Beijing Boyce

10:45 Well, so much for the open 24 hours deal. Tim’s Texas Roadhouse closing up for the night in 20 minutes. With that, I’m riding off…

10:20 The Village Grouch suggests that any patron arriving by horse at Tim’s Texas Roadhouse tomorrow should receive a free cool refreshing beverage. Tim?

10:02 Tim’s Texas Roadhouse is rocking now. Quick 400 percent increase in patrons. Now up to four. Woo-hoo! Enjoying an ice-cold Brooklyn Lager…

9:42 Here is a first: A Beijing bar playing Friends of Mr Cairo. Woah…

Frankie: Okay, this is the picture. Johnny’s been hurt. He’s been hurt bad.

Woman: Look, we can’t leave him here, we can’t. Look, he’s in a pool of blood. He’s gonna die, I know it.

Frankie: We’ve gotta leave him here, honey. We gotta. He won’t talk, I promise you that! Will you Johnny?

Woman: Frankie, I don’t care whether he talks or not, I just can’t leave him like this.

Johnny: Listen. Leave me here I… I… I can … I can … handle it.

Woman: Oh, no, Johnny, no…

9:33 Again, what would Patrick Swayze do?

9:29 Observing how difficult it is to wrap a pair of antlers. Bubble wrappin’ ain’t easy…

9:27 It sounds like some places, including Tim’s Texas Roadhouse, aim to be open tomorrow. The stage equipment, and much of the decor is packed up, but there will still be bottled beer, spirits, and food. Plus, the place has that diesel generator.

9:22 Some places are totally emptied of furniture et al, others seem not to have started, and still others are somewhere in-between. Busiest spot on the street: New Get Lucky, which has a band on stage now. Most of the Japanese joints are open as are about a half-dozen other places.

9:20 Just talked to the Bite-a-pitta guys. Said today they were told they could stay open one or two weeks longer – how is that for ambiguity. Apparently, there are several landlords for Super Bar Street, including one that has everything from New Get Lucky southward.

8:23 Back soon. Going on a Super Bar Street walk with Texas Tim.

8:17 Stage equipment packed up…

7:51 Uh oh, Loud Guy with Man Bag just arrived in Tim’s Texas Roadhouse. That’s never a good sign. (Plus, this guy needs a lesson in matching accessories and footwear. His bag, like, totally clashes with his shoes.)

7:48 EL left a comment for me on Facebook that says: “today the people at bite a pita said [the power will be cut at] at 10pm“. Yikes, two more hours of VB! The horror!

7:44 Better yet, what would Ida Lapino do?

7:39 What would Patrick Swayze do?

7:33 Holding steady at two customers at Tim’s. PA left, but The Man With the Best Beard in Beijing is now here. I think I am coming out of the shock that I won’t be watching a Nuggets-Cavaliers final this year…

7:13 Police truck now outside with a HUGE German shepherd in the back (the dog freaked out a group of workers who were passing by). Camouflage “security guys” still around…

6:57 Just finished a Mexican burger – fresh bun and tender, spiced meat. By the way, some of those creepy guys in the camouflage outfits are still wandering around outside.

6:30 Listening to Johnny Cash’s “Man in Black” at Tim’s Texas Roadhouse.

Well, there’s things that never will be right I know, And things need changin’ everywhere you go, But ’til we start to make a move to make a few things right, You’ll never see me wear a suit of white.

6:25 Things that would make the end of Tim’s better: The movie Roadhouse on the remaining TVs, a guy riding off into the sunset, a tumbleweed going down the street (credit: PA), and complimentary beers. Oh, wait, we – the only customers now – just received two free VBs.

6:22 Looks like the 6 PM threat was a bluff, so midnight is now the likely scenario. In any case, Tim’s guys are working on getting the diesel generator hooked up and he says the place will open tomorrow. Plenty of bottled beer in storage…

6:10 Listening to the gentle hum of the Tim’s Texas Roadhouse diesel generator aka Plan B (nice call, lomaksu).

6:08 An eerie quiet has descended upon the street. Trash blows aimlessly about. Store fronts are defaced with graffiti. A Detroit experience in Beijing!

