Monday Memories—Schmidt’s

Our Friday night date spot for years was Schmidt’s Sausage House in German Village.  I always ordered a Bahama Mama and my husband got the bratwurst.  Then they opened a restaurant on Henderson Road, maybe early 1990s.  It didn’t last long, and closed—no warning—we were there on a Friday and it closed on Monday.  By that time, we’d decided eating close to home was kind of nice, instead of fighting traffic to go down down town. For awhile we did Gottliebs on Third Ave., closing it down, and a spot on Fishinger Rd. in Upper Arlington, also closing it after a few years, and one on Rt. 33 that had a great view of the river, closing it.  We switched to Old Bag of Nails in Tremont Center, and it’s still going, but we eventually changed to Rusty Bucket on Lane Avenue because Old Bag dropped our favorite menu item.  Still miss those Cream Puffs from Schmidt’s, however. (Pictured above)

The founder of Schmidt’s,  Geo. F. Schmidt, passed away today at 91.

Something borrowed

Let's see a movie.

OK. What's on?

There's a Kate Hudson movie at the dollar theater. You know how you love Kate Hudson.

Who's Kate Hudson?

It isn’t me, honest

I found someone on the Internet with my name leaving comments at bars, restaurants and hotels about the quality of food and service over a two year period. She must be quite a traveller and loves to eat and party. I have no idea where Kalamaki or Zante-Town are, but she really likes to go there. Also, it’s not American English. And I wouldn’t order lamb or rabbit.

We drank here whilst we were on holiday in September. Staff very friendly. We had a breakfast here one morning and it was very nice. Hopefully we will see you the guys again in the future. Iguana Bar Kalamaki

After reading all the comments we were looking forward to eating here. What a disaster!! My husband had mousakka it was vry sloppy. I had grilled king prawns on a skewer looked very nice until I turned the skewer over and the prawns were burnt. I wanted to send the meals back but my husband did not want to make a fuss. Neadless to say we would not go back to this restaurant. Olive Tree Kalamaki

On our last visit to Kalamaki this was our favourite restaurant. Unfortunately things have changed. Frozen vegatables rather over grilled sword fish and very very dry Lamb Kleftico. Sorry we will not be eating here again. Zepos Kalamaki

We had disasterous meal here. The waiter could not speak good english and screwed up the order. Our main meals were ready before our starters arrived. So therefore the main meals were only aired. My son had Rabbit Stamas and it was full of bones. The location is lovely pity about the food. Village Inn Zante-Town

This is the real Norma, at our favorite date place, The Rusty Bucket, a sports bar in Upper Arlington. Not exotic--no prawns, rabbit or lamb on the menu--but I do love their Philly Cheese with fries and my husband loves Gary's 3-way.

The Obamas date night

I think it's wonderful that the President and First Lady take a night off for a date and go to fabulous places.

The couple did not take the large 747 to New York, but flew a much smaller C-20 (G3). The press pool flew in a separate plane, identified by the military as a G5, followed by a staff in a third plane (G3). White House staff said the smaller planes were more fuel efficient.

AF-1 landed at Kennedy Airport. Marine One flew them over the Brooklyn Bridge to Lower Manhattan.

The motorcade made its way over to West Street, banged a right on a cobblestone Clarkson, then on to Carmine. They ended up at 6th and Washington place.

The first couple dined at Bluehill Restaurant where reservations are reportedly hard to get. The restaurant features "locally grown fare" and has it's own farm in upstate new York.

The first couple arrived at the Belasco theater on West 44th Street, where they will see "Joe Turner's Come and Gone." ABC News Blog

However, now that he is a CEO and head of the union and major stockholder of two automobile companies telling us all what we can drive, how far, and how many miles per gallon, and whether executives can use their private jets to attend meetings, and what their pay scale should be, shouldn't he be setting a better example? Shouldn't the Obamas have to scale it back a bit; aren't they asking EVERYONE to sacrifice for the children and grandchildren? Are there no nice restaurants or good theater in D.C.? And how much does that truck garden produce cost by the time the "truck" brings the produce from upstate NY at current gasoline prices? Is the restaurant owner driving a hybrid with the radishes, onions and potatoes in the back seat in canvas bags? What would the Car Czar and the Pay Czar say about the Obamas' misuse of valuable resources?

We will have our Friday night date tonight (Saturday) at Rusty Bucket--and every week that we can, driving our wonderful Dodge van and Ford SUV while we are still allowed to own American full size cars.