Meatopia

HOWLING FOR A CORN DOG  

I am not a vegetarian but my diet is primarily meatless. Joyce and family eat meat at practically every meal. So by my calculations, I must have eaten four months' worth of meat in the two and a half weeks I was at her place. That's a lot of meat for me. Almost as much as I have mentioned meat in this one paragraph.
   My first dine-out meal out in California was at a sports bar called Smoke Eaters, which is known for its hot wings. Adam Richman of Man vs Food has been there for the restaurant's hell-fire challenge. Its seven levels of heat are mild, traditional, atomic, nuclear, traditional death, 4 alarm, and inferno.

Clockwise from top left: Braised beef short ribs; Smoke Eaters' fried chicken wings and tenders; St John's Bar and Grill tri-tip sandwich; and pork and beef meatballs (uncooked)

    With our fried chicken wings and tenders, we decided on atomic as our hottest hot sauce. Based on the name, I expected some level of explosion but there wasn't even a small one. Quite a dud, I must say.
     Another time, Keith met us for lunch at St John's Bar & Grill on Tri-Tip Tuesday. It was the first time I have tasted this cut of beef, which was grilled Santa Maria-style, and I thought the sandwich it came in was good, but Joyce says she has tasted better. The fries at the restaurant, however, deserve the right to be called "the best in the universe".
    As I said, meat features prominently on the menu at home. For dinner one night, Joyce made an excellent braised beef short rib, and although she portioned two hefty ribs for each of us, I could only eat one. It was just too much for me. Another night, Mady and I made meatballs for a spaghetti sauce. They look like little cannonballs in her little three-year-old hands.

Turkey, cheese and avocado sandwich

    On our way to Stanford University in Palo Alto, we stopped at Driftwood Deli & Market for one of its gourmet sandwiches. We were not disappointed. Sitting under a big tree in front of the students financial aid office in Stanford, Joyce and I shared a pastrami melt and a turkey, cheese and avocado. Both came in a Dutch crunch roll, a type of bread I encountered for the first time. It is something I am planning to try to make myself.

Crispy bacon and maple cream doughnut

    And then, when I thought I had had enough meat, we go to Psycho Donuts and even the confections are not meat-free. On the same day, we had some corn dogs, which we microwaved from frozen. They weren't bad, but frying them would have probably been better.
    Needless to say, there's a lot of extra meat on me now. It's going to take me longer than two and a half weeks to work it all off.