Lunch Review #2: Philly Cheese Steak from Breadline

This is the last effing time I will let sherwin make a decision for me.

Sherwin, after getting cheese steaks for his birthday dinner at Al's Steakhouse in Alexandria last week (which was really good), has gone on a frantic search for the best cheese steak in town, eating cheese steaks everywhere--Subway, Quiznos, and now, BREADLINE. He called me up and we decided to head over there for lunch on a hot Monday afternoon.

for those of you who don't know, Breadline is a new restaurant that opened up on Penn. Ave. You won't be able to glean any information other than that from their website, however, which is literally the crappiest and most uninformative website I have ever seen: http://thebreadlinedc.blogspot.com/

seriously.

on to the review:
The Food: Philly Cheese Steak (a monday-only special) and fries:
The Place: Breadline, 1751 Pennsylvania Ave. Washington, DC
The Price: $11.50
The Pre-Lunch Vibe: I hadn't had anything to eat for 24 straight hours. I had Crisp & Juicy with William, a few cheetos here and there, and that was it. no breakfast, no dinner the night before. So I was starving and would pretty much eat whatever was put in front of me. Sherwin, on the other hand, doesn't usually even eat during the day, but really really wanted to try this cheese steak from Breadline because he had heard good things.
The Verdict: let's start off with the obvious. Does this:
look like a cheese steak to you?

no?

maybe that's because it's NOT:
Nathan: What is this thing?
Sherwin: it has some kind of ketchup on it
Nathan: ...it's...not THAT bad...
Sherwin: I feel like I'm eating beef stew on bread.

It was okay. It did the job of filling me up. The ingredients seemed fresh and the bread was pretty good, but...something about it coming together was just wrong.

Which is when we looked around and saw, easily, one of the douchiest and most pretentious sandwich restaurants in the Metro area. It's super open, carries fine bottled water, obscure root beer (Sprecher's Root Beer...elevation burger does it better. You can't fool me, Breadline. I am the root beer commander), has pictures of various people baking or eating bread from the 1940s, and their pizza, I swear to you, is the size of a DVD. To reference South Park, Sherwin and I both almost died from all the Smug in the air. All the people in there were LOVING it. Yuppie headquarters.

Nathan: this place...sucks.
Sherwin: I hate it in here.
Nathan: it's...horrible.
Sherwin: I am never coming here again.

The thing that really bothered me, in particular, was that they made no effort whatsoever to cover up their pretentiousness. it just sucked. Redeeming factor: the fries were pretty good.

but not enough to give it a grade above a big, fat F.

And so, the question you're all begging to ask: "should I go to Breadline for lunch?"

Sherwin + Nathan say NO!



Sherwin: it is a CRIME to call this a Philly cheese steak.

My name is Nathan and I am a model

Hey everyone Vinny here. This is my newest graphic design creation. I am so awesome at what I do :-) !!! Nathan is very pretty isn't he. *guuush <3

Vinny+Nathan

Highlights for Children

Shiloh's been busy with life and other commitments but we have not forgotten about you!

Some highlights:

-Prisms is playing on Sunday at 930 at Galaxy Hut in Clarendon 9-11PM. You need to come!

-Sherwin's Birthday is April 22nd. Aging!

-Nathan in an alltime record left Shiloh at a monumentous 645AM this morning. Unheard of!

-Jon studies a lot. ZZZZZ!

-Sherwin attends Filmfest DC all week and watches at least 3 movies a night and comes home after midnight. Reviews up soon. http://www.filmfestdc.org/ Cinema!

-Invisible Children: The Rescue April 25th which is the day before the Prisms show at Galaxy Hut on April 26 Sunday http://therescue.invisiblechildren.com/graphics/The-Rescue-Manual.pdf Sleep on the Mall with a thousand people!

-Sojourners Conference: http://www.sojo.net/index.cfm?action=events.M2EP&item=M2EP-schedule Men in suits!

-S

Lunch Review #1: Philly Steak and Cheese

Clever.

