Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Sweet Lou's: Greg's Review
The success of Sweet Lou's will depend in equal parts on its ability to accomodate drunken college students Saturday at 1 AM and the ability of these students' stomachs to accomodate Sweet Lou's waffles. I had a waffle with caramel, and the first two or three bites were delicious. If I had stopped before eating the second half, I would've even left the restaurant feeling good. But the food is so rich I felt overwhelmed by the time I finished and overstuffed thereafter. Here's what I predict:
- From now on, I'll go to Sweet Lou's approximately once a term
- I'll enjoy the beginning of my waffle immensely and loathe both it and myself once before I've eaten all of it
- I will want to avoid Sweet Lou's for the following 1-2 months before forgetting how gross I felt. Once this passes, I will not only be willing to visit again but will be actually eager to
- This cycle will repeat itself until (1) Sweet Lou's closes, (2) I graduate, or (3) PEAK OIL. We're FUCKED.
On another note: I liked "All My Friends", "Paper Planes" and stuff off Weirdo Rippers as much as the next person, that is to say, a lot. But as far as songs of 2007 that haven't been blogged about ad nauseum go, this might be my favorite. Everything I want in a hard rock song:
http://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?action=download&ufid=A415BF4D21C5FDF2
[EDIT: I guess you have to copy and paste the link]
Also,
Yeah dude!
Sweet Lou's: Leah's Review
Yesterday, without warning and sans Grand Opening hooplah or discount, Sweet Lou's Waffle Bar finally opened. Evan Rowe was the fourth customer and gave it a glowing review. Later, Sherod Haynes, who stopped in but didn't eat anything, told us how swanky the restaurant was and how delicious the waffles were. We toyed with the idea of going for lunch, but decided instead to make it a nighttime event (since, after concluding season one of Project Runway [Wendy Pepper, what a bitch!], there's even less to do between 7 and 11pm) and go a few hours after dinner.
Thus it happened that at 9:30pm on Tuesday, December 18, Greg, Alex, Jose (who had stopped by on his way to the grocery store), and I got in the car (because I mean come on it's cold out) and drove for the very first time to Sweet Lou's Waffles, located on 3rd and Division. (Contrary to popular belief, there's no "Emporium" in the name of the establishment.) The tattoo-parlor-turned-cutesy-specialty-breakfast restaurant is very brightly lit, with a long seating area littered with square shapes: square tile floors, square pictures of toppings on the wall, square polished tables, and square cutouts on every wooden chair. Upbeat jazz blasted from the speakers as primarily Carleton students milled about the main large area and the small side-room with leather couches. Also, it was wonderfully warm. Like, 80 degrees. I even took my coat off.
If you know me at all, you know that I'm nearly always a fan of new culinary experiences. /Any culinary experiences. I was, needless to say, probably the most excited, as Alex had already decided he hated the idea of the place and Greg was really more excited about the food than the adventure. But the boys pretended for my sake.
To order, one approaches the cash register/bar, decides from the enormous chalkboard menu what cleverly-named type of waffle she wants, and tells the cashier.
The menu is also online, in order to contemplate beforehand at http://sweetlouswaffles.com/menu.html
The place sells "breakfast" waffles (mostly berry variations), "meal" waffles (with things like hummus, sour cream, and salmon), and "dessert waffles" with chocolate, caramel, chips, etc. OR to reject conformity, one can choose their own toppings from a huge-ass list. It's like Coldstone, right!
For a regular size, the total comes to $5.06 with tax (our first complaint as COME ON who ever has .06 cents with them?). I think they also have coffeedrinks with sugar and a freezer with sandwiches/packaged cookies; but we were there for the WAFFLES. After paying, the customer's given a receipt and told to sit down. This became flaw number two -- my guess is that Sweet Lou's will likely institute a Hogan Brothers-like identification card system because those waitresses had no fucking clue how to find anyone.
We finally got our waffles: Alex ordered a Bob Dylan (salmon and sour cream), I got a Garrison Keillor (hot fudge and toffee chips), and Greg (and later Egohsa, who came late) requested a Specialty waffle with caramel.
