Proctor in Admiralty

Sushi and the Eighth Wonder of the World

Meal: Chef's Choice Sushi and Sashimi, Spicy Tuna Roll, Spicy Beach Roll, Banzai Roll

Restaurant: Haiku Sushi, Chesapeake, Virginia

Last night I had dinner with my good friend Marcus, his business partner Steve and my corporate big brother, James Q. 

Marcus and Steve run a collections firm based in New York and think of Hampton Roads as a bit backwater, or maybe that's tidewater, but in any event seem to spend a good deal of time in the area and always go to the same restaurants. So, we decided to try a Japanese restaurant I had not explored before, looking for both sushi and entrees.  What we wound up with? Well, read on.

We ventured to Haiku Sushi, a restaurant in Chesapeake described by reviewers on Yelp as follows:

I love this place.  They have the best sushi prices in town and the quality is awesome! 

I would recommend Haiku to anyone who really appreciates good Japanese food.

Too bad this seems to be an unknown...it's a hidden gem, with great service, creative rolls, and the freshest fish. 

Reviewers at the local newspaper, The Virginian Pilot, gave glowing reviews too, including:

Outside of Tokyo itself, I have never had better Sushi/Sashimi. Decor is plain, but you go for the food.

I have had sushi all over the country, including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and DC. This place ranks at the top of my list, and it's right around the corner. The sushi is always fresh and excellent. The kitchen dishes are fantastic also.

In fact, there was not a single bad review on either site or anywhere else I looked, so I figured it was worth a try. 

About my dining companions:  I used to work with James, (he likes to think of himself as my older brother) and we try to catch up, usually over lunch, every couple of months.  Marcus is a good friend (the kind of friend who takes you to opening day at the New Yankee Stadium) and we both share a love of good local food, grass fed beef, maritime law and the New York Yankees - not exactly in that order...and Steve is a really funny guy, though truth be told, I don't know him as well but always enjoy a good meal with him.  Anyway, Marcus and I get competitive from time to time about obscure facts and he regularly enjoys besting me - wasting no time to whip out his blackberry to prove me wrong (he usually does!)

During dinner, we discussed the fact that Marcus and Steve drove down via Rt. 13 over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel.  For those who never heard of it, the CBBT is a 23 mile long bridge-tunnel road with two "cuts" or tunnels allowing for shipping traffic to pass overhead.  It is fairly incredible, the first time you go across to come up from the first tunnel and feel like you are driving in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay with ocean going ships passing behind and in front of you.  I happened to mention that the CBBT is often referred to as the 8th Wonder of the World. Marcus retorted - "You mean, 8th Wonder of the Modern World".  I explained that I never heard the qualifier, which seemed to me equal to an asterisk, a la Roger Maris. My good and well intentioned friend pulled out the handy blackberry and proclaimed that there was no reference to the CBBT as the 8th wonder of the world, because it was not in Wikipedia as such.  

I am a huge fan of Wikipedia, and in fact, I often turn to it for information but I do not think of it as dispositive on any subject including the bestowing of a title.  So, please let the record reflect that Google Books has digitized a copy of The Chesapeake Bay bridge-tunnel, the eighth wonder of the world, written by Robert White Hill and published by the John Day Company in 1972!  However, in fairness to Marcus, in the 1965 the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel was recognized by the American Society of Civil Engineers as one of the "Seven Engineering Wonders of the Modern World."  So it seems that more than one title may apply. 

I know that this has been engrossing (snore) but frankly it ranked as one of the more thrilling aspects of the evening because the food was...well not exactly bad, but not exactly good either.  In fact, it was pretty ordinary and certainly not amongst the best sushi restaurants across the country, and the kitchen dishes - basically non-existent aside from udon noodles and typical teriyaki fare.

