hondo in seattle

I have a weird masochistic thing going, I guess. I've eaten Ghost Chilies, Trinidad Scorpions, Carolina Reapers, etc. While I enjoy a tasty hot sauce, I never enjoyed a single eating one of those extreme chilies. In fact, I once punched a table, crying, "Never effing again!" Yet when someone eventually develops a new hybrid that Guinness certifies as the new hottest pepper in the world, I'll probably eat that one too.

Bruce is arguably the best DE of all time. OJ is arguably the best RB of all time. I'd choose Juice ahead of Bruce but, to me, those two are the clear top 2. We haven't had any other players that you could reasonably argue were the best ever at their position.

Scoring rankings are a misleading data point. Kickers score more simply because they get more opportunities to score. The real question is one of "value added." On average, a 2nd round kicker is only nominally better than an UDFA. A 2nd round LB is typically much better than a UDFA.

Count me in this camp. I don't think we give Rex a shorter leash because Rex is Rex. The Steelers have had 3 coaches since 1969. That approach seems to work. The next time the Pittsburgh HC position opens up, it'll be the most sought after coaching position in the NFL. Coaches want a fair chances to succeed and the Steelers provide that. So they attract the best candidates. If we start firing coaches for mediocre records after two years, no one decent will want to coach here.

When I read the first line, I was dubious. It's hard to cook a great steak at home. Depending on where you live, it's hard even to find nice prime quality steaks with good marbling to begin with. But as a I read further into the post, well, I'm impressed, and salivating maybe more than a little. The best steak I ever had was probably an (American) Wagyu ribeye at Colicchio's in Vegas cooked in a Grillworks Infierno wood-fire oven. I've also splurged on slim slices of Japanese Wagyu beef at a Yakiniku restaurants a couple times. I think I can find good quality American Kobe beef in butcher shops here in Seattle. Maybe even Japanese Kobe. But I lack both the skill and equipment to cook it right.

Here's a good article on Kobe and Wagyu beef: Under Japanese law, Kobe beef can only came from Hyōgo prefecture (of which Kobe is the capital city) of Japan. Kobe cows are fed a special diet of dried pasture forage and grasses such as rice straw with nutrition-rich feed supplements made by blending soybean, corn, barley, wheat bran, and various other ingredients. They are not fed pasture grass. Kobe Beef, Kobe Meat and Kobe Cattle, are also all trademarks in Japan. The United States does not recognize these trademarks thus promoting free use of the term “Kobe” in the US without regard to Japan’s strict standards. Consequently restaurants and retailers market various types of American or Australian Wagyu beef as “Kobe beef”. Japanese beef was actually banned from being imported into the United States from 2009 until August of 2012. What we see most of domestically, is American Wagyu or Australian Wagyu (Kobe Style) beef. Legitimate Kobe beef is priced around $200 per portion for a steak, and $50 for a burger. If you see something on a menu referred to as Kobe priced less than that, it is most likely domestic or imported Wagyu. http://www.burwellscharleston.com/blog/23-kobe-vs-wagyu-beef

Restaurants like Sizzler sell comparatively cheap steaks. Texas Roadhouse provides better quality steaks but is still not high end. Places like Ruth Chris are high end. Btw, I think someone said the new steakhouse will sell Wagyu beef which is wonderful stuff. But most "Kobe" and "Wagyu" steak sold in the US is fake. It's actually "American Kobe" or something like that and often a lesser quality.

Nice find. Good Burmese restaurants are a rarity in the US. I'll make sure to visit next time I'm in Buffalo. I took my family to BOSS the last time I was in Buffalo. My 96 year old father liked it. I wasn't wowed.

Classic.

Great point! I kind of agree and kind of don't. I prefer little ethnic restaurants to fancy steakhouses. But some steakhouses - like Tom Colicchio's Heritage Steak in Vegas - are special.

Someone told me she once saw Fred at El Gaucho in Seattle (actually the one in Bellevue). That might be one of the nice steakhouse Fred's referring to. The most expensive steak there is $129. They have other steaks for $50-75 but those don't include sides. Real estate and labor rates are cheaper in Buffalo so the prices for a comparable meal in Buffalo should be less. Overpriced? I'm not convinced. A really good steak tastes like heaven.

For the sake of these guys, I hope you're right. I'm in the restaurant business and would worry about opening a high end steakhouse in a smaller, blue collar city that already has one. How many people in Buffalo want to buy $50 to $100 steaks and how often? I do like though that their concept sounds different than Buffalo Chophouse.

I had an order of wings with Death Sauce during my last trip to Buffalo and was disappointed. I've eaten wings around the US and internationally. Buffalo, home of Buffalo Wings, should be the home of superlative wings. The best and hottest wings should be in Buffalo. 7 Alarm wings at the Wing Dome here in Seattle are much hotter. Hell, the wings I make at home are hotter. Maybe I should offer them my recipe.

I know Buffalo already has the Buffalo Chophouse. Does it really need another high end steakhouse? Nonetheless, it's cool to see ex-Bills - especially Fred - investing in the city! “It’s not so much investing in a steakhouse as it is investing in a community we believe in, that we have a lot of love for,” said Moorman. “Buffalo’s not just a place I plan on forgetting about,” said Jackson. “It means more to me than just a place I played football. It’s a place my family will always consider home.”

