Monday, October 11, 2010

Fincastles Diner (CLOSED)


NOTE: Fincastles has since closed. Mid City Sandwich Company opened in its location but has also since closed as well. White and Wood, a wine bar, is the current tenant.

Located at 218 South Elm Street in downtown Greensboro, Fincastles offers burgers, hot dogs, sandwiches, and other lighter fare. Limited outdoor seating is available.



Fincastles may have an Irish-sounding name, but don’t come here looking for corned beef and cabbage– the cuisine is pure American Southern. Regional flourishes include sides like fried green tomatoes and crawfish tails, as well as Carolina-style (chili, mustard, onions, and slaw) burgers and dogs.


Unfortunately, this is one case where distinction and variety are poor stand-ins for quality. An Elm Street burger (pickles and cheese) was misshapen and surprisingly small, while the pimento cheese sauce – they are big on that here – is an acquired taste, to say the least. The best thing about it was the sourdough bun. Sweet potato fries fared better, but the portion size was hardly generous.


The interior of Fincastles is decidedly retro. From the gaudy tile and the old-school jukebox to the plus-sized Coke bottle decoration and the long service counter, the place screams vintage small-town burger joint, even though it’s in the heart of a major city. Needless to say, this is not a good place to enjoy a quiet meal…or a prompt one. The lone server was friendly enough, but no match for the sizeable lunch crowd.


Given the small servings and the boisterous ambience, one would at least expect Fincastles to be a bargain. No dice. Burgers run $4 and up, with no sides. Add a side and a drink to round out the meal, and you’re looking at paying double-digits for something you can get better and cheaper at a fast food establishment.


The location and the menu’s innovations make Fincastle’s worth an occasional visit, but there is no shortage of superior lunch options.


6.75/10
Fincastles Restaurant on Urbanspoon

Saturday, October 9, 2010

The Social Network

Dumped by his girlfriend and eager to impress a prestigious club, Harvard computer geek Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg) creates a Web site that allows students to rate their female classmates. After much controversy and consternation, Zuckerberg and his friends create Facebook. As the social networking site takes off and launches Zuckerberg to newfound fame and fortune, he falls into conflict with his best friend/cofounder (Andrew Garfield) and a pair of privileged twins (Armie Hammer) whose idea he might have stolen.


I was in college when Facebook was launched, and I remember how quickly and voraciously it spread, converting naysayers and adding new schools and new members at an unfathomable pace. Naturally, the story behind this phenomenon is of curiosity to many members of my generation, whether they love or loathe Zuckerberg’s creation. But what makes The Social Network so interesting is that the story behind the story is almost as compelling and curious as the film itself.


Directed by David Fincher and written by Aaron Sorkin (a wonderfully paranoid downer and a clever leftist technophobe, respectively), The Social Network bares only a casual resemblance to the truth. Eisenberg plays Zuckerberg as an isolated, insecure, yet intelligent jerk. Obviously, the young billionaire didn’t get to where he is by being Mr. Sunshine, but the fact that he was in a stable relationship while the film was being made clashes inconveniently with the celluloid image. Likewise, co-founder Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield) is made to be a much more sympathetic character while downplaying his incompetence as CFO, and Saverin’s rival, Napster founder Sean Parker (Justin Timberlake), is given a more antagonistic role – no wonder given that Saverin served as a consultant for the book that served as the movie’s source material.


Despite the overt factual manipulation, The Social Network remains a generally well-crafted film. The leads deliver memorable performances, Sorkin’s dialogue is as sharp as ever, and the Trent Reznor/Atticus Ross soundtrack hits all the right notes. Fincher caught some flak for his reliance on CGI – how else could he get both Winklevoss brothers in the same shot? – but the end result is fairly seamless.


Like Oliver Stone’s W., The Social Network suffers from not achieving enough chronological distance from its subject. Both films also subvert reality in the name of storytelling. The key difference is that the Fincher/Sorkin effort is marked by a more consistent tone and a more harmonious creative vision.


8/10

Kiosco Mexican Grill

Located at 3011 Spring Garden Street, Kiosco offers tacos, burritos, fajitas, and a wide variety of Mexican house specials. There is a full-service bar, and outdoor seating is available. Food and drink specials change daily.

Mexican dining in Greensboro is largely a series of trade-offs. Some establishments can make a mean taco (El Azteca), but lack ambience while others offer plenty of seating and variety (El Mariachi), but don’t always guarantee a good meal. Of all the local Mexican restaurants I’ve been to (six at last count), Kiosco comes the closest to offering the total package.