The one bright spot was the Spicy Beach and Banzai rolls which were extremely good.  The multiple layers and combinations of those rolls (for example: Banzai - shrimp tempura, crab, eel and spicy tuna) hid the lack of freshness present easily detected in the sushi and sashimi.  This is not to say the fish was old or otherwise a health risk, but rather that it lacked the "freshness" that I tend to associate with really top notch sushi.  I will not be going back anytime soon.

One Flew Over Virginia Beach

Meal: Breakfast - Nurse Ratched (Omelet with grilled red peppers, portobellos, spinach and hollandaise)

Restaurant: Doc Taylor's, 23rd Street, Virginia Beach, Virginia

Earlier this year I took at trip to Nicaragua as part of a familiarization tour of that country sponsored by Continental Airlines, National Car Rental, AirPlus and the Hilton Managua Hotel.  That trip included raising money and donations for several children's orphanages and a poor school along with distribution of donated clothing and toys and the bagging and distribution of food (rice, beans and sugar) to hundreds of families.  It was truly a life changing experience and I am working with a couple of friends to repeat the experience with a group of like minded lawyers.  If you want to come along or contribute to the effort, please let me know and I will provide you with greater details.

During the trip, I was fortunate enough to meet Keren and Abdhie - two sisters who are deeply involved in issues involving orphan children and the extreme poverty in their country. Keren had recently completed a Master's Degree in the US and Abdhie was completing law school in Nicaragua.  They both commented how much they love Virginia Beach, which I found odd at the time.  It turns out that they are both involved with a non-profit called Frontier Horizon, based in Virginia Beach.  When I returned to the US, I met the Chairman of Frontier Horizon, Dr. Vincent Rosini and learned more about the organization. Frontier Horizon's mission is the improvement of the health, education and general welfare of orphan children in Nicaragua and Ukraine. I was so impressed by the work of Frontier Horizon that I agreed to join their board.  For more information about Frontier Horizon, check out their website here.

Back to the meal . . . Abdhie just spent a few weeks in Virginia Beach and we wanted to get together before she returned to Nicaragua plus she had some delicious Nicaraguan coffee for me, so I needed to catch up with her.  Last Thursday, I met her and Vincent for breakfast at Doc Taylor's.  The restaurant, formerly a doctor's home office, is just one block from the beach.  It serves breakfast and lunch while it's sister restaurant, Tautog's (next door), serves dinner.  Both restaurants feature a wide ranging menu and are great - the lines in front of each indicate as well!  Parking in the back is appreciated given the dearth of free parking near the boardwalk.

I had a nice hot cup of coffee while I waited on Abdhie and Dr. Rosini and studied the various options including granola pancakes and a variety of omelets.  I decide on the Nurse Ratched - an omelet with grilled red peppers, portobello mushrooms and spinach, served with a side of hollandaise sauce and wheat toast.  The omelet was very tasty though the hollandaise was flat and lacked substance - I mainly left it to the side.  All in all it was a satisfying meal with excellent company.

Bruce Springsteen leads to Korean BBQ?

Meal: Lunch - Korean BBQ beef with Kimchee Fried Rice, Miso Soup

Restaurant: RAKU, An Asian Diner, 1900 Q. Street NW, Washington DC

This story begins on May 18.  It was a Monday evening and my wife and I were crushed into the bar at Rosa Mexicano, a mexican restaurant in Washington, DC.  We managed to snag a couple of seats at a two-top bar table (sharing it with two others) thus balancing the delicious Guacamole, prepared "table-side" (actually amidst the crowd of people), some entrees and a variety of overpriced but tasty margaritas and mexican beers on the edge of the table and on our knees.

Oh - the reason the bar and restaurant were more crowded than a subway train in Tokyo at rush hour? The heart-stopping, pants-dropping, hard-rocking, booty-shaking, earth-quaking, nerve-breaking, Viagra-taking, history-making, legendary … E-STREET BAND, was playing that night at the Verizon Center, directly across the street and as loyal Jerseyites, we were going to see Bruce.  

