dave's day

[calimac]

barondave told me about this. There's a chain of barbecue restaurants called Famous Dave's, and once a year they hold Dave's Day, when anyone named Dave can get a meal up to $15 free. You have to bring in a photo ID proving that you're Dave (or David, which most Daves are).

Well, OK. I generally prefer that people not call me Dave,¹ but for $15 worth of barbecue, I'm willing to sell my nominal integrity. The problem is that there are no Famous Dave's around here. Well, there is one sort of vaguely within driving distance if I can think of an excuse to go in that direction which I mostly can't, and last time there was a Dave's Day that one wasn't even participating, but this year they are. So I drove there and told them I was Dave.

Actually, I was expecting the place to be packed, the way the local Denny's were when they had a big breakfast discount one day recently, or like the Red-Headed League in the Sherlock Holmes story. Only with Daves, instead of red-headed men or people who like Denny's. And I would go from table to table and query to test my theory that most men named Dave, at least those around my age, have brothers named Mike.

But in fact it wasn't crowded at all, and it was pretty much like any other sit-down coffee-shop style chain restaurant with a Texas theme, except that I got $15 off my bill. Naturally I left a tip based on the full price.

And the barbecue was ... not bad, considering that there isn't too much in the way of good barbecue around here.² I got a combo plate, and found the pulled pork best, the ribs merely edible. The sides, often the weak spot even at better bbq joints than this, were especially good. You don't get a lot of bbq for your money - unless it's Dave's Day, in which case you get a thundering lot for your money - but I might return even on other days.

Now, what else to do around there to justify the trip?

1. My brother sometimes does, but he has a childhood exemption, and when I'm leaving my name with the clerk at a fast-food restaurant for my order to be called, I generally give it as Dave, because I have this mental image that guys named Dave eat at fast-food restaurants, while guys named David don't.

2. There used to be a joint in Santa Clara with the tenderest, juiciest ribs ... I can still taste them. Like every place else in Santa Clara, it's long since turned into a Korean restaurant, but I gaze at it every time I pass by, hoping it will have miraculously reverted. No luck so far, but I keep hoping.

Comments

[smofbabe.livejournal.com]

Now, what else to do around there to justify the trip?

Where's "there"?

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

This is probably well known in the States, but just in case you hadn't seen it...

[wordweaverlynn.livejournal.com]

most men named Dave, at least those around my age, have brothers named Mike.

Interesting theory! My Uncle David's only brother was named Michael.

Barbecue

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

Armadillo Willy's wasn't bad a bunch of years ago.

B

Perhaps it's the Sauce But

[shelleybear.livejournal.com]

BBQ sits in my stomach like a rock.
On the other hand Chinese-style ribs are nummy.

[kalimac.livejournal.com]

Gilroy. Yee-haw!

[smofbabe.livejournal.com]

Shopping at the outlet malls is the only reason I ever went down there :->

Re: Barbecue

[kalimac.livejournal.com]

Not bad, indeed, but not significantly better than this, and I don't care for their selection of side dishes at all.

[kalimac.livejournal.com]

You will have noticed that I recently offered some entries for the SFWA Writers Lookalike Contest.

[barondave.livejournal.com]

A small sub-set of the Legion of Super Davids went to Dave's Day. I had the Sunday breakfast buffet, as did one other; the other two ordered various ribs. Even with a tip based on the original price, the outing was inexpensive, the live music was fine and the company good.

The food itself was only okay. I'm still not impressed by Famous Dave's. I've found most of the medium upscale places are trying to be upscale, with varying results, so I stick with more familiar (and cheaper but solid) places.

[consonantia.livejournal.com]

Omigod, I spent so much money at that outlet mall, back in the day!

When is that garlic festival?

[kalimac.livejournal.com]

The garlic festival was last weekend. I don't even drive through Gilroy on that weekend: the traffic is insane.

[sturgeonslawyer.livejournal.com]

There is good bbq in the east bay: Everett and Jones's.

[irontongue.livejournal.com]

David and Michael were the two most common boy's names in my immediate age and geographic cohort. And it would never, ever, occur to me to call you Dave.

[kalimac.livejournal.com]

On the girls' side, there weren't so many Lisas as there were Lindas and Karens. Linda Linda Linda. Karen Karen Karen. All over. And Deborah. Lots of Debbies and Deborahs. But if anyone having a baby girl today wants a name that they can absolutely guarantee nobody else in her class will have, they should pick Deborah.

[kalimac.livejournal.com]

The only thing that ever bothered me about my first name is that so many other boys had it. I was never the only David in my class, and always was burdened as "David B." in the all-first-name days of early elementary school.

In later years, it came to be somewhat more of an advantage, as the source of many amusing forms of granfalloon solidarity.

[irontongue.livejournal.com]

Lots of Lisas where and when I grew up, though nothing will ever match having FOUR of us in a jujitsu school of 20 or so students for a period in the early/mid 1980s. Two of us got to black belt, too!

[kalimac.livejournal.com]

I took note of this when you wrote it, and finally time, opportunity, and the courage to venture into a low-dive-looking joint coincided, and I had lunch there yesterday.

O god was it terrible. Ribs tough and undercooked. This is not good bbq. I'd rather eat at Dave's.