Brad "beerad" C.'s Profile

Meh... Louie's I can take it or leave it. The best thing about Louie's was that it was 5 buildings away from my place. Now that I've moved and its over two blocks away I'm not sure how often I'll go. If you're looking for karaoke this is a pretty good place since they have it every night. The bar can get pretty busy and sometimes has a strange mix of people. You get the few people that wonder too far from Damen / North Ave and you also have the old men sitting at the bar. They have decent beer specials and a pool table in the back room.

Sure I like dive bars but Blue Frog is just bad. This place reminds me of Louie's Pub on North Ave (small, packed and annoying when Karaoke is happening), but only worse since they don't even have a pool table. The place gets packed and its just hard to talk with karaoke happening 5 feet from your face. My friends like going to this place, which sucks for me. The only plus is there isn't a cover like most of the other crappy bars in the loop.

All the lego sculptures are amazing! But if you are just looking for bunch of lego in one color they don't seem to have what you need. All I needed a bunch of white lego for a winter wonderland I was building. Also if you aren't in the store if a child you may get a few odd looks.

American Science & Surplus is great store just go in and look around. Sure you might be able to find just what you need for that science project. But you are also going to find something you would of never thought they needed to make.

I drive past El Barco at least once a week and have been wanting to make a stop in. Today on the bike ride home from work my finance and I decided to go to dinner at El Barco. It was great, there was a bike rack right out front.

The place seemed pretty busy but there were plenty of tables and no wait. Once seated we were given this giant menu, about a foot wide and 2 ft tall. If you were at a table with a large group it would of made it really hard to flip through the menu. It wasn't even that there were a lot of items - it was that the type was just giant with lots of cartoon pictures.

To drink I went with a mango margarita and my finance tried the sangria, both of them were good. We were seeing the size of the food come out of the kitchen and figured we should share an entree. But we did go with two appetizers, but think we should of gotten only one. I just really wanted to try an octopus tostada. I had never had or seen a octopus tostada so I wasn't sure what to expect. It was just a tostada shell with a bunch of octopus on it - nothing else. I don't think I would get it a again but I am glad I tried it, it just needed some of the tostada fixings. We tried to get the waitress to suggest a red snapper to get but she had no idea and couldn't explain the different sauces. Randomly we picked the broiled snapper  with adobo sauce. I think we made a good choice since the snapper was excellent!

Overall we had way too much to eat. I think two people could just get drinks and share one entree and have a great meal.

I have never stayed at the Sahara I have only stoped in for the cheap tables. Thats really the only plus about the Sahara.. cheaper to play usually means you can play for longer. If your staying at the Stratosphere, which I don't recommend the Sahara is close enough to walk to. If your are coming from the other end take a cab its not worth the walk.

If you want to stay at a hotel on the strip stay away from the Stratosphere. It is the last hotel on the strip and too far walk to and from. Sure the place is cheaper then the rest but its not worth it.

I haven't seen a band here since high school when I saw the Misfits a few times. And those where good times!

But I do go for lunch every once and awhile. The food is decent, not great but good. I would recommended getting here before noon and placing your order quick. One of the biggest issues I have with the House of Blues is the slow service. Usually you should be able to be in and out with in 45 minutes which is perfect for lunch, but I have been here a few times when it has taken twice that.

So this is the trendy colorful crate and barrel... I have never found anything I needed or even wanted at CB2. The staff is less helpful and not that friendly, I guess that makes it more hip and trendy.

When you need to buy storage items to hold all the stuff you already have the container should have what you need.

This past weekend my finance and I redid the three closets in our condo to maximize out space. The staff at The container Store usually always friendly and helpful.

The container Store figured out this great idea after you order you ELFA system you have to wait about 30 minutes for them to get all the items cut and ready. During that time you are walking around the store and soon find yourself with a handful of items you didn't even know you needed.

The ELFA closet system is great. It is pretty easy to put together and seems to hold everything. I don't think I will need another ELFA system anytime soon but if I did I would go back to The Container Store and order another system.