Stepping out
.....Vin Rouge
(The scene: Vin Rouge, a hot little bistro off Ninth Street, where socialites young and old indulge in French cuisine and candlelit conversation. [This ideal date spot still has a few tables available for their fixed-price Valentine's Day dinner, but call early if you want to eat in style.] Enter Macy Parker and Faran Krentcil. They almost trip over the many chairs crowding the tiny restaurant before sitting down in a candle-lit space. A waiter looking suspiciously like Clark Kent serves their first courses, a bowl of French onion soup and a tomato comfit on goat cheese risotto. The two appetizers are outstanding.)
Faran: These appetizers are truly outstanding.
Macy: Why yes, they are.
Waiter: Very well.
(After devouring the soup and comfit, the waiter approaches).
Macy: May we please have some white wine?
Faran: Just bring us the best bottle.
Macy: Someone else is paying!
Waiter: Very well.
(The waiter then gives Macy and Faran a strange look. Clearly, he doesn't know their sugar daddy, Recess Editor Greg Veis, is footing the bill. Several minutes and two glasses of dry white wine later, Faran and Macy finish a fire-roasted beet salad. It's refreshing and crisp, as a tangy lemon dressing compliments the dark greens and chevre quite well.)
Macy: So wait, he never called?
Faran: Ugh, no,
Macy: Bastard.
Waiter: Very well.
(On to the main courses: Macy chooses the only vegetarian option - a less-than-stellar ratatouille with seasoned squash, peppers, and tomatoes. Faran has a lovely buttery salmon filet over creamy mashed potatoes ).
Macy: He really never called you?
Faran: No!
Macy: Bastard!
Faran: Whatever. Let's get champagne!
Waiter: Very well.
(Finally, we are served rich chocolate cake and creme brulee with glazed bananas on top. The champagne is dry and delightful, and with desserts like this, who needs boys?)
Waiter: How was everything tonight, ladies?
Macy and Faran: Very well!
Staying In
....Bombay Grille
I got into Indian food about the time I got into Duke. Since then, it's been a love affair with the spiciness not present in the Southern/Midwestern food of my youth. So Saturday evening, I assembled a posse for a take-in Indian feast from Bombay Grille.
And it was fantastic: You can sample many dishes, and everyone has equally abysmal breath, so you can hook afterwards up devoid of fear.
The vegetable pakora - tiny cakes of mashed, breaded and fried vegetables - was a little dry and needed some sauce to bring out the flavor. Luckily, the eggplant bhartha - eggplant baked until it is falling-apart soft with yogurt and spices - when spread out over the pakora, did the trick.
The chicken tikka masala has this slight tinge of sweetness, a definite plus that other area restaurants' haven't been able to master. Lastly, the saag paneer - cheese cubes in spinach - offers none of the bitterness that befalls many spinach dishes.
Bombay Grille may be a 10 minute drive from campus, but it's well worth the trip to grab some great food and share it with someone special. (Hello cheesiness!!)
....Anotherthyme
Your date agreed to a romantic night in, but chances are that does not mean she agreed to Cantina take-out. Your mantra for tonight: Keep her in the mood with good food.
Anotherthyme certainly fits the bill, plus take out there is as low maintenance as your evening. Don't skimp on the number of courses, in fact, think the more the merrier. Share. Use your fingers.
Their lemon tamari salad dressing tastes good on everything. Lots of appetizers allows you to split, which makes the experience more intimate. Both their hummus and calamari are super-zingy, and for the entree, their seared tuna and filet both are fabulous. Desserts might best be made in the privacy of your own apartment.
Like with restaurant reservations, you will probably want to call well beforehand to make sure Anotherthyme can handle your order on such a busy night. You don't want to end up falling back on Cantina.
-Whitney Beckett
Stepping out
....The Quiet American
Is Michael Caine hot or not? Well, I can't exactly answer that question, but apparently Brendan Fraser is hotter, or at least that is the opinion of the Vietnamese woman that they both lust after in The Quiet American. Self-advertised as a thriller and opening locally this weekend, this movie is often interesting, but never quite thrilling or compelling enough to hold its audience.
