Phil Hargis – A Man Of Many Interests

Perfect Pizzeria Orso

Good pizza is hard, check that, impossible to come by inside the beltway in Virginia.  There is nothing besides your mass produced high fructose corn pizza garbage served by Dominos, Pizza Hut or Papa Johns.  It has been pitiful up to now.  A few new challengers have tried to penetrate the Falls Church market such as Flippin Pizza (decent pizza) and most recently Mad Fox Brewing Company (terrible pizza btw)…but Pizzeria Orso is the only one that has anything worthwhile.

We walked in, were greeted by a friendly hostess and immediately escorted to our seats near the pizza oven.  It was a Saturday lunch and not very crowded at all.  The pizza maker noticed my Dream Theater concert shirt on and we talked some rock and roll briefly before sitting down for lunch.

Starting off we went for the Suppli al Telefono (fried risotto balls).  As the picture here on yelp shows…you get 5 golf ball sized balls packed with tasty awesomeness.of buffalo mozzarella.  We both love them.  I also got an Arancini (another form of fried risotto ball)…It was not quite fried all the way, so was still just  a small tad cold on the inside which consisted of pretty much just risotto and totally lacking on the mushroom ragu and peas.

We decided to share a pizza and see if we wanted another after that stanza of feasting….so having a 10k race in the morning, I was looking to avoid the meat pies and get one with veggies and or cheese so we settled on the succulent sounding Vesuvius pizza which is one of their specialty folded pizzas with tomato sauce, the biggest leaves of fresh basil you will see, grana cheese (a strong, hard Italian variety) and creamy burratta cheese (an Italian cows milk cheese).  The pie came straight out of the over and onto the table.  We were told that the 4 ton pizza oven cost about $4,000 and $15,000 to ship over here from Italy and produces temperatures from 850 degrees to over 1,000. That the pizzas take 60 to 90 seconds to make.  Pretty awesome stuff.  The pizza needed more than the 2 leaves of basil they put on it and I would have liked more grana cheese on the pizza.

Tip:  When the pizza comes straight from the over to your table you will be better served to let the pie sit and rest for at least 5 minutes maybe 10 before you eat it….that will bring out the flavors better.

Yelpers have been slamming this place for their service…which was not the case for me.  We did wait a little bit longer than we should to be greeted and get water but after that the waiter was plenty attentive, the water glasses were always full and the pizza maker told us all about the oven and pizzas.

Such wide variety here, I can’t wait to go back over and over and over again.  I might even go back right now.

Burger Rankings

I believe a great burger starts with great, fresh ground beef.   A burger is best served with potato or brioche bun.  The burger should never overwhelm the bun.  All you really need on a tasty burger is cheese, bacon and mayo.  That said, I think all burger joints should offer a ton of fresh, tasty ingredients to suit any palette.  All burger joints should serve fries.  I don’t eat a lot of burgers or fries anymore…but if I get that rare greasy craving…this is what I’d do:

1. Good Stuff Eatery (Washington, DC)
2. Ray’s Hell Burger (Arlington, VA)
3. Elevation Burger (Fallls Chruch, VA)
4. Sweetwater Tavern (Merrifield, VA)
5. Five Guys (Everywhere)
6. McDonalds (Everywhere)
7. Wendy’s (Everywhere)
8. Burger King (Everywhere)

Loved Courtney Love and Hole at the 9:30 Club

On Sunday night, June 27th, I went to my favorite spot last night to see Courtney Love at the 9:30 Club and had one of the most amazing concert going experiences ever. First off, I usually don’t even show up for the opening acts and sure enough, this time we got there early and a motley crew group of guys called Foxy Shazaam was the opening act. They were unique,entertaining, wild, deviant, destructive and unpredictable….exactly what you would expect for someone opening for the wildly unpredictable reputation of Courtney Love and Hole.

