| Quick
Holiday Hits: New Restaurants, Gift Suggestions and Other
Odds and Ends
by Bob
Lowe
December 2, 2005
This is the time of the year people are so stressed shopping
for gifts, sending out Christmas cards, planning family reunions,
attending holiday programs, baking cookies and catering to
the many needs of kids and spouses that we all have the attention
span of a gnat.
Rather
than do an article on a single topic or overload you with
information you don’t have the time to read,
I thought I would provide you with some "Quick Holiday
Hits" on a diverse number of topics.
I will begin with an update on the restaurant scene since
people are always looking for new and interesting places
to dine out.
One
of the more interesting and least publicized places I found
was Kodiak Jack’s, 2059 Witzel Ave., Oshkosh,
next to the Wal-Mart Super Center on the west side of U.S.
41 (take the 9th Street Exit). It opened in March, specializes
in Steak and Seafood and has an outdoor/hunter’s ambience,
with moose and deer heads mounted on the walls. Phone: 426-9939.
Another
much-talked-about restaurant that opened earlier this year
is Appleton’s Fusion, 527 W. College Ave
(882-7432), which has a distinctive glass garage door that
opens up to near the sidewalk and has a red-decor format.
Pretty classy place.
If
you want south-of-the border cuisine, check out Panchero’s
Mexican Grill, 555 N. Casaloma Dr., near the Fox River Mall
in Grand Chute.
Boston ’s,
a gourmet pizza place and sports bar recently opened at
3740 W. College Ave., Appleton (882-3777).
Casa Di Luigi, 540 E. Shady Lane (733-5500), fronting U.S.
41 just east of the Tri County Ice Arena, is bringing a much
needed additional dining venue to that portion of the Town
of Menasha. It is a $2 million upscale Italian restaurant
owned by Rosa and Matteo Sollena.
The
former Chef Chu’s at 719 W. College Ave., Appleton,
has been renamed Tea Garden and is under new ownership. In
addition to Cantonese foods, it has a tea tasting room that
will offer some of the finest Chinese teas available Jonathan’s
Italian Bistro, 1910 N. Casaloma Dr., 882-7876, is located
in the Trasino Plaza, north of the Fox River Mall. That’s
also where you will find Hudson’s Grill, 1750 N. Casaloma
Dr., 882-3003, a retro burger, soda fountain, and sandwich
shop.
Choices Restaurant and Lounge, 307 N. Commercial St., Neenah
(720-9850), which opened in 2002, will be expanding their
services to catering and banquet hall functions.
Jacks
or Better, a familiar name for several years in the Heart
of the Valley, will open a new branch at 175 Main Street
in downtown Menasha on Monday. Also expected to open in the
next few weeks are Sabani’s on Lake Park Road in Menasha,
Bella’s Italian Meat Market on Richmond Street in Appleton,
Casa Blanca on College Avenue in downtown Appleton and Cannova’s
in downtown Neenah.
***
Here
is a TV show you might want to save on your DVR. TV Land
will broadcast "The 100 Most Unexpected TV Moments" from
9-10 p.m.
on
five consecutive nights, beginning on Monday, Dec. 5. The
countdown will include video clips, eyewitness accounts
and interview with participants. Among; the moments selected
will be Janet Jackson’s "Wardrobe Malfunction," Bobby’s
reappearance on "Dallas" after he supposedly died,
the Howard Dean Scream, the Lloyd Bentsen/Dan Quayle debate
in 1988 ("Senator, You’re No Jack Kennedy")
and the VMA’s Madonna/Britney Spears/Christina Aguilera
Kiss. The show will be rebroadcast each night at midnight.
***
Speaking
of TV, here are my picks for the three best new TV shows
this season:
ABC’s "Commander in Chief" (8 p.m.
Tuesday); UPN’s "Everybody Hates Chris" (7
p.m. Thursday) a nice retrospective on comedian Chris Rock
and NBC’s "My Name is Earl" (8 p.m. Tuesday),
mainly because it is such an unusual, original and comedic
type show.
***
If
you are looking for books to read or purchase as gifts
for friends or family members this Christmas, here are
two provocative titles you may find most fascinating: "Are
Men Necessary: When Sexes Collide," by Maureen Dowd,
the New York Times Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist and "Freakonomics:
A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything," by
Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner.
***
Among
the hot electronic items for early holiday shoppers are
all kinds of MP3 players, laptop computers for between
$200 and $400, portable DVD players, flat screen TV sets
and computer monitors, large screen color TV sets, the Xbox
360 video game console, digital cameras, cordless phones
and cell phones. My suggestion is that if you are going to
get Apple’s phenomenally popular iPod digital music
player,, get the latest video 60-gigabyte model that will
enable you to view up to 150 hours of videos, store 25,000
pictures, hold 15,000 songs and download TV shows like ABC’s "Desperate
Housewives" and "Lost" from the iTunes web
site for $1.99.
Cost for all this: about $400.
***
Finally, let me just pause to pay tribute to Attic Theatre
in Appleton, which after 56 years will go out of existence
after Dec. 31, 2005. It was Attic that gave me my first real
appreciation for local live theater before we had such magnificent
emporiums such as the Weidner Center for the Performing Arts
and the Fox Cities Performing Arts Center. It developed a
lot of local talent and provided a venue for local people
who aspired for careers in stage, movies, theater and TV.
The community will be losing a valuable asset with its
demise. I want to express my heartfelt thanks and appreciation
to all those who worked so hard in on stage and behind the
scenes. I salute your valiant efforts.
For
comments or questions, contact boblowe@juno.com or
by phone at (920)-731-4603.
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