5:58 Two minutes to go and, what is that sound, some kind of engine out on Tim’s deck. Could it be…

5:52 The cymbals are packed up, the drum kit is being dismantled, the end is nigh! Meanwhile, we’re arguing about “top five burgers” in Beijing. “For affordable burger, he’s probably got the best, and that’s because of the sour dough bun that he uses. It holds up,” says one patron. You heard it here, Tim has great buns.

5:49 The last pack of cigarettes at Tim’s – Marlboro reds – has been purchased. Eleven minutes to go…

5:44 Sixteen minutes to the slated shutdown of power at Tim’s Texas Roadhouse? Will patrons be forced to play darts in the dark and thus make the saying “it’s always fun until someone loses an eye” reality? Will the beer fridge shudder to a halt and thus force us to drink warm VB? Or will Tim somehow save the day?

5:37 Browser has crashed half a dozen times as I have tried to upload photos of Super Bar Street, including the final pack up, the camouflage “security” brigade, and Majesty Parlor: Afro Hair Salon and Barber Shop, which specializes in corn rows, dreads, and more (I hadn’t noticed it before).

5:34 Last supper at Tim’s? Two hamburgers and fries just passed by. We’re up to six patrons here.

5:16 Restaurant, bar, and shop owners off for a meeting with the management office. We’re sitting here drinking VB and listening to Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard. And some guy is keeping terrible beat with a sledgehammer out front.

5:05 The world of World of Warcraft goes on. Players continue on the road to carpal tunnel syndrome at The Internet Bar on Super Bar Street.

4:40 The official deadline for the power cut here is 6 PM. Whether that happens on not, who knows. But Tim has already taken out many of the “valuables” (TVs, etc).

4:25 Now in Tim’s Texas Roadhouse with PA and two other patrons. The Aussie beers are RMB20.

4:23 Walked down Super Bar Street with Eight Songs. A dozen “security guards“, who look like they would be better off in high school, are patrolling the street in a group. People are packing up, trash is scattered everywhere, and the place – as incredible as it may sound – looks even more desolate than usual.

Chef Dan during Louisiana days

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Well, almost.

Dan Segall, who worked at the Beijing Hilton for the former Louisiana restaurant (one of the city’s best at the time), later headed the kitchen at RBL in Wangfujing, and then did a stint in Hong Kong before landing in Shanghai, will be back in town next week. (Segall was also among the early supporters of the bars newsletter that preceded this blog.)

He will be at the Hilton and whip up some Asian cuisine, along with a few dishes from Louisiana, in One East on Third, and that means everything from putting together menus for wine dinners to teaching cooking classes. Here is the lineup:

Friday, June 5
Boogie with Chef Dan: “Jazz night” and a six-course “tasting menu” (RMB400)

Sunday, June 7
Cook with Chef Dan: Kitchen class, 20 spots available (RMB300)

Tuesday, June 9
Multitask with Chef Dan: “Interactive cooking day”, 8 spaces available (RMB500)

Wine and dine Chef Dan: Four-course meal paired with American wines (RMB600)

Wednesday, June 10
Fuse with Chef Dan: Kitchen class, with a focus on Asian dishes, 20 spaces available (RMB300)

Thursday, June 11
Sip and bite with Chef Dan: Hilton Wine Club, with canapés by Segall (RMB150)

Friday, June 12
Bye bye with Chef Dan: Five-course menu matched with American wines (RMB600 or RMB 800 <- I am not sure from the invite what the difference in prices means)

The Irish Volunteer (map) became the unofficial hockey home for a good swath of the city’s Vancouver Canucks* fans  as well as a few Chicago Black Hawks and Washington Capitals followers during this year’s NHL playoffs. Unfortunately for them, all three teams have been knocked out, and we know have a Steel Town-Motor City showdown, with the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Detroit Red Wings facing off in the Stanley Cup finals. You can catch the first game on  Sunday at 8 AM at The Irish Volunteer – the usual breakfast deals apply. Note: The Goose and Duck (map) is also showing the games, though the slingbox feed can get choppy at times.

* Given that next year marks four decades since the Canucks started and the team has yet to win a cup, I will now refer to them as the Vancouver 40-year-old Virgins.

See also:
Service in Beijing: A horde of hockey fans versus The Irish Volunteer
NHL playoffs in Beijing: Canucks versus Black Hawks at The Irish Volunteer
NHL Playoffs: Catch Canucks games at The Irish Volunteer

I headed to Super Bar Street last night, days before the area is slated to shut down, to hang out at Tim’s Texas Roadhouse (map) and a) have a few American micro-brews (bucket of four for RMB100) and pints of Tsingtao (RMB10), b) watch The Big Lebowski, and c) tape my weekly interview with Peter “Sneaky Pete” Koveos of China Radio International.

