Sunday, October 23, 2011

CHOW 284

October, 2011
Feasterville, PA

The committee has reformed!
It's been a long time since last posting, as one of the founding members of the LITT Committee relocated. There was a reunion over the summer at South of the Border, but as I seem to have forgotten to post about their LIIT, I assume it was forgettable.

So this would have been a posting about Johnny Apple's offerings in the bar department, but when the committee got there, the lights were off and no one was home! We turned to the trusty Droid Thunderbolt and added restaurants to the map, and ended up at Chow 284.

Some members voiced reservations about the place since there were only four cars in the parking lot, but it was still early, so we went in. The place was half bar, and the bar was front and center. Not a bad sign.

We sat at the bar and Josh, the bartender, came up and introduced himself. We asked how his LIIT was and he claimed to make a good one, and also threw in that he worked well under extreme scrutiny. (....hmmm....) Orders were placed. Food, too.

Ahh, food. Best crabcakes I've had in ten years. Sweet potato fries with raspberry dipping sauce. A pickle for good measure. Outstanding! But I digress...

Josh delivered the tall, amber concoction. There was a good quantity of ice, but not so much that you got the idea they were trying to save money on alcohol. It was well-mixed, thank goodness. There's nothing worse than plunging your straw into the drink you've been anticipating only to be punched in the face with whatever alcohol is living at that particular depth and nothing else. Yes, bartenders, that's called a shot with a straw in it.

It was obviously strong, but didn't have the shiver factor of being strong without technique. Like a guy with big arms who has no need to roll up his sleeves, the strength was there without showing it off. It was easy to drink and enjoyable. It was remarkably less sweet than most other LIITs, especially the premixes. Hard to decide on that count; obviously iced tea should be sweet, but with all the "lemonades" we have come across, was less sweet a good or bad thing? Honestly, I still don't know. There was also a...tingly? sense about this LIIT, a completely new sensation, and it was intriguing. Have to get to the bottom of that.

All in all, this LIIT was a departure from many of the others, almost a completely different animal altogether. Due to other commitments, we could not stay to enjoy a second one and answer the lingering questions about sweetness and tingle, so a return trip is most likely in order. Look for an update in the near future!


Taste: TBD
Throwdownability: 8
Kick: 7
Quantity: 9



<---- This is Josh, looking confident. (Members of the LIIT Committee must remain anonymous and have been removed from this photo for their own protection.)

Applebee's Rewind

October, 2011

CAVEAT EMPTOR!!!
There's not much to say about this LIIT, a chain-restaurant premix as usual, but there is scandal afoot and it needs to be addressed!

Having ordered a(n) LIIT, the waitress asked if I wanted the MONDO size. I literally had to ask her to repeat herself. Yes, she said mondo! Okaaaaaay, we'll do the mondo size. It costs more, of course. It must be huuuuuge.

Well the mondo comes out in a glass that I believe Friendly's uses for their ice-cream sundaes. Big round bowl on a pedestal. Very impressive, lots of booze, right? Well, after the LIIT was gone, an experiment was put into play. A regular-size glass of water was on the table, the same size glass a "non-mondo" LIIT would have come in. Pour the water into the mondo glass and...

The mondo glass held a little more than HALF of what the regular glass did!! Perhaps because it was seven inches thick and can be used to fry ants a mile away.

I think it boils down to this: I didn't ask what mondo meant. I simply assumed, from all other times I've ever heard the word mondo used (might be four by now), that it meant really big. I now know it's an anagram!

Maybe
Order the
Normal
Drink
Option

So if you ever meet a guy and he claims "mondo" status...buyer beware.