Well, I had just dipped another tortilla chip into the guac when I was tapped on the shoulder and turned around to see Ms. G., a woman I had grown up with, attended school with from Kindergarten through high school, approximately 250 miles north of Rosa Mexicano in New Jersey.  I had not seen her in nearly 20 years.  Of course, she was en route to the concert as well.  We spoke for a little while, exchanged cards and vowed to get together my next time in Washington DC.  

My loyal readers, you are now caught up to yesterday...

Having meetings scheduled in Washington yesterday, I asked Ms. G. if she was free for lunch and she suggested Raku, in Dupont Circle and nearby to my meetings.  We had a nice outside table (it was a beautiful day) and were presented with an eclectic asian fusion menu.  Comment on the location - Raku is well situated just off Dupont Circle and is a prime spot for people watching, especially from the nice outside seating area.  

My lunch started with a cup of miso soup followed by a large plate featuring Korean bbq beef strips (a little tough but finished in a sweet and spicy glaze that was very nice) accompanied by a serving of fried rice, into which had been minced kimchee with some pickled beanshoots on the side.  The fried rice was very nice, and the kimchee really spiced the dish up.  The portion was large and I did not finish all on my plate.  Only complaint about the meal was the service - after taking and delivering our drink orders promptly, the waiter disappeared for an inordinate length of time and we had to hail him down to take our order and again later to bring us the check.  

Ms. G. and I will hopefully stay in touch and continue our conversation over another lunch in the near future.

Anyone for Panang Curry in Ward's Corner?

Meal: Lunch - Panang Curry with Chicken, Jasmine Rice and Green Salad

Restaurant: Rom Thai, 7512 Granby Street, Norfolk, VA

On Tuesday (sorry for the delay) I had lunch with a former colleague at a thai restaurant in the Ward's Corner section of Norfolk.  For those who are unfamiliar with Norfolk, Ward's Corner is one of those neighborhoods that you often hear of in connection with phrases like "redevelopment", "Mayor's Opportunity Fund" and "New investment"...it has a long way to go but makes for good political promises.

In any event, my former colleague works nearby so off we ventured.  Rom Thai is a bright spot in an otherwise underwhelming and fairly decrepit strip mall on the corner of Little Creek Road and Granby Street  The interior was nicely decorated in a Southeast Asian motif and we were quickly seated.

The lunch specials all come with a green salad and jasmine rice.  The salad was uninspired, looking like it came right out of a "salad in a bag" from the supermarket.  The dressing was flat, somewhat creamy and very sweet.

A word here about service - reaching over my dining companion's plate to unceremoniously dropping my salad with a clang in front of me, in order to avoid the 5 steps around the table, does not equate to good service!

The salad dishes were taken up and we were each reset with a fresh set of chopsticks for the entrees. The Panang Curry with Chicken, pictured below, was very tasty.  The heat of the chilies was balanced by the sweetness of the coconut and did not taste or feel greasy (a common ailment in cheaper Thai restaurants).  All in all, a decent experience and the price, $7.95 per meal, was certainly reasonable.

As I dropping by friend back off at her office, I noticed the famous cheap mexican restaurant across the street from her office.  It was formerly known as Speedy Gonzalez and had a dedicated following though I had never ventured there.  The Speedy Gonzalez sign was gone and in its place, a sign advertising Vietnamese Noodle Soup Kitchen - on its own, a sign of the times as restaurants seems to be failing with greater regularity (even institutions like Speedy's).  However, far more intriguing, and somewhat disturbing, were the signs on the plate glass window fronting the establishment.  These signs featured Vietnamese noodle soup, burritos, and cheese steaks.  I'm all for fusion cuisine but I am not sure that a Pho Ga Enchilada is in my future!

mmm cheesesteak ...

Meal: Lunch - Philly Cheesesteak with fried onions and provolone cheese

Restaurant: Snag's Philly Cheesesteaks and Hoagies, Chesapeake, VA.

