I needed an excuse to wear my white pants (trust me, I looked good) one more time this summer, so Gale and I and Uncle F-Bomb went over to the patio at Velocity last night. Uncle F-Bomb had been talking up this grilled peach salad over there as "fuckin' awesome", so that was the hook to get him there. And I must say, that description was pretty accurate.

This was my first visit to Velocity since they reopened this year after a fire put them out of commission for a time. My first thought was they expanded a little bit? Yikes. Something about this location. On paper, it seems fine. Lots of car and pedestrian traffic. Well, here it is a Friday of a holiday weekend and we are down to less than 10 customers around 9:30. I look around and see all the contributory factors toward the rent and I just can't see it being a success.

Back to the food. The menu is slightly different than the one online, BTW. We opted not to have sammies, per se, or dinners, and went straight to some apps we thought might be good. Per the salad recommendation, we had two of those, potato skins, duck quesadillas and sliders (mini burgers). The salad was some prosciutto-wrapped brie-topped thing that had walnuts (I hate walnuts, but these were good), pecans and peaches in it with some sort of vinaigrette on it. It was the best salad I've ever had, no lie. Potato skins were OK, but they were the size of mushroom caps, skip those. Duck quesadillas were really good. The sliders! You get three of these and they were awfully tasty. Those are a shoutout to White Castles. Accompanied by fries, which were great, unless someone backs up the salt truck and dumps a bunch on them. Not there when that happened, but tasted the aftermath. My doctor thanks you for my visit.

Overall, it was really good. The menu is overly crowded, but if you pick your spots, you'll have more hits than misses. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem the attendance will keep this going. Let's see how winter treats them.

Meal of Links

Labor Day means marathons. If you've never seen "Dirty Jobs" on Discovery, now is the time.

I never knew Phil Collins was so hairy. I kinda liked it once, but after a couple of viewings, it would get old.

One of the dreaded places to go to on a Saturday morning is your local US Post Office. Can anyone explain why the clerks can't be up front at the opening time of 9:00. You have one guy bearing the brunt, while the other guy strolls in 10 minutes late, cashes in, does some other entry work and finally gets to his first, friendly customer of the day who has been standing in a line which consisted of:

A person who violated the socially acceptable cardinal rule of lines everywhere: Limited Transactions! She wanted passport applications, stopped mail picked up, stamps, and packages sent, a pound of chip-chopped ham, lighter fluid, and a hammock. Actually, the food, fluid and hammock were for my last meal as I lay me down and set myself on fire. Didn't need a lighter because of the next woman in line (more on her in a a minute). Thanks for being first in line and now that same queue is out the door. The clerk commented to her about what a nice attitude she had. Hey, sunshine, keep it simple next time.

A woman mailing redemption coupons to Newport cigarettes. She also had a Money Order attached. God, just end it all now. I swear this human carcinogen had at least 1,000 of these coupons stuffed in a large baggie and then had to fill out the appropriate soft envelope and then staple crap together. I actually heard her say "I can't seem to get rid of this cough." I hope she survives long enough to get her stuff.

A woman getting married in less than a month, who had received no RSVPs. Curiously, she thought, am I hated that much? Well, I can think of one person behind her in line that might think that. It seems that the person who addressed her envelopes had printed the wrong return address. Uh-oh, that number doesn't exist. Looks like a case for Dead Letter Man.

Eventually, I got my certified letter and stamps. Very socially acceptable.

Exercise Yard

I'm thinking Number 68 has no shot at becoming a Cavaliers dance team member. It appears she wandered in from the local Labor Day picnic. It reminds me of the time I saw Dorothy Fuldheim wandering around the set of Eyewitness News...during the broadcast. God Bless America!

Girl Number 83, however, in Photos 11 and 20. Yes, a thousand times, yes. I think she's a returnee and would very much like to offer weak side help to her.

Visitor

16 Across: Keys on the keys (6 letters) Answer: Alicia