Here’s a rundown of where I went while in the nation’s capitol.

• Ben’s Chili Bowl: The half smoke with chili and onions was very good. The french fries sans chili, however, were totally bland.
• The Brickskeller: A nice place to have a beer if you’re prepared to be told that the beer you want may not be in stock.
• Nationals Park: The less said about the game I saw, the better. I did have the Rough Rider Rib, a jumbo beef short rib brined for 12 hours then slow-smoked for 12 hours more, from Teddy’s BBQ – it was delicious though very fatty.
• Zaytinya: I probably shouldn’t have eaten the rib at Nationals Park because I was not hungry when I got here for dinner. The strained yogurt with zatar was a good starter but what I really liked were the baby octopus salad that was the special of the night. The crispy veal sweetbreads could have used some more seasoning but it was still nice.
• RFD: A couple of beers at this downtown spot before hitting the road home.

Here’s a list of places I visited in the City of Brotherly Love.

• Varga Bar: The last time down in Philly, I came here for a few beers that wouldn’t be gettable in NYC. This time, I was there to try the food and, as luck would have it, they were a Restaurant Week participant. Even better that they allowed the substitution of beer for the dessert course! I had the duck confit chicken wings to start – the meat was almost falling off the bone. The Kobe burger was a disappointment – not nearly enough char and it being cooked to medium-rare led to melting apart.
• Independence Hall: Some sight seeing to work off the calories from the wings, burger, and beer.
• Nodding Head: I had originally intended to go the new bar in Ludwig’s place but it didn’t open until 5pm so I went to ol’ reliable – Nodding Head.
• Tinto: The primary reason for this trip with regards to food, this tapas place did not disappoint.

Here’s all the different places I went to while in the Windy City.

• Epic Burger: Looking for a lunch option after checking in to my hotel, I wandered south a bit on State Street to this organic burger joint. The flavor was okay but the sogginess of the patty was a huge turn-off. What might have been a decent char once turned into a weird looking surface, not unlike that of a portabello mushroom cap.
• Sears Tower Skydeck: Well worth the $14.95 to see Chicago from high up – especially on a sunny day like the day I went.
• avec: If you ever go, be sure to order the chorizo-stuffed Medjool dates with smoked bacon – four to an order but if you dine by yourself, they’ll serve a half-order. Absolutely delicious. The crispy pork and trotter salad they had on special that night was just as tasty.
• The Map Room: Great beer selection but remember to bring cash (or an ATM card) as they no longer take credit cards. The night I went was a good one since they were serving three soups on the house.
• Clark Street Ale House: It’s a classic pub where all the bartenders dress sorta classy. There’s a garden out back but I got there too late to be able to sit out there.
• Hot Doug’s: It’s all about the foie gras and Sauternes duck sausage with truffle aioli, foie gras mousse and sel gris. That and the duck fat fries but they only have that on Fridays and Saturdays; I went on a Wednesday.
• Giordano’s: This local stuffed pizza chain makes a popular pie but it’s just not for me.
• Wrigley Field: One of the last two truly classic old baseball stadiums remaining, its age is clearly evident but so is its charm.
• Hopleaf Bar: When I got to this bar a little before 10pm on a Wednesday night, it was absolutely slammed – barely any room to move. After a seat opened up for me at the bar, I was able to truly appreciate their excellent beer selection and the atmosphere.
• Corner Bakery Cafe: A cafe chain that’s somewhat similar to Panera. An okay option for a quick, decent breakfast.
• Frontera Grill: I didn’t have time (or the cash) for the Top Chef Masters menu so I went with some enchiladas doused in mole coloradito. That and a margarita was a great way to end this trip.

Here’s a list of places I went to during this whirlwind weekend.

Boston

• Super Fusion Cuisine: Good sushi for what we paid.
• Coffee House: Needing a quick bite in the morning, I stopped in here to get a char siu bao – it was mediocre.
• Mike’s Pastry: After a long walk in the rain to the North End, a chocolate chip cannoli was the reward.
• Mr. Bartley’s: The burger was ok but I still don’t like burgers that are shaped into hockey pucks before being cooked.
• Toscanini’s: Their burnt caramel ice cream is awesome.

Western Massachusetts/Albany

• The Dirty Truth: Great selection of beers and their chicken and waffles dish hit the spot.
• Mahar’s: An interesting place in that the bar almost seems like it’s only there for ordering a beer and not for hanging around. It is, however, a place conducive to groups in the way it’s set up.
• Metro 20 Diner: Solid diner fare.

Cooperstown

• Belgium Come To Cooperstown: The event was ok but the real fun happened later that night at the campsite.
• Cooperstown Diner: Like some fellow campers – “better like your food with a pound of butter.”

Here’s a rundown on the places I went to while bouncing around Austin.