So this morning after posting on the changed focus of Proctor in Admiralty, I could not help but start thinking about lunch...and I knew just what I wanted, a Philadelphia cheesesteak. The problem being that I am in Hampton Roads, not exactly 9th and Passyunk!  

Well, as many know, I am often on a quest for a good cheesesteak outside of the greater Philadelphia area (there are some very good cheesesteaks in South Jersey).  This quest has led me to some memorably horrible cheesesteaks, including a promising joint with photos of the owner with Lenny Dykstra and the Philly Phanatic, only to serve me a steamed cheesesteak - no kidding, STEAMED!

So I was faced with a decision - do I try a new place or return to the only decent cheesesteak I have found in these parts and just up the road from me?  I threw caution to the wind and tried the new place - Snag's Philly Cheesesteaks and Hoagies, on Cedar Road in Chesapeake,Virginia.  This is the second location of Snag's, which I had heard of before, originally located in Portsmouth.

Walking up to the entrance, I noted logos for the Flyers and Eagles in the window - a good sign, though I really hate both teams and the Eagles decision to give Michael Vick a job, only makes them more despicable to me!  On entering, I noted the right smells, frying steak and onions and grease. So far, so good.  I ordered up a "provolone steak, with" (onions - for the uninitiated).

The result was a fairly tasty steak - the bread was right on - a hard feat on its own and the steak and onions were perfect with just the right amount of grease coating my lips.  However, as goes my cheesesteak quest, this one was lacking too. The gooey, stringy, provolone cheese, so vivid in my mind, was lacking on the real thing.  The cheese was almost entirely absent, reduced to just a small amount gluing a bit of the steak to the roll.  Oh well, the end product was tasty and I probably didn't need the extra calories and fat, a proper helping of cheese would have brought with it.

On the Starboard Tack

Today marks a complete change in Proctor In Admiralty.  You will note the new look to the site, but more importantly is the change in topics.  As my faithful readers know, I have routinely (and not always routinely enough) written about maritime law and technology.  Well, the posts have become more sporadic and as I have changed positions again, it has become more difficult to write about maritime law matters that might be sensitive to my current employer. Frankly, this made such a blog less relevant and less fun to write so a change is in order.

Apart for being a maritime law and technology geek, my other favorite topic is food.  I realize that there are many blogs about whose major tenet is food and thus I am not breaking new ground here.  However, maybe my own little twist will make this an interesting read.

The plan is this: I will write (and hopefully photograph) EVERY meal I eat out at a restaurant.  I will not showcase the best or the worst meals but instead will document every meal.  From fast food to fine dining, whether served in a paper sack or on bone china, I will try to recount the meal, the location, the company kept and my impressions, good, bad or indifferent.  I hope this will be of interest and I hope that readers will chime in with suggestions, comments and general thoughts on the meals presented.

Note, I will not detail home cooked meals in my or others homes and I won't detail companions' meals, unless something is truly extraordinary.  I will try to post as contemporaneously to the meal consumed as time constraints allow.

So that is the deal.  I hope you enjoy it.  Bon Appetite!

The Jury in the McDonald's Scalding Coffee Case awarded Punitives of $2.7 million...

Today's post is not about a maritime or transportation matter but is about an arbitration run amok. Law.com published a post today about a Los Angeles Superior Court Judge affirming a $4.1 billion arbitration award for wrongful termination.  (Jaw dropping, isn't it?) The article is essentially an interview with Michael D. Young, a partner at Alston & Bird and blogger who wrote about the extreme award on his firm's labor and employment blog.