I love Buffalo's old buildings. I'd love to see them renovated rather than demolished if possible. I was bummed when the old Century Theater was torn down in the 1980s. And driving down Delaware is bittersweet. So many of the mansions gone; the ones remaining giving testimony to the glory that once was Buffalo. And then there's Buffalo Central Terminal - they've been talking about doing something good with that beautiful building for years but nothing much seems to happen. I'd love to see a local billionaire step up with a plan to revitalize some of Buffalo's historic areas. This is another reason Buffalo needs Fortune 500 companies.

I'm going to say something unpopular... Whenever I come back to Buffalo, I can't help but notice how old & stagnant everything looks: old homes, old businesses, and a skyline that hardly changes. I say this with absolutely love. I was born & raised there. And I enjoy uniquely Buffalo places like, for example, Parkside Candy on Main Street which is a decaying architectural gem with great chocolates and sponge candy. Very cool place, emblematic of Buffalo's faded glory. Many American cities look far newer and seem more vibrant and dynamic than Buffalo. Additions to the skyline are always popping up in other major cities. New housing projects are being built all over the place. Standing in one spot, I recently counted 12 construction cranes in Seattle building 12 separate high rise projects at the same time. Bellevue, WA, (across the lake from Seattle) might have a more impressive skyline than Buffalo and Bellevue's skyscrapers have all been built in the past 20 years - most in the past 10. Microsoft, headquartered in nearby Redmond, is behind much of Bellevue's new growth. Buffalo would benefit from a few Fortune 500 companies with the high paying jobs and the ancillary business that Fortune 500 companies bring. I read an article once that attributed a lot of the amazing growth/renovation in the South Lake Union area of Seattle to a small group of high tech mega-millionaires from Microsoft, Amazon, etc. Buffalo has Terry Pegula who, although he doesn't live in Buffalo, does like to invest in the city. The Canalside transformation has been impressive. To gain momentum, though, Buffalo needs more. I think the Bills will stay in Buffalo as long as the Pegulas live, which is great. But for Buffalo to be a sustainable sports town for generations to come, it probably needs to be in the top 50 of the USA in wealth and population. The economic trends of the past 50 years need to be reversed.

Yolo, I agree. Thanks for the post.

Seattle has 8: Costco, Microsoft, Amazon, Paccar, Starbucks, Nordstrom, Expediters International, Weyerhauser. Boeing was started here and still has a huge presence though the corporate HQ was moved to Chicago some years ago. Eddie Bauer, REI, T-Mobile, Nintendo, msnbc, and - oddly enough - Alaska Air all also call the Seattle metro area home. Together these companies have a huge, generally positive, influence on the local economy. New construction and new jobs are the consequences of their presence. And skyrocketing home prices - my town is over-flowing with Microsoft employees who have helped drive up the average home price to 700k.

Marquis has had the two longest jumps of 2016: After taking a three-year break from track and field, Buffalo Bills wide receiver/kick returner Marquise Goodwin returned to long jumping in 2015. Heading into the Rio Olympics this summer, Goodwin has recorded the two longest jumps anyone has made in 2016. In England on Sunday, Goodwin jumped 8.42 meters, three centimeters shy of the 8.45 mark he recorded in May. Both jumps were long enough to have won the gold medal at the 2012 games. Marquis seems like a good guy and I wish him well in the Olympics. http://247sports.com/Bolt/Marquise-Goodwin-now-owns-2016s-two-longest-jumps-45662448

I respectfully disagree. I hope we go 14-1 and lock up home field advantage, and EJ gets the start in the meaningless finale against the Jets.

"I dominated in college with the shoulder hurt. Coming back 100% will be the best thing that happened to me."

Belichick only produced 1 winning season in 5 years with Cleveland. At the time, a minority thought the roster was more to blame than the coach. The majority lost patience and Belichick was fired. Belichick authored yet another losing season in 2000, his first year with the Pats. He's never suffered another losing season since. Pete Carroll achieved losing records his first two years with Seattle and now has the Hawks in the playoffs every year. Sometimes patience is the key. Head coaches need time to build their staff and implement their systems. General Managers need time to acquire the right kinds of players for the offensive and defensive systems of their coaches. I never bought the story of an ultimatum. What business purpose would it serve? If you need to issue ultimatums to your GM or HC to motivate them, you've hired the wrong people. Ultimatums, in fact, tend to be counterproductive. Who, in fact, does their best work when faced with threats and knowing they lack the confidence of their leaders?

Goodell is a NFL guy, not a team guy. When he talks about 'competitiveness, he's talking about the NFL competing for disposable dollars with other sports and entertainment options. Obviously, at the club level, winning sells seats and attracts TV viewers. But to Goodell, Buffalo's win-loss record is irrelevant. The NFL's win-loss record will be 256-256 each year. He's looking at the NFL as a collective product. Imagine the extremes: A NFL with 32 beautiful state-of-the-art billion dollar stadiums versus a NFL with 32 rock piles. Which is better for the NFL brand? Soccer, MMA, lacrosse, motor sports, and other sports are attracting more and more fans. To avoid the erosion of attendance and viewership, the NFL does have to find ways to remain competitive. Improving the game day experience with better stadiums is part of the plan.

JW ~ thanks for an accurate account of what happened. As I shared with you in another thread, I take national reporting with a grain of salt. Big Cat ~ thanks for sharing the tweets. Media spats can be entertaining.

I have experience in the restaurant industry. And there the franchisor is continually putting pressure on the franchisees to update their physical assets. It's the same thing. The NFL is interested in top line dollars and image. The franchise is interested in those but more interested in bottom line profit. Goodell is just doing his job to protect the NFL brand.