what I was seeing. The show consisted entirely of the following formula:

1. Profile "tough" cop


2. Watch cop pull over someone for speeding


3. Watch cop interact with people being caught with speeding while being filmed by a television crew


4. Listen to the cop give a little "moral of the story" soundbite

Lather. Rinse. Repeat.

Could there possibly be anything worse than this? How can people get entertainment value out of this? Plus, this is on Tru TV so if you get this channel you get dozens and dozens of other channels...quite possibly hundreds. There is no reason for things like this to exist. I'm not one to moralize about the horrors of tv. I love television; can't get enough. Just please watch something halfway decent.

Oh wait it gets worse. I stop to think there are literally dozens if not hundreds of people employed to make a show like this from camera people to editors to lawyers get releases to PAs to "creative" people at the network. There are people wandering around where this is an item on their resume.

If I had people read my blog let alone comment perhaps I would get dinged for being an elitist. Lord knows there have been 100 episodes of Speeders so far so perhaps there is someone out there that likes this show.

Let me endorse Alexia's Crispy Onion Strip Snacks for a moment. I picked them up at Fresh Market the other day and the bag is all gone. They have nice seasoning but not overwelming. They have excellent crunch and made for delightful texture component in sandwiches and salads.