Billiards, Burgers, and Brew

One of the things that I appreciate most in this world is good food.  Sometimes the best food can come from the most surprising of sources.  My favorite restaurant in Champaign-Urbana is located in downtown Urbana and, well, isn't actually a restaurant.  It's a bar.  Crane Alley is known as a rather loud, dim, poolhall, with an extensive beer selection.  You walk in and see the TV's showing the latest sports games and think, "Eh, this is just a bar."  But this is not just a bar.  When you walk outside, you immediately realize that Crane Alley is named after a small alley adjacent to it.  There are charming tables all along this otherwise would-be creepy alley and the twinkle lights are draped across the side of the building making it seem very festive.

I discovered Crane Alley because of its pool tables.  My dad tried to teach me many skills as a kid, playing pool being one of them.  To his disappointment, I didn't pick up the art of billiards, but instead one day when we went to Crane Alley (one of the more "kid-friendly" bars in town, if you could ever describe a bar as "kid-friendly") I ordered something off the menu.  And let me tell you, it was delicious.

Since my days of learning how to play pool, I have been back to Crane Alley many a time.  And I have to say, it is the one restaurant in town that I have never gotten a bad meal from.  The food, albeit pretty traditional bar-food, is always made to perfection.  But they have a new take on bar-food as well.  For example, for a side, instead of fries or even their delicious sweet potato fries, you can get a quinoa salad.  In my opinion, you cannot go wrong if you get any one of their scrumptious sandwiches.  Not only do they have a great selection (from falafel to a burger) but every sandwich comes with fries.  French fries are probably my favorite food.  And whoever works in the kitchen at Crane Alley knows how to make me happy!

All in all, I would recommend this restaurant to anyone in the Champaign-Urbana area, especially if you're looking for something new to spice up your dining attractions.  Crane Alley is definitely 100% awesome.

Take One: Turtles and Tunes

This is a blog devoted simply to the things in this world that are wonderful.  In each post, I will tell you about different things that are, in my opinion, purely awesome.  I’m not really sure what this will be yet.  The topics could range from recipes to TV shows.  There are so many great things that I want to share with people and now I finally can without lecturing them on awesomeness.

So, to induct myself into the world of blogging (the blogosphere?), I would like to talk about the band Trampled by Turtles.  Although their name may cause some mild giggling, I assure you that this band is first rate.  I started listening to Trampled by Turtles (I’ll refer to them as TBT for short) just a few months ago as a suggestion from my brother.  Now I was a bit skeptical because my brother can sometimes be into really wacky music, but I try to give everything a chance.  And boy, was I blown away. 

The first thing that I noticed was the sweet banjo.  As a lover of all that is bluegrass, hearing such a prominent banjo delighted me.  The next thing I noticed was the violinist, or rather fiddle player.  I don’t know if I’ve heard music from that instrument sound any better.  The guitar and the mandolin round out the string section of this band, giving it a very complete sound.  But what makes TBT truly special is their lead singer, Ryan Young.  His voice is some mixture of traditional bluegrass, folk, and indie rock, which I not only found fascinating, but why not just say it, awesome.

What finally solidified TBT as one of my favorite new bands is when I had the sheer pleasure of seeing them live at Lollapalooza Music Festival this year.  Although there were many better-known bands, TBT by far put on the best show.  The vocals were flawless, melodic, and haunting.  Words cannot come close to describing how entranced I became by the mandolin and (especially) fiddle solos.  It was 100 degrees, and they sweat through their shirts in minutes, but they didn’t care!  To this day, it is one of the best concerts I have ever seen.

I could say so many more words of praise about TBT, but I would probably start to sound redundant.  Why don’t you have a listen?  Below are links to two of their most popular songs as well as a cover of the Pixies’ classic “Where Is My Mind.”  But if you like what you hear, by all means listen on!

"Wait So Long:" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xjdkc14-zwQ
"Alone:" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejfMrZQU3Eo
"Where Is My Mind:" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZvVeQI0heg