Restaurant review: Dunkin Donuts (Riverdale)

I was surprised by how much I liked my lunch here. In order to get a healthy ("healthy" meaning "diverse" - the lunch itself was not healthy at all) sampling of their fare, I ordered a toasted bagel with cream cheese, an iced coffee and a jelly doughnut.

This being my first time buying a bagel and coffee from a bona fide "fast food" establishment, I was hoping to get the whole meal for under $5. I paid a little under $6. Given food prices these days, that is totally legitimate on DD's part; it's hard to imagine them making much of a profit on even that. And a little bit of internet searching seems to indicate that they don't charge a premium on account of the hashgacha.

What really set the place apart though was the quality of the food. Granted, making a good bagel, iced coffee and doughnut isn't rocket science. You'd be surprised, though, at how badly some places do it. The bagel is often either burned or heated for so long that the cream cheese melts into a runny mess. And the coffee is across-the-board horrible. DD's bagel was just right, and their coffee - as always - was fantastic. The doughnut was great, too, though not really necessary in the end. I just kind of felt silly going to Dunkin Donuts and not getting a Donut.

Finally, the dining experience was great. The place is rommy, full of sunlight and clean. From what I've read, this is generally true among most American fast food restaurants. Although no one considers them "classy" they are definitely kept spotless. Part of the reason places like McDonalds are so popular overseas is that they are often the cleanest, roomiest, brightest and best-air-conditioned public places in the whole city. The Riverdale DD was far cleaner than a typical pizza place in the heights, or falafel shack in midtown.

While I ate, I thought about this last point. Was this restaurant so clean and pleasant because its managers and operators were far more talented than those of the typical kosher restaurant? It seems to me that the difference lies in the fact that Dunkin Donuts is a corporate establishment that has decades of experience in creating quality restaurants. Whoever manages that store is essentially following a very good set of instructions he/she received from DD, not to mention some sort of corporate budget.

I think that, for certain kinds of restaurants, you can benefit greatly by separating the management and the kashrut. You simply end up with a better product overall. I think that once kosher businesspeople figure this out, we will see a lot more that kosher Dunkin Donuts and kohser Subways. Imainge if Domino's opened a kosher store on the upper west side. A store under Domino's management would be far better equipped to handle, say, pizza deliveries than your average kosher pizzeria. That's because Domino's has been delivering pizzas forever. They have a fleet of pizza delivery men/women. They have pizza delivery apparatus. They know what they are doing. And in terms of business, there's no reason why a non-kosher consumer wouldn't order from them either. If they call in an order for pepperoni pizza, just pass the order along to one of the dozens of other Domino's stores nearby.

I think there is potential.

Breakfast and more

Sometimes I feel the need to eat a good old fashioned, manly breakfast. Today was one of those days.

Hash browns (or any other pan fried potato dish) can be annoying, because they really don't taste so good unless you properly prep your taters which can take a little while. But what they lack in instant gratification they make up for in delayed gratification. Fried up with onions and veggie bacon (a semi-trick I learned from the restaurant), served with eggs and fresh black coffee and set alongside the morning paper... well I'll let the picture do the talking:

















Here's another food-related curiosity:

I spotted this sign in midtown Manhattan last week. However, seeing as it features 34th street, Dining Dollars and the colors red and blue, it seems like maybe the sign was meant for a certain school in Philly...

Better Place in Wired magazine

If there is an award for a person/organization which does the best job at impressing people, it would certainly go to Better Place or, more specifically, Shai Agassi.

There's a good reason for that - he is a brilliant guy with a brilliant plan. And people who work for him know how to present the idea in a way that shows off its brilliance.

Case in point, this latest article in Wired magazine. I'm glad they are giving Shai some press time. It almost makes up for their embarrassing series of articles a few months ago which alleged - sloppily and unfounded, I might add - that this whole "green" trend was a hoax.

Check it out here

Oh, and if Shai Agassi reminds you at all of Tal Raviv, please raise your hand...

Behind Blue Eyes

I have just experienced the greatest achievement of my entire life.

That's right, I was able to put contact lenses into my eyes.

A little background: I have never been good with anything eye-related. My blinking reflexes are extremely powerful; clearly the evolved product of my Lithuanian ancestors. In the fierce Eastern European snowstorms of the past, only those who could quickly guard their eyes from the pointy flakes would survive.

This reflex has led to many a tense scene at the eye doctor. He practically had to hold my eyes open with a construction tool just to get the drops in. The worst was when I'd blink and he'd only get SOME of it in and he had to put in more. This kept happening and by the time he was done with me my eyes were so dilated that I couldn't tolerate natural light for the next 48 hours. And don't even get me started on the retinologist appointment. All I'll say is that there is probably no torture method more effective than dilating someone's eyes and then beaming a blasted floodlight directly into it for minutes at a time.

As you can imagine, I didn't even entertain the thought of contact lenses. Until recently. I began to critically evaluate the situation. Specifically, my thought process went as follows: "I want to wear contact lenses." And so I decided to do it, though I knew I'd be in for an uphill battle against my eyes.

