“The service is terrible, but the waitress is super hot.”

Can’t wait to eat here!

At Wilfie & Nell, a gastropub a few blocks south, the room is a chaotic mixture of J. Crew and American Apparel, management consultants standing at the bar, the actress Martha Plimpton at a table near the door. Those wanting a seat need a keen eye and ruthless elbows: it’s first come, first served, and there’s no list. Here the ceiling is low, and the room has the dark, claustrophobic dampness of an English pub. The waitress, dressed in clingy black, with an eggbeater tattoo on her wrist, wends her way through the crowd with a sweet nonchalance. The food is meant to sop up the beer: pigs in a blanket, though the blanket is bacon; a buttery grilled cheese, made with tangy Gruyère and caramelized onions; neat little pork sliders, with the perfect ratio of meat to bun. Still, it dawns on you that, although the menu was assembled by Joaquin Baca, who also helped mastermind the Momofuku empire, the food is beside the point. One patron summed it up: “The service is terrible, but the waitress is super hot.” (Gottino is open weekdays for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and weekends for brunch and dinner; dishes $5-$14. Wilfie & Nell is open daily for dinner; dishes $5-$12.) ♦

THE MOST BEAUTIFUL THING I SAW TODAY

I was sent this email today. It really is beautiful, isn’t it?
Stacey and I like to eat at the bar at Artisnal when in NYC. We ate there last trip and must have supplied them with our address. I’m glad I did, helps keep me motivated to get back there. Click here to see the complete page.

PEACE LOVE AND BEL AIR MALL

The other day a few of us were sitting on the front porch just chatting. Along comes a neighbor, we got to talking and he told us he enjoyed the Rush Limbaugh radio program. My sister spoke up and said how she found Rush to be divisive and mean, really bad for our country. The fellow said a few more pro Rush comments, he also said Rush had never been proven wrong. The guy talked about how smart Rush was. I wanted to tell this asshole how stupid he sounded. I wanted to tell him that I thought he was just another dumb ass that confused Rush Limbaugh as being intelligent with someone who collected information. But, I just bit my tongue and high fived my sister.

Yesterday I was watching the news and Obama was making a short speech about Ronald Reagan. These are some of his remarks.

President Reagan understood that while there are often strong disagreements between parties and political adversaries — disagreements that can be a source of conflict and bitterness — it is important to keep in mind all that we share.

For all of the deepest of divides that exist in America, the bonds that bring us together are that much stronger. And we may see the world differently, but we must never stop seeing one another as fellow Americans — and as patriots — who want what is best for the country we love.

This nation was built on the basis of the principle that we are stronger, not weaker, for even the most vigorous debates — debates that have energized our politics since the inventors of America argued over our founding documents more than two centuries ago. Through the weighing of different views we take measure of where we stand and where we must go. And the moment we fail to recognize the good in those with whom we quarrel, is the moment that we’ve lost sight of who we are as a people.

Rush Limbaugh could care less about anything other then his wallet and getting his next pain pill.