Philly Steak and Cheese. As opposed to Philly Cheese Steak. I read ya.

The food: Philly Steak and Cheese sub, steak-fries, A&W Cream Soda in a bottle:



















The Place: Sizzling Express, 15th + K
The Price: $9.50
The Pre-Lunch Vibe: I was pretty hungry, and I didn't really care about spending a couple more bucks than normal since I felt vindicated in the light of the previous day's "piece of chicken w/ketchup" lunch that cost a whopping $0.00. Normally I don't get a philly cheese steak unless I'm at Pat's or Geno's in philly, but my coworker recommended it so I went for it.
The Review: Taking the "Philly" out of the name of this sub would make it much better, since, as mentioned above, philly cheese steaks just aren't the same outside of philly. The Philly Steak and Cheese Sub from Sizzling Express came with lettuce, tomato, green peppers, onions, mushrooms, and mayo atop the standard sliced ribeye and provolone cheese. It tasted okay. I mean it was good (the A&W, btw, was an excellent choice), but it's time to draw the line. A Philly Cheese Steak from anywhere but Philadelphia proper is a ruse, a Venus Flytrap, a shallow pond. You see, philly cheese steaks are precious gems of love, and if you go to philly and you have one there, you'll understand. things like lettuce, tomato, mayo, and even your cute little provalone cheese are basically unheard of in philly when it comes to steaks. In philly you're thrown a greasy basket with very thinly sliced steak in a pliable Pennsylvania whitebread with cheese wiz everywhere, and onions if you want them...and that's it. "That's it? where's the provalone? what's up with cheese wiz?! that's gross, Nathan." Get over it. What are you eating anyway? Cosi? oh that's cool. I'll just be over here eating something that doesn't cost $20 and is larger than a toenail and doesn't consist of alfalfa sprouts, imported mustard and "coastal flatbread." What does "Così" even mean? You don't even know, do you? maybe it's french for "tiny amount of expensive food." I prefer to eat at a place that doesn't require you to be pretentious in order to make it through the door. You make me sick.



...more lunchtime food reviews to come!

Review of Hannah Montana: The Movie

Sherwin: did you know that hannah montana and miley cyrus are the same person?

Vinny: yes

did you just figure this out?

Sherwin: yes

well actually yesterday

when jenn dragged me to the movie

Vinny: you have got to be kidding me

Hannah Montana: The Movie - Zero Stars

-S

l33t haxxorz are @ll over the interwebz

Friends, Romans, countrymen:

many of you have been coming to the Residents of Shiloh and asking whether or not our blog was again hacked by Vinny.

I assure you, no hacking has occurred. everything is fine, situation normal. we're...everything's good...now...fine...how are you?

THE SHILOH NEWS:
-Nathan has again become super geeky and started playing a stupid video game for hours on end, while still maintaining a debonair chic and whirlwind social life
-Sherwin continues to eat his weight in chinese delivery food every night
-Jon has mind-controlled Caroline's dog, Radley, who has been successfully reprogrammed to believe that sherwin is actually Caroline, as evidenced by this picture:

















Regards,
The [actual] Management

SHILOH IS BRRRNNNGGG

OHNOES SHILOH BURRRNNSSSSS!!!



QUICKLY YA'LL ASSEMBLE THE TEEEAM!












































GO TEAM!!

GET OUT THE FIRE!!! ITS GETTING TOO STRONG!!!!

ITS SO HOTT THE FIRE IS BURNNNING US ALL AAAAAHH QUICK WE NEED MORE
WATER SUPPLIES. STOP WATERING THOSE DYING PLANTS AND USE IT ON THE FIREEE
THE FIRE IS AAARRRRHHH

















AAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!

YES

Someone is Trying to Kill Us.

I'm going to show you some pictures right now...and what you see may shock you.

