Beijing Boyce

City Weekend and beer distributor Dxcel, known best for its Australian and American brews, are teaming up with a dozen Beijing establishments in October for the innaugural Beer Jing festival.

When you drink a Dxcel-distributed beer – say a Brooklyn Lager, Crown, or VB – at one of these dozen spots, you get a stamp in your passport for that place.  Be among the first 20 people to get eight stamps and you will be invited to the Beer Jing party on October 29 at Danger Doyle’s at 7:30 PM*. According to the press release, participants will  “taste some of the most exotic microbrews the world has to offer.”  The doors open to everyone at 9:30 PM and for RMB100 you can drink beer to your liver’s content.

To participate, pick up a “passport” at one of these bars: Danger Doyle’s (map), Rickshaw (map), Kro’s Nest (map), Ned’s (map), Frank’s Place (map), Westside Café, Union Bar and Grill (map), Unconditional Love Coffee (map), The Den (map), Nola, Vineyard Café (map), and Tim’s Texas Barbecue (map).

You can also find good deals on the Beer Jing brews during October at Kro’s Nest every Thursday (five beers for RMB80), at The Den every day (RMB25), and at Nola where prices range from RMB30 for VB to RMB26 for Blue Star. All 12 spots will offer a 20 percent discount on these beers during the “Beer Jing weekend”, October 16 to 18.

* You need at least eight stamps to qualify. Send a scan of your passport to Lee Mack at leemack@cityweekend.com.cn by October 26.

Before I get to the quiz, a heads up that the Lord of the Wings finale is this Tuesday at The Rickshaw (map). The six winners of the monthly contest will be invited to separate man from birds and see who takes home the RMB5000 prize (that’s five thousand smackers). The wing-off starts at 8 PM and participants have two hours to pack as much bird down their gullets as possible. The winner will be determined by calculating the weight of the wings at the start and after the carnage.

Next up, one great (if you like unintentional comedy) or not so great (if you dislike the “wisdom” of the wasted) thing about The Rickshaw is there is almost always at least one obnoxious drunk there. Sunday proved the rule out as an inebriated patron at the pool table expressed dissatisfaction when the music was turned off in favor of rugby commentary.

See if you can pick which of the following four comments he did not make – the exception was uttered by a rugby fan – and I should add he did so with a cigarette dangling from his mouth thus demonstrating multitasking skills. To provide a helping hand, I will note the game involved two Australian teams and thus no European ones.

Quiz: Which comment did he not make?

a) Category: Geography

“They should call this ‘Euro-trash Sunday‘. That’s what we’re getting now – Euro-trash Sunday.”

b) Category: Ethnography

“Did you know Australians are Asians? They are. They’re Asians, that’s what they are. Australians are Asians.”

c) Category: Cuisine and/or Kinky Sex

[After an ad for a "taste Australia" food promotion] Australia should spread its legs and I’ll taste it. [Note: I'm not sure if he was referring to the rugby players or not.]

d) Category: Physics

The kinetic impact of two rugby players running into each other at that particular speed are quite high.

Answer: (d)

Union Bar & Grille (map) will soon expand its menu to include, among other items, chicken tenders, three kinds of sliders and – the clincher for me – all-day breakfast. As mentioned before, Union is my “go to” spot for eggs benedict, omelets, and the like. Not to mention bottomless coffee for RMB20. I just wish the efficiency of the wait staff were matched by its friendliness.

Le Cafe Igosso, a good spot for everything from a first date to trying single malts with friends, is biting the dust. I suppose fans can migrate to the new branch (map) at Workers Stadium East, near A Hotel, though it lacks the earthiness of the original.

Q Bar (map) is putting the finishing touches on its new and bigger deck – about triple in size by the looks of it. The simple layout of long tables and benches on the sides with smaller tables and chairs in the middle is giving way to a maze-like design surrounded by two-meter-high glass walls consisting of panels that appear to be mostly opaque red. My initial reaction was “hmmm” but, to be fair, I was downing Alphonso Specials at the time and they tend to warp one’s perceptions.

A press release sent on behalf of Karaiya Spice House (map) announces that this most recent project from Alan Wong of Hatsune fame is open in Sanlitun Village. The two-story venue focuses on Hunan food.