• The Ginger Man – Austin: This is the original Ginger Man, a bar whose cousin in New York City is one of the best bars in the city. It’s no different for the Austin outpost with great beers on tap.
• Big Top Candy Shop: It’s an old school candy shop with plenty of variety and there’s also an old school soda fountain to make delicious egg creams.
• Thai Passion: Decent Thai food but we went there more for convenience – it’s down the block from the hotel – than anything else.
• Bakerman’s Bakery: Again, convenience won out as this was next door to the hotel. Chocolate croissant and a mocha to start the day – not bad at all.
• Texas Capitol Building: The Texas legislature meets every other year for 140 days – sweet gig if you can get it.
• Hole in the Wall: A traditional dive bar with exceptional tacos. There’s also a decent selection of Texas beers on tap.
• Amy’s Ice Cream: Really good ice cream, especially on a really hot afternoon.
• Threadgill’s: I went there for some chicken fried steak. It was okay but hardly spectacular.
• Stubb’s: Surprisingly enough, though I came here twice, I didn’t have any of their food. One time was for a Greg Laswell show indoors and a Spoon show a few nights later in their backyard amphitheater.
• mmmpanadas: BBQ Chopped Beef empanada at 10 in the morning – awesome breakfast.
• La Casa del Fuego: This food stand makes really mediocre tacos. Not worth the visit in light of better options further south.
• Izzoz Tacos: The Padre, a taco filled with pork, avocado, and pineapple, is the perfect taco to eat in 100-degree heat.
• Opal Divines: Texas drafts for $2.50? Yes, please!
• Iron Works BBQ: The special platter came with beef brisket, sausage, and a beef rib. The best part of the meal, by far, was the sausage – the meat was spiced perfectly and the natural casing snapped correctly.
• Longhorn Po Boys: Their half pound burger, despite being rather large, was cooked perfectly – the center was moist and cooked, the surface had a crusty char, and the seasoning was just right.
• Little City: A block or so away from the hotel made this an easy choice for a morning Americano and croissant.
• Austin City Limits: The studio is a lot smaller than it looks on TV.
• Camino El Casino: A three-quarter pound burger with roasted serrano chiles – you can only imagine the heartburn that arose from this meal.

Here’s a rundown on the places we went to while bumming around Philly.

• Nodding Head: Getting there early enough in the afternoon meant a quick beer at this brewpub. Their Berliner-Weisse is very tasty – crisp and refreshing.
• Monk’s Cafe: Moules frites, Monk’s Flemish Red – so very good.
• Citizens Bank Park: The Mets got creamed here so no more needs to be discussed.
• Varga Bar: This is a new bar/restaurant in Washington Square. Their beer selection is great and the food looked pretty good. This place might be worth having a meal at over Monk’s next time down there.

Here’s a rundown on the places we went to while in Boston.

• Super 88: The $3.25 grilled pork bánh mì was good but it would have been better if it didn’t have a chunk of bone in it.
• UBurger: It’s no Shake Shack but what is?
• American Craft Beer Fest: Beer Advocate improves on last year’s ACBF and treats their volunteers very well.
• Vinh Sun: A typical Chinese rice and noodle restaurant. The perfect place to go after having a few to drink at the beer fest.
• Roadhouse BBQ: BA paid for their volunteers’ brunch. They treat volunteers very very well.

Here’s a rundown on the places we went to while bouncing around Florida.

• Champion Stadium: Nice stadium but they need to work on getting better food and beer in their concession stands. It’s on the Disney World complex so you could conceivably maximize your day if you’re already going to the amusements there but it’s a bit out of the way otherwise.
• Cricketers Arms Pub: Solid, if not spectacular, British pub food. Decent selection of beers on tap and cask though they’d be better served if they would do a better job of either updating their menu when one kicks or perhaps better displaying what’s available for all to see.
• Knightly Spirits: One of the best selections of beer we’ve ever seen in a store in any state.
• Universal Cineplex 20: Yes, we watched a movie while on vacation and while that may be considered to be lame, they served $2 24-ounce beers. So, yeah, that kinda rocked.
• Orlando Brewing: It’s located in what can best be described as a remote location – be prepared to hear Amtrak trains as the track and station is right behind the brewery – but the beers they have on tap make it worth the trip. They don’t serve food there so if you want to eat something to absorb all that wonderful beer, we recommend ordering from the nearby Cornerstone Pizza.
• Coasters Pub: The food here was great. The wings, which we ordered as medium, could have been spicier but the crunch on them was really nice. The draft beer selection here is absolutely amazing but we’re wary about the bottles as there’s some pretty serious markup on some of them.
• Double Dragon Vietnamese: A hole-in-the-wall takeout Vietnamese place that turns out some decent inexpensive food. Nothing to drive out of your way for but you could certainly do worse.
• Tradition Field: It’s probably one of the largest spring training stadiums you’ll ever see as its size would rival many minor league stadiums. Great selection in food – Nathan’s and Italian sausages made their way down south – and the beer here is better than it just being Bud and Coors.
• Vine & Barley: Without a doubt, the highlight of our trip when it comes to beer. The staff is knowledgeable and the atmosphere was decidedly classy. The best thing about the place was their bottle pricing – we got a bottle Brooklyn Black Ops for $20, a bottle which normally retails for, wait a moment, $20 (at least in NYC). We appreciate not being gouged on bottle prices.
• Woody’s Bar-B-Q: A BBQ takeout place that serves some good ribs, which we got on recommendation.
• Space Coast Stadium: We’re cheating here as we didn’t actually get to enter the stadium due to time constraints. It looked nice from the outside. Big too. That’s all we can really say until we actually set foot in the place.

