Houlihan's in Manhattan

Our third new restaurant to open recently in Manhattan, Kansas (66502) is Houlihan's. The old Ramada motel that is across from campus was renovated and changed to a Holiday Inn. The Gold Fork restaurant that was attached to the Ramada was remodeled and re-opened as a Houlihan's. You may ask if this a good move. Well I respond; Does baby Jesus have rays of Glory?

When they remodeled the Gold Fork building they did a great job. Unlike Lemmy's Pizzaria (as they like to spell it) Houlihan's does not look anything like it's previous tenant. It is actually really hard to imagine the Gold Fork interior while inside. The decor is modern and red, with plenty of spot lighting to go around. It almost feels too classy for t-shirts when you go, but that doesn't stop me.

First off we need to discuss the drinks. Houlihan's has Coke, which as you know is a big plus. But I will give you some advice, don't waste your drink selection on just getting Coke. The Han's has a wide selection of flavored iced teas that are very tasty and very good quality. For 25 cents more than a soda (Around $2.50 for a soda) they are worth it. For 10 cents more than the teas you can get a flavored lemonade. I actually did not like the strawberry lemonade as much as I do Applebee's so I would suggest the teas as the drink of choice. (If you drink alcohol it is useful to know that Houlihan's offers a "flight" of drinks where you get three small drinks for about $6 I believe. It would be good for sampling while still getting something that you know you would like. I don't drink but I commend them on a very good idea.)

We ordered the lettuce wraps for an appetizer. for $7.50 you get four lettuce shells, some crispy things, a chicken like gooey filling and a sauce. They were good, and free of bugs, something that Chili's has a hard time with in their lettuce for the wraps. But I think I actually like the wraps at Chili's better. I would have to select something different next time I go.

What to get for dinner was a hard choice; on one hand everybody recommended the chicken or the pot roast, on the other hand to get that stuff it would cost around $15 or so. And since we already got an appetizer I wasn't keen on spending that much on dinner. So in the end I got the fish tacos, and Nicole got the calamari salad. (Jenette got fish tacos too, and Chris got a prosciutto pizza, which I did not try.)

I should warn you, one of may favorite foods is fish tacos from Wahoo's Fish Tacos. And apparently Wahoo's makes they tacos differently than everybody else in the world. The main difference is that Wahoo's grills their fish while everyone else batters and fries theirs. Houlihan's is no exception. Fortunately somebody in the kitchen knows how to make things taste good though because the fish tacos were very good, not as good as Wahoo's, but by far the best battered fish tacos I have ever had. The rest of the taco fillings were lettuce, pico de gilo, cabbage, a tangy sauce, and a lime wedge on the side. Did I say that it was tasty? For a side I had a choice of chips and salsa, fries, or coleslaw. And naturally since I don't really like coleslaw that is what I chose. (I really like everything that goes into coleslaw, but it never tastes good to me. I have been trying it lately just to be sure that I don't like it. And yup, it is something that I just don't like.) Jenette got chips and salsa, which consisted of a fair amount of chip on the plate and an above average salsa. But I think next time I will go with the fries. The tacos cost around $9

Nicole's calamari salad was chosen because of it's use of a very unique salad ingredient; bananas. The salad consisted of a bed of cabbage and carrots with peanuts, dried bananas, fresh bananas, and a very tasty dressing, topped with alot of calamari. There was wasabi dressing on the side as well as a cup of strangely good, but hot, red dipping sauce. I am not really a fan of bananas but this salad was very good. there was just the right amount of bananas that you would get one every other bite, which meant that you were reminded of the flavor with out it being overpowering. If you like to try new things this salad is for you. I believe the salad cost around $9.

Something that we always talk about when we go out to eat is whether to get a dessert, but it never happens. Well Houlihan's has found a way to make it happen -they have 6 desserts priced at $2. It is very tricky because at that price you almost fell like you are wasting money to not take up the offer. And we really don't like wasting money so we decided to try the smores envelope. This desert is severed in two parts, one is an envelope of sorts that has melted chocolate and marshmallows in it, the other is a cup of strawberries and sugar coated graham crackers (sugar overkill). It is a fun idea and the graham crackers dipped in the chocolate tastes just like smores, but it was just way too much sugar for me. On the other hand the strawberries with the melted chocolate and marshmallow goo was very awesome, and alone worth the $2. Next time I might just ask for extra strawberries and forgo the graham crackers. The one desert was actually more than enough for all four of us, by then we were very stuffed.