The Rickshaw (map) reports that its kitchen will close from 2 AM to 8 AM because the place will “change almost all of [its] kitchen staff… more than 10 chefs” in an effort to improve the food. I hope the place also improves its service.

But putting that aside, my initial reaction to the announcement: The Rickshaw has more than *ten* chefs!? What have they been doing? This was followed by “Were they fired or did they quit?” and “Who hired them in the first place?” Sometimes it is best to avoid provoking speculation and to simply issue an “Our kitchen will close as part of an upgrade” statement.bAnyway, I hope the place gets back on track as I used to visit quite often in the afternoon to have lunch, watch the NBA Channel, and chat with the regulars.

By the way, The Rickshaw has bingo tonight from 5 PM to 10 PM, with draft beer at RMB5. And sibling joint The Saddle Cantina has dropped its prices up to RMB10 on drinks.

Who knows what bowing could lead to?

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7-ELEVEN ranks among my favorite franchises because it is clean and well-lit, is open 24 hours a day, and offers a good selection of foods, beverages, publications, and daily necessities. But I don’t like this recent practice of employees bowing to customers. Beijing ren bowing? Are you kidding? What’s next? Kowtowing?

A recent visit to my neighborhood 7-ELEVEN showed how misplaced is this behavior. I saw a group of trainees practicing some bowing and then shouting things such as “welcome!”, “come again!”, and “sorry, we once again have no copies of China Daily!”, all while blocking the beverage and food coolers. I uttered “excuse me” several times, and eventually pushed past the trainees, so that I could, you know, buy stuff and put money into the company that will provide them paychecks.

7-ELEVEN, here is my advice for improving customer service:

1. Stop the bowing: it makes me feel uncomfortable and does nothing to make my experience at your store better.

2. Train employees how to properly pack my purchases in that two-mao bag. (Hint: The sandwiches should not be placed under the large bottle of water.)

3. Follow your fellow franchies in other countries and get some Slurpee machines.

After a prolonged absence, the wine events list is back, and just in time for some nice tastings: a blind one of Sauvignon Blanc that includes a vote at the end, a lineup of six German wines from three producers,  and the upcoming (and free) opening of the Carrefour spring wine fair.

A new feature: Click “map” beside the venue name to get a pop-up map of its location or to send the address for free – in English or Chinese – to your phone. Also, I will keep an updated list of wine events on this page. Finally, it is always best to confirm details of a tasting ahead of time – if there is one constant in Beijing, it is change.

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Thursday, April 2, 7-9 PM, Super Ganbei, RMB100, (map)
“Let’s wine”, with three Chilean and Italian wines from East Meets West; includes canapes; RSVP with Selina at selina@emw-wines.com or Super Ganbei at 5128-5488.

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Friday, April 3, 6:30PM, Sequoia Café (Guanghua Road), RMB120 (map)
New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc blind tasting, with five wines from four suppliers; a vote on the wines will be taken; includes snacks; RSVP with Frank Siegel on Facebook or at 13701-178-073.

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Friday, April 3, 6:30-8:30 PM, Café Europa, RMB150 (map)
“Demystifying German Wines”, with six wines from three makers, and two winery owners in attendance; includes canapés; RSVP with Joseph Kiang at 8695-663 or 13910-097-621.

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Monday, April 6, 7 PM, Pinot (JW Marriott Hotel), RMB788 (map)
Chablis and Champagne dinner, with The Wine Republic and Bixente Alaman of Jean-Marc Brocard; four wines paired with seafood; RSVP with Chris Wang at chris.wang@marriotthotels.com or Campbell Thompson at events@thewinerepublic.com or 5869-7050.

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Thursday, April 16, Blu Lobster (Shangri-La Hotel), RMB988 + 15% (map)
Robert Weil wine dinner, with Wilhelm Weil, great-grandson of the estate founder; five wines with five courses; call  6841-2211, x6727 to RSVP.

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Friday, April 17, 6-8 PM, Shuangjing Carrefour, free (map)
Spring wine fair opening night, with a 20-percent discount on wines; call 5190-9589 for more info.

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Tuesday, April 21, 7-9 PM, Aria (China World Hotel), RMB150 (map)
Lafite “mega tasting“, with export manager Michel Negrier and DBR Lafite wines provided by Summergate; RSVP with Jenny Fennerty at 6562-5800 or jenny.fennerty@summergate.com.