Yes, the 9:30 Club had made the “mistake” of saying that Hole would take the stage at 9:30. Anyone who believed that was crazy. #1. the 9:30 Club, as great as they are (and there are none better), is never on exact times. In fact, the Foxy Shazaam were about 15 minutes taking the stage that night. #2. it’s Courtney Love. I know enough about her to know she does what she wants, when she wants and on her time schedule. Finally, after playing thru the entire cycle of their pre-show rotation and having to endure “Bittersweet Symphony”—-twice! The lights were lowered and another short intro was blasted through the acoustic friendly walls of the 9:30 Club at about 10:15. Even though no one in DC is in time for anything, we have high exceptions of those that we want to see, especially if we are shelling out $50 a ticket. This really did not bother me, as I expected it from her going in.

Anyway, the was an article on Perez Hilton that was an inflammatory and describing the show, which I viewed totally differently…I will respond line by line to the Hilton article below:

http://perezhilton.com/2010-06-28-c-love-is-trainwreck-at-dc-concert

Hilton: Poor thing.

phargis.com: Wild thing.

Hilton: Courtney Love was a wreck at Hole’s Washington D.C. concert on Sunday.

phargis.com: We saw her drink nothing but water, do no drugs, and acted like I expected her or any other rockstar I have ever seen act when they initially took the stage. The only thing illegal I saw her do, was smoke a cigarette or 2 on stage…who cares.

Hilton: Not only did she take the stage an hour late, but she spent a minute rambling and smoking while explaining that she was tardy because she was hanging out with her senator friend.

phargis.com: Like I said above, Foxy Shazaam was about 15 minutes late taking the stage, 9:30 Club listed her taking the stage at 9:30 (not always the standard start time), so I say she was only 30 minutes late taking the stage. She arrived to her fans booing her in between prelude songs, before taking stage….and at least she offered an explanation to the fans, rather than ignoring it and playing through her (non-existent) setlist. And it was funny…she more than made up for it to her fans, giving them a intimate, personalized concert experience you almost never get to see with any other band. More later.

Hilton: Then, she introduced her assistant, who was in front of Courtney onstage the entire time filming the show on an iPhone. It was said that Miz Love played to the camera more than her fans.

phargis.com: This is true. I was standing on the left side of the stage and the fans on the right were definitely in better position based on the video being recorded to that Iphone. But the acoustics still sounded the same. I don’t know Courtney’s motivation behind this video recording, but she seemed very, very concerned about it. Hard to tell, maybe some of the band members (especially the drummer) were annoyed by the distractions too.

Hilton: When a fan said that the assistant was blocking the view, Courtney snapped, “[Expletive] you, she’s with me.”

phargis.com: Probably true, I was not close enough to hear. I would not expect President Obama to react this way, but hell, this is Courtney Love. Anyone who has been a rock show has had their view of the singer and band blocked. Hell, I’m 6’2″ and had my view blocked by the tallest guy in a black hat…you know who you are. The iphone recording was definitely different, only intrusive to a small section of people, who could have moved to their left if it really bothered them…..Nothing to see here.

Hilton: And she was talking for 10 minutes at a time with out playing a song! She talked about dating, being anorexic and bulimic, Nirvana lyrics, The Washington Post’s bad reviews and name-dropped a shizload of celebs.

phargis.com: All true, and then some really. She talked more than most. For me personally, I was interested in everything she had to say. Could not wait to hear what she had to say next.

Hilton: She even sounded like she barely had a voice, repeated songs, forgot lyrics and chords.

phargis.com: That’s a matter of opinion and she admitted on stage numerous times times that she was creating some of the content up there on the fly. She always asked for fan approval, and always got applause to play more and do what she was doing.

Hilton: Love brought some of her fans on stage and offended several people. She asked an one girl, “Do you really like rock music? Because you’re African-American. That would be like me being into Lil Wayne.”

phargis.com: Probably the most questionable and political thing she said all night. And then later on in the show…she invited, who I believe was, the same African-American fan to sing the lyrics to one of her songs. And again, when doesn’t Courtney Love offend someone. I doubt it bothered the girl one bit and she remained on the stage the entire show.