In short: Houlihan's is a keeper. It may cost $5 more bucks for two people to eat at than Chili's or Applebee's but it is worth it. They care about the food and it shows. The service was great, the restaurant looked good, and the food is a step above what everyone else is doing in Manhattan. You really need to check this place out.

My reviews about the other two new places in Manhattan are here: Lemmy's and La Fiesta. And please leave me a comment about what you think about Houlihan's.

This Just In!

I have just noticed that my nose was not applied to my face properly, it is actually on a bit crooked. The top is closer to my right eye and to slants to the left. I don't know why I noticed it today, but I am sure this revelation will shake all my previously held beliefs in the world.

Hillary Clinton on Profits

Just in case you run a business and you want Hillary Clinton to be elected as President:


That's right, if you make too much money she wants to take your profits and make a fund to destroy your company.

Yay! A giant step towards communism!

Meet my homie

We share a bond, a bond that only people that were a Sears POW (Prisoner of What-the- heck-is- taking-so- long) share. We talked about things, important things, like K-State basketball, and Village Inn (yeah he had a knack for choosing topics that I wouldn't talk about.) He also mentioned tests that were ran on him earlier in the day, but I felt that I did not need to ask for details. But I do not complain about his companionship. No, for he was my brother in the prison of the Sears Tire center waiting area. At first my sentence was to be 45 minutes, but they kept extending my sentence for no reason. And when I was finally free after three hours he wished me well. I hope that he was able to escape the prison at some time, but he had a much harsher sentence, he had new tires AND an alignment. I knew of many people that died in Sears prison when they are sentenced to a tire alignment. I would really appreciate it if you would have a personal five minutes of silence for his brave soul. He is more of a man than I.

Godspeed Village Inn and Basketball guy, I hope you found your way home.

Lemmy's Pizzeria

Well since it doesn't take long to get stuff from my blog onto Google anymore I think that I should do a review about Lemmy's since there is nothing on the internet about it (...common who has a business without a web page these days?)

Lemmy's Pizzeria is in Manhattan Ks (66502 for all your searching needs). It is the latest restaurant to go into the building that once was the best BBQ in town -Cox Bros. I know what you are thinking, "Another pizza place in this town, that is the opposite of what we needed." That is what I thought too, but I still gave it a try.

The first thing I should mention is that their hours are from lunchtime (don't know the exact time) until 10pm. They are also closed on Mondays. The first thing that I noticed when I walked into Lemmy's is that it still looks like Cox. Sure there are a few new coats of paint, but for the most part everything is the same. This made me uneasy as I am not sure how good a place can be if it doesn't take on it's own identity. They at least still have regular live music guests though, so that is nice.

For dinner we ordered a family order of cheesy bread for an appetizer a large cheeseburger pizza and a large Loaded Lemmy's. We also got various sodas and tea, they have Pepsi to drink (which for me is a minus in the books). The cheesy bread arrived quickly and it was huge. For $6 the family cheesy bread alone is worth a trip to Lemmy's. I'm not saying that it is the best food in the world but it is a good deal on decent food. After we stuffed ourselves with cheesy bread the pizzas arrived. The large pizza's are about the same size as a large from Pizza Hut's, and they cost about $15. I had the cheeseburger pizza which was about your average pizza, the crust is somewhere between a pan pizza and a hand tossed from Pizza Hut and the toppings were very reminiscent of what Pizza Hut had before they went to “all fresh” ingredients. The pizza crust is good fresh, but I learned today that the leftover pizza crust gets a bit hard when microwaved (the pizza itself when microwaved performs just like any other nuked pizza).

In short: Overall I think Lemmy's fills a nice spot that is missed in Manhattan Pizza cuisine. It is a Chicago like pizza place that doesn't really taste like anything else we have. The prices are decent and if you get some cheesy bread with your pizza you will have ample leftovers. Expect to pay around $25 for two people (but remember to factor in saving money from leftovers). Lemmy's closes at 10 every night and is closed all day on Monday. It is worth checking out.

If you try it out let me know what you think of it.
p.s. La Fiesta is also a new restaurant in Manhattan, you can check out a very very short review about it here.

Worth a mention

Edit: I posted OK Go's video here. If you press play on each video one after another they are timed so that you can watch both videos at the same time and compare. I do belive it is awesome.

First if you haven't seen OK Go's music video for "Here It Goes Again" you should check it out.

Now that we are all on the same page check this out:

Not bad from some of high school students at a talent show. B-rav-o

Here is OK Go's:

Elephant in the way.