The place had a solid crowd on hand and many stuck around to watch the two-piece band, play darts and pool, and take advantage of the drink specials. Good times, though I would advise the two women who sang Killing Me Softly to keep their day jobs and be advised that, if there is a second performance, I may ask the police to issue a restraining order to keep them from within 100 meters of a live microphone. (Kidding. Kind of….)

Tim’s will be open 24 hours per day until the expected power cut on Sunday at 6 PM. Tim’s Texas Bar-B-Q (map), near the silk market, will be business as usual.

Some stuff to do when not paddling a dragon boat or eating glutinous rice this weekend…

2 Kolegas (map) celebrates its fourth anniversary with a handful of bands playing on Saturday, including Black Cat Bone and Subs. Chill on the lawn and have a few pints, with music from 10 PM. (RMB50 entry fee; RMB40 for students)

As mentioned earlier, Jimmy’s Thai Kitchen and Lounge (map) will serve as a venue for jazz, blues, funk, and more, with Girassol kicking things off at 10 PM on Saturday.  (RMB30, includes cover)

Beijing Playhouse will perform Romeo and Juliet on Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon at Block 8 (map). The invite states that this is a funnier and shorter version. (RMB300; RMB 260 in advance; contact 13718-908-922 or performance@beijingplayhouse.com for tickets).

Woodie Allen is wrapping up a series of performances on Saturday to mark the band’s new album. The music starts at 8 PM at Frank’s Place (map).

The countdown is on at Super Bar Street as it appears the end will come on Sunday. Last chance to visit Biteapitta, Afro Arena, New Get Lucky, Tim’s Texas Roadhouse, and other venues as well as to saunter down one of the most depressing streets in the city (though I think I spotted a blade of grass there the last time I visited).

Just received an email from Leon Lee, formerly of OT Lounge and now working with The Legation Quarter, about a new music option set to kick off on May 30. Lee writes:

… hopefully very soon, Beijing will gain another live music venue to carry on the short-lived OT Lounge in presenting the best jazz, world, blues, soul, rhythm & blues, folk, funk, and new music in town (non-rock and DJs, that is).

The place is called Jimmy’s Thai Kitchen and Lounge and is on the ground floor of East Gate Plaza (Tower B) behind Poly Theater.  According to Lee:

Jimmy’s will do something more non-rock venues should do, which is, to charge admission and offer the non-rock/dj artists a living wage. It’s no wonder why local DJs and rock bands have been on a development fast-track, nourished by the economics of audience support in cultivating distinctive artistic voices (read: paying audiences). YGYS and Mao Livehouse does it, why not a venue for non-rock no? If you pay, maybe these music groups will actually get decent photographs taken.

He adds that the place can fit 100 people and offers draft beer, mixed drinks, and Thai and Malaysian snacks, all priced from RMB25 to RMB45. The music will start at 10 PM, with the RMB30 cover including a beverage.

The slate: May 30 and June 4, 11, 18, and 25 – Girassol (bossa nova); June 6 – Nathaniel Gao Quartet (jazz);  June 12 and 26 – Eastern Quartet; June 19 -  Excess Luggage (jazz); and July 11 and 25 – Afrokoko Roots (Afro beat).

The number at Jimmy’s is 6415-5157. For details about the music, contact Leon Lee at leonleebaoyan@gmail.com.

The beer flowed, the BBQ flamed, and more than a dozen bands flaunted their stuff as The Pomegranate (map) held its annual Rynostock music festival last Saturday. DJ Chunky and I ended up plunking down 87 kuai for the  Sanlitun to Shunyi cab ride – about 20 kuai of it accumulating as we searched the suburbs for the bar – to catch some tunes and put down a few pints of Carlsberg (RMB25) and bottles of Corona (RMB20). With the place packed and plenty of music, it was good times all around. Here are some photos and, yeah, I know a lot of them are of Black Cat Bone. But then again, these guys rock…

Wielding an arsenal of spray cans, paint tubes, and brushes, a crack group of graffiti artists invaded Sanlitun Village on Saturday afternoon and unleashed an explosion of color. I earlier posted six photos of what I call the “wall of sound” mural. Here are nine more photos of the other murals and artists.