First, the food: the menu isn’t quite as stacked at El Mariachi’s, but it’s still plenty expansive in its own right. There are scores of specials for the lunch crowd, but those coming for dinner will still find plenty, from classic carnitas to sizzling steak fajitas and a few things you can’t find elsewhere. Ever want the contents of a burrito Texano tossed together, minus the burrito, and topped with cheese? They have that here, and they do it well: the A.C.P. Texano is well-seasoned and not too dry. Full-sized and half-sized options ensure the right fit for every appetite.

The food would be a draw in and of itself, but the service at Kiosco is spectacular. Servers are friendly, abundant, and lightning-quick. You won’t be sitting for more than a minute before someone takes your drink order, and that glass won’t remain empty for long unless you want it to be. Both the chips (complimentary with salsa, as they should be) and the check were delivered promptly and amicably.

Kiosco isn’t a large place, but the seating capacity is deceptive. Though the booths are few, the long table and the bar seat many. Outdoor seating in nicer weather further increases the capacity. Kiosco’s interior is as dark, calm and tastefully subdued as Mexico Restaurant’s is garishly colorful. A few TVs add appeal for sports fans.

One would expect to overpay for all these intangibles, but Kiosco manages to keep it reasonable. If you stick with the half-size on an entrée (adequate for a non-famished party of one), you can feed yourself for under $10. Nothing here is a steal, but the quality justifies the price.

Cheaper and gaudier/more fun Mexican restaurants exist, but Kiosco offers the best blend of food, service, and value. Until another establishment decides to step up its game, Kiosco gets my vote for Greensboro’s finest.

8.5/10

Twilight

Guest Review by Jen Julian

Stephenie Meyer is not to be underestimated as a writer. With a few exceptions in which she lovingly details the Pacific Northwest, the ever-rainy setting for her vampire romance Twilight, she is not afraid to embarrass herself with mawkish, overblown prose. She also possesses a talent for knowing her intended audience, and she exploits them constantly and without shame. This is not a novel to be read meticulously. In fact, I argue that it can only be enjoyed through either complete intellectual surrender or detached irony. Otherwise, it’s a grotesque read, with a bare-bones plot, an incorrigible subtext, and characters that are, at best, unlikable and, at worst, overt manipulations from the author.

The book’s seventeen-year-old protagonist, Bella Swan, is probably the best example of Meyer’s manipulative handiwork. Bella, the product of divorced parents, moves to Forks, Washington to live with her dad and meets dreamy, brooding vamp Edward Cullen at her local high school (that’s the basic plot, for those of you who’ve been living under a rock). A different protagonist could have made Twilight into a bearable or even meaningful young adult book. But Bella is not so much a character as she is an expertly designed placeholder for the reader. She fluctuates wildly from self-pity, to disdain, to blind rapture for the godly, often condescending Edward. Basically everything that she feels is unreasonable, though still somehow believable, given that she is exactly how a self-centered teenager would portray herself if inserted into a novel like this one. Bella is just nice enough that she doesn’t have to face confrontation, she never reciprocates to the high school peers that extend themselves to her, and on a whim she performs acts of unnecessary selflessness, the author’s way of reminding us that she is an innocent, sacrificial lamb. Never once does Meyer ask us to question this character’s behavior, and by the end of the novel, Bella has received everything she could possibly want with little effort. The appeal to teenage readers should be obvious.

Edward is also an overt manipulation, a beautiful, self-tormenting “vegetarian” vampire that abstains, both from sex and human blood. He does sparkle in the sun, literally, but this deviation from traditional vampire lore serves no purpose for the “plot” and is the least of Twilight’s problems. Edward is madly in love with Bella but also holds a burning desire to eat her. He stalks her, sneaks into her room to watch her sleep, and consistently overpowers her both physically and emotionally. While the subtext is disconcerting, Meyer’s preferred message is clear: Edward is there as a protector. He is to protect Bella from everything, including her own rampant desires and the dangers that their relationship imposes. Young women just entering into the scary world of adulthood might find this kind of controlled relationship comforting. Combine that with Bella Swan’s inescapable relatability and you’ve got a legion of hypnotized fans.

Twilight is most enjoyed by teen girls and by adult women who have fond memories of their first high school crushes. It is particularly enjoyed by those who would prefer to remain as teenagers forever, as this is the kind of reward that Meyer’s novel offers. Edward is gorgeous, rich, powerful and immortal, and the adult world beyond him is portrayed as dull and insufficient. Most all characters, Bella’s high school friends, parents and teachers, are insignificant when up against Edward and his vampire family. Twilight, on a whole, is the kind of novel that persuades women to remain locked up inside their heads, discouraging them from exploring the world of responsibility and adulthood. Meyer, something like the literary equivalent of Dr. Frankenstein, has tapped into an overflowing subconscious vein, and she has brought the hulking monster to life.


1.5/10 for the writing, 6/10 for the evil ingenuity