Hilton: WTF?!

phargis.com: Were you there?

Hilton: And when another fan asked her to sign a poster, she replied, “No socializing! Go sit over there.”

phargis.com: If I saw it happen correctly, this fan was out of line, jumped on the stage uninvited, and would have been removed to the back by most bouncers at a concert. Soon after, Love invited the African American fan to come over and sing the song, Love sat down to be audience before the poor girl got embarrassed and retreated. The funny thing was that Love was being highly social, inviting 5 people or so, between songs to come up and sit in the front left hand corner of the stage. She was carrying on small talk with fans in the front and center area repeatedly. Calling guys cute and promising her $200 panties to another lucky fan.

Hilton: Before the encore, Courtney’s handler told the crowd that they would have to be loud because someone was waiting to have sex with the singer. Apparently, it would take lots of applause for her to delay the hook up.

phargis.com: Good story or total truth…you decide.

Hilton: She came back out wearing a see-through top and no bra, but eventually felt weird and asked the audience for a bra. Courtney took her shirt off to put it on!!!

phargis.com: She claimed to have forgotten to put her bra back on, traded merchandise for a bra from a fan, she went to the back right corner of the stage, totally out of view of anyone in the crowd (except maybe those in the far right upper roost) and put it on. I was actually surprised how long it took to put a bra on. Nonetheless, it was the wrong size and she removed it a few songs later.

Hilton: “This is a really weird show,” said Courtney. “I can’t tell if it’s really terrible.”

phargis.com: Then right after that, she said “It’s not terrible”. She admitted to the fans that there was no set list, she viewed it as a bit of a rehearsal and everyone still went crazy between songs…….The show provided a unique look into a band’s chemistry that you never get the chance to see. To me, she provided an insight into a totally misunderstood person, that does what she does and loves. There was NO doubt in my mind that she cares so much for her music, especially the songs that she has written (whether or not the record label liked them and chose them for recording). There were at least 30 people who sat up there on stage with her, got a personal handshake and or kiss from her after the set.

Hilton: Considering more than half the audience left, we’d say it could be better.

phargis.com: It was Sunday night, the show started at 10:15 (maybe 45 minutes late…max), she was on stage for almost 3 hours, and most people in the crowd had to be at work early Monday morning. You know, everyone complains. If she comes out at 9:30 and plays for an hour, are you happy then? OR if she comes out just a little late and rocks out on stage for 3 hours (between music and stories and a very short intermission). You are never going to make everyone happy.

Read More: C. Love Is Trainwreck At D.C. Concert! | PerezHilton.com http://perezhilton.com/2010-06-28-c-love-is-trainwreck-at-dc-concert#ixzz0sD4vcci6
Celebrity Juice, Not from Concentrate

Marine Corps Historic 1/2 Marathon

I was lucky enough to get a comp entry to this race through Pacers via Powerade (I believe). I had never run this race before and was really looking forward to it. Right out of the gate, one BIG distractor for me coming from NoVA was no race day packet pickup. It is really tough and painful to make that journey down 95S on a Friday rush hour or even on Saturday due to the outrageous amount of traffic. It just added an extra level of stress and complexity to pre-race day that no one really needs. Anyway, I got down there as the expo opened on Saturday morning…there was a nice expo center and a pretty well stocked expo. Package pickup lines were nice and short and pretty well organized. Same goes for the shirt pickup lines.

On Sunday morning, I left the house around 5:15 and got there before 6:00. Parked about a mile from the start line (at Starbucks, which sadly was closed)…outside the road closures and had a nice easy warmup job down Carl Silver road to the start line. Once there, there was a ton of porto potties which is always nice and plenty of space in the starting corral of your choice.