With the end of Super Bar Street on the horizon, Tim’s (map) will ride off into the sunset by holding a “Burnin’ Down the Roadhouse” week. The place will be open for 24 hours all week, until 6 PM on Sunday when the power is expected to be cut, and feature food and drink specials, including “super” dogs for RMB15 and Tsingtao for RMB10. Tim’s will also screen The Big Lebowski on Wednesday at about 7 PM. And the place has a new pool table. Look for it to reappear in a new Tim’s, perhaps in the Sanlitun area…

I don’t know how many times I have walked past The Bookworm, looked at the mammoth building across from it, and spotted that Budweiser sign stuck to the facade on the seventh floor On Saturday night, ksquare and I decided to head up there, and we found a nice surprise – a rooftop garden complete with grass, running water, two pools, a small footbridge, a cozy bar, and dozens of cubby holes in which to sit.

The place is called Zhongyu Hanging Garden, just reopened for the summer, has space for upwards of 120 people, and requires a trip through the lobby of the building – at the northeast corner of where Sanlitun north and south meet – and a ride in the elevator.

Bottled Tsingtao and Corona are RMB12 and RMB20 respectively, and there is a decent range of whiskey, gin, vodka, and so on available at RMB20 per pour. The Budweiser that used to be on draft has since been replaced with Carlsberg. Admittedly, the place is still on the learning curve – we had to explain the concept of putting a slice of lime or lemon in the Coronas – but it does represent an unusual getaway in the heart of Sanlitun.

And while most of one side of the place is fronted by the facade of the building proper, it nevertheless offers decent views, including north past Sanlitun Village, south toward Guomao, and west where the new Soho is rising. The downside is the chain link fence, apparently required by law, that slightly obscures the view.

Note: The photos are not that good as I am still getting the hang of using my new camera at night (that’s The Bookworm in the third photo).

Wielding an arsenal of spray cans, paint tubes, and brushes, a crack group of graffiti artists invaded Sanlitun Village on Saturday afternoon and unleashed an explosion of color. Here are photos I took of a mural of a dozen records (given the subject, I’ll dedicate this post to vinyl lover DJ Chunky). I took the photos  around 6 PM, but when I went back after midnight, this and another three murals had been dismantled. Maybe management didn’t want people putting graffiti all over them…

Note: Here are nine photos of the other murals.

And do as adversaries do in law -
Strive mightily, but eat and drink as friends.
- The Taming of the Shrew

Two spots in the Sanlitun-Gongti zone mark birthdays this weekend: Beer Mania (map) will celebrate four years of serving up Belgian beer by handing out Stella Artois on its brand-spanking new wood terrace tonight, while Vics (map) holds its ninth anniversary – how many clubs in Beijing last that long? – with an open bar from 9 PM to midnight on Saturday night.

Meanwhile, the annual Rynostock Music Festival is set for The Pomegranate (map) in Shunyi this Saturday from 1 PM to 11 PM. Expect two stages and about twenty bands to go along with some chilled beverages. Blues fans will be happy to know that both Black Cat Bone and Woodie Alan will be rocking the joint. The entry fee is RMB20, with money going to Hearts Are Sure, a program that helps orphans find foster homes in China. See the full band schedule below.

Finally, Cheeky Monkey Theater will perform Kung Pao Shakespeare at The Canadian School on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, from 7:30 to 9:30 PM (RMB120 per ticket, RMB60 for students). This is comedy about a Beijing theater company putting on Taming of the Shrew. Call 15810-803-034 or email info@cheekymonkeytheater.com for more details or for tickets. (Fun Shakespeare drinking game: Sneak in a mickey and take a sip any time some says thee, thou, or thus, or accidentally speaks so forcefully as to send a spray of saliva into another actor’s face.)

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Rynostock schedule:

Outdoor stage
13:00 Maggie Who
13:45 Boy #6
14:30 Out of Control
15:15 Hobo Luke and The Redbacks
16:15 Woodie Alan
17:15 Decree
18:00 Berlin Mummies
19:00 Belly dancer
19:15 Zou Gao Su
20:15 Father Joseph Loftus (speech)
20:20 Black Cat Bone
21:30 End of the World

Indoor stage
13:45 Operation Bojinka
14:45 Ean Burchell
15:45 Touch Wood
16:45 Peter Schloss
17:45 Travis Tebo
18:45 No Name Trio
19:45 Christine Laskowski
21:00 Amy Gardner & The Hobos
22:00 Ryan Kester & Company
23:00 Jam session (open to all musicians)

All The Pomegranate's a stage, methinks.