An adaptation of a Graham Greene novel, The Quiet American tells a kind of prelude story to the American involvement in the Vietnam War. Michael Caine's performance is certainly Oscar-worthy, and has been deemed so by the Academy gods this week, as Thomas Fowler, a British journalist living in Saigon in the early '50s. His seemingly happy and routine lifestyle becomes more complicated when friendly young American Alden Pyle (Fraser) shows up and catches the eye of Fowler's mistress Phuong (Do Thi Hai Yen). As local violence becomes more severe and Phuong leaves him for Pyle, Fowler, seemingly at the same time, becomes more suspicious of the increasing American presence in the region, and of Pyle's own work in Vietnam.
Before seeing this film I was prepared to recommend it as a great date movie for Valentine's Day weekend. I must have been fooled by the previews, for I was expecting a more romantically developed story with careful attention to the three characters involved in the love triangle. Instead, this personal conflict becomes overshadowed by the political conflicts of the country, and the effect is a little disappointing. Phuong's beauty and magnetism becomes immediately apparent, but her dialogue and screen time are so limited that one still wonders why these two men would go to such lengths in competition over her. A little more insight into her psyche as a Vietnamese woman being torn in multiple directions would have gone a long way in making The Quiet American a more believable love story.
I must say, however, that I did gain a new perspective on Vietnamese history through seeing this movie - the implication of an American government's involvement with early guerrilla tactics is an often-ignored aspect of the conflict. But politics, love and other personal crises seem to enter and exit the narrative too casually, ultimately making this an unfulfilling experience. The Quiet American simply spreads itself too thin, and not even the great Michael Caine can save it from mediocrity.
-Jacob Usner
Staying In
....The Princess Bride
It's Valentines Day, and you need a good rental pick. Don't screw this one up, like you always do, you loser. Rent The Princess Bride. It has everything you need in a romantic film:
Poetry: "Stop that rhyming now, I mean it!" / "Anybody want a peanut?"
Romance: "As you wiiiiish" (Wesley rolls down the hill)
Intrigue: "My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die."
Comedy: "Inconceivable!" / "You keep using that word. I do not think you know what it means."
R.O.U.S's: "Rodents of Unusual Size? I don't think they exist."
Obviously, this movie has something for everyone, plus the opportunity to impress that special someone with your knowledge of the feeding habits of shrieking eels. Rent it or be forever shunned by your Valentine.
- Macy Parker
....Jerry McGuire
Show Jerry McGuire to a group of frat bros and they'll watch a fast-paced flick about football and fame. Play it for girls and they'll see a sweet romance with Tom Cruise and a cute kid. Jerry is the perfect date movie because it fools both people into thinking they won the argument over what to watch. The girl thinks her sweet boy is doing this for her and the guy thinks the next step is watching football and downing a six with his rockin' girlfriend.
-Yoav Lurie
....Say Anything
Hopeless romantics, back off: Say Anything is for us jaded kids who still, somehow, believe in love. The '80s classic follows young Lloyd Dobbler (John Cusack) as he crushes, then crashes into the love of his life. Cusack is brilliant, and Skye shimmers as his shy other half. Bonus points to writer/director Cameron Crowe, for making both snappy dialogue and car sex seem totally natural.
-Faran Krentcil
....Lust in Paradise
Take a mesmeric romance, add the vistas of Kauai, captured by the classically-trained auteur Ron Jeremy, and finally throw in brilliant performances by the finest artistes and you have Lust in Paradise. It's the perfect (raunchiest) motion picture (porn) to watch (lust over) amorously (despondently) with your beau (yourself) on Valentine's Day (hellish day of loneliness). Dillion Day's violent, yet inspired hip movements evoke timeless performances by legends like Heston or Hanks, while Charmane's roll as the agile "Bikini Babe #3" is indeed stirring. Evocative camera work effectively juxtaposes contorted and seemingly painful expressions with stunning and exultant landscapes in order to allude to the famous Spanish proverb: "Where there is love there is pain." And, never mind the grainy picture or horrific overdubbing; they are both simply implied allegories stressing the complexities of achieving true love. Don't worry; your girlfriend won't actually notice its "porn," because she doesn't actually "exist."
-Scott Hechinger
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