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Wednesday, April 22, 7:30 PM, Meat & Wine Co. (Legation), RMB560 (map)
Jeremy Oliver book tour wine dinner; includes five ASC wines ranked 96 points or more by Oliver and a copy of his new book; RSVP with  Helen Lu at eventsbj@asc-wines.com  or 6587-3803.

Saturday started with a wine lunch near the Summer Palace that lasted so long it matured into a wine dinner in Wudaokou. Even better, the random bottles brought covered six continents – South American (Chile), North American (United States), Asia (China), Africa (South Africa), Europe (France), and Australia. Plus, I had my first Lebanese wine. Good times! And more than enough reason to head out to celebrate. A brief wrap-up on the night that followed:

Room 101: Despite the rain, the closing party drew a sizable crowd, at least that’s the scene I found at 11 PM. The DJ dropped some funky tunes, the owners hustled behind the bar, and everyone raised a few final glasses. It is slated to be back in November with a new name, a restaurant upstairs, and a bar / café downstairs.

Maggie’s: Someone at Room 101 asked if this Ritan Park hot spot had reopened, so we scrounged up a copy of the Russian-language Yabao Ru magazine, found the Maggie’s listing, called the number, heard the guy who answered say “open”, and headed off. Alack and alas, we found the door shut tighter than a clam.

Swing: This is the only spot I visit on the Sanlitun North strip and things are touch and go at that. Even forgetting the incredibly annoying “lady bar” tout outside, the 40-kuai Gin Tonics lack punch and there is a lone toilet, a squatter, which means a constant lineup. Also, on this night I ended up losing an argument with the bartender about whether I had been shortchanged, though we later received free tequila shooters. Fair enough.

This place draws a big crowd, and numerous regulars, and a big reason is the house band in residence for more than a year. The two singers and guitarist do use preprogrammed music, notably drums, but also display personality and humor as they play sing-along standards – think John Cougar – that keep the vast majority of patrons happy. They did an interesting a capella version of Kylie Minogue’s Can’t Get You Out of My Mind and covered a Korean and a Chinese song. (I learned that fellow beverage research scholar Ping Pong not only can sing, but also is willing to brave the limelight at Swing and jump on to the stage. Who knew!?)

The Rickshaw: We found ourselves on the street, in the chill and rain, seeking comfort food. Hello medium wings! The first to smart my tongue in months, they hit the spot before we hit the road.

The Rickshaw has joined the Sanlitun burger battle in what is a shining example of how quickly the scene has changed this year. In the past three months, we have witnessed new places such as Blue Frog (RMB75), Union Bar & Grill (RMB86), and Let’s Burger (RMB68) push up burger and fries prices, other newcomers such as Luga’s Villa (RMB35) take the budget route, and longer-term spots such as The Den and The Rickshaw dig in as things suddenly became very competitive.

The Rickshaw, which annoyed some regulars during the Olympics with a 15-percent surcharge that has since been rescinded, is upping its game. It has introduced three burgers and a sandwich, all priced at RMB55 and including thick-cut fries. Nick Ma gave me a taste test of the quartet on Sunday.

The two beef burgers include The Americano, which Ma says is made with local organic meat and served on a poppy seed bun, and the Oz, a “classic Australian burger.” The latter includes a flame-broiled bun, cheddar cheese, and sliced canned beetroot topped with a hamburger patty topped with a pineapple ring cooked together with egg topped with bacon, lettuce and tomato. As the toppings indicate, the portion is substantial.

The Steak Rambo Sambo is a steak sandwich served with rocket lettuce on sour dough bread, while The China Special is chicken breast marinated in spices, and topped with sautéed onions, green peppers, and gong bao chicken sauce. Ma says crushed peanuts are embedded in the chicken before flame-broiling.

So, how do they taste? Here are my rankings:

1. Oz burger: Besides including the “bacon factor”, the pineapple, egg, tomato et al make for an interesting blend of flavors and textures, though I found the bun too sweet (I suggest keeping the poppy seeds and reducing the sugar).
2. China Special: The chicken is tender and juicy, and the spices leave a nice tingly aftertaste.
3. Steak sandwich: Sour dough bread, mmm, though a bit higher meat-to-bun ration would be nice.
4. Americano burger: For a stripped-down burger such as this, the bun is simply too sweet.