And there we had “donkey burgers.” They consist of a flaky pita-style wrap stuffed with donkey meat and some greens,  and topped with a few savory slightly spicy peppers. Crispy on the outside, the bread would be tasty on its own, with the meat tender and reminiscent of roast beef and the peppers adding a bit of zing.

Even better, K Lee showed up a few minutes later with a bottle of Dijon mustard.

The best part is the price: RMB4.

I will live blog tonight’s 2009 City Weekend Readers Choice awards, which focuses on Beijing restaurants and bars, and is slated to start at 7 PM. I will post about everything from the winners to the crowd’s general state of tipsiness to any weird, wacky, or wonderful occurences. I might even add trivia questions about Philippe Starck, who designed the awards venue, LAN. I will list entries chronologically, with the most recent at the top of this post (I’ll do my best to be accurate, but check the official results to be sure).

Note: By the way, I think the likely reason the readers awards came out as they did is because Alchemy and friends, which have represented Lan, Block 8, Hatsune, Bling, All-Star, Domus, and others over the past year went all out with SMS, Facebook, and email to drum up votes. That, and the fact that far fewer people vote for the City Weekend than the Beijinger awards, means a small block of people can have a major impact on the results.  And that means the results will not resonate with most people, though it apparently does with some of the editors, since they also gave Lan, Domus, and Bling awards. C’est la vie.

10:11
Now they are giving away a RMB13,000 spa room. The sponsor must be thrilled that most people have left. Oops, always a bummer when you have to keep drawing cards because the winners are not here. We’re on our fourth card. Oops, now our fifth. And we have a winner! Lan! (Just kidding.) All-Star! (Kidding again!) Bling (Kidding yet again!). Now the sponsor has thought of a number from one to ten. Whoever says it first wins. It’s eight! (I went with 7.3, not a good move.) What a surreal ending…

10:05
By the way, about two-thirds of the people here at the start have left. I think they’re going to… Chocolate.

10:04
Bar of the year: Mesh; editor’s pick: Zeta, then Q Bar <- Like I said with The Beijinger awards, Mesh is the Element Fresh of the bar scene…

10:03
Nightlife newcomer of the year: Punk; editor’s pick: Glen, Domus <- By the way Domus, Bling, Lan, All-Star, and Block 8 have all had the same PR company over the past year. Just saying…

10:02
Best sports bar (especially if you want to feel like you are in a hair salon) All-Star; editor’s pick: The Den, then Paddy O’Shea’s <- Does anyone see a pattern here? A block of votes is swinging everything, but the key factor is that no one else cares…

10:01
Best pub grub: All Star (I called it! I called it! But then again, I’m being cynical tonight); editor’s pick: The Stumble Inn, The Den

9:59
Best beer: The Tree; editor’s pick: Paulaner, then Stumble Inn

9:58
DJ of the year: DJ Blackie

9:56
Best nightlife bathrooms: Lan (Again! Yay! Hey, we are in Lan, I can check them out! Yay! Oh, wait, they cut off the alcohol, so I don’t need to go. Darn.); editor’s pick: Chocolate, then Opposite House (Mesh and Punk)

9:48
One more round, then I go home and scrub myself with a wire brush. (By the way, I have to give credit to City Weekend for being open to me coming here and writing whatever I want.)

9:38
Party promoter of the year: Riviera events; editor’s pick: Bai Cai, then didn’t catch it.

9:36
Most glamorous bar: Lan; editor’s pick: China Bar, Bling <- Wow, Lan is cleaning up even as they are cutting off the free drinks. That’s what I call multi-tasking.

9:35
Best place for singles: Club Mix; editor’s pick Tun (?), and Coco Banana (but not for the next six months).

9:34
Best cocktails: Glen; editor’s pick: Q Bar, then Mix. By the way, the bar just cut off the free drinks.

9:32
Club of the Year: Bling; editor’s pick: GT Banana, then Lan Club <- Wow, we are in Lan, and the PR company that does Lan also does Bling. They really got the vote out.

