Suing Fast-Food Restaurants

The Libertarian Party offers a well-deserved dose of sketicism towards the recent lawsuit blaming the major fast-food companies for one man’s diabetes, high blood pressure and series of heart attacks:

“This lawsuit isn’t just an attack on Burger King and McDonald’s; it�s an attack on the very notion of personal responsibility, without which a free society can�t function,” Dasbach said. “Does anyone really believe that Mr. Barber was too dumb to know that repeatedly gorging himself on saturated fat was less healthy than ordering, say, a fruit dish or a chef salad? Has he never heard of the words ‘dieters’ platter,’ ‘health club,’ or ‘No, thanks?’ And does anyone want to reward him for that behavior by forcing the restaurant industry to fork over millions of dollars? […]

DFWBlogs Cocktail Event – July

I attended the DFWBlogs Cocktail Event was last night at the Hurricane Grill. And, like last time, I had a good time.

Since their menu is online, I had already decided beforehand that I’d be ordering the fried catfish. And, the cornmeal-battered fillets of catfish were indeed “white and fresh-tasting”. More than that, though, the steak fries that accompanied the fried catfish were excellent — they were crisp and full of potato flavor.

All was not rosy. For one thing, someone decided that, as a group, we should sit near the front of the restaurant next to the giant sound-reflection panels (otherwise referred to as “windows”). At the beginning of the evening, it didn’t make much difference, but towards the end it wasn’t helping. Especially with the karaoke (?!) later on, the packet-loss on some of my conversations was approaching 80%. To give you an idea, one conversation resembled something along the lines of “ Weezer … Smirnoff … Thomas … emo …”.

So, yeah, I would have preferred a location more inducive to conversation. But, the food was still delicious and, up until the sound-levels reached critical mass, the conversation was good as well :).

DFWBlogs Cocktail Event

I went to the DFWBlogs Cocktail Event earlier this evening, held this month at the Uptown Bar and Grill. I really had a good time. There’s just something pleasant about good conversation among people sharing a commonality (in this case, blogging). And, in many ways, the Uptown Bar and Grill turned out to be the anti-bar (a good thing).

  • No loud blaring music
  • No cigarette smoke in my eyes
  • An actual parking lot outside, not just vigilante street parking

And, the food was reasonably priced as well — I ordered a burger for about $6. But, this was no ordinary burger — Uptown Bar and Grill’s burgers have apparently been voted as Best Burger in the March 2002 issue of D Magazine. And, it was very tasty. Definitely one of the top 5 burgers that I’ve had.

Up until that point, Uptown Bar and Grill seemed to be a great find, but it wasn’t completely perfect. For my Sam Adams that I ordered to go with my burger, I was charged $4.25 as an Import Beer. What? Did Boston secede from the Union while I wasn’t looking? Bah.

But, other than that, I give high marks to Uptown Bar and Grill. And, I look forward to the next DFWBlogs get-together.