By the way, The Rickshaw has added new wing flavors, though the medium Buffalo style and others will remain. They include apple vinegar, cream cheese and tomato, maple syrup and chili, and Brandy Dijon.

Finally, here are a few pictures courtesy of my K-Touch, which is most excellent as a phone and most frustrating as a camera. Just imagine these burgers look about twice as good as the photos.

The Americano Burger

The Rickshaw Oz Burger

Part six of a series on where Beijing residents enjoy a beverage (or two). This round is with entrepreneur, IT specialist, and former full-time bartender Badr Benjelloun.

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“Beijing has changed a lot over the past few months and the Olympics have left a scar on the face of the city’s drinking establishments. However, some bars / restaurants have managed to consistently get my patronage.

1. Salud: I’ve been going there over the past few months quite consistently. I love the atmosphere, the homemade rum, and the mix of locals and expats. It’s a bit of a pain to get there from my area but completely worth it. Add the great environment in Nanluoguxiang, with the hutongs and the locals, and you get a great experience!

2. The Rickshaw: Yes, they have a few service problems but overall that’s been the place that got most of my drinking moolah the past few years. I know almost everyone in there and it makes it comfortable. It’s my local basically! The grub is nice and they still make great quesadillas and serve one hell of a stiff drink. The owner, Kris, has been around for a while in the Beijing scene and deserves a lot of credit. The current manager, Andy, bends backwards to make sure everyone is happy.

3. Peter’s Tex Mex: A bit weird to include this one in my list of watering holes, but when I want good value, this is where I go. Best Tex-Mex in Beijing bar none and they have a great selection of wines at prices slightly above supermarket rates. The staff is friendly, the place is clean, and it’s a nice quiet hideaway.

4. Wain Wain: One of the city’s best-kept secrets. Hard to beat for a little mid-week beverage overlooking the city lights in a cosy environment. They have practically doubled their prices for the Olympics but still run some pretty good specials.

5. Kokomo and Q Bar: These two are tied because they are the only two places to make a decent Mai Tai which is one of my two favorite drinks. Kokomo even offers two varieties, an authentic one and a Hawaii Mai Tai. Q makes a hybrid Mai Tai that just rocks and had they managed to keep their patio opened longer, they would be in sole possession.

Posthumous mention: Maggie’s. Spare me the jokes here! Despite the shady nature of the establishment, they offered a great mix of atmosphere and DJing night in and night out! The cocktails were solid and affordable when compared to some of these new places opening left and right.

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Previously:
Elisabeth Tchoudjinoff & Katrina Arndt, designers
Paul Adkins, entrepreneur
Chandler Jurinka, Local Noodles
Kevin Shen, T3 Terminal
Steven Schwankert, SinoScuba

This kicks off a series of posts about where Beijing residents enjoy a beverage or two.

Steven Schwankert is founder of Beijing-based diving school SinoScuba. Last year he led an Explorers Club team on a two-week diving expedition of Lake Khovsgol in Mongolia. Next week he will lead a dive on the underwater parts of the Great Wall. Long story short: He is familiar with liquid. Here are his bar picks:

Drinking and diving don’t mix, but kept separate they are fine. Overall, I try to patronize bars that are owned and/or run by divers.

The Rickshaw
They offer the thing that is most important to me at a bar – a stable Internet connection. The service and food is just OK, but they have sports and news on big TVs, the location is convenient, and there’s a regular crowd that’s usually annoyance-free until 6 pm. Kris, one of the owners, is a diver.

Tim’s Texas BBQ
Great bottomless iced tea, a very refreshing drink after a dive except if it was an ice dive! Good Internet for afternoon use. The owner Tim dives – we had SinoScuba’s fifth anniversary party here.

Face
Nothing to do with diving, but visitors love it, they make a decent malarial cure (gin and tonic), and the crowd is tolerable.

The Press Club Bar
I’m looking forward to this place re-opening when the St. Regis finishes its renovation. They make the best Tanqueray and tonic I’ve ever had.

Maggie’s (R.I.P.)
Spare me the crass comments, it was the one bar that, regardless of its patrons, was open late, had great bartenders, great rock music, and just a bit of an edge.

Hot on the heels of an executive decision to expand my “hood” - hey, if Champagne producers can do it, why can’t I? – I’m revising my recent list of coffee stop suggestions. I’ve traditionally defined said hood as the Gongti-Sanlitun corridor, but I’m tacking on The Place since it is but a brisk ten-minute walk from my pad near Workers’ Stadium.