9:30
Best Alfresco (?) drinking: I heard The Beach and Q Bar <- Um, has The Beach even been open in the past six months. Wow, the air just went out of the room, like out of a beach ball (beach, beach ball, get it?) when that one was announced.

9:25
“Dan Stephenson just came on and is throwing techno house and the world of dub step is an uproar”* AND for some reason I can’t get a Budweiser. By the way, did you know that “Bud” is “Dub” spelled backwards?

* In the words of Lee “My Track Suit Is at the Cleaners” Mack.

9:21
Beside the brew master from the Paulaner. Me: “How’s that Budweiser?” Him: “Um, for this place, it’s OK.” Diplomacy in action. Personally, I like the hip hoppy action and the slight bitter edge…

9:20
Correction re Karl Long of Paddy O’Shea’s. He is not drinking Budweiser; he is drinking orange juice. But is does have ice… and a drink umbrella.

9:10
Restaurant of the year: Agua; editor’s pick: didn’t catch it, then Salt

9:08
Best new restaurant: Mosto; editor’s pick: Element Fresh, then the Westin. <- Um, Maison Boulud? You know, that place in the Legation Quarter aka Chi-enmen 23. Ex-embassy area… Maybe it is too old to be new? I hope that’s the case…

9:05
Best wine selection: Domus; editor’s pick: missed the first one, then Sureno. <- Domus? My spider sense is tingling. I think people who voted for Domus also voted for All-Star. Call my crazy…

Best service: Agua; editor’s pick: China Grill, then Tao <- Tao is the place on Lucky Street, right?

9:02
Best value: Alameda; W Dine and Wine; then Mosto <- Somewhere a single tear trickles down the face of a Steaks and Eggs fan.

Best steak: Chef Too; editor’s pick: St. Regis; then The Regent <- Is the Chef Too owner in the house? Um, no…

9:01
Family friendly: Blue Frog; editor’s: New Veranda, then Element Fresh. <- It’s all because of the Tadpole Special!

8:56
Best wi-fi cafe: Bookworm; editor’s pick: Cafe Zarah, then Starbuck’s (Jianwai Soho). <What? Pacific Coffee OWNS Starbuck’s. Though Starbuck’s leads in asking me if I have exact change for my coffee. Anyway, Boyce’s pick: Le Petit Gourmand, well, except for the music and the owner yelling at the staff.

8:48
The stars are out tonight: I just spotted DJ Blackie and, I am 50 percent sure, Kim Jong-il (you can tell by the hair. He uses a curling iron).

8:47
Best Sunday brunch: Senses at Westin; editor’s pick: JW Marriot, then Chef Too <- Too bad the Chef Too owner had to leave because his young daughter was kicked out. She was sober, I tell you, sober…

8:44
Best Chinese: South Beauty; editor’s pick: didn’t catch them <- By the way, South Beauty and Lan, where I am blogging from, have the same ownership.

8:43
Best burger: All-Star; editor’s pick: One East, then Let’s Burger <- Again, a nod to Zach at Union. And to Kiosk as well.

8:41
Best Middle Eastern: 1001 (Gongti); editor picks: Bitapitta, then Rumi <- And only 10 days to eat at Biteapitta before Super Bar Street is chai’d.

Chef of the Year: Jordi (Agua); editors: Daniel (Mosto), then Anna (Salt) <- I’m throwing in a nod for Zach at Union, And the guy who made us the donkey burgers last night at a street stall (RMB4 and they taste like roast beef).

8:35
Best Indian: Ganges; editor’s picks: Indian Kitchen, then Taj Pavilion

8:28
The musical break continues… I think the band is called Big John’s Blues. Nothing goes with blues more than a Bud. And a pack of Zhongnanhai.

8:20
If Shane of Stumble Inn, Karl Long from Paddy O’Shea’s, and Glenn Phelan of Danger Doyle’s drinking in the same room is not one of the signs of the apocalypse, I don’t know what is. And do my eyes deceive me or are they drinking Budweiser with ice cubes in it?

8:13
I just took a photo with Lee Mack and Blake Stone-Banks of City Weekend, neither of whom was wearing a tracksuit. These guys are really sliding.

8:04
Instrumental break. By the way, the booze is being brought to you by mega firms COFCO, Bacardi, and Budweiser.

