R. Doug Wicker — Author | Stories of Mystery and Adventure

July 27, 2012 · 5:45 am

Kidnapped! A Tale of Intrigue and Dinner

As I mentioned on Monday, my Dark Knight Rises review was delayed because of unforeseen circumstances. You see, I was kidnapped.

It all started around 10:30 Saturday morning when Ursula told me to get dressed, as she was taking me to lunch. Then she also told me leave at home my concealed carry. That got me to asking questions, and Ursula finally relented—we were headed to the airport.

So, after a quick bite, we sheltered the car and shuttled over to the terminal. Next thing I know, we’re winging our way to Albuquerque, renting a Kia Soul (not a bad little car, by the way—a bit gutless, but not bad), and driving north to Santa Fe. I had reservations on this kidnapping.

No, not that kind of reservations. Reservations at our favorite restaurant. I have a birthday coming up soon, and Ursula decided we would start celebrating a little early. Indeed, those celebrations will culminate in a cruise later in August, but you’ll hear more about that later.

We’ve been going to The Old House since Martin Rios was the chef there. Yeah, that Martin Rios—the one who competed on Iron Chef America against Bobby Flay. Chef Rios has long since moved on, but The Old House still maintains the quality we fell in love with around a decade ago. The current menu under Executive Chef Anthony Smith is no disappointment, although there was one discordant note during this evening’s dining experience.

The Old House

We opted to start with the Agave Trio—a delightful combination appetizers consisting of a bacon wrapped shrimp, two ginger pork wontons, and a crab cake that was almost all crab and very little “cake.”

Agave Trio Appetizer—Pork Wontons, Bacon-wrapped Shrimp, and Crab Cake

It was after the appetizer that our tastes diverged. Ursula opted for the crab-stuffed lobster tail accompanied by grilled white asparagus with hollandaise and potatoes dauphinoise.

Crab-Stuffed Lobster Tail, Grilled White Asparagus with Hollandaise, Potatoes Dauphinoise

Alas, this dish was our only disappointment in all the years we’ve been dining at The Old House. The asparagus and hollandaise? Perfect. The dauphinoise? Exquisite beyond compare, with an incredibly crisp, cheesy top layer. The crab stuffing? Just as marvelous and tasty as the crab cake which preceded it. The Lobster? Dry. Slightly overdone.

My main course was the obvious guy choice—Twenty-eight-day dry aged ribeye (medium rare, but nicely charred on the outside) with herb compound butter and a side of macaroni and cheese with Hatch green chiles. The ribeye? Unbelievable—melted in the mouth like so much butter on a warm day. Mac & cheese? The choice of cheese was very good (I suspect it was a combination of Gouda and Gruyère), but where the heck were the green chiles from Hatch? I could neither taste nor see them. Nevertheless, it was a satisfying side dish.

28-Day Dry Aged Ribeye, Macaroni & Cheese with (?) Hatch green chiles

Despite Ursula’s choice of seafood, we both agreed that this night’s meal deserved a red wine. Faced with the task of complimenting the beef without overpowering the crab and lobster, I could have gone with a Pinot Noir. Instead, I went a bit to the hearty side and settled on a Châteauneuf-du-Pape (a Rhone red). We were not disappointed, despite the hefty $72 bottle price. The particular Châteauneuf this night was a 2009 Domaine Roger Perrin, and it had a hint of sweetness (unusual for a Châteauneuf) that actually worked quite well with both dishes. In other words, I lucked out on the choice.

Domaine Roger Perrin—Vintage 2009

Desert saw another parting of the tastes between us. Ursula settled upon the banana split—thin pieces of banana sliced lengthwise and sautéed, topped with crunchy caramelized sugar, served with freshly whipped cream, toasted almond slices, kitchen-made vanilla ice cream, and a large serving of very high-end warm dark chocolate. No disappointments here:

The Old House’s interesting (and delicious) take on the Banana Split

I, on the other hand, opted for the fresh apricot and berry cobbler-style concoction with an oatmeal crumble topping and another helping of that kitchen-made vanilla ice cream. Another Old House home run:

Fresh apricot and berry beneath an oatmeal crumble topping with ice cream

What a great beginning to a month-long birthday celebration. Next week I’ll treat you to other highlights from this trip—including sights of Santa Fe, a return to Georgia O’Keefe Country, a quick jaunt up to Taos, and a favorite dining spot in Albuquerque.