That brings into the fold Pacific Coffee, which I visited thrice last week. A friendly and competent staff, strong wireless signal, cozy chairs inside and adequate seating outside, and reasonably priced coffee (RMB19 for a large brew) and food (RMB22 for a toasted Panini with chicken and avocado) make Boyce a happy blogger. The only drawback: going to the toilet requires an elevator trip to the floor above.

Note: The multi-floor Pacific Coffee in Jianwai Soho is also a good wireless option.

See also:

• Grab a java: Coffee in my hood: Cafe St. Laurent, Revelations, Sequoia Cafe, Le Petit Gourmand, and more
• The winter wireless series: Bubble Cafe, Aperitivo, Nearby the Tree, The Bookworm, Sequoia, The Rickshaw; Le Petit Gourmand; The Stone Boat

Open since December in the ex-Browns location, Revelations held its official launch party Wednesday night with live music, tango dancers (meow!), a draw, and free drinks (for those uninterested in subtlety, the “Revelations” cocktail is a heady mix of what I guess to be lychee and passion fruit).

This cavernous spot remains a bit of a mystery to me. It offers what I consider the city’s best lunch deal – example: fresh bread, soup, quiche, both green salad and warm potato and ham salad, and a Lavazza coffee for 40 kuai – yet draws a small crowd. Perhaps, the launch party will provide the exposure needed to get the numbers up.

Urban Sambal had its re-launch party the same night. While not conveniently located (near Phoenix Town), the space is refreshing, with the high vertically and horizontally slanting roof, cement floors and art giving it a gallery air that is nicely moderated by the bar and huge chandelier.

The place bustled as patrons enjoyed free Mojitos, martinis, wine, Qingdao and tapas (excellent curry!), with many hanging out on the deck to enjoy the cool night air. Parties with their fair share of “beautiful people” are no rarity in this town, but this one was uncommon for the number of women who were attractive and fun (I’ll leave up to the ladies to do decide if the male half was up to snuff). More power to Cho for drawing such a crowd.

On Thursday, The Rickshaw held its one-year anniversary bash. People were flank to shank upstairs as a DJ cranked out tunes and the bar handed out free beer, including three kegs of homebrew from sibling bar The Saddle Cantina.

For all my complaints about the service (and that new yellow paint job), The Rickshaw has served me well these past 12 months with cold Stella, medium wings, a strong wireless connection, and the NBA Channel.

UPDATE II: The Rickshaw was able to show the Hornets-Mavs and Suns-Spurs games this morning, so it appears that games listed here as being on either bensports 1 or ESPN are available. That would mean the Detroit Pistons-Philadelphia 76ers (7:30 AM) and LA Lakers-Denver Nuggets (10:30 AM) are available tomorrow. (For audio streaming, go to the “scores” on ESPN and click the “listen” button for each game – you need to sign up for this feature, a process that takes about 90 seconds. Thanks to Chad at The Rickshaw for figuring this out for me.)

UPDATE: It is 8:20, I’m at the Rickshaw, and we have been treated to baseball, motorcycle racing, a dog show, and snippets of the Hornets-Maverick game, but no Raptors-Magic. Not sure if the Suns-Spurs game will be on.

Gleann Phealan is showing the playoffs of that well-known Irish sport – NHL hockey – at Paddy O’Shea’s. He is getting the games via the Internet and says the images are good.

The four conference semifinals hit the ice starting Thursday morning our time. Here’s the slate Glenn sent. (If you plan to go, I suggest shooting an email to glenn@paddyosheas.com to inspire Glenn to get out of bed for a bunch of hockey nuts.)

Game 1
- Thursday, April 24, 7 AM and 10 AM
- Friday, April 25, 7 AM and 10 AM

Game 2
- Saturday, April 26, 7 AM and 10 AM
- Sunday, April 27, 8 AM

Turning to the NBA playoffs, Rickshaw manager Chad Lager and I stayed up until 3 AM Monday morning in the hopes of catching the scheduled Toronto Raptors-Orlando Magic and/or Denver Nuggets-LA Lakers games. No dice. Chad managed to get two games yesterday and fingers are crossed for tomorrow morning’s Raptors-Magic (7:30 AM) and Phoenix Suns-San Antonio Spurs (9:30 AM) games.

