Eric Hodel

I went here with my cousin for Happy Hour, and they had a celebration of sorts for some guy who’d lived above the restaurant for his entire life. It would have been the man’s 100th birthday, and they poured some gin on a plaque outside in his honor.

One day I when I was working the main window a girl came up to the front of the line. She was discussing her order with her boyfriend and there was talk of a hamburger. He persuaded her out of it then walked away.

Since the extra hamburger seemed to be a point of contention I told her she could order a hamburger now that he was gone. Her response floored me.

“I can’t because he’ll hit me.”

Then she took her order and walked away.

It was the most disturbing thing anyone has said to me, and there was no way for me to do anything about it.

While waiting to order my torta people kept coming in and disappearing through a door to some other restaurant or bar further inside the building. Really, the taqueria was just glued onto the outside of another building.

The Oregon Caves were not as large or fancy as other caves I’ve been in, but you do get to be much, much closer to everything. Its also more interactive with lots of stooping, ducking, climbing and descending (all stairs). You get a much better look at all the neato cave formations here than I’ve had at any other cave I’ve been in. The tour guide didn’t mind that I would lag behind to take pictures.

Also, at times the air-flow is nonexistent in this cave, so you may get a good sense of whether your fellow spelunkers have either halitosis or alcoholism.

I’ve been to the Bellevue restaurant for lunch and when I saw a Capitol Hill restaurant opening I was hoping it was the same people running it.

Last night I walked West down Denny to Topolino’s with a book in hand and ordered a spinach calzone with Sausage at the owner’s son’s recommendation. He even offered to remove the spinach for me due to the recent problems, but I had him keep it in.

I ate my dinner while drinking soda with real sugar in it (not corn syrup) and reading one of the best short stories I’ve read in some time. The calzone was quite tasty.

Surprisigly, hidden to the right of the front door is a small seating area. Also, despite being in such an out-of-the-way location, I was told business was doing well, which is great.

The observation deck has both floor to ceiling glass that allows you to look all the way down and has holes cut to allow you to get clear photographs without scratched glass in the way. Best observation deck I’ve ever been on.

It doesn’t have a stamp machine.

The chair is tied down so it doesn’t even rock, major bummer!

Whoever decided to wrap up asparagus in ham was a very smart person. Red Line wrapping asparagus up in prosciutto then throwing in mushrooms and onions to make a pizza out of the combination can only be described as pure genius.

When walking through Cal Anderson Park I sometimes hear the sound of great quantities of rushing water emanating from these closed doors.

Today while returning from lunch the doors stood open, a stairway and vast underground chamber revealed below. A man stood guard at the top of the stairs preventing me from assessing the true nature of its depths.