Friday Field Trip and Halloween Nonsense

Cheeks, R, E, and I went to Philippe's for lunch today. (Sorry, R and E, I haven't thought of good Internet aliases for you yet. Feel free to volunteer one if you like.) Being the good sports they are, they indulged my iPhone shutterbug ways.

Philippe's is a favorite of the Monkeys. It is inexpensive, fast, tasty, and close to us -- a no-brainer winning combo. Established in 1908, Philippe's claims to be the creator of the French-dipped sandwich. The nearby Cole's Pacific Electric Buffet also makes this claim. Fun rivalry, it seems, but consider me a Philippe's girl. Stupid Cole's has been closed since March "for renovations" and doesn't even have a functioning website. To this, I say BOO[-urns].

When you walk into Philippe's at lunch time, you will often see a long line. Fear not! The lines go fast, and you will shuffle through the sawdust on the floor to the front in no time.

At the counter, you will come face to face with an array of old-school sides. A scoop of potato salad, cole slaw, or macaroni salad will set you back just one measly dollar.

Got a hankering for a pickled egg? Ante up 70 cents.

Then comes the big decision -- what meat to dip? Mr. Monkey and I usually get a beef dip with jack cheese and a lamb dip with Swiss cheese to share. It's all about variety, people. Today, however, I was Mr. Monkey-less, so I got a lamb with jack. Somehow, I like white cheese (as opposed to orange American) better on my French dips. Beef, pork, ham, or turkey costs $5.15. Lamb costs $6.25. American or jack cheese is $0.40, Swiss $0.60, and bleu $0.80.

We got a few slices of pie to share: pecan, berry, and apple ($2.90 each).

And, for me, no Philippe's meal is complete without the signature spicy mustard (the Monkeys have a jar at home) and a 65-cent lemonade. We ate like kings for under $10.

As we discussed everything from fostering abandoned shepherd-Akita puppies to the Armenian Genocide to Cheeks' experience as a conservative at Berkeley, I savored each bite of my dip. Truth be told, Philippe's is one of the few places where I eat lamb. The chunks of lamb are generous, meaty, tender, mild, and juicy and pair well with Swiss or jack. Add a bit of the spicy mustard, and you have the perfect sinus-clearing sandwich.

The pie was good. Pecan was my favorite today -- sweet, sticky, and just gooey enough without being too gooey. The crust on each pie was adequate; I think it could've stood to be a bit more flaky and buttery. Any of the flavors is worth getting, though, and is a pleasant ending for your meal.

After lunch, we returned to our Halloween-crazed office. Our firm totally goes nuts for Halloween. Some of you may recall the ridiculous decorations I blogged about at the beginning of the month, which have annoyed the hell out of me for 26 days now. Well, that's just the tip of the iceberg. Here's today's winning entry for the firm jack-o-lantern contest (oh-so-classy) and a snapshot of our hideously decorated reception area (oh-so-unprofessional).

I also got the weirdest card from an expert I used in a case awhile back. Is it just me, or is the picture of the "witch" in the upper left corner oddly inappropriate? (You'll have to click to enlarge to get the full effect.)

And what's up with "spell-tacular"? Does everybody agree with me that "spook-tacular" clearly would've been the superior fake Halloween-y adjective? Really, who sends Halloween cards? And who sends such fugly, low-budget, asstastically designed cards with a horrid mishmash of awful fonts? If anything, this makes me not want to use this company again, even thought the card has zip to do with damages calculations.

Finally, I leave you with a couple pics of Pescado at happy hour today...eating potato chips with tongs.