Grady Cheese: (I have a long time to) Mellow Mushroom

Thursday, April 23

(I have a long time to) Mellow Mushroom

If you have a long time to kill, a longing for good sandwiches or pizza and value an interesting atmosphere over comfort, then Mellow Mushroom might be your new favorite restaurant. Just make sure you have someone interesting to talk to.
Did I mention a long time to kill? I ordered a whole chicken and cheese sandwich, which doesn’t sound complicated, but it must have been because it took quite a while. I’m pretty sure they could have killed six chickens, de-feathered, cleaned and grilled them for my sandwich by the time they brought it out. Mushrooms, peppers, provolone, grilled chicken and onions on a toasted bun. No ingredient was lacking. It was difficult to fit my large hands around the sandwich, but I was afraid to cut it for fear of accidentally cutting and eating the foil too.
It was a good sandwich, the bread was a little dry but hey! Did I mention you have to have some time to kill?I arrived at Mellow Mushroom about 7:30 p.m. and, although it was visibly dinner time there was no crazy hustle and bustle. We ordered as soon as we were asked if we would like anything, about 10 minutes after we sat down. Then we waited. And waited. At 8:15 p.m. our food came out and we decided we wanted to order a beer.
Just a beer. Nothing fancy. But you would think they had to go out back and harvest some barley, roll it into the brewery they don’t have, add hops three different times and then serve some beer. 8:35 p.m. the waitress returns with one beer and tells me that she’s sorry, but we’re all out of that type of beer.
Are you serious, Mellow Mushroom?

www.mellowmushroom.com

3 comments:

Kester TaylorMay 7, 2009 at 12:15 PM
Great review. Thoroughly enjoyable to read, even long after having formed my opinion about Mellow Mushroom.
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Kester TaylorMay 7, 2009 at 12:16 PM
also, because the "are you a human?" test words were too funny not to share: stermils, and zookequa. Stermils and zookequa to you all.
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jobs onlineSeptember 23, 2011 at 7:19 AM
Damn, now I want to eat! You are cruel people, you know that? ;)
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Role of the critic according to Judy

As someone who appreciates open mindedness, free thought and new perspectives, I can say without a shadow of a doubt that the role of the critic is not only relevant but also necessary in society today. I’ve always been the kind of person who tried to learn from other people – both from their successes and their failures. My one stipulation, however, was that the individual I was learning from had to have some solid understanding in the area that they had either succeeded or failed in before I would use them as an example for my own life. I believe that same rule certainly applies with today’s critic.

I wouldn’t ask someone to fly a plane if they hadn’t been to school for it. Would you? So, why would we gain our knowledge and understanding about pop-culture, the arts or any other critique-able venue from someone who didn’t have some sort of training (or any otherwise firm grasp) on why something is or is not “good.” Sure, it’s not difficult to go on the internet these days and (with the click of a few buttons) find a tantrum-ridden, one-sided, non-backed-up opinion from some know-it-all who thinks his word is God (not that some of those aren’t hilarious and interesting to read). But is that really worth basing a strong decision on (as to whether you would see, buy or visit) whatever is being critiqued?

After all, without any education to back it up, it’s just an opinion (not a critique). And we all know what they say about opinions. So there you have it, my thoughts on why I feel the role of the critic is absolutely necessary in our world today. And, for what it’s worth, I did get a bit of training in this area. Critics Rule!

The Role of the Critic according to Nathan

The new role of the critic is to make their opinions relevant to the paying public in a time-conscious manner. People don’t have time any more to absorb entertainment for themselves; they need a way to be able to form an informed opinion without taking the time to inform themselves.

The key to that system is that the readers have to form the opinion for themselves, and that comes one of two ways. Either they are given all the relevant information to form an opinion for themselves, or they believe the critic’s opinion is trustworthy and worth repeating. The critic’s job is to form a relationship with the reader in order to earn that trust so the readers don’t have to do all the work of immersing themselves in culture.

The critic must have a consistent, honest voice, and should give a personal opinion so the reader can see the person behind the article. That way, the reader can talk about critics as if they were friends. “Well I know Nathan leans toward plot and doesn’t quite a character-driven story, but I lean more to the There Will Be Blood style so we might disagree on that one.”

Another important element of the critic’s role is to be prolific-they can’t confine themselves to one genre of one medium. They have to be able to serve the readers’ interests completely, so the reader won’t need to go anywhere else to be informed. So they have to go see movies all the time, and in different theaters while writing constantly.

The Role of the Critic according to Casey

In the age of blogs, public comments on media websites, citizen journalism, and facebook pages, everyone has a chance to voice their critical views about current events, arts, and the latest Hollywood scandal. So, what role does the professional critic have in this arena?

The critic still has a place in this age of interactive journalism. The audience expects and requires media outlets to hear them. But with all the yelling on the comment boards, who cares what one person has to say about culture, literature, food, music, and art?

The answer to this question requires an examination of what a professional critic is. A critic must understand what their tastes and prejudices are, to be completely transparent about them with no apologies. A critic must speak to their audience, knowing who their audience is and what art and culture the audience is curious about in the world. A critic needs to talk to their audience, not talk at them, while still owning their opinions in the critic’s voice.

A critic must be knowledgeable in what they are reviewing, but not overly reporting details and examples to the point that art loses its soul. A critic must listen to their intuition about the art and culture being reviewed while evoking an empathetic sense of what the artist was trying to achieve.

In today’s world, anyone can be a critic on their own website/blog/comment section. The critic must have an appreciation for the art reviewed. What makes a critic stand out is the ability to be both objective and subjective, to own an opinion with solid examples, emotions, and details, with precise adjectives, revealing quotes, and concrete background information.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but not everyone is a true critic.

The Role of the Critic according to Meredith

Over the semester we have evaluated and tried our hand at a number of critical writings. I found that while I’m not the best or most esteemed critic at all of the subjects we reviewed, each person has their own original taste and biases to account for in their experience of a certain event. Whether it is a play, concert, restaurant, book reading or another medium of artistic release – the arts require a conversation, a dialogue, about the meaning behind human expression. This conversation is the responsibility of the critic: begin it, enhance it, encourage it - in your own community.

I reject the claims that a critic must be well established or controversial to have an opinion. The worst review we read, in my opinion, was by the big boss of criticism, the New York Time’s own rMichiko Kakutani. Without bashing her or name calling, I’ll say I think its important that a critic’s words hold value and meaning, and that they communicate with the audience that avidly seeks the review.

The critic’s influence has an interesting place in today’s wavering economy. As newspapers go online (and out of business), it is still important for people to know what to spend their money on. What is worthy of the little bit of extra cash we have in our wallets, our pockets, or sitting on the floorboard of our cars? The critic should tell us that.

The most important thing I learned about the role of the critic is the importance of the writer’s willingness to expose their biases. If the critic does this, no opinion is supreme, no artistic work is complete crap or unworthy of any audience at all. Subjectivity and honesty are at the center of the critic’s role. This honesty and the dialogue between art, critic and community are essential – though I wish it could be done without the presence of message boards, which seem to take the focus away from the criticism or the artistic piece and bring the dialogue to a level that is worthy of some criticism itself.

Thursday, April 23

(I have a long time to) Mellow Mushroom

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