Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

@browngravy - yes, this is the old Revival. They've restored a lot of it wonderfully, and the beer selection is excellent. Last time I went they had house-made bacon-infused vodka. It was delicious.

my bf works right at this corner and eats here occasionally. people rave about the food but i have heard that gus is a bit mental. now that it's nicer out i'm def going to have to head to cc for lunch with him (and gus) one of these days.

glad to see we're not the only ones on a european style schedule. i get home from work by 6 but dinner is rarely before 8, usually around 9. on the weekends we eat around 10. if we go out dinner reservations are usually at 8 to account for the cocktails/order taking/food delivery delay. growing up though, dinner was at 4:30 every day.

absolut makes peppar vodka also.

ny strip!!!

These are my favorite posts of all of seriouseats... As CharJTF says above, reminds me of the old days, when work was over when you left the restaurant (rather than taking it home in your head every night). I still do play M, F, or K in my office though. It happens in times of silence, when my two coworkers aren't paying attention, and one of us just says, "OK, so... Mike, Barry, or Dave (or whoever are the subjects of the day)?" and the other two immediately start pondering the question at hand. Keeps things lighthearted in the bean counting department. :)

I work in the accounting department of a restaurant group. Prior to this I managed restaurants and went to school for hospitality management. Current job is way better - I get actual weekends, holidays, and vacations. :)

You are correct. First, if a state's minimum wage is higher than the feds, the state wins. Second, there are different standards for tipped employees. In NJ for example, the minimum wage is $7.15/hour (higher than the federal requirement of $6.55/hour). However, the minimum tipped wage is $2.13/hour (which matches the federal standards). The feds require that total wages paid to tipped employees + total claimed tips/tipped hours worked is greater than or equal to state minimum wage.

These calculations of hourly earnings + claimed tips vs. minimum wage are usually done on a quarterly basis and based on totals for all employees. Therefore it is possible for some employees to make below the minimum wage and others to make over it, but the IRS doesn't require calculations on an employee by employee basis.

However, I can almost guarantee that per hour, these drivers are making above the minimum wage. Even if they made $2.13/hour base, they would only need to make $4.42/hour in tips. This is probably 2 deliveries per hour. Also - if they are not reimbursed directly by their employers for mileage (which currently runs at $0.505 per mile for 2008, sure to rise for next year), they can be claiming this on their own return as a legitimate business expense. If I were their employer I would be taking the mileage expense on my own p&l just for the writeoff, and consider it a cost of doing business.

@therealpotato - thanks for the heads up on memphis taproom! we went there a few weeks ago and thought it was great. now i have another way to persuade my boy to go back!

Also, Sundogs Bar & Grill in Corolla, NC (Outer Banks) has deep fried pickle chips. First place I had them.

In Philly, Pizza U on Liberties Walk in Northern Liberties also has them on the menu. Haven't tried them, so can't vouch, but I predict there will be a late night in that neighborhood in my future, so I may have an opportunity to check it out.

@izatryt - I'm right down in South Philly, a few blocks north of the stadiums. And speaking of dogs and stadiums, we were just at the Phillies game last night eating dollar dogs. I only had one, but that's cause I had eaten before the game. Normally I can do 4 or 5.

@PerkyMac - The only spicy dogs I know of from Syracuse are the white hots I wrote of earlier. I prefer Hoffman's brand. See here. Although I am sure there are other kinds, I wasn't much of an adventurous eater before I moved down to Philly, so rarely tried anything new.

Dogs have to have spicy brown mustard. Can also add saukraut, coleslaw, a touch of ketchup or siracha. (These are exclusive to each other). Raw white onions are also perfect with pretty much everything.

If you're looking for a peppery, slightly spicy dog, try a coney (aka white hot, white snappy). Theyre similar to weiswurst. These have to be charred, either on a grill or in a frying pan with some butter. Best served on a New England style roll. I grew up in Syracuse and never saw them in Philly until the great institution of Wegman's came into the area. Now I stock up on the 5 lb bags when we make the trip. =)

something with melty cheese - either an omlette, or very thin crusted pizza. or sushi, with extra wasabi.