I recently went to Archie’s Deli for the first time. My dad, who lives in Sun City, told Andy & me about this New York Jewish deli in Surprise, so I figured we’d have to try it.

Cream Cheese Frosting Swirl
Originally uploaded by Daniel Greene

I loved their Pastrami Reuben, so when I found out they had red velvet cake for dessert, I eagerly ordered it. My first surprise was when it got to my table as a cupcake. It was piled high with sweet cream cheese topping, which was very pretty, but I was eager to taste the cake– would it be chocolaty enough? Alas, I could detect no cocoa flavor at all. I don’t know about you, but I love a red velvet cake with a distinct hint of cocoa. I could neither taste nor see any hint of cocoa in this cake.

Apparently, there is some debate over how much cocoa to add to a red velvet cake– or even whether to add cocoa at all! (This amazes me.) I Googled ‘red velvet cake recipe’ (no quotes), and found this recipe among the top results. It only has one teaspoon of cocoa! It has as much vanilla as it has cocoa. Then I Googled ‘red velvet cake enough cocoa’ (again no quotes) and found this fabulous recipe with photos that calls for a full two tablespoons of cocoa! Now we’re talkin’!

What do you think? Cocoa or no? A little or a lot? Or have you never even had red velvet cake?

I took part in an interesting phenomenon today. I was riding the light rail home from work when I checked Twitter using Twidroid on my T-Mobile G1 with Google. An update suddenly appeared from Sheila Bocchine (sheilabocchine on Twitter and daisyjellybean on Flickr) that read, "I have all the necessary paperwork for my visa complete!! Yay!! Now for lunch at Mrs. White’s Golden Rule Cafe!!"

I’ve wanted to try Mrs. White’s Golden Rule Cafe for a couple of years now, and I’ve seen it many times lately while passing it on the eastbound train on Jefferson at 8th Street. I just happened to be on Washington and 24th Street when I read her latest tweet, so I was only blocks away from the restaurant. I sent her a direct message saying, "Like company for lunch? I’m on the Metro in that direction right now! =)". I didn’t hear back right away, so I sent another, "I am at 12th st & Washington right now", and finally, "I got off the train. If now’s not a good time, I can get the next one." Luckily, I got a direct message from her as I stood on the station platform that said, "come on over!! We just ordered!" Thus we had a spontaneous Tweetup.

This is one of the things Twitter is good for. I haven’t seen Sheila in person in a long time, and I’ve never met her man Gary Millard (garymillard on Twitter and garymillard13 on Flickr). I would never have known she were going to a restaurant near me if I hadn’t read her update on Twitter. I’ve long admired Sheila for showing her photos in galleries, and I was able to pick her brain a bit about how she does that. She gave me some good pointers to follow up on. I hope I added value to her day as well. I believe that spending time with people has benefits we can’t even see at the time and sometimes do not realize until years later. And I also believe that there are values to socializing that cannot be measured, so our coming together spontaneously like this was a good thing in ways we may never know.

Have you ever participated in spontaneous meetups like this? How have you harnessed technology to enhance your social life? I’d like to hear other people’s experience with either Twitter or any other technology that has brought them together with other people.

… and I didn’t have penile enhancement surgery! I simply ordered a Golden Wong, which is a long weiner covered with melted cheese and bacon. Great concept, but the execution left something to be desired. I was hoping for a hot dog in a warm, toasty bun. What I got was something that seemed over-microwaved– a hot dog that took a long time to cool down to edible temperature and a bun that was slightly rubbery. The little shack we ate in (on Thomas Rd just east of 7th Ave) was a little grimy, the restroom made some gas stations’ facilities look like luxury amenities, and the staff kept reaching into a freezer in the "dining room" that any patron could have access to. I tried their wings, too, and they were good, but there are much more savory places to get such fare, and next time I’ll patronize one of them instead.

I’ve seen Long Wong’s restaurants elsewhere in the Valley, and I wouldn’t be opposed to trying one of them if it’s nicer than this.

With all the “I’m Addicted to Pete’s Fish & Chips!” bumper stickers I’ve seen around the Valley, I would have thought I was missing out on a local legend (having never been to one myself).

I’ll tell you a little secret though: those bumper stickers are free! If people had to pay for them, I don’t think there would be so many.

I was starving after work yesterday, and here I was sitting in the drive-thru of Pete’s on 27th Ave & Van Buren, so I thought I’d take a commemorative shot of my first time at one of the legendary Pete’s. But I’m telling you the morning after driving the food home and eating it, it’s just a greasy mess! It’s not delicious or special or anything. It’s just over-greasy rectangular slabs of fried fish on top of over-greasy shoestring fries. So, I don’t love Pete’s Fish & Chips; in fact, I don’t even like them!

I’d like a vote: is this what you would call extra extra lettuce on a BLT (Bacon, Lettuce, Tomato) sandwich?

I call it barely enough lettuce for a regular BLT. The first time I ordered one of these from the cafe in my office building, they served it with one thin piece of green leaf lettuce. So the second time I asked for “extra lettuce” and I got two thin leaves of green lettuce. The third time, I asked if they had any iceberg lettuce to make the sandwich wetter. They said no, so I asked for “extra extra” lettuce, and I got this: two or three leaves of thin green lettuce.

And don’t give me any guff about being a Jew and eating bacon and kvetching about the lack of lettuce when I said I’d try to complain less. This isn’t complaining, it’s critiquing. I’m a food critic now; haven’t you heard? Of course I’m grateful to have food to eat (God knows we live in a world in which people starve to death), but I still have my wishes, and I wish for a moist BLT with lots of lettuce. Yeah! =)

Erneesha & Antwanelle flanking Trey (back to camera). And Antwanelle (frame right) knows some ASL!

These girls were so sweet and so smart. Between them and the boys who came to wait on us, we couldn’t have possibly asked for better service (I say “girls” and “boys” because they were all so young– teenagers, even). They were totally hip to the Sidekick and Flickr; in fact, they both have Sidekicks (they said practically everyone in the restaurant had one) and one of them told me she was on PhotoBucket. Right after I took the picture, and they saw me thumbing away at the keyboard, they said, “So, you putting that on Flickr now?” At the end of the night, I said, “Miracle of modern technology; you’re already on Flickr,” and I brought Flickr up for them on the Sidekick’s Web browser. They said, “Yeah, we know! We’re college students.” It’s great to meet people who “get” the whole techie world I live in. Thanks, Erneesha, Trey, and Antwanelle for being such good sports and posing for this photo!

In case you can’t read the back of Trey’s t-shirt, the restaurant’s address is 10 W Yuma St, Phoenix AZ 85003 (just west of Central Ave 2 blocks south of Buckeye) and their phone number is 602-340-1304. I’m not sure if their website is up and running, though.

P.S. I found Lo-Lo’s Chicken & Waffles through a Google search for “soul food” in Phoenix.