The race started promptly at 7AM and you make your your through a nice, rolling and moderately hill route from the shopping mecca area of F-burg to the historic down town area and along the Rappahannock. I had never run a 1/2M this small (except maybe the old Quantico one in 2006) so wasn’t sure what kind of crowd support to expect…but there was a ton…it never ended. The local neighborhoods families came out to support in many ways shapes and forms….with water, juice, fruit and even tequilia. I was amazed. The support of the USMC, the police and fire departments was totally awesome too. Not to mention all the local groups support, such as the muscle car club and local musicians. The flow of runners and totally adequate on-course entertainment made the entire route extremely enjoyable. The miles 10-12 ascent up those hills was slow moving and tortuous for all…but it’s not a complaint of mine (but was of many others). A nice, flat and fast downhill from mile 12 to the finish gives you a great opportunity for a strong kick to the finish line…where you are greeted by members of the US Marines handing out the finishers medals. There is no better way to be greeted after a race than by a member of the US armed services.

The finishing corral area was vast and smoothly flowing and the only complaint there would be that they set up the bag check perpendicular to the finishing corral exit and you had to weave through the lines of people in line at gear check to get out of the corral area. No real big deal to me…but it may have been annoying to people waiting to get gear.

I loved the race, the route and it was one of most tightly organized races I have done. I love wearing Pacers gear to the races and the attention from locals that it generates (for an out of town race like this).

People complained about the hills….oh and the bibs were awful…made of cardboard and tons of them fell off…making photo ops (which i don’t care about) hard to come by. Cardboard bibs are a terrible idea.

Great race….make sure you run it one day.

Crystal City Friday 5k Event #3

I am racing the Lousiville Half Marathon on the last weekend of April….so as always, I try to find a good 5k to race in the weekend before a big race. It gets you into racing mode preps you for all the variables that can come into play on race day…such as things you need to take to the race with you…and finally it gives you a really good idea of where your current level of fitness is. My last two races were “off”. I ran poorly in both the National Half Marathon 1:58 and the Cherry Blossom was an utter distaster at 1:33 after suffering a horrible battle with heat exhaustion in Tampa over Easter weekend. So I needed a good race on top of just a calibration of fitness levels.

The weekend of April 16th had a bunch of 5ks to choose from…but seeing how I work in Arlingon and love all Pacers runs…especially when I can run at night. So the Crystal City Fridays 5k was a no brainer. I emailed Pacers and let them know I could help out…so I got set up with the packet pickup group and some fellow Pacers Ambassadors…Rebecca, Angie and a couple of others. I arrived down there around 5 and the wind was gusting and a storm was threatening. Eventually the weather gave up and the wind settled down and we had perfect conditions come race time.

There were a lot of people coming to get their bibs and had a solid flow for the hour and a half leading up to race time. We kept busy passing out bibs, safety pins and shoe ties. People kept asking us what the dated flaps on the bottom of the bib were for, so we need to make sure everyone knows that gets them free beer. I love the chance to talk to all the runners that show up for these races. Everyone is thrilled to be out there for whatever there racing goal is. Finally, it was 6:30 and time to race.

Angie covered for all the rest of us who were running…so she was a total trooper. The rest of us headed to the start line with almost perfect conditions. The gun went off and away we went. I started off nice and quick, feeling great. Within minutes we were near the after party location and up towards the airport and then a quick turnaround back down towards Crystal Gateway North turnaround. I eased a tad because I wasn’t sure where the turnaround was…but then once we turned I planned to apply the gas at 12th Street. When I hit that it was all out. I was crusing well by that point and zipped past the finish line in 23:43. My best 5k time in over 2 years.

After the race…i got over to the Powerade station and no one was there..so I hung out and passed out Powerade for a while and congratulated everyone on the race and asked them how they liked it. A little while later, I found my buddy and we decided to head up to the after party.

We got to the after party which was a bit of a hike from the finish area. But we had a nice private area to ourselves and some very LOUD music…probably a little too loud to enjoy talking to the other runners. But everyone was having a great time talking about their race and getting the weekend off to a healthy start. After 2 beers, I had to head home and get some food and rest for a 10 mile run the next morning.