It appears that the defendant company in the arbitration did not take the case seriously and did not understand the binding nature of this form of ADR.  Their unwillingness to participate fully and their subsequent bizarre behavior apparently indicated to the arbitrator that the defendant was not treating the case with more that a smidgen of gravitas:

The [retired] judge set the hearing for the arbitration, and the defendant wrote a letter to the arbitrator saying, "I'm not going to show up." When there wasn't any information forthcoming from the defendant, what the arbitrator did was look at what information was available about the financial situation of the company and applied adverse inferences against the defendant, essentially filling in the gaps in the story presuming it would come out in favor of the plaintiff. That was really where the numbers started to scale. 

It is a sober reminder to attorneys and an educational lesson for clients that alternative dispute resolution is just that, an alternative, and not something to be treated lightly. See the award here.

Pirates change tactics . . .

The U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet, Combined Maritime Forces, issued a Special Maritime Advisory  June 9, 2009 warning shipowners and operators about changes in the tactics of Somalia based pirates. According to a press release detailing the Advisory:

Merchants are urged to use the weather to their advantage, planning new routing off the east coast of Somalia due to the start of the southwest monsoon season. The message further details the pirates’ extended range of operations off the Eastern Somali coast, stretching all the way to and beyond The Seychelles, with the use of “mother ships.” These larger vessels allow them to operate further out from shore, providing an afloat staging platform for their attacks. Another new tactic highlighted in the advisory is the potential move into the southern Red Sea. Finally, pirates have also recently increased their number of attacks during the hours of darkness, highlighting the need for heightened vigilance of merchant mariners during both day and night time transits through the high risk areas.

The Fifth Fleet of the United States Navy is responsible for naval forces in the Persian Gulf, Red Sea, Arabian Sea and coast off East Africa as far south as Kenya. The Combined Maritime Forces ("CMF") are comprised of approximately 36 ships from Australia, France, Germany, Italy, Pakistan, Canada, Denmark, the U.S. and U.K., as well as other naval forces and personnel from several other nations. The CMF patrols more than 2.5 million square miles of international waters to conduct both integrated and coordinated operations to defeat terrorism, prevent piracy, reduce illegal trafficking of people and drugs, and promote the maritime environment as a safe place for mariners with legitimate business.

400 Years of transportation on the Hudson River

400 years ago Henry Hudson, a Dutch explorer engaged by the Dutch East India Company to find an alternate way to the Orient sailed up the tidal river that now bears his name and found . . . Albany.  This week New York marks the 400th anniversary of that historic voyage with a flotilla of historic, reproduction and modern day vessels sailing the 140 miles from the mouth of the river to Albany.  There are numerous articles and accounts on line including this editorial from the New York TImes discussing the environmental reclamation of the river and this article from the Smithsonian Magazine online describing the construction of a reproduction of the ONRUST, the first covered deck vessel built in New York which played an important role in exploration of the mid Atlantic region during the early 17th century.

For more insight into Henry Hudson and his famous voyage along with the celebration underway, check out both Henry Hudson 400 and Hudson 400 plus NY400 and ExploreNY400.  I am sensing a theme!

2261 square feet of living space?

I came across an interesting post  by blogger Melissa Hincha-Ownby about the growing use of old shipping containers, also known as boxes (on the East Coast) and cans (West Coast) for constructing office space.  The author references the popularity of containers as a basis for home construction by citing the existance of a section of Bob Vila's website devoted to the trend.

The article mentions a new 12 container office building under construction in Providence, Rhode Island and also cites Shipping Container Architecture, a website devoted to webpage devoted to listing as many examples of the use of shipping containers as architectual elements as the author, Zack Smith can find.

My curiosty peaked, I found numerous other website and blog postings devoted to the subject of recycling shipping containers as housing, office space and hotel rooms.  Fast Company blogger Michael Cannell had a particularly interesting post with numerous comments discussing the design of architect Adam Kalkin. Kalin has designed the Quik House - a prefabricated kit house from recycled shipping containers. It has three bedrooms and two and one-half baths in its 2,000 square foot plan.

  

Given the number of vessels laid up around the world, the number of idle containers must be staggering.