Until then, try not to drool on your keyboard.

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Filed under Photography, travel, Wine & Food

July 25, 2012 · 5:45 am

The Dark Knight Trips, Falls, and Can’t Get Up (Movie Review)

The Dark Knight Rises

Action, Adventure, Fantasy Based on the DC Comics Character; U.S.; 2012; 164 minutes; directed by Christopher Nolan

Medium: Currently in Theaters

Rating: 2.0 bat droppings (5-bat dropping system)

The Dark Knight Rises

First there was the superlative Batman Begins (2005, 4.5 Stars)—the best comic book-based movie ever produced bar none.

Batman Begins

Then Christopher Nolan managed to do something few accomplish in a sequel. He topped himself and made a genre-defining motion picture that has set the standard for everything that follows—The Dark Knight (2008, 5.0 Stars—yeah, it’s really that good).

The Dark Knight

And that’s really the shame of it all in a nutshell. Mr. Nolan set the bar so high with the third of the Dark Knight trilogy that anything short of perfection would be perceived as a dull thud of bat guano on the pavement in the shadow of the Wayne Enterprises Building. And what a heaping, steaming pile this movie is.

The first two films had a laser-like focus, the first on the development of Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) and his eventual and reluctant transformation into his dark alter ego—The Batman. The primary villain in this almost operatic melodrama is Ra’s al Ghul (Liam Neeson), Bruce Wayne’s mentor in the blackest of martial arts and teacher of skills more fitting an assassin.

It is the second in the series (The Dark Knight), however, that is and probably will remain for decades to come the benchmark for movies based upon comic book heroes. Heath Ledger’s Joker is in my opinion the most evil character in cinematic history. And every time you think you’ve finally got a handle on how evil and depraved this character is, he get even more evil and depraved.

But Heath Ledger’s incredible acting as a mere device in this second film—a means to an end. For The Dark Knight is not so much a Batman movie as it was a cautionary tale of post 9/11 excess. The message here is, if something is truly and incomprehensibly evil, it will eventually corrupt good until the two become indistinguishable.

And this is where The Dark Knight Rises gets tripped up, as it were, and falls flat on its face. The underlying message here is contradictory to the tale that preceded it, contradictory to the point of incoherence.

Batman’s nemesis this time is Bane (Tom Hardy), a character who (like the Joker and Ra’s al Ghul before him) wants to destroy Gotham City . . . but not before turning the citizens of Gotham upon each other. If it’s been done twice before, you’d better come up with something really novel the third time around. Alas, Christopher Nolan does not. And whereas the Joker was totally unpredictable in his evil, Bane is not. Bane is pretty much an open book from the beginning, save for his deepest, innermost motivations, which are saved for the climactic battle near the end of the picture.

It is Bane’s predictability that makes him far less menacing than the Joker, even if the extent of the disaster he has planned for Gotham is more heinous. Overall, the sense of dread facing Gotham over a three-plus-month period (no wonder the film runs nearly three excruciatingly painful hours) just starts to wear down the viewer to where I no longer cared. The whole setup was dull, plodding, and interminable.

If you’re still inclined to watch this film, it is imperative that you view the preceding two or you’ll become irretrievably lost in the ensuing mayhem and the cascading litany of characters and references that rain down upon the audience like a monsoon downpour on the Indian subcontinent.

If not for the ending, I’d be giving this pile of bat guano 1.5 droppings, but the melding of all the elements in the last few minutes salvaged half a dropping for its inventiveness, if nothing else.

4 Comments

Filed under Movies, Opinion Piece

Tagged as Batman Begins, Dark Knight, movie review, The Dark Knight Rises

July 23, 2012 · 5:45 am

We Interrupt Today’s Blog . . .

. . . for something totally unexpected.

I had intended to run today a review of the latest Batman movie, but fate and Ursula intervened. Before I could put a review together, Ursula surprised me by taking me to dinner Saturday evening—a “dinner” from which we only returned late Sunday night. But more on that later this week.

I shall endeavor to have my review of The Dark Knight Trips, Falls, and Can’t Get Up (if that’s a hint as to my impression of this picture, then so be it) up on Wednesday. For now, enjoy some pictures taken over the weekend (and which serve as hints to where we wound up on this little adventure):