Do not view the following images if you suffer from asthma, stomach pain, migraines, hypothermia, arthritis, myopia, a general feeling of helplessness, frequent cardiac arrest, spontaneous combustion, the flying Lillies, cramps, dandruff, warts, measles, chicken pox, smallpox, peanut allergies, bronchitis, cancer, AIDS, the inability to stand up for yourself, goosebumps, the Andromeda Strain, The Jimmies, the Jammies, or the Jams, fever, disturbia, dyslexia, arachniphobia, Zimmerman Reaction, or if you are a victim of happenstance, have recently played "savage women" in a large group setting, operated a BRUCKHEIMER equipped with an AMERICAN CHAMPION® Truck Hitch, or tried on men's boxer shorts in a Hecht's or competing department store in the past 14 days.

WARNING: YOU ARE ABOUT TO SEE ACTUAL PHOTOGRAPHS OF DEAD AND DYING HOUSEPLANTS. CONTINUE AT YOUR OWN RISK:

as you can see, every one of our houseplants is on their very deathbed. THIS DOES NOT HAPPEN BY ACCIDENT. no. I suggest foul play.

perhaps it was...
VINNY, with the houseplants in the BAY WINDOW, with the GREEN CHILLY SAUCE?!
or, even more likely, MONICA, the large plant BY THE TV IN THE BASEMENT with the ZOMBIE HATCHET??!!?
JON, trying to frame SHERWIN by killing the houseplants ABOVE THE DVDS with the LEFTOVER SKETCHY RICE?!!!
or was it SHERWIN trying to frame NATHAN by doing away with the large houseplant IN THE LIVING ROOM with the HOT POCKET??

all of these are possible, but only the first two seem feasible. what we do know is that there's definitely something going on. I tried adding beer to one of the houseplants the other day and it did nothing. NOTHING. DO YOU REALIZE WHAT THIS MEANS??!! my friends, we are dealing with something completely new. something unseen. something or someone is trying to cut off our oxygen supply, and I am going to get to the bottom of it.

-MC Mission Control

Ad Space

Shiloh loves and knows God through Jesus Christ.

Come to our worship night in Arlington, if you are free, just in time for Easter.
You can always tivo Lost.

Wednesday night 4/08/09

Jon Beilfuss's House
4247 25th St N
Arlington, VA 22207
7:30-9ish

Pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints. Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.

Ephesians 6:18-20

This is how we ride

Shiloh rides the metro everyday. There are rules to follow even if they are unsaid. They are obvious to anyone that pays attention to their surroundings and tries to respect their fellow man. Any sense of entitlement you think you have to personal space and comfort is null and void. I took the train to the Cherry Blossom Festival this weekend and obverved many of these rules being broken. If you come on a weekday please learn these rules before you ride.

1. Those seats are for the handicapped and pregnant. Fine if you want to sit in them because you are too lazy to stand, but when you see a pregnant woman or an old man with a cane, kindly get up and give them your seat. Being inconsiderate is not a handicap. Inconsiderate people do have a seat though, but it's in hell.

2. Stop eating or keep your food in the fridge. I do not care what you are eating for lunch or dinner. So please do not give me any clues by bringing your bag full of chinese food or your 3 day old sandwich on the train for everyone to smell. You aren't even allowed to eat or drink on the metro anyway. I don't want to step on your crumbs or see your gross mustard stains on the seat. And at the very least that better be mustard. You can either A) Finish your food before you get on B) Wait to eat when you get off or C) Keep it in your bag

3. Move to the middle. There is a lot of space in the middle. Like, a lot. There's ample pole hold ons and you might even snag a seat. You don't need to crowd the ends we can all ride together. It's ok you can party in the middle.

4. Don't block the doorway. If it is crowded step outside. Don't be afraid if you are not an idiot the train will not leave without you. Let people out, we don't need to climb over your lifeless selfish body. When everyone is out theeen get back on, you might even find a seat so you don't have to be a boulder.

5. Take off your stupid bag. If you are standing take off your backpack. It keeps hitting me and knocking me into the wall. What do you even keep in there to make it so big anyway? Put it on the floor and stand above it.

