Archive for July, 2008
July 28th, 2008
Batman broke a record. Batman this. Batman that.
That is a short summary of the entertainment news for the past month. After reading all of these headlines for weeks, we, like most of America, jumped on the Dark Knight bandwagon and purchased tickets to see the movie. In honor of Dark Knight being the first major motion picture to be shot in half IMAX cameras, we decided to see it on IMAX in Batavia.
This movie is the second installment to The Batman Begins, which came out in 2005 with current Batman Christian Bale. That movie also was very impressive, making it no surprise The Dark Knight was such a success among fans. The Dark Knight picks up where Batman Begins left off, with Batman a civilian vigilante out to clean the crime infested streets of Gotham City using fun gadgets, frightening fighting skill, and the coolest car ever made.
The movie is dominated by dark themes like death and corruption. Although it may seem depressingly hopeless and a little scary at times, the movie was so well-done we left the theater a little in shock. The performances of all the actors are unbelievable. From the smaller roles of Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine, to the main roles of Christian Bale, Maggie Gyllenhaal, and Aaron Eckhart were perfectly executed. We thought Gyllenhaal was a great replacement for Katie Holmes. She was the intelligent lawyer she needed to be, and continued the awkwardness between her Bruce Wayne/Batman very well. Eckhart was a passionate do-gooder as DA Harvey Dent, but took up the evil role of Two Face just as enthusiastically.
The role that stood out more than the others to us, along with pretty much everyone else who has seen the movie, was Heath Ledger’s role of The Joker. It’s really sad to say Heath Ledger was not even able to see his own opening, because he truly deserved it. We’ve heard rumor talk about an Oscar-worthy performance, which we completely agree with.
We recommend any ‘Batman’ fan to go see the new film in IMAX - it really added to the experience and is worth the extra drive. Just make sure to leave plenty of time so you’re not stuck in the second row like we were!
July 20th, 2008
The other week, we decided to go to
Beloit to try out a restaurant that we had heard many good reviews about: Café Belwah.
We had made reservations in advance for our dinner - thank goodness, because the place was packed! The restaurant really was beautifully decorated and had a wonderful view. It overlooked the quickly-flowing
Rock River that had obviously enjoyed the extra rain we have been getting lately. We only wish we would’ve asked to be seated on the patio overlooking this wonderful scene!
For our dinner we decided to try a few different options. We began our meal with two appetizers: Brushetta and Artichoke Dip. Both of our selections were extremely tasty; we just felt bad that we weren’t able to finish them because the portions were so generous. Unfortunately, our entrees weren’t as appealing. We decided on the Pasta Genovese and Tornado Azul. The Tornado Azul is a mixed entrée of petit filet and crab cakes with sides of garlic mashed potatoes and steamed asparagus. The garlic mashed potatoes were good, but it was odd that the entire dish was covered with thin onion straws. We were a little disappointed that our steak, which we asked for