Tue, 27 Mar 2012 19:02:12 -0800WeeblyThu, 02 Feb 2012 18:57:29 -0800http://www.markwaltoncomedy.com/1/post/2012/02/finding-good-food-on-the-road.html Kristen Becker and I went on a road trip to participate in the Boston Comedy Festival. We represented Buffalo well, met some people, and saw some interesting things. One of which was three homeless gentlemen sleeping inside of a bank, by the atm.

During the road trip we devised a system for finding a great restaurant when you are out of town. It started when we were driving around Gloucester (pronounced Glouster), a place famous for being where “The Perfect Storm” was filmed, and where 17 high school girls made a pact to get pregnant at the same time. Kristen and I were taking a romantic drive along the north shore, looking for a place to get some food. We started judging places based on how they looked, we passed a pub type place that was trying too hard to look like an Applebees, and we passed a few seafood places that either looked like they were trying too hard to look like they were fancy, or trying too hard to look like they weren’t. Then Kristen remembered a place she had eaten before called the Causeway Restaurant.

We pull in and the place is small and looks a little dirty. The food was excellent though, I had their clam chowder, it was one of the best I ever had. For my meal I had grilled swordfish tips, with a baked potato and squash that was cooked with enough brown sugar that it could be considered candied. I realized that day why swordfish grow a giant weapon on their head, it’s because they are fucking delicious. The swordfish meal was only $11.


Kristen ordered the shrimp scampi over pasta, and it looked like she got about 3 lbs of food. She ate until she was full and it didn’t look like she even started. It was at this time that the hypothesis was born, that a small dirty looking restaurant with cars in the parking lot will have the best food at a reasonable price.

We then tested this hypothesis on the way home, when we stopped off in Weedsport NY. After circling the town we spotted Arnold’s Family Restaurant, a small place that looked a little dirty outside, but had about 8 cars in the lot at 4pm.

Kristen ended up getting a french dip that had so much moist roast beef that it was falling out, mashed potatoes, and a side salad with their homemade Italian dressing. I had a great homemade meatloaf slathered in gravy, The gravy had bacon in it, bacon. I also had the mashed potatoes, and some really soft green beans. Our total bill was under $20.

Granted the sample population isn’t large enough, or varied enough geographically to prove the hypothesis true, I am believing it. I suggest if you want to find the best food on the road, find a small place that looks a little dirty, but has a decent number of cars in it, and you most likely will be at the restaurant where most of the locals go for good food at a reasonable price.

]]>Wed, 16 Jun 2010 17:21:26 -0800http://www.markwaltoncomedy.com/1/post/2010/06/trip-to-nyc.htmlI had to travel to NYC last week, and had heard some pretty good things about the Megabus, so I decided to try it, $70 round trip was a good price.   The bus was scheduled to leave at midnight, and arrive at 7am, their time.  Which worked well because the people who I would be staying with needed to leave for work by 9:20 am.  I am getting picked up for the bus at the airport, and there are only 5 other people waiting for the bus, so there should be plenty of room on the bus to spread out and sleep.  there was this weird older asian couple waiting for the bus, they kept doing this weird thing where one of them would walk past me, and check out my shoes.  They both did it at different times, and they both checked out my shoes like they were trying to be sneaky.  I saw them do this to other people as well, it was weird.  The bus is coming late which sucks becuase this one NFTA cop keeps pulling up behind cars that are in the bus lane, waits for 5 seconds then blows an air horn to get them to move.  No reason for him to flash the lights when he can sneak up behind people and scare the s out of them.  And that is all he does for the hour and a half I am waiting for the bus.  He doesnt bother with the unattended vehicle, well he pulled up behind it, but was disappointed that there was no one in there to startle.   So the bus is an hour late, I am worried I may not be able to get to NY in time to be let in to the apartment where I am staying.   I start contacting other people about the possibility of hanging out at their place if the bus is too late, which it looked like my only alternative was to go to a law school that a friend attends, and hang out in his office.  the bus finally arrives at quarter after one, and it is packed.  There are 5 of us getting on, and 7 empty seats.  I was looking for a seat and two middle aged woman who had empty seats woke up a girl, and pointed out to me that she only had a bag on the seat, and that it was available.  The girl, half-awake, moved her bag, and glared at me like I just peed on her laptop.  I understood why, I know what I look like, I wouldn't want to sit next to me for 8 hours on a bus.  If you had someone sketch out a drawing of what they expect a rapist to look like, and also sketch out a person you would not want to sit next to on a bus or plane, and merged those pictures together, it probably look like me.  So I leaned into the aisle so as to not have my love handles touching her, because I am considerate.  I was only able to get 1.5-2 hours of sleep, in 20 minute increments.  

The bus finally rolls into NY at 9 am, and I will not make it to queens in time.  So I figure I will call my friend who is in law school, but my battery is dying because I am an idiot and didnt turn off the phone and it was searching for a signal all night.  He texts me directions, but I decide that it would be easier to kill 3 hours, than travel an hour each way to rest for an hour.   So I take the subway to where I will be staying and search for stuff to do there.  I have to go to the bathroom pretty bad, and there are no public restrooms anywhere.  So I go into Burger King and buy an Icee, and listen to high school kids explain to each other that as long as they get to school by the end of third period, no one will call their houses.  After that I go into a place called the coffee shop, but it is a diner, so I had some breakfast there, not too bad, but was hoping it was more of a cafe where I could loiter.  So I need to waste another hour, and I am just walking around, and decided to get a hair cut.  It was much longer in the back than the front, so I wanted to get it evened out before the big show that night.  I walk into Rocco's where this tiny, bulgarian immigrant is really excited to have a customer, so much so that he is going to let me charge my phone while I get a haircut.  The sign on the wall said $11 for men's haircut, he tells me they will be happy to cut my hair for $14, still not a bad price.  When I was a kid I used to fall asleep while getting haircuts, and almost did that again, I was doing the head bob, and pinching my leg so I didn't fall asleep.  But after that, my friend was walking down the street right after my haircut, and let me in so I could nap.   Then I took a nap.  I like naps. ]]>Sat, 24 Oct 2009 14:02:26 -0800http://www.markwaltoncomedy.com/1/post/2009/10/forgot-this-existed.htmlThere was this TV show around the turn of the millennium called Nickel City Scene.  It was a bi-weekly show on the local Fox affiliate where the hosts would talk about the local music scene, and interview local and national acts.  They also had some sketches they would use for coming back from commercial.  I worked at a bar with one of the hosts, and wrote this gem of a sketch.  Mind you, reality shows like "When Animals Attack" and "Worlds Scariest blah blah blah"  were very popular at the time.   Also this was right around the time that doing stupid dances like the lawnmower, and other silliness was becoming popular.  With that said,

 here is a link to the video
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