Heathrow Terminal 5 Observations

(Written yesterday - Friday - during my layover on my way from Phoenix to Stockholm while I was offline. Edit: I just noticed that the post appears as a Friday post. Well, it's 5 AM Saturday here in Sweden and still Friday in the US. I'm jetlagged and awake early at my good friends Alexandra and Erik's house, where I found an open WiFi connection.)

It’s 3:30 PM local time, and I’m at Heathrow Airport’s new Terminal 5. It’s a highly modern structure – lots of glass and exposed white beams everywhere. Lots of people hustling and bustling about between the duty free shops and the large, open waiting area with a strategically placed Starbucks in the middle, but it doesn’t feel crowded or stressful. Someone did a good job with the design.

On the other hand, they seem to be sticking to the annoying Heathrow system of not announcing your gate until the last minute and then you have to rush to your gate to make it. I don’t get it. On the brighter side, I no longer have to transfer between terminals 1 and 4, which used to be a time consuming ordeal with the transit bus and the ridiculously long lines to get through security. My last time here was on my way back from Mumbai to Phoenix and I had a 6-hour layover, but three of those were consumed by getting to the right terminal. Now I got to the waiting area in about 30 minutes after a short hop on an intra-terminal transit train and then a very short security line.

The flight here wasn’t bad – except that we sat on the tarmac for an extra hour before takeoff because they had two bags too many on the plan and had to sort that out. But, I bought one of those around-the-neck-pillows at the airport in Phoenix, and it really helped me get in a few hours of shuteye on the way over. Also, BA has upgraded the in-flight entertainment system so now you have your personal DVR and can start and stop any movie or TV-show as you please. They had also expanded the offering: 25 recent release movies and library of another ~25 older movies, plus 50+ TV-shows and a good number of music albums to listen to. Very nice, indeed.

France and Thailand meet in Chandler, Arizona

I have a new restaurant recommendation: Latitude 8. It's a newly opened Thai restaurant in what's apparently known as Historic Downtown Chandler (which means the there are buildings that are older than my parents!) All joking aside, in the middle of Chandler which is the archetype for urban sprawl (anonymous strip malls, big box stores and stop lights) Downtown Chandler appears as a welcoming 2-block oasis with nice little restaurants and mom-and-pop boutiques.

Latitude 8 is a modern Thai restaurant that just opened a few years ago and does not yet have a license to serve alcohol so until next week it's BYOB. So, five of my wine buddies and I descended with car loads of French wine and boxes full of Spiegelau glasses. We wouldn't dream of using restaurant glasses! ;-)

We ordered two sets of 10 or 11 different small plates to share, and most of the dishes were excellent. The standouts were: a spicy beef salad the Pad Thai (dryer than I'm used to but very nicely seasoned.)

And, not too pricy either for such a feast: $31 + tip all-in-all (no corkage fee). Here is a review of the place, with some good pictures of the food and Dave (the owner) who took excellent care of us: http://thedish.freedomblogging.com/2008/05/15/first-taste-latitude-eight-impresses-in-debut/

A haircut and some serendipitous wine geekery

I got my hair cut yesterday at Taglio - the salon next door to the wine bar Enotria, which makes it convenient for me. Bringing over a glass of wine makes the hair cut a much more enjoyable experience.

Anyway, after I was done I sat down at the bar and chatted with Brandon, the bartender, and shortly thereafter, my wine buddies Kevin Gibbs and Tom Rough walked in. Tom is the owner of Taglio and co-owner of Enotria, and Kevin used to organize Blind Night every Tuesday at Enotria. A group of 5-6 of us would meet up and everyone would bring a bottle and serve it blind (covered up) and then we'd all try to guess: grape variety (cabernet sauvignon, etc), place (country, region, appelation, vineyard), vintage and producer. It's obviously very difficult and we get more things wrong than right, but it's fun and educational. For the last year-and-a-half or so we've moved Blind Night away from Enotria (the group got too big and loud) to people's homes and restaurants that are willing to have us. Like Sushi Eye that I mentioned a couple of weeks ago.

Kevin and Tom had come in for a mini-blind night, and they let me join them so I bought a bottle and took part in the fun. I suspected that they had brought some nice stuff, so I made sure to buy a respectable bottle: a 2005 Alban Reva. It is a somewhat hard-to-find syrah from California's Central Coast (between San Francisco and LA) and usually shows well young. It's a big boy with huge fruit, so I asked Brandon to decant it and that I should go last since I knew it would need some time to open up.

