Reviews: Linkery and Transformers

On Friday, Badge and I drove down to North Park to dine at The Linkery. The Linkery is one of those seasonal restaurants where the menu changes based on what's available from local farms. Some restaurants change their menu monthly; The Linkery changes it's menu daily. They bake their own bread, cure their own meat, and of course make their own sausage links.

The atmosphere was great. They had the doors open to the street so diners could enjoy the beautiful day. There was a large bar in the middle, a back dining room, and a enclosed kitchen with big windows where we could peak at the cooks scurrying around. Unfortunately, all the front of house seats were full so we sat at the back dining room. The seats were hard but I was there to eat, not to rest my toosh. They had an extensive beer menu from which I ordered draft red ale (forgot the name) and Badge tried a cask IPA. Note: cask beer is unfiltered, uncarbonated and served at room temperature. Both our beers were very strong, leaving us happily warm by the time our first course came out.

For starters, we ordered oyster half shells (couldn't resist), and of course a sausage dish, since you can't go to a restaurant and not order their namesake. We chose a smoked andouille sausage served with freshly baked bread and fruit stone mustard. Both dishes were a delicious start. For our entrees, Badge ordered a bison burger while I ordered a grilled mortabella and cheese sandwich. Note: mortabella is cured Bershire pork. My dish was tasty but the texture of the meat was similar to ham which I'm not too much a fan of. The bison burger was super yummy though. I will definitely order that next time. By this time we were stuffed and should have shared a dessert but instead each ordered our own. I had the chocolate cherry crostada with ice cream and Badge had the chocolate cream pie. My crostada was so good. The crust was heavenly - so buttery and crispy on the outside but tender on the inside - and the mixture of chocolate, cherries, and hazelnut mixed with the ice cream was like CRACK. I could not stop eating! Badge's cream pie quite tasty as well, though I'm not sure why it's called a pie since it seemed more like a cake. Unfortunately we both finished our plates, leaving us extremely bloated. The bill was a bit steep but I got over it quickly. When you've got a delicious meal resting in your belly, there's not much to complain about.

Afterwards, we rushed to Fashion Valley to catch the 8:10 showing of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. Let me just say that I love big blockbuster movies with lots of action and cool effects. If things are exploding and people (or robots) are kicking ass, I'm there. I thought the first Transformers was very enjoyable and was hoping for the same from the second. Well, the effects were still amazing. However, the movie was a tad long. I don't think they needed three consecutive scenes of Shia and Megan flying through the air in slow mo with explosions behind them. Also, it seemed like they threw together a random plot and injected misc scenes of Megan Fox trying to look sexy - I don't remember being so annoyed with her in the first movie. All in all, I'll be honest and say that I still enjoyed it. Just don't have high expectations.