6. Be polite. Listen all you have to say is excuse me and I will get out of your way. You don't need to push me or knock me out of the way. I didn't mean to block your way, in fact I would enjoy the extra room when you leave. I want you to leave. Give me some kind of signal whats wrong with you.

7. Wait for people to leave before you enter. We are all not off yet so wait. Especially if you have a stroller. Just because you have a baby does not give you special access to mow people down with your death machine. We all get what we want, you get on and I get off. Let it happen.

8. I can hear your music and it is not very good. This is not a concert this is the metro. I don't want to hear your country music in the morning or your Daft Punk when I'm still groggy. No one wants to hear your Miley Cyrus, and what are you doing anyway, you are a 40 year old man. If you need the volume to be all the way up on a quiet metro maybe you should stop listening to your device and see an ear doctor.

9. Two people can sit in that seat. I don't care if you had a hard day, so did I. Scoot ever. There is no special selfish HOV sitting. If you have to sit on the end because your stop is close then just stand.

10. Be the boss of your children. I don't need to see your daughter practicing for her future occupation as a pole dancer. And your son almost kicked me in the face attempting a failed pull up which will represent all his life's future failures because you could not keep him in line.

-S

Hey Nathan write a blog and this is how Vinny and I see how our lives will turn out at this immature state via gchat

Vineet: sherwin

gchat compared to aim

gchat is for adults

aim is for kids

gchat uses contact lists and aim is buddy lists

gchat is status messages and aim is away messages

we're adults now

we need to make sure we are talking about the right stuff

me: taxes and morgages and the economy blah blah blah

my baby learned to walk

roth IRA's

jean valjean was a thief and a liar

i drive a minivan now

do you like my loafers

i wear suits on the weekends too

my wife and i dont have sex anymore

i think my son is stealing from me

Vineet: nice life

me: vinny i am having a heart attack

Vineet: this is your picture of adulthood

me: beeep.beep.beep beep.........

beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep

must...have....final....image...to...cherish

....aww...crap..vinny dont sit on my face...as i lay dying....

nooooooooooooo!

dead.

aaaaaand scene.

yeah thats adulthood

complete with face sitting death

Sent at 11:10 AM on Friday

Vineet is busy. You may be interrupting.

3 annoying cop outs

Being intentional is cool and hip. Being intentional makes you consistent and stable. People count on you and depend on you because they know you are good for it. You mean what you say because you do what you say.

However, these excuses are annoying because they prevent you from being intentional:

1) "I am too busy" : Being busy should never be an excuse. You are never too busy to do something and anyone that uses this excuse is severely mistaken. People put things on a priority level as opportunities and responsiblities come up, but they are never too busy to do it. They might not come help you move because they have an office meeting, but I bet if you offered free pizza the priority level would go up. It is good and right to have a multitude of activites to choose from and to mark certain responsibilities more important than others, but do not use that as an excuse to not do what is important to you. For example, we all poop and eat. It is a miracle that we find enough time in our busy lives, no matter what is going on, no matter how much work we have, and no matter what emotional state we are in, or how tired we are, we always find the time to poop and eat. If you are as busy as you say you are you would either starve or explode, whichever comes first. You are never too busy for what you want to do.

2) "Who else is going to be there?" or "Who else is going?" : One of the characteristics of being intentional is the desire to do something because you want to do it, regardless of people or obstacle. How many times has an event, party, or activity been organized and this question is immediately raised? Oh so you might not go now, but if your cute crush comes you might be so inclined to show up. Oh so wait a minute you are a boy and you want to go to this baby shower? Hmmm I wonder why. So you want to go to the rally only if this person comes...ooooh I see. You should not be led to do things you seemingly want to do because of people. If people became more intentional about doing what they wanted to do two amazing benefits would take place right off the bat. A) You are happy because you are doing what you want and B) You are doing it with like-minded people who are there for the same reason and for those that care they might even be attractive and cute. So just go already.

3) "Maaaybe" : Let your yes be a yes and your no be a no. Nobody cares about your copout maybe.

-S