Two weeks ago I went to the eye doc and she ordered me the lenses. Then, last Thursday, I went it to give it my first shot. She had showed me how to hold my eyes open really wide and tightly, so that I couldn't blink the lens away. I thought I was ready.

I was not. An hour and a half later, and still nothing. She managed to put them in for me, but I was coming nowhere close. The lens was slipping all over the place and my fingers could not hold my eyes open. My eyes, eyelids and face near my eyes were all red and sore from so much tugging shoving and failing.

My doctor gave me plenty of positive reinforcement and kept cheering me on, even though I was making zero progress. Finally, I gave up and decided to give it another shot the next week.

So I came in again today. My eye doc wasn't there, so instead I worked with the two ladies working at the store that day. I sat down with the lenses and tried again. The same exact thing was happening, and I felt I was getting further and further from ever accomplishing my goal..

..and then I did it. I don't even know how. I just did. First one lens, then soon later, the other. I whooped with joy and started high-fiving the two ladies. I was on fire, and they beamed at me. I got them out, too. I sat there and practiced a few more times. It felt good.

I'm nowhere near perfect, but I figure it's all downhill from here. They packed me up with my trials and sent me on my merry way, contacts-in. And here I am, glassesless and free.

Music harvest season

The month of October is rapidly approaching and with it - the end of my upenn.edu email address and, subsequently, the end of my Ruckus account.

Which means it is time to download as much free music as I possibly can before it is free no longer.

There's only one problem - I don't know what to take. And that is why I turn to you, fair readers.

I need suggestions, suggestions, suggestions. Tell me about your favorite artists, albums, singles, whatever. They can be new, old or so-last-year. It can be classic rock, indie rock, power pop, country, rap (I will be wary if it is country or rap..) - you name it.

Friends, Romans, countrymen - lend me your playlists.

At the moment, here's what I have in my jukebox, in alphabetical order (those who I am particularly pleased/displeased with these days have earned emoticons)

Allman Bro's
Andrew W.K.
Arctic Monkeys
Ashely MacIsaac

Beatles
Beck
Ben Folds
Ben Harper
Billy Joel
Black Sabbath
Bob Dylan
Boston
The Bravery

Cake
Cheap Trick
Coldplay :)
Crosby Stills & Nash
The Cure

David Bowie
Death Cab
Doors

Elton John

Foo Fighters :(
Fountains of Wayne :)
Franz Ferdinand

Gorillaz :)
Green Day
Guns 'n Roses

Hives :(

Interpol

Jet :(

Killers :) :)
Kiss

Meat Loaf
Modest Mouse
My Chemical Romance :(

Neil Young

Paul Simon
Phantom Planet
Phish
Pink Floyd
Police
Postal Service

REM
Raconteurs
Rolling Stones
Rooney

Santana
Silversun Pickups
Simon & G
Steppenwolf
Strokes

TMBG
Tom Petty
Traveling Wilburys

U2

Van Halen
Van Morrison

Weezer :)
White Stripes :)

Yosef Karduner

The Jews in "Blink"

Ok, so I'm only about 1/3 of the way into Malcom Gladwell's "Blink", but the Yiddin are already popping up everywhere.

First, there's the psychologist John Gottman who "sometimes wears a Mao cap over his braided yarmulke". Then there's medical researcher Wendy Levinson (no relation).

But the icing on the cake is Raymond Fisman, an economist who appears in a segment about speed dating.

"We've supposedly spawned one long-term romance," Fisman told me... "It makes me proud. Apparently all you need is three to get into Jewish heaven, so I'm well on my way."

On a separate note, if anyone can bring me a source for this oft-quoted, apparently fundamental pillar of the Jewish faith, that would make my day.

My Hobby

One of the greatest features of chat-based socializing is the ability to, when a joke comes to mind, try it out on six or seven people simultaneously. You can't do this in real life unless all those people are in the same place at the same time and are paying attention to you, which is rare. But online, you can just watch the different responses and evaluate whether, overall, your joke was funny or not.

Efficiency, efficiency.

Southern Man

Israelis are not known for pitching aliyah as a sugar coated fairy tale (that's Nefesh B'Nefesh's job, with the help of Windows Movie Maker and the Moshav Band). So it came as no surprise to find myself receiving blunt advice and finger-wagging from the shliach aliyah at the Israel Aliyah Center.

He wasn't rude or anything. He was frank. He told me that I don't have any connections in Israel and that in Israel, it's all about connections. My degree means less in Israel than it does in America. Israelis don't really "do" internships. He's met too many people who think that they are going to save Israel, make aliyah and then get nowhere.

Then he asked me where I wanted to live.

When I told him, his face lit up. "You said the magic word: the Negev. I, too, love the Negev and I think more people need to move there."

Within minutes he was on his laptop, scouring the internet for job postings. I told him about my interest in algae biofuels, and he dropped the name of an algae scientist that I recognized from a book I recently read. As it just so happens, he is hiking buddies with this scientist.

The meeting was cut short (he had another meeting), but in twenty short minutes I had gone from feeling like a clueless, over-idealistic American to feeling like this guy's little brother.

Always remember, every sabra is sweet on the inside.