A bunch of parties going on this week…

Sambal Urban will hold an “opening cocktail party” on April 23, 8:30-11 PM, with DJ Huang Weiwei, VJ G.org and art by Wei Xingyu. RSVP with Cat or Peter at 5866-8538.

Revelations is apparently having its opening party the same night.

And Kokomo now has Cuban band “Son de Cuba” on Wednesdays – the show starts at 9:30 PM. (Buy one, get one free Cuba Libres before 10 PM.)

The Rickshaw marks its first anniversary on April 24, 4PM-6 AM, with some freebies and lots of “surprises.”

They say there’s no such thing as a free lunch. But you can go hungry even if you have money.

I popped into The Rickshaw yesterday at noon for Taco Tuesdays (three tacos for RMB40 with good portions of sour cream and salsa). I went upstairs and found a construction crew buzzing and pounding near the pool table, so I retreated downstairs, grabbed a chair, and popped open the laptop.

I called the manager to find out what was going on and learned that the place was closed. I missed the sign on the door as did everyone else – more than a dozen people – who showed up during the 20 minutes I sat there. Anyway, The Rickshaw should have its side deck opened and be back to normal hours from 4 PM today

Since tacos were not in my immediate future, I decided to go to nearby Revelations. I phoned ahead to see if the wireless was working – last time, it wasn’t – and was told it “should be.” It wasn’t.

I packed up my laptop again and went to Sugar, in 1949: The Hidden City. The place had wireless and food, seemingly a rare combination on this day. I had chicken Caesar salad (RMB32) and a coffee (RMB25), both of which were good. The wait staff is a bit over-attentive and unable to recognize English words such as “water” and “toilet”, but is friendly enough. What is annoying is getting the bill and finding a 10 percent service charge… at a cafe.

Today, I planned to go to Café St. Laurent for lunch. Luckily, I called ahead because the place is closed while the kitchen and menu are overhauled. CSL will open this weekend. Fortunately, the eggs Benedict will remain on the menu although there will be a few new twists to the recipe.

I headed for The Saddle Cantina, then remembered it is not open for lunch during weekdays, and redirected myself to Luga’s. This place is also under construction. I saw a patron eating a burrito, but didn’t see any employees. I yelled “hello” and went back to the kitchen, where everyone was crouched over the floor intensely discussing something, so I left.

For the third time in two weeks, I ended up at Sequoia Café (Sanlitun branch). The BLT (RMB30) is delicious and comes with soup, and a large American coffee (RMB22). Fortunately, there is no service charge. The only downside: Sequoia is full of hard surfaces and thus loud at times.

At The Rickshaw and just caught the NBA three-point shooting and slam dunk contests – the “birthday cake” dunk, with Gerald Green putting a cupcake with lit candle on the back of the rim, then taking a pass from a teammate, leaping up, blowing out the candle and stuffing the ball was priceless.

Anyway, according to The Rickshaw management, you can catch the NBA All-Star game at 9:20 AM tomorrow (Monday).

Go Bosh!

The Rickshaw is also looking into showing Hockey Night in Canada games on Sunday mornings (they are shown Saturday night in Canada). In early December, Cafe St. Laurent / Alfa advertised this event, but – shades of that NHL-less season a few years back – didn’t come through.

I hope to have more details on these HNIC games in the next week or so.

In the meantime, and as usual, keep your stick on the ice…

After sending flowers to yourself, strategically placing wrapped boxes of chocolate on your desk, and faking several hot phone calls at the office – what to do on Valentine’s Day?

Besides the many hotels and stand-alone restaurants that will be catering to couples, here are a few options for singles looking for a love connection.

Le Petit Gourmand – Chat, read, dance or gaze longingly at the wood-burning stove at the “after dinner party” on the deck; soft drinks / beer: RMB10; wine: RMB20 per glass; Champagne: RMB350 per bottle; from 9:30 PM; contact Axel axel.mx@club-internet.fr.

Salud – Speedating Specialists presents “Bring a buddy you’d never date, take a buddy you’d like to mate”; the RMB50 cover includes a draft beer and discounted drinks; from 9 PM.

