February 8, 2005 The Lion’s Eye » 9% Page 7 Fye on Entertainment The place for a special date on Valentine's Day By KEVIN KRAUSS Lion’s Eye staff writer KMK348@psu.edu The pre-twilight night sky radiat- ed off Baltimore Pike into the quaint restaurant. It was closing in on Valentine's Day and it was just the two of us, Andrew and I. Originally, the idea was to review a restaurant that would serve us a romantic candlelit pasta dinner "Lady and the Tramp" style. But we realized that we didn’t have a lot of money. We needed to go someplace a little more affordable and closer to campus. That's how we came to Pinocchio's, a diner directly off of Baltimore Pike in Media. I drove into the parking lot and immediately found a space (always a good start). My mock Valentine's Day date, Andrew, sat at the first booth surfing the Internet on his laptop with a pirated wireless signal that the gen- erous houses behind Pinocchio's offered. It couldn't have been more than three seconds after I sat down that Andrew excitedly explained to me, "They have crab cake hoagies! How friggin' cool is that?" And indeed my friends, it was cool. Very cool. Within minutes of sitting down, a waitress came to our table, took our drink orders and gave us menus. It took us 10 minutes to order our food. We simply couldn't decide what we wanted. They had everything! And they had everything cheap. Four bucks for all-you-can-eat pizza; chicken cordon bleu bites; every kind of pizza you could imagine; to die for strombolis (or so we were told); canoes, and calzones; cheesesteaks, chicken cheesesteaks, etc; and grinders, boy did they have grinders. Pinocchio’s Ratings: Food 4 Paws Service 1.5 Paws Atmosphere 3 Paws Price 3.5 Paws Noise 3 Paws Average 3 Paws 1 Paw = Poor 2 Paws = Fair 3 Paws = Good 4 Paws = Excellent I think that it is safe to say they had it all. J Eventually, we decided to order two grinders and each ¥ eat half of each one. § We ordered a Zorba ¥§ steak grinder and a crab cake grinder. \ After ordering, I decid- § ed it was time to take in the surroundings. Our little 4 booth by the window afforded us with a not-quite-breathtaking city view. The "Cold Beer To Go" sign with the frosted letter emphasizing “cold” and “beer” sat below the cartooned image of Pinocchio. One question I wondered was, "Why Pinocchio?" Was it a family business with the name of Pinocchio, or maybe the owner was an avid Disney fan? Who knows? But the ambulance sirens broke my gaze as the increasing sound of "Aqua Teen Hunger Force" emanating from Andrew's laptop brought me back to reality and our dinner. The wait made my mouth water, though I Fireside Music Series By, MATTHEW KELLY Lion’s Eye Photography Editor MJK5039@psu.edu - Down in Memphis, there's a rib place named Corky's, much like Planet Hollywood and Hard Rock Café. The walls of this rib shop are caked with pictures of its famous customers. Now imagine the Lion's Deff wall filled with pictures. Perhaps not the world's biggest names like Dave Matthews and Ben Folds, but more so "Dave Matthews’ and Ben Folds’ ‘opening acts." This was Chris Coia's vision when he first created the concept of the Fireside Music Series. It began as simply bringing in some more entertainers to improve the diversity of the student activi- ties. The concept's primary inspiration was the opening of the Lion's Den. Coia saw how terrific it turned out and decided it would be a more suit- able performer venue for the visitors of the college circuit music scene. "The room is much nicer than most student lounges I've seen," said Coia. : The Fireside Series began the first week of spring semester with a per- formance by folk-rock musician Ben Arnold. Arnold, like the other performers scheduled this semester, was con- tacted through the Auburn Moon Agency. "Over the years I'd worked with a lot of different booking agencies," said Coia, "however, I'm a big fan of Auburn Moon's artists." Fireside is a monthly event, but Coia sees it possibly happening more often, possibly with performances The portions were a good size, although there could have been a lit- tle more. Keep in mind, this is com- ing from two people who often fre- quent all-you-can-eat buffets. Andrew liked the Zorba steak the best, as it was packed with meat and wasn't as "mushy" as the crab cake. I, on the other hand, absolutely loved the crab. I think Andrew was getting irri- tated by the fact that I said, "Oh, my God (with my mouth completely full), this is so good!" It figuratively and almost lit- erally melted in my mouth. I was surprised that a diner would have a crab cake grinder, or anything dealing with seafood that was this good, but I'll be damned if I would still raise that question. By the time we had finished all of our sandwiches, Andrew's laptop was out of battery. What were we to do? Ready for the check, we needed to get the L waitress's attention. We waited, and waited. We glanced at the waitress and the other employees, but could not get anyone's attention. Eventually the waitress came around to our table, took our plates and asked if there was anything else we needed. d Andrew and I sounded off, "Just the check." It took just about the same amount of time to get us our check as it did to eat our food. Needless to say, her tip suffered slightly. Is it better to sacrifice a little bit of time to get good food? Was it just a fluke that our check took an exorbi- tantly long time to get to us? That's for you to decide. All I know is that spending about $5 and getting excellent food was worth it. Try eating at Pinocchio's tonight. The Lion’s Eye sent Kevin Krauss and Andrew Walter to find the ultimate place for a Valentine's date on a college stu- dent’s budget. They wound up at Pinocchio’s in Media. They rate the experience. ~ Photo by Matthew Kelly knew it wasn't that long of a wait. When the meals did arrive, it was worth it. The Zorba steak grinder had about a pound of high quality steak with a pasta-type tomato sauce doused over fried onions, fried green peppers and provolone. The crab cake grinder was, as you" can imagine, a huge crab cake on a roll with lettuce, tomato, onions and tartar sauce. tries to hit a high note every other week. But the series is based on how much money Student Life has. - All of that money cannot go to music events alone. The point of adding a diverse balance of activities would be negated. Students who are musicians should keep their eyes and ears open for Open Mic and Rising Star Talent Shows on the campus. Last semester's Rising Star win- ners received a chance to perform a song at Multi-cultural Day. Now perhaps first prize will be a full set in the Lion's Den. Who can you expect in the Den in the coming months? Soul singer Chinua Hawk will perform Feb. 28. Young singer/song- writer Katie Todd will perform March 16. Acapella group Chapter Six will close off the semester's series April 19. www.auburnmoonagency.com Chinua Hawk will perform Feb. 28 in The Lion’s Den.
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