We started with Tom's first bottle - they had brought two each - which clearly had some serious age on it. A lot of the fruit had receded - in fact it was probably a bit over the hill - and secondary characteristics (earth, cola, bacon fat...) had taken over. Initially, it seemed a bit oxidized, but it improved in the glass so it must have been something different. I guessed Cabernet Sauvignon, but it turned out to be a Merlot-based blend with some Cab Franc and Cab Sauv in it. That blend had me dialed in on the right-bank of Bordeaux - and I picked St. Emilion over Pomerol - which turned out to be correct. For the year, I guessed 1982 but it turned out to be quite a bit older than that. The bottle was revealed to be a 1966 Chateau Pavie - what a treat!

Tom's other wine was a 1982 Clos Fourtet (also a St. Emilion Bordeaux) but unfortunately it wasn't very good. Very bland with a metallic finish. Kevin brought a 1991 Pride Merlot (lots of Merlot tonight!) where the nose started out so funky I found it undrinkable. Fortunately, it blew off after a few minutes of swirling in the glass, and turned out to be quite good, but more earthy than I like. The wine of the night was Kevin's 2005 Herb Lamb E II Cabernet Sauvignon. I've had Herb Lamb Vineyards before - both their own wine as well as by way of the fruit they sell to Colgin and Karl Lawrence, and it's typically very good. The E II is their second wine - meaning they select the best fruit for their main bottling, and use the rest for the E II (only 125 cases made), but there was no evidence of that tonight. It showed absolutely beautifully.

My Alban was as expected huge: dark, almost black, and full-throttled with pure, quality fruit, even after 90 minutes in the decanter. Not everyone cares for this style, but for those that do the Reva is a great example of it.

That's the story of how an innocent hair cut turned into an evening of great wine.

Let me fall out of the window...

...with confetti in my hair
Deal out Jacks or better
on a blanket by the stairs
I'll tell you all my secrets,
but I lie about my past
And send me off to bed forever more

I have gazed at the sunset on a beach in Jamaica, played cards in Vegas, visited the Taj Mahal in India, driven top-down on the Pacific Coast Highway, loitered on the Promenade des Anglais in Nice, stared into the abyss we call the Grand Canyon, stood above the sunken USS Arizona in Pearl Harbor, and I have been to a wedding in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.

And now, I have seen Tom Waits on stage.

Glitter and Doom

I returned my old car yesterday. After 4 years, the lease was up and it was almost a little emotional - it was my second car and the first car I really loved.

We spent a summer together in Philly; we explored Arizona together; we drove along the California coast from San Francisco to Los Angeles together; we made several trips to Las Vegas, the Grand Canyon, and San Diego together; and, most of all, we spent countless nights and weekends driving around with the top down. Just because we could.

Tonight, though, is the big night: Tom Waits is in town for his Glitter and Doom tour and my buddy Jason and I have 5th row seats. I can't express enough how excited I am. I'm a huge Tom Waits fan - have all of his 20+ albums and have been waiting for over 15 years for the opportunity to see him live. The show is at the Orpheum, which should be great because it's a small, intimate venue seating ~1,300 people.

Speaking of Tom Waits, this may be the time to explain the name of this blog. It's a line from a great song - Eggs And Sausage (In A Cadillac With Susan Michelson) - from his 1975 live-in-studio album Nighthawks At The Diner:

nighthawks at the diner

of Emma's 49er,

there's a rendezvous of strangers around the coffee urn tonight

all the gypsy hacks, the insomniacs

now the paper's been read

now the waitress said

CHORUS

eggs and sausage and a side of toast

coffee and a roll,

hash browns over easy, chile in a bowl

with burgers and fries, what kind of pie?

In a graveyard charade,

a late shift masquerade

2 for a quarter, dime for a dance

with Woolworth rhinestone diamond earrings, and a sideways glance

and now the register rings

and now the waitress sings

CHORUS

the classified section offered no direction

it's a cold caffeine in a nicotine cloud

now the touch of your fingers

lingers burning in my memory

I've been 86ed from your scheme

I'm in a melodramatic nocturnal scene

I'm a refugee from a disconcerted affair

as the lead pipe morning falls

and the waitress calls

CHORUS

Beers in cans, just clap your hands...

...Enotria is where it's at.