I grade alot of tests so I know this answer is worth more than zero points.
That should be worth at least 2 points.

La Fiesta

Tonight we checked out the new restaurant in Manhattan called La Fiesta. It was pretty good, and a very good value. I recommend it. *Edit: A better review below*

Afterwards we headed to the movies to watch Pan's Labyrinth. The movie is a good one, worth the movie ticket price. I recommend that too.

Edit: This post is getting alot of hits from people searching La Fiesta, Manhattan KS, 66502, or there abouts, so i feel that I owe the people that are looking for a review at least a few details about the place.

La Fiesta is a surprisingly cheap (say $7-8 a person) traditional Mexican food restaurant. They have alot of things to choose from and they include all the normal Mexican food dishes. La Fiesta isn't like On the Border or Carlos O'Kelly's, it has more of a traditional Mexican flavor, much like Los Potrillos. I would have to say that La Fiesta is the best Mexican in Manhattan right now with Hill Side Cafe, and Los Potrillos being second and third.

I might be a bit biased, I grew up in Garden City Kansas, which has alot of Mexican food joints. La Fiesta is no where close to the best Mexican food on the planet -El Charro (RIP), but it fits right in there with the good home style kind of Mexican food. I plan to go back.

In short: La Fiesta has Coke, you get free chips and salsa (the salsa is good, and the chips are fresh). It costs about $15 for two people to eat there and is probably the best Mexican in Manhattan.

Cat cat star wars

It's Thursday and you know what that means: cat videos! (Joking, Thursday isn't really cat video day here on my blog... I'm just keeping you on your toes. You never know when a ninja will jump out and try to kill you from behind the lines of the text on my blog. You must always keep a sharp mind when reading my blog. ALWAYS.)

Anywho, I gotcha some good videos to watch, first up is a cat in a weightless environment:

I just love the death roll the cat goes into at the end. ...Man it must be nice to be a scientist.

Next up is a cat in a "pet spa":

Every cat should have it's will broken like this, at the end it just gives up.

Lastly I don't have another cat video, but i do have the end of the original Star Wars movie (A New Hope) reenacted entirely with hands:

Spiff if I do say so myself.

Live like it is 40 degrees outside

I live in an apartment complex that has a fair amount of kids, but since the is housing for graduate students alot of these kids are not from America, and I have noticed that many families come from areas that do not have snow. So when there is snow the kids make things with the snow but they do not make the stereotypical snow objects. For example on my way to school today I noticed that someone had built a couple of these snowmound people. I really wouldn't have realized that they were people except that they all had different hats on, and some sort of mouth. This snowmound-man caught my attention in particular, mainly because of his Happy Birthday hat. The snowmound people might not have long to live, but they sure know how to party.

***Edit: I just zoomed in on the picture to see what the arms are made of, I though that they were carrots. They aren't. ^_^***

Class at 8

Oh yeah, it is as awesome as this picture shows it to be.

Good

I want to post something on my blog. I feel like I want to write about something important, such as why the NFL is far an away the best sports league, and how they accomplished it. Or maybe about the possibility of Kansas City getting the Pittsburg Penguins. But for some reason I have been shying away from posting big posts like that recently, I don't know why.
So then my other option is to post something either witty or entertaining. I am not very witty right now, and there really isn't anything entertaining out on the tubes at the moment, so both of those are out.
So I guess I'll just post about thinking about what to post about, and call it good.

Buttercup

Where have all the song and dance numbers gone from the movies today?

...Not that I actually want them back...

Tower Defender

Tower Defender is one of those games that is easy to start playing and thirty minutes later you are still playing it. Commonly this kind of game is called 'awesome'. The games is played by placing towers that shoot at the little guys running around a track. If you don't kill all of the guys by the time they reach the end of the track they kill one of your lives. Each time you kill a guy you get gold so when the waves of guys are over you have a chance to buy more towers or upgrade current ones. You can also research new technology if you get a piece of wood (you get one every seven levels). This game is one of the best in recent times, it's definitely worth a 'check it out'.

No volleyball for you.

Ever since I was a little boy I had a dream, a dream that one day when I grew up I would lead a revolution in Russia and become it's dominating leader. After becoming the leader I would install a network of beach volleyball courts. These courts would show the people of Russia that it is ok to have fun and to relax.

Well today that dream is crushed.

It was below zero when I woke up and it is not much warmer now. Today when my fingers were punished harshly for the minor crime of touching the steering wheel I realized that I could never install a series of volleyball courts in Russia, it just would never work out. I mean where would I get all of that sand?