As far as taste goes, the waffles are pretty delicious. Alex thinks he prefers "meal" waffles (the chocolate was far too sweet) and Greg and Egohsa didn't use all of their whipped cream. Problematic, though, is how filling the waffles are. I'm pretty sure if I had one at 1:25 am on a stomach full of Bacardi, I'd vomit on the walk back to Hill. Therefore, the success of Sweet Lou's, which I'm sure depends to a large extent on the irrational cravings of inebriated college students, remains to be seen.
Sweet Lou's: Alex's Review
When I stepped inside Sweet Lou's, for all I knew I could have left Northfield entirely and been in a New York restaurant... or a Denver one... or an LA breakfast place. And that is the largest problem of Sweet Lou's. With one very lame exception, Sweet Lou's is completely generic and even less inspiring a place than Blue Monday's.
But first the waffles. They're pretty tasty, and the regular size filled me up without making me feel like I stuffed myself. Being the only one who chose not to have a sweet topping (I had smoked salmon with sour cream), I'm happy that I didn't go the dessert route. Balancing the sweet of the waffle with the salmon and sour cream, I thought the waffle wasn't too bad. I tried a bite or two of Leah's "Garrison Keilor" waffle (my waffle was named after Bob Dylan... You know he's Jewish so he must have loved a knockoff of a Lox and cream cheese bagel?), and I also wasn't dissapointed, but I don't think my stomach would have been happy eating the whole plate because it would have been too sweet. So overall, the food wasn't bad. Considering that any student can make a waffle with random toppings in either dining hall, how much can you screw up a waffle, though?
So if the food isn't going to be the main draw beyond the occasional novelty dessert or dinner, why go to Sweet Lou's? Besides its proximity to campus and the likelihood that it'll be probably less crowded than Blue Mondays, I can't really see a good reason. There is nothing there that begs you to come in. As I said, except for the names of the waffles, Sweet Lou's could be just a single franchise of some national chain. And the bright lights and oddly placed leather chairs may be nice if you need to stay up to study, they certainly don't look very inviting or personal.
And having had waffles at 9:30pm sober, I seriously doubt if I would want to be drunk there at 1:30am eating the Bob Dylan special. I'll take Basil's greasy pizza, low light, and odd musical choice any drunk late night.
So that's what I've got to say about Sweet Lou's.
Rating:
2.5/5 Alexes
N.B.: For more pictures of Sweet Lou's, here's a blog post from Northfield's local blog... yeah they've got one.
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
At Home, With Alex
Sweet Lou's officially opened this morning at 7am. Or maybe 9am, we're still getting conflicting information about whether or not Sweet Lou was able to open onf time. But Leah, Greg, and I are soon going to try out the lux-waffles and other over-priced non-breakfast breakfast food.
They serve stuff besides waffles, right?
(I LOVE PITCHFORK! Why? They gave Rihanna and Jay-Z spot No. 5 for best song. I mean that's pretty good, even though it's No. 1 in my heart)
back in the jerz
Almost everything is the same.
New things:
1. My parents have invested in environmentally-friendly lightbulbs for the entire house. This means that it takes ~15 minutes for the lights to turn on. In another attempt to be more environmentally friendly, they have also decided to not really heat the house. So we all walk around in sweatshirts and hats, but, hey, anything for the environment, right?
2. My father has invested in a HUGE hi-def television. We used to have a small junky TV and now it's this streamlined samsung monster. The problem with a big hi-def television: any channel that isn't hi-def looks pixelated. But at least we have 4 Dexter episodes in hi-def, as well as "Step Up" and "The Nightmare Before Christmas."
3. Quakerbridge Mall in Lawrenceville, NJ has been taken over by stores selling Nikes and colorful zip-up hoodies. Also, the security guards now ride on Segways.
That's about it.
I'm almost over jet-lag and am meeting my brother at Haverford tonight to go out to dinner. Tomorrow I'm going into manhattan to see Masha in the morning, my friends Biz and Flashdrive from Rome in the afternoon (we can't go 3 days...), and Rachel, my best friend from Jewish socialist camp, in the evening. A full-packed day, that's for sure.
And then... I'll read for a week? I'm simultaneously reading Plato's "Symposium," "A Short History of Everything" by Bill Bryson and "A History of God" by Karen Armstrong. I've got my head full.
Carlmail
Hey, I keep trying to log into Carlmail, but every time it says my password is incorrect. It's been doing this for two days. Anyone else have this problem of late?
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