Restaurant Review - CiCi's Pizza

I'm not really sure why I'm doing another review of something because basically, whatever I say is good or bad, most people reading this blog feel the exact opposite, see my movie review of the new Indiana Jones movie. So, maybe this blog should just stick to analysis of the New Orleans Saints, maybe cause that's really the only opinions I have that have any kind of credibility. But, I'm sure someone can argue that point as well.

I digress...

So, most people review restaurants that have some credible standing in the community as a restaurant, ie restaurants rated by Zagat or at least have some kind of wait staff associated, and definately not a restaurant that's a "buffet". But, as I normally do here at And the Rest Will Follow... I'm going to buck the trend (see my review of the new Indiana Jones movie).

CiCis pizza is an all you can eat "gourmet" pizza buffet, complete with salad bar and dessert options. It's target customers being middle to low income suburban families who like to eat lots on the cheap. Usually these families have lots of kids. So, I definately fit into their target demographic. Basically, here's an explanation on what CiCi's Pizza has to offer straight from their website and I'll let you know my commentary afterwards:

"Hi, Welcome to CiCi's. Where the first word you hear is "hello" and the last is "thanks." Where the pizza's always ready and always fresh. Where the salads are crisp and the desserts are tempting. Where the high chair or booster seat arrives before you ask for it. Where seconds are okay and thirds are no problem. And where making guests happy is just the first step on the road to making them friends."

Yep, I got the "hello" and "thanks" on the way out. Pizza's definately always ready but I wouldn't say always fresh, sometimes you can't really tell where they've sliced the pizza because the pizzas have been under the nuclear powered heat lamps so long, they have melted the cheese over the slices of the pizze. Very interesting.

High chairs and booster seats have to be scouted out and sometimes I feel my kids need to be deloused after having sat in them. My kids usually can't sit up straight in these high chairs for too long because they've been caked with some kind of built up grime in the chair that keeps their skin from holding onto the plastic in the chairs. Pretty gross. Same thing for the tables, yuk!

The pizzas are not bad but you have to keep a keen eye out there for when they first come out of the oven so you know you're getting a "fresh" pizza. If you can do that, you've got some value there but mostly the pizza is okay for the price, which is really the only reason we go there, as soon as my oldest doesn't get the "kids eat free" discount, I'm outtie.

One other problem with CiCi's is that I really can't walk from my table to the drink station without slipping all over the grease soaked floor. I look like some spastic drunk teenager at 2am when I'm just trying to get some pink lemonade for my daughter. So, it's always an adventure when I walk around that place.

One cool thing that I find interesting about CiCi's is that I believe EVERY time I take my family to the place, we see people we know. Which may actually be a secret weapon of the restaurant. But all in all, it's a decent place to feed the fam quick and literally dirty.

So, let's review the review:
Good: Value; Great price to feed the family; Fresh pizza if you can spot the fresh ones; Friendly staff; Friends constanly showing up there.
Bad: Mediocre pizza; Booster seats & tables need to be pressure washed; The floor is a death trap.
Ugly: Heat lamps gotta be giving off some kind of radioactive elements, not good.

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Indiana Jones IV - THE REVIEW

Man, it was a LOOOOONG wait for this movie. But it was WELL worth the wait!! I surely was giddy as a schoolboy. Excellent movie and well deserving of the series, in general! Go see it!

Without giving away any of the movies "secrets", I will say the plot was not bad...not overly complicated but certainly not dumbed down either. It was a straight up Indiana Jones movie that, honestly, had a pretty great mixture of elements from all of the previous IJ movies rolled into one. The one thing I was skeptical about was how will the cold war era bad guys work in an IJ world. No Nazis?? But have no fear, it worked out MUCH better than I anticipated. Plenty of worthy villains in this one!

Let me say that Harrison Ford did an OUTSTANDING job at age 65 playing a part that's built for a man half his age. He did tons of stunts and fight scenes that you would expect from an IJ movie. He definitely pulled it off without a hitch. And once you get past the "he looks much softer than he did in the last movie", please understand that the last movie was filmed 20 years ago, you can enjoy the movie for what it is.