This Wednesday I went to a tasting event at Enotria - my favorite wine bar, where I've become a regular the last few years - and the theme was beer. Canned beer, specifically. I was a little hesitant since I'd only had one of the listed beers before (Oscar Blues Old Chub) and didn't care for it, and two of the other beers were also made by Oscar Blues. But, I know Chuck, the distributor organizing the event, and he has excellent taste and beer knowledge so I decided to trust him and attend.

The first beer was a Belgian white beer: Bavik Wittekerke (White Church). Very fresh and crisp with plenty of citrus and lemon aromas. Pretty good but smelled a bit like Lemon Pledge.

Next up was the Premium Pilsner; also from Bavik. I didn't care much for this beer, reminded me of Stella Artois and cheap lager. More flavor than a Bud but not enough to make it compelling.

The third beer was an ESB Special Ale from Ska Brewing out of Durango, Colorado. I'm not a big fan of bitters - they are often good, but rarely great - and this fell solidly into that category. Clearly more hops than the previous two, but fell a bit flat on the finish. On the other hand, any beer with a fedora-wearing skeleton dancing with a girl in a checkered racing flag skirt under the line "Lip Up Fatty" deserves some credit.


The first beer from Oscar Blues, also out of Colorado, describes itself as "A Huge Voluminously Hopped Mutha of a Pale Ale", and is, appropriately, named Dale's Pale Ale. I have to confess I have a predilection for IPAs and other pale ales, and this one didn't disappoint. If you don't like your beers "voluminously hopped", stay away.

Next, the Old Chub Scottish Style Ale turned out to be a positive surprise. Last time I had it was when we were playing volleyball outdoors, and I think we served it too warm and it was just the wrong beer for the occasion. A good amount of hops balanced with sweet maltiness followed by a smoky finish, not unlike an Islay whisky. I picked up notes of caramel, coffee and road tar. And, the 8% of alcohol were noticeable too.

Finishing out the beer lineup was the Oskar Blues Gordon, their Strong Ale, which was very enjoyable, but not a beer I'd like to drink in large amounts. All levers were dialed to the max - as Nigel Tufnel would have said: "These go to eleven."

At the end, Chuck brought out a little surprise: a Redstone Meadery 'Mountain Honey Wine'. I've been to a Redstone mead tasting before, and have to say I find it hard to drink - too thick and sweet. As a viking and a warrior I'm embarrassed.

Sushi Eye! And a special wine experience.

I made my second visit to Sushi Eye! in Tempe last night and I was just as impressed as last time. This has become my favorite sushi place in town. Richard, the head-chef, like the rest of the staff, is very friendly and he sure knows how to make sushi.

It probably didn't hurt that I went there with my wine buddies who are long-time regulars, and that we brought - and shared with Richard - plenty of great wine, so we got the extra special treatment. I didn't see a menu all night and dishes just kept coming out, each more exciting than the last.

The night was made even more special by my friend Josh, who brought a bottle of 2001 Penfolds Grange! And, that reminds me of my first great wine experience. For his 40th birthday, my dad bought himself a 1982 Penfolds Grange, and then he held onto it until New Year's Eve 1999 when we opened it with dinner at my aunt and uncle's house. This was my aha-moment, I had no idea wine could be like that: so rich, so complex, so many layers that seemingly lingered forever in my mouth. Well, the 2001 is just about as impressive - I can only imagine what it will be like after 17 years.

We started at 6:30 PM and finished around 11 - a true full evening event. As we were getting ready to pay, Richard told us the whole meal was on the house - unbelievable! What a fantastic gesture for his regulars! And, for lucky little me.

My body's at home but my heart's in the wind...

...where the clouds are like headlines
on a new front page sky

Ah, hard to argue with Tom Waits. Speaking of which, I've got 5th row tix to his June 18 show here in Phoenix - can't wait!!!

Anyway, I created a map of my route on the trip. It's a live Google Map so you can zoom in, move around, and all that:


View Larger Map

Going counter-clockwise starting at the bottom:
1. Home
2. Meteor Crater
3. Winslow, AZ (standing on a corner)
4. Petrified Forest
5. Gallup, NM
6. Window Rock, AZ (Navajo capital)
7. Hubbell Trading Post
8. Canyon De Chelly
9. Monument Valley, UT
10. Anasazi Inn (not so great sleeping accommodations)
11. Antelope Canyon
12. Horseshoe Bend
13. Glen Canyon Dam
14. Home