Yugong Yishan – “Our favorite DJs mash it up!” shouts the invite; from 9 PM

The Rickshaw – “Hate roses? Hate sappy music? Hate love?”, then check out this anti-Valentine’s Day party and find your cynical counterpart; all day, all night

Beijing Playhouse – Catch Love Letters, a play about, “the staid, dutiful Andrew Makepeace Ladd III and the lively, unstable Melissa Gardner. They sit side by side at tables and read the correspondence of their bittersweet relationship.” For ticket info/reservations, contact performance@beijingplayhouse.com / 13718908922; Block 8; 7:30 PM, February 14-16

Then again, you could splurge on a bottle of sparkling Champagne, hit the gourmet shop for ingredients, whip together a home-cooked meal for your significant other, and give each other the “spatula treatment.”

Let’s get cooking.

Previous: Put Valentine’s in your Pipes and smoke it

Before I give a wrap-up of Super Bowl viewing venues…

The New England Patriots lost the game – as well as the first 19-0 season – and it is easy to place the blame. Most would cite the Patriots failure to stop the New York Giants from scoring a crucial touchdown in the dying minutes. The truth is more nuanced. It is found in Beijing, in a bar called The Goose and Duck, on the body of one man – R.C. Robinson (hereafter known as He Who Shall Be Blamed / HWSBB).

Let me provide you the play by play. The Giants lead 10-7 in the fourth and final quarter. The Patriots piece together a stirring touchdown drive that gives them a 14-10 lead, a drive that inspired HWSBB to yell I believe a half-dozen times, with 2:42 left to play. The Giants need to do what seems near impossible – march the length of the field against the NFL’s best team to score a touchdown and regain the lead.

HWSBB is ecstatic. He wears an off-white cabled sweater – The Sweater – with a large Patriots sticker on the front. He wore it when he arrived, he wore it during the first three quarters, he wore it when the Patriots scored. Now he does the inexplicable. He takes off The Sweater!

Nearby Patriots fans sense a jinx factor. “The Sweater is lucky!” “Hey, don’t change anything until we win!” “Put The Sweater back on.” “If you don’t wear The Sweater and the Patriots lose, I’ll write a post about how it was entirely your fault.” That last one comes from me.

Not only does he not put The Sweater on, but he drapes it over a chair after he peels off the lucky Patriots sticker!

A few minutes later, the Giants quarterback miraculously evades a handful of groping Patriots and hurls a pass to a heavily covered receiver who catches it against his helmet and maintains his grip while falling to the ground in what is known in wrestling circles as a back-breaker. The Giants score, ruin the Patriots perfect season, and it’s all due to HWSBB and The Sweater.* (I don’t expect this will tarnish his sterling community service record of charity fund-raisers, entertainment events, and entrepreneur programs.)

On to the venues:

The Rickshaw – By game time, the place had not an empty seat and offered all the promise of a raucous morning. I stood on the steps, one eye watching the game and the other watching meal after meal whip by. You simply could not comfortably add more people, unless you put some chairs and a TV set on the roof for the die hards. Hey, not a bad idea.

Hooters – The place had no signal and this translated into a lot of disgruntled fans. About 30 people remained into the second quarter, eating breakfast and hoping the game would come on. I have a hunch that Hooters may be the victims of playing by the rules.

Here’s why. Two years ago, I helped organize a Super Bowl party at a hotel for the Seattle-Pittsburgh game. A venue check the night before found everything ready, NFL China donated footballs, mini-helmets, and silver coins as prizes, an ex-Seattle Seahawks cheerleader agreed to give them out, and the breakfast buffet the next morning looked great. We watched the pre-game show and as it approached kick-off time, the channel switched to… swimming. (Backstroke, I believe.) ESPN Star Sports in Singapore listed the game as available in China. It wasn’t and the hotel had no legal means of getting the signal. I’m not sure if this happened with Hooters – I’ll try to find out.

The Den – Just as I went through the threshold, an employee jutted his hand in front of me and at a sign that read, “RMB 50 – breakfast, including coffee and tea.” The Den, which typically offers good service inside, seems to have lost a few steps at the door of late in Ye Olde Hospitality Department.

The Pavillion – About 20 to 25 people gathered in an area adjacent to the bar to watch the game. I grabbed a coffee and watched the rest of the second quarter.

Then, as I have for the past three Super Bowls, I jumped in a cab and headed for the Goose and Duck / that’s Beijing party. This is the first one to be held in Goose and Duck’s new digs and the place is vast to say the least. I would guess more than 300 people had seats with a decent view of that thrilling finish, after which HWSBB finally put on The Sweater.