Favorite Albums (20)

• Bon Iver :: For Emma, Forever Ago
• David Byrne and Brian Eno :: Everything That Happens Will Happen Today: It’s David Byrne and Brian Eno – what else needs to be said?
• Crystal Castles :: Crystal Castles
• Cut Copy :: In Ghost Colours
• Fleet Foxes :: Fleet Foxes
• Flight of the Conchords :: Flight of the Conchords
• Girl Talk :: Feed the Animals: There are 322 samples in this album and they’re all used to maximum effect.
• The Hold Steady :: Stay Positive: It’s no Boys and Girls in America but that’s a hard album to top.
• Hot Chip :: Made in the Dark
• Jaymay :: Autumn Fallin’
• Los Campesinos! :: Hold on Now, Youngster…
• The Magnetic Fields :: Distortion
• MGMT :: Oracular Spectacular
• Portishead :: Third
• Santogold :: Santogold
• She & Him :: Volume One: Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward (really!?) make beautiful music together.
• Thao and the Get Down Stay Down :: We Brave Bee Stings and All
• TV on the Radio :: Dear Science
• Vampire Weekend :: Vampire Weekend: Sure, they’re a buzz band but they’re fun to listen to.
• Wolf Parade :: At Mount Zoomer

Favorite Tracks (10)

• David Byrne and Brian Eno :: “Strange Overtones”
• Cut Copy :: “Hearts on Fire”
• Fleet Foxes :: “White Winter Hymnal”
• The Hold Steady :: “Constructive Summer”
• Hot Chip :: “Ready for the Floor”
• The Magnetic Fields :: “The Nun’s Litany”
• MGMT :: “Time to Pretend”
• Santogold :: “Lights Out”
• TV on the Radio :: “DLZ”
• Vampire Weekend :: “Oxford Comma”

Favorite Films (9)

• The Dark Knight: With the origin story out the way, Chris Nolan made an epic that will go down as one of the best films of the decade, period. Heath Ledger – what more can be said about his turn as The Joker?
• Doubt: A bit slow at (many) times but Philip Seymour Hoffman and Meryl Streep elevate the film above the lulls.
• Gran Torino: Clint Eastwood, even in his late 70s, can still kick ass.
• Iron Man: Robert Downey Jr. plays cocky son of a bitch alcoholic really well.
• Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist: Lord almighty was the music good in this movie. Michael Cera keeps playing the same character but there’s nothing wrong with that as long as the movies turn out well.
• Rachel Getting Married: A poignant family drama with an absolutely great performance from Anne Hathaway. It could have done without the long musical sequence in the final act.
• Slumdog Millionaire: There’s a strong underdog current that runs throughout this sweet story wrapped around a tense situation. The script deftly weaves multiple points in the past around the present to develop a coherent storyline.
• WALL·E: Quite possibly the best film Pixar has put out to date.
• The Wrestler: Mickey Rourke is a revelation as an aging wrestler who’s last grasp at glory comes with a great price.

Favorite Television Shows (9)

• 30 Rock: The best comedy on television.
• Burn Notice: A spy drama/thriller that’s light, loose, and funny – in other words, the perfect summer show.
• Chuck: The second season built on a solid first and is firing on all cylinders.
• The Closer: Still a solid crime procedural even if it is paint-by-numbers – at least it was until the mid-season finale.
• House M.D.: It’s starting to show some signs of aging but the medical mysteries continue to be fun to watch unravel.
• How I Met Your Mother: The show still has its moments but they’re past their creative zenith. That opinion is subject to change depending on what they do with the goat.
• Law & Order: The past season and a half have been a creative resurgence.
• Psych: The back half of the second season was a bit too silly and the beginning of the third a bit too heavy on the emotional end but they amped up the funny all the way to the midseason break.
• Scrubs: It finally righted itself after a bunch of seasons that tilted to much to fantasy and whimsy. Hopefully, they’re able to stay grounded in what should be the final season come 2009.