7:58
Best American restaurant: All-Star; editor’s pick: Element Fresh, Steaks & Eggs. <- Hmm, I have an idea who a lot of the 2,000 readers who voted for this place are friends with.

7:57
Best Thai: Purple Haze (which one!?); editor’s pick: Very Siam, followed by Serve the People

Best pizza: The Tree; editor’s pick: Alla Osteria, followed by Kro’s Nest (Gongti branch) <- How come they didnt’ specify a branch for Hatsune. And wasn’t Kro’s Nest named best restaurant last year? Blame it on the Olympics.

7:55
Owner of Chef Too is angry because he said a rude manager is kicking him out because he is with his young daughter. I didn’t catch her name. Could it be Chef Three?

7:54
Best something: Maison Boulud; editor’s pick: Brassierie Flo, with Jaan next <- I’m guessing that is for best French.

7:52
Best Beijing duck: Dadong… One of the editor’s picks is Made in China… and I just noticed that the new Ichikura chandeliers – for Bar Brew – look a lot like the ones at Lan. Maybe they also hired Philippe Starck to design their place?

7:50
Most creative: Tao; editor’s pick: Bei, followed by Salt. <- Followed by Pepper, ha ha ha ha, sigh.

7:49
I totally missed a category. I think it was for best Japanese. All I heard was “Hatsune.”

7:48
Best Italian: Ristorante Sadler; editor’s pick: Barola, then La Dolce Vita. <- Where is Annie’s?

Best Mexican / Tex-Mex: Saddle Cantina; editor’s pick: Tim’s Texas Roadhouse, with Mexican Wave as runner-up. <– And a big thank you to Mexican Wave for providing free wireless as we passed by tonight.

7:46
Most romantic restaurant: The Courtyard. Editor’s pick: Green T. House and… I think it was Cafe Sambal. Glenn Phelan of Danger Doyle’s tried to give me the reach-around and I became distracted.

7:43
Bunkered down in LAN club. You know what? If they raised the ceiling, lowered the prices, and added a Russian pop band and a dozen go-go dancers, this place would be a lot like Chocolate. (Kidding.)

7:37
Got a signal here. According to the emcee, 2000 City Weekend readers voted on the awards.

7:26
Traffic between Workers Stadium and Lan crawled about as fast as a language student the morning after a 40 kuai all you can drink binge. Plus, my hair is starting to go more Shirley Temple than David Hasselhof.

6:55
Finally grabbed a cab, but not before getting about ten minutes of rain on my perfectly coiffed hair. I guess now I’ll have to live with the David Hasselhof look.

6:29
All caffed up, but sans umbrella. Now, what are the odds of catching a taxi at Workers Stadium East?

5:22
Doing warm-up exercises at Danger Doyle’s for the CW awards. This involves multiple cups of coffee, finger stretching, and airing out my sports jacket (I ran here through the rain). Early pick for an award: City Weekend’s very own Lee Mack for best track suit worn by a magazine editor.

More on this week’s drug raid at Coco Banana on Workers Stadium West in Beijing, about which I posted yesterday. According to sina.com, singer Man Wenjun is in custody “after he was allegedly busted with heroin”:

In news that has shocked the entertainment industry, the 40-year-old singer, his wife Li Li and more than ten other people were detained by police early on Tuesday.

Police acting on an anonymous tip-off raided the VIP room at the popular Coco Banana club in Beijing as Man celebrated his wife’s birthday with their friends.

…. An unnamed drug dealer in Beijing told the China Entertainment Net that the celebrity couple were frequent drug users and bought 2.5 grams of heroin from him on Monday.

Sina.com reports that authorities have ordered Coco Banana closed for as long as six months. See the full post here.

(Hat tip to DJ Chunky, who is as smooth as peanut butter.)

See also:
All (hip) hopped up: Drug raid at Coco Banana last night

Japanese bar Ichikura will double in size next week when it opens the floor above as Bar Brew*. While Ichikura is best known for quality cocktails and single malts, the focus at Bar Brew will be on about 60 grape wines, a range of aged Chinese rice wines, beers from around the world, and sake.

Bar Brew features dark gray walls and carpets, black leather chairs, burnt-orange tabletops, and black chandeliers studded with small orange lamp shades. It includes three tables for six people and 18 seats along the bar, and is more spacious than Ichikura, which is split between a bar and two private rooms. While Ichikura is an intimate space, Bar Brew seems ideal for small groups, and to handle spillover from downstairs.

