Cut to Black.??…Cut it out!! June 11, 2007

OK, lots of fans are feeling cheated by the controversial ending of The Sopranos…honestly, at first I thought my tv lost power or something, or someone made a mistake, but no…that cut to black? I felt a little deflated, even though I wasn’t a diehard fan of the show, I mean that was it? I expected something a little more, explosive.
But one viewer on the HBO chatboards had an interesting take on it. That Tony did die. His viewpoint of that, was that going to black..Tony saw nothing because he was dead.
Hmmmm…like I said, it was an idea I hadn’t heard before.
Or others called it a copout…But wouldn’t a real copout have been to do the predictable, bloody shootout at the end that everyone wanted?
This ending definitely leaves an air of mystery, it’s just that we all want everything tied up in nice neat if bloody wrappings at the end. It’s human nature to want to know how everything ended up! Ahhh, grasshopper, life isn’t like. Things don’t “end up”….things just keep rolling along, even in the world of the Sopranos!
CUT TO BLACK.

Dinner and a Movie…. June 11, 2007

Actually, several dinners to tell you about and places you may want to try….first, Salt, on East Pratt Street in Butcher’s Hill. Divine….ab fab…loved it. Loved the food, loved the interior, loved the service, parking wasn’t too bad.Had Squash Blosssoms stuffed with shrimp and scallop mousse lightly fried with carrot ginger emulsion(sauce) and the coriander and pepper dusted tuna(huge chunk of tuna!)served over seaweed salad with spicy tuna pot stickers and ginger soy glaze….yum.

But you must have the duck fat french fries with a a trio of aioli…one chipotle, one truffle, one malt vinegar. I don’t eat fries often, but we finished every last one of them. If you don’t want to wait for a table on the weekend, get there before 7:00..they only take reservations for larger groups.
Out Howard County way is a place that is also NOT A SECRET. But if you don’t know about it, it’s terrific…the Iron Bridge Wine Company, on Rt. 108 just off Rt.29. It reminds me a little of the The Wine Market on For Avenue in Baltie…with a wine store where you can buy wine, but here the wine lines the walls of the restaurant. They’ve enlarged a bit, so it’s not quite so hard to get in, but still, be prepared to wait if you get there later.
The menu changes a lot but it’s always original…had a killer roasted beet salad with walnuts($8), and a risotto with tomato, eggplant and basil chiffonade($13), both excellant. And Iron Bridge has an ever changing wine list, with lots of choices by the glass, or bottle, or you can get something from the wall and pay a $5 corkage fee.
Saw Ocean’s 13….it’s kinda like drinking a smoothie…goes down easy and it’s quite pleasant, but nothing memorable. There was even a certain point where I thought about taking a little nappie, but I didn’t….Hey, the thing was never intended to be more than a pleasnt little piffle of a movie, and it’s not, but everyone looks smashing, and it’s amusing.