10. Jose Gonzalez – In Our Nature

For an artist that’s essentially a singer-songwriter, I’m almost perplexed by how much more I prefer Gonzalez’ covers over his original songs. I said that about his last album, Veneer, and I find myself saying nearly the same thing again with In Our Nature. With his latest album, I’m trending toward it being a toss-up between the two varieties. At first listen, the track that jumped out most was his laid-back acoustic cover of Massive Attack’s Teardrop. Upon further listening, Cycling Trivialities as the powerful closer, has emerged as the best track on the album.

MP3: Teardrop

9. Band Of Horses – Cease to Begin

8. The New Pornographers – Challengers

My initial reaction to Challengers: “This is the worst album The New Pornographers have put out.” After listening to the album quite a bit, my opinion remains unchanged. Thankfully, their worst effort means that it’s just merely a good album and not that it’s a pile of shit.

7. Jens Lekman – Night Falls Over Kortedala

6. Feist – The Reminder

Feist put out a great album in 2004 titled Let It Die that cemented her place as a Canadian indie goddess. With the release of The Reminder this year, she’s made her mark in the U.S. as well – I guess we can drop the Canadian part and just call her The Indie Goddess. With the selection of 1234 by Apple for use in their iPod Nano ad campaign, she’s emerged from the coziness of indie stardom and has pretty much been exposed to the masses. Hopefully, all the people who downloaded that track off iTunes stuck around for the rest of the album because there are plenty of great songs. Chief among them is I Feel It All which is an undeniably catchy indie pop song.

MP3: 1234

As a bonus, here is Leslie Feist with an all-star choir on The Late Show:

5. Beirut – The Flying Club Cup

Beirut’s second offering, The Flying Club Cup, has managed to outdo their debut album. While it has the syrupy singing of Zach Condon that dominated Gulag Orkestar, the new album boasts a better layer of instrumental work. While I didn’t feel as though they overindulged on their use of trumpets and horns on the first album, I’m glad to hear that they’ve added more to their reportoire of instruments. While this album feels like a more complete work from a band, make no mistake that it’s still Zach Condon steering the good ship Beirut.

MP3: Cliquot

4. M.I.A. – Kala

There’s an interesting story behind this album as M.I.A. was originally set to travel to the U.S. to work on Kala with Timbaland. After visa issues derailed her from hooking up with Timbaland, she ended up traveling throughout the world including India, Trinidad, Liberia, Jamaica, Australia, and Japan before finally making it stateside. The result of her travels was this gem of an album as each stop on her trip left its imprint on her and, ultimately, her songs. One example of globe-trotting influence is Jimmy, a remixed cover of a Hindi song from a Bollywood film. My favorite song on the album is Paper Planes where she uses gunshots and cash register noises to illustrate her visa problems, not without a sly reference to our current immigration dilemma.

MP3: Paper Planes

3. Arcade Fire – Neon Bible

This album is a classic case of a band setting the bar so high with ther first album that the follow-up would surely pale by comparison. Yes, it’s true that Neon Bible doesn’t measure up to the lofty standards Funeral the Arcade Fire. Now that we have that out of the way, let’s just focus on how greatof an album Neon Bible actually is. While it sounds similar to their first album, they achive that sound in a different way, choosing to build to an explosion instead of a quick burst. The change in approach makes for an album that is much better to listen to as a whole rather than by track. That’s not to say that there aren’t any tracks of note. The standout track on the album is No Cars Go, a song they should have ended the album because it seemed as that was what the entire album had been building up to. Interestingly enough, this song was on their 2003 EP, pre-dating this monster first album, but the version on this album is far superior.

MP3: No Cars Go

2. Spoon – Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga

So their last album, Gimme Fiction, was a bit of a disappointment – it was a good album but it was nowhere near as good as Kill the Moonlight. Though it doesn’t quite reach those heights, Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga is a return to brilliance for Spoon. In particular, The Ghost of You Lingers shines with a moody, almost Gothic, sound and pained lyrics. Also of note is the Jon Brion-produced The Underdog – it features the signature Spoon combination of cheery instruments and whup-your-ass lyrics, topped off with a crazy build to the finish.

MP3: The Underdog

1. The National – Boxer

The moment I first heard Fake Empire upon its release in advance of the album, I knew there would be no sophomore slump for The National. Its morose observation of America’s weariness with the war coupled with the heavy piano throughout and the horns at the end make it one of the best tracks I’ve heard this year. When finally listening to the whole album, I knew this would make my top 10. With plenty of strong tracks, such as Ada and Mistaken For Strangers, Boxer is easily my favorite album of the year.

MP3: Fake Empire

As a bonus, here is The National making their network television debut on The Late Show: