Peeve Farm

g r o t t o 1 1

Peeve Farm
Breeding peeves for show, not just to keep as pets

  Blog \Blôg\, n. [Jrg, fr. Jrg. "Web-log".
     See {Blogger, BlogSpot, LiveJournal}.]
     A stream-of-consciousness Web journal, containing
     links, commentary, and pointless drivel.

On My Blog Menu:

InstaPundit
USS Clueless
James Lileks
Little Green Footballs
As the Apple Turns
Entropicana
Cold Fury
Capitalist Lion
Red Letter Day
Eric S. Raymond
Tal G in Jerusalem
Secular Islam
Aziz Poonawalla
Corsair the Rational Pirate
.clue

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10/6/2003 -  10/8/2003
9/29/2003 -  10/5/2003
9/22/2003 -  9/28/2003
9/15/2003 -  9/21/2003
  9/8/2003 -  9/14/2003
  9/1/2003 -   9/7/2003
8/25/2003 -  8/31/2003
8/18/2003 -  8/24/2003
8/11/2003 -  8/17/2003
  8/4/2003 -  8/10/2003
7/28/2003 -   8/3/2003
7/21/2003 -  7/27/2003
7/14/2003 -  7/20/2003
  7/7/2003 -  7/13/2003
6/30/2003 -   7/6/2003
6/23/2003 -  6/29/2003
6/16/2003 -  6/22/2003
  6/9/2003 -  6/15/2003
  6/2/2003 -   6/8/2003
5/26/2003 -   6/1/2003
5/19/2003 -  5/25/2003
5/12/2003 -  5/18/2003
  5/5/2003 -  5/11/2003
4/28/2003 -   5/4/2003
4/21/2003 -  4/27/2003
4/14/2003 -  4/20/2003
  4/7/2003 -  4/13/2003
3/31/2003 -   4/6/2003
3/24/2003 -  3/30/2003
3/17/2003 -  3/23/2003
3/10/2003 -  3/16/2003
  3/3/2003 -   3/9/2003
2/24/2003 -   3/2/2003
2/17/2003 -  2/23/2003
2/10/2003 -  2/16/2003
  2/3/2003 -   2/9/2003
1/27/2003 -   2/2/2003
1/20/2003 -  1/26/2003
1/13/2003 -  1/19/2003
  1/6/2003 -  1/12/2003
12/30/2002 -   1/5/2003
12/23/2002 - 12/29/2002
12/16/2002 - 12/22/2002
12/9/2002 - 12/15/2002
12/2/2002 -  12/8/2002
11/25/2002 -  12/1/2002
11/18/2002 - 11/24/2002
11/11/2002 - 11/17/2002
11/4/2002 - 11/10/2002
10/28/2002 -  11/3/2002
10/21/2002 - 10/27/2002
10/14/2002 - 10/20/2002
10/7/2002 - 10/13/2002
9/30/2002 -  10/6/2002
9/23/2002 -  9/29/2002
9/16/2002 -  9/22/2002
  9/9/2002 -  9/15/2002
  9/2/2002 -   9/8/2002
8/26/2002 -   9/1/2002
8/19/2002 -  8/25/2002
8/12/2002 -  8/18/2002
  8/5/2002 -  8/11/2002
7/29/2002 -   8/4/2002
7/22/2002 -  7/28/2002
7/15/2002 -  7/21/2002
  7/8/2002 -  7/14/2002
  7/1/2002 -   7/7/2002
6/24/2002 -  6/30/2002
6/17/2002 -  6/23/2002
6/10/2002 -  6/16/2002
  6/3/2002 -   6/9/2002
5/27/2002 -   6/2/2002
5/20/2002 -  5/26/2002
5/13/2002 -  5/19/2002
  5/6/2002 -  5/12/2002
4/29/2002 -   5/5/2002
4/22/2002 -  4/28/2002
4/15/2002 -  4/21/2002
  4/8/2002 -  4/14/2002
  4/1/2002 -   4/7/2002
3/25/2002 -  3/31/2002
3/18/2002 -  3/24/2002
3/11/2002 -  3/17/2002
  3/4/2002 -  3/10/2002
2/25/2002 -   3/3/2002
2/18/2002 -  2/24/2002
2/11/2002 -  2/17/2002
  2/4/2002 -  2/10/2002
1/28/2002 -   2/3/2002
1/21/2002 -  1/27/2002
1/14/2002 -  1/20/2002
  1/7/2002 -  1/13/2002
12/31/2001 -   1/6/2002
12/24/2001 - 12/30/2001
12/17/2001 - 12/23/2001

Wednesday, January 15, 2003
18:17 - What decade is this again?	(top)
Lance and I were down in the Cambrian area of San Jose today over lunch, for reasons which I will probably opt out of clarifying until a little further down the road. This is the area south of I-85, in the Camden Road/Almaden Expwy region. Right up against the southern foothills that rim the Valley. Too far east to be among the artifical yuppie quaintness of Saratoga; too far west to be immersed in the modern sterility of Southeast San Jose, with its wide swathes of recent dot-com-spurred development and its Camazotz of houses trying desperately to look like they have personality. We stopped by the neighborhood's Round Table Pizza. Now, Round Table is something about which I've rhapsodized numerous times; it's far and away the best chain pizza I've ever had, and it's one of those things the Western US has going for it that even the angriest critics of California must admit are treasures without which the world would be much poorer. If the San Andreas Fault tosses up its hands in surrender and the California coast goes sloughing off into the sea, among all the good-riddance braying from the bloggers we'll see a few discreet tears being shed for In-N-Out, Apple, and Round Table. One of the things I like best about Round Table, in any case, is the fact that it's in no way a cookie-cutter establishment. Every Round Table is different. Some of them are little holes-in-the-wall in strip malls and downtown urban sidewalk stops; these are often dark inside, like good pizza places in my experience always have been, lit with candles on dark hardwood tables in decaying old booths. Some even have fireplaces. Other Round Tables are newer and less distinctive; they might have free-standing tables or metal chairs, or too much light. It's infinitely variable. And in Southern California, where it's a physical impossibility to get good pizza (I know, I tried for four years), you can find the worst Round Tables ever. Putting lie to the chain's claim to only use fresh ingredients, and to the silly cutesy ads of the 80s with that pallish fat guy with glasses who apparently owned the business, LA's Round Tables tended to have no personality whatsoever and even less quality in the pizza. Dry, poorly spread pepperoni. Brash, stupid sauce. Cheese with that spent-too-much-time-in-the-oven brown blotchiness. Greasy crust. Pretty much like what you get at most other pizza places, in other words. Anyway, the Round Table near where I live is one of the less inspired ones. It's in a supermarket/drugstore-type corner strip mall; it's got a fairly sterile interior. The pizza is highly variable. Some days it's excellent (and the best such cases are when I have someone from Boston or elsewhere on the East Coast visiting, and they take a skeptical bite only to be suddenly transported by rapturous waves of spicy sauce and oh-so-perfectly-textured cheese); other days it's uninspired. The place is staffed by high-school kids, mostly. But this one place off Camden where we spent lunch today... man. I don't know-- it could well be the best one yet. It's not dark like the award-winning one from my youth in Ukiah, with its grinning signed photo of the chain's bespectacled owner behind the bar; instead, the interior is laid out with lots of interesting partitions and wall hangings and other decor. We got a Chicken Rostadoro with a pan crust; I'd never had that one before. It was in the middle of the afternoon, so there weren't any other customers, but when someone-- whose identity I didn't pay any attention to at the time-- came to the table to ask how it was (an unusual event in itself), we fell all over ourselves to tell her how phenomenal it was. I've never had anything quite like it. Hot chunks of roma tomatoes covered with garlic-- mmmh! Yes indeedy. When we finished, we found ourselves shaking hands with the proprietors: an aged couple with a very thick, indeterminate accent. (They seemed to be from Eastern Europe or somewhere, but there's no telling.) Both were effusive and gushingly friendly. We introduced ourselves and talked about the neighborhood and the pizza and the store. The woman told us they'd just finished remodeling the whole place; I said I'm a fan of Round Table, but that this one really seemed to have something special going for it. She beamed, seemed to be on the verge of tears, and said it's all worth every penny she and her husband have put into it, to keep getting sweet customers like us. It's a good sign.