* On the other hand, he could make a killing on E-bay by selling The Sweater to giddy Giants fan.

With this thing, it’s happy hour forever! ((c) Universal Studios)

Rare be those times when a Beijing birthday boy busts moves to the Back to the Future theme in a bar*, but such was the scene on Saturday night at CJW.

I haven’t been to CJW – Cigar, Jazz, Wine – since last summer, when I parked on its patio, sipped two-for-one martinis, and stared at that massive plasma screen in the sky. (Get out the RUB A535 if you plan to do this for any length of time).

The inner sanctum is impressive for its size and layout, with a bay of tiered seating ascending theater-style. Drinks flowed, drinkers danced, the band – wrapping up their stay at CJW, I am told – rocked the joint, and the boa, uh, constricted. Great party all around and I hope to get back to CJW soon to check out the after-work drinks scene.

Birthday shenanigans continued at Nanjie, with people flank to shank downstairs and packed in like sardines upstairs. In other words, it was typical Nanjie. With a heated argument at a nearby table posing escalation potential and the birthday boy already back to the futon, CP and I headed to The Tree for a wind-down pint and then The Rickshaw for medium wings. A solid Beijing night…

* And Scarface! I wonder how much he had to pay to get the house to play that one!

I have been making the rounds with my laptop in search of spots that offer decent food, drink, and online access. This is part three of my winter wireless wrap-up. (Previously: Le Petit Gourmand; The Stone Boat)

The Rickshaw

The good
- Solid comfort food, including medium wings, burritos, and chicken pot pies
- Cozy stalls, though it is chilly downstairs
- Diverse clientele: I have ended up talking to dozens of people in the food and beverage industry, a guy whose family has a stake in an ice wine facility in China, a guy in charge of wiring all the Olympic stadiums, the GM of a five-star hotel, film makers, journalists, and teachers describing the trials and tribulations of the Chinese classroom, among others
- The NBA package: They have it, so I can watch basketball while I work. With five screens, other sports nuts can also catch their games of choice.
- Fellow laptop warriors: on most afternoons, there are about a half-dozen other people getting online.
- The staff is friendly and generally efficient, though when management is away, service can easily slide down the tube
- The only place in town you can hear Kim Wilde’s “Kids in America” on an almost daily basis

The bad
- Diverse clientele: Along with the interesting patrons, there are some weird people as well as more than a few of the type that loudly want everyone to know the important business deal on which they are working (“I need to crack some skulls to get the equipment in-country, you know how it is dealing with the local ops, man, where would they be without  me, yadda, yadda, yadda.”)
- Too many people consuming liquids + one toilet = bladder strain
- It tends to get smoky

The wireless
- Access is excellent, and given the food, cozy seating, and NBA Channel, not to mention proximity to my apartment, The Rickshaw remains my place of choice for going online.

Next: Sequoia Cafe

When the new Saddle opens in Nali Studios, expect different eats both from the original and from the owners’ current establishment, The Rickshaw.

Last Saturday, I found myself sitting in The Rickshaw near one of those owners, Nick Ma, the man behind the new menu, and he let me in on a taste test of potential menu items, including the seven-layer nachos, vegetarian burritos, a type of burrito topped with loads of melted cheese (we had one stuffed with slow-cooked beef and one with pork), and deep-fried apple-filled wraps with chocolate and whipped cream. We ate several variations of each, thanks to chef Sabrina, and they were tasty indeed. Some fine-tuning is to come, but this gives you an idea of the menu’s direction.

The Saddle will also see a much different drinks lineup:

• Beer made on the premises
• Fifty kinds of margaritas
• Mucho tequila. As reported earlier, Chad Lager says, “I guarantee you that the new Saddle will have the best selection of tequila in all of China.”

That’s a lot going on, given I associate Saddle and The Rickshaw with simplicity — good eats, a limited but sufficient beverage menu, and a homey atmosphere. The strength of Saddle and The Rickshaw were to provide something that local eaters and drinkers actually want, as to opposed to so many establishments who try to bring in some concept from another place and to “raise the bar”, so to speak. It’s the difference between serving the market and trying to create it. Let’s hope the new Saddle keeps on that less well-worn path – the food suggests it is.

More on the place to come…