One of the best things I can say about the movie is the on-screen relationship between Shia Lebeouf (Mutt) and Harrison Ford (Indy). They had an obvious chemistry and the duo worked GREAT together. I can't say enough about young Shia Lebeouf, he's a fantastic actor with a bright career ahead of him. Doing an equally as brilliant of a job in IJ4 is Cate Blanchett who plays the villain (Spalko) in the movie. She does an impeccable job at being the sinister adversary and probably the most memorable job of any of the villains save for Ronald Lacey who plays the creepy Nazi in Raiders. Nevertheless, Blanchette was great in it.

There are tons of surprises for the IJ fan throughout the movie and even some easter eggs if you're really paying attention that I enjoyed immensely. All in all, it was a great adventure and one I will most definitely be seeing again at the movies as well as owning on DVD. Please go see Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, it's a refreshing throwback to when movies were thrilling, over-the-top and thoroughly entertaining.

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Metric Nut

For those of you who know me intimately, you know that about 10 years ago I formed a heavy rock band with 4 other guys called Metric Nut. It was really just an excuse to get together and turn our amplifiers up to a ridiculous level and play some of our favorite cover songs like "For Whom the Bell Tolls" by Metallica, "Man In the Box" by Alice in Chains or "Killing in the Name Of" by Rage Against the Machine. But eventually, we decided to create some original music and take the show on the road. We started out and we sucked but as our experience grew, so did our writing & playing skills.

At the time I left the band we had wrote about 24 songs, recorded 2 demo albums and a full length album in a professional studio. We played over 50 shows throughout New Orleans, Baton Rouge & Lafayette, and actually after I left they began to tour the east coast before things fell apart for them. We built up a pretty decent fan base in NOLA, having played to crowds of a couple of hundred people a few times at our peak there but many shows we played to about 50, which is about average for a rock club.

Anyway, all of this to say, I got a phone call last week telling me that Saturday night they were putting together a reunion show for Metric Nut. They set up a headlining spot for us at a local rock club to play all our old stuff and hang out and catch up with all our old fans. I initially didn't want to because its not my thing anymore but they mentioned everyone had said yes to this point and I figured I wouldn't be a party pooper. So I accepted, dusted off my Gibson Explorer and Peavey Classic 50 amplifier and met everybody for a practice session and showed up on Sat nite for the gig.

It was a blast! I caught up with a lot of great old friends I had lost touch with over the years, some changed, some haven't changed a bit in 8 years. Got up on stage and played pretty good, although my hand was KILLING me during the set because I don't play the same kind of music on guitar anymore so my hands were OUT OF SHAPE, like other parts of me. But had a blast, it was great to see everybody again and play all the old hits again.

Looking back at my experience in the band, it really was a fun 4 years for me but it had its highs and lows too. My experience with that band really was necessary for me to find out who I was and where I needed to be as a person and ultimately a follower of God again. It was a crossroads for me and one that I believe led me to maturity as a man and a renewed committment to God.

This reunion show experience has led me to think back to a message my pastor Phil did a while ago talking about remembering wonderful times in your life and the importance of "taking the picture", drawing what you can from the experience and then moving on in life and not remaning there emotionally. Sometimes its sad to see people remaining at that point in their lives as if thats it, the best has happened and I saw that on Saturday night with some people.

I truly believe I've moved on from that moment because it wasn't a sad night for me when it was over. It was a fun night because I remembered what it was like, celebrated it, took a picture, and then COULDN'T WAIT to get back home to enjoy my life with my wife and kids. I truly love my life and wouldn't want to be anywhere else other than here and now!

* The pic above is from the last photo shoot the band did together. Regretably, I could not find some of our older photo shoot pics (that I was in) digitally but if you want pics of the band when I was in it, live or photo shoot, I think I have some prints at home, just let me know.

** Left to Right - Mark Walker (Lead Guitar), Jeremy Sevens (Bass), Brett Winter (Vocals), Judge "Brian" Doom (Rhythm Guitar), Woody (Drums). Past members not pictured: Roger Wilder (Drums), Jason Armand (Rhythm Guitar)

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