* The name Bar Brew does not resonate with me. After all, if you have a bar called Ichikura, why not name its sibling Scratchikura? Kidding aside, why not stick with Ichikura? After all, this place became popular with a Japanese name even though it focuses on Scottish whiskies and Western cocktails. It is word of mouth and reputation, not the name, that will determine the success of this spot.

UPDATE: Turns out danwei was all over this story an hour ago like a bunch of university students on the last hash brownie. “[Man Wenjun] was arrested for drug use during a raid on Coco Banana, a nightclub located outside the west gate of the Workers’ Stadium. … According to an eyewitness, the police raided the nightclub yesterday morning around two o’clock. About ten people were taken away, the 40-year-old Man among them. Police confirmed Man’s arrest to the newspaper.” danwei states that the nightclub “has been ordered to suspend operation.”

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According to sina.com, singer and songwriter Man Wenjun was among those arrested during a police raid at Coco Banana on Workers Stadium West last night. Apparently, he tested positive for drugs after taking a urine test. I will update this post shortly because, frankly, I stink at translation.

But three things come to mind:

- I think it unwise for anyone to be taking risks ahead of a certain upcoming twentieth anniversary.

- If the police are looking for drugs, they landed just west of some real good action.

- And the question of the moment: whether, as DJ Chunky asks, the club was playing hip hop with techno or techno with hip hop when the police arrived, cuz it affects the mood of the raid, know what i’m sayin’? (Thanks to The Chunk for the link).

Yesterday, I put a post on sibling blog Grape Wall about a wine sold in China with tasting notes better associated with a B-grade porno. I tenuously linked this to the world’s greatest wine critic, Robert Parker, who once rated a wine made by Italian adult film star Savanna Samson.

As I pasted that post on this blog, The Village Grouch, sitting across from me in The Bookworm, said, “Duh, don’t put the whole thing on the bar blog. Use a teaser and link to the wine blog.”

Well, okay then. Here it is.

While I’m at it, let me plug a few other recent Grape Wall posts that are as equally tantalizing – if you are into China’s wine scene, that is. Like this one about our project to taste more than a hundred local wines and post the findings in Chinese, English, and French, these pieces with Leo Liu of Sureno and Olivier Six of La Baie des Anges, this interview with Alder Yarrow, arguably the world’s most important wine blogger, and this one about the challenges Chateau Lafite will face in setting up a winery in Shandong.

How many Parker points? (msn.com)

French restaurant Le Bistrot Parisien (map), at the north end of Tongli Studio in Sanlitun North, is closed and under renovations. Look for it to reopen next month with new management and a new name, but to retain its focus on French food. A source says that Guillaume Galliot, formerly of Jaan restaurant in the Raffles hotel, will head up the kitchen. Now that would make things interesting. More on this soon…

In the latest round of the top five watering holes series, Elyse Ribbons – best known as the woman behind Cheeky Monkey Theater – gives her picks for best spots to grab a drink in Beijing. Her newest production, Kung Pao Shakespeare, a comedy about a Beijing theater company putting on Taming of the Shrew, will be performed this Friday, Saturday, and Sunday (there are details on her site about the play and tickets. See also her post on Facebook).

I’M THE KIND OF GIRL that prefers a bar where the barkeep knows my name (and exactly how to mix my drink), so my top five faves in Beijing should come as no surprise:

1) Stone Boat (map): Whether for a coffee in the afternoon or a beer late at night, Stone Boat is my Zen place.

2) Sandglass (map): They make a killer long island iced teas, and they have fabulous ginger beer.

3) Q Bar (map): For obvious reasons – the best mixed drinks in town.

4) Yugong Yishan (map): Cheap beer + good music = good.

5) Salud (map): Flavored rums can’t be beat.

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Top fives:

• Cam Macmurchy
• Brandon Chemers
• Jon, Jackson, Richard, Adam, Andy of RandomK(e)
• Andrew Schorr & Ellis Rahhal
• Pete Demola
• Shane Crombie
• Ben Shaw
• Kaiser Kuo
• Bjorn Stabell
• Phoebe Wong
• Diane Fermin
• Badr Benjelloun
• Elisabeth Tchoudjinoff & Katrina Arndt
• Paul Adkins
• Chandler Jurinka
• Kevin Shen
• Steven Schwankert