Jordan’s Big 10 – It looks better inside

Jordan’s Big 10 Pub, another proud member of the Regent St all-star crew. It wasn’t until recently that I met somebody who’d ever been to the pub, let a lone praised it. Not only are the windows tinted, but the two layers of glass doors are so dark that the establishment often appears closed upon arrival. I always assumed it was a seedy dive/sports bar. I was determined to check it out. So I was slightly disappointed the first time I got there to find out that it was not really a dive at all – it more closely resembles the bar section of ESPN center in NYC. TV’s line the walls (although only a few flat screens) with various sports programming. The place is fairly well lit and clean. The staff is friendly.

The fried macaroni and cheese bits are delightful and you don’t have to ask for the ranch, although you do have to ask for the fries that are supposed to accompany the curds. You have to try them. The drink specials are OK – if you’re into rum they have 2 for 1 rum mixers on Wednesday. But no happy hour deal, so it’s not worth going until after 8.

Big 10 is also a good choice for people looking to have a conversation with friends without having to yell. The music is usually pretty good – a lot of oldies at a reasonable volume.

Buck’s Madison Square Garden – why not?

If you’re not looking for three solid inches of tequila in a margarita, Buck’s is not for you. My advice even for the partiers and alcoholics – finish your first drink before you order another one. Even if happy hour’s about to end, the bartenders are benevolent and even the regular alcohol to dollar ratio at Buck’s qualifies for a Happy Hour elsewhere. The cheese curds are OK, but not nearly as good as the “cheese balls” at the Dise, and they’re more expensive, although I believe the serving size is slightly bigger.

The bartender and his team of regulars can be counted on to taunt customers for not drinking enough – just play along and politely decline. The best explanation would definitely be money – studying, driving etc. are not generally considered acceptable excuses to abstain from inebriation. The catcalls do not abide by campus norms of political correctness or social awareness.

They’ll also bother you about some promotion deal called “Bucksball.” There’s really no way to avoid it – you have to sign up. But don’t worry, all you have to do is put down a team name and on following visits you’ll get “bases” or “runs” for drinks you buy. If you have enough free time on your hands, you might order enough to win a prize.

There is no way in hell I would have ever gone to Buck’s if I didn’t live nearby. I suggest you stop by.

Wisconsin is not that fat

All the cheese curds and beer only managed to get us into the top 25 for obesity rates in the country. It must be that goddamn “MGD 64.” Make no mistake – Wisconsin is supposed to be a fat state.

Paul Soglin says we should care about obesity because it plays a big role in health care costs. He compares society’s indifference to fighting against obesity to those who are against motor cycle helmet laws – because we end up paying for the health costs regardless. However, he fails to propose what we should do to combat obesity. I would propose labeling foods with high fructose corn syrup, or high levels of it. Also, while we’re at it, we might as well end subsidies on corn. Neither will ever happen.

Obesity will soon overtake smoking as the leading cause of preventable deaths in the U.S.

That the two conditions are comparable is telling. The smoking rate nationwide is generally put at around 18-20%. The number is declining and our generation’s smokers are not the smokers of the Marlboro cowboy era. My grandfather, who died of lung cancer at 53, easily smoked upwards of two packs a day. He smoked when he worked, when he ate – any time was a good time. President Dwight Eisenhower once expressed interest in decreasing his daily cigarette intake from five packs to three. These days it’s practically impossible to have that kind of smoking habit without becoming a social troglodyte. The cultural restrictions are much more powerful than the recent onslaught of legal restrictions that politicians focus their attention on. Most people would be stunned if a guest lit up a cigarette in their house without asking, and frankly, very few smokers even bother asking anymore – the social stigma associated with smoking is too strong to bear. People aren’t used to hanging out in big clouds of smoke, having the smell seep into their clothes – something that used to be a given at any social gathering.

It will be interesting to see if a similar cultural backlash against bad foods could do something about America’s obesity problem. Although I don’t have numbers to cite, I have a strong feeling that attitudes towards fast food have changed significantly since I was a kid. I remember McDonald’s being something semi-respectable, something that parents weren’t ashamed to treat their kids to on a regular basis. My older brother (who was in high school at the time) talked about spending all of his allowance money at Mickey D’s, in part as a reaction to our family’s cooking, which he described as “rabbit food.” Now McDonald’s is something of a caricature of American indulgence, and the idea of going there for a real meal, meaning anything besides french fries at 2 a.m., is considered somewhat of a joke. Trips to McDonald’s always seem to be accompanied by self-deprecating humor, and the inevitable statement that “you only live once.”

Yet the numbers show that McDonald’s grew 27% between 2005 and 2007. Let’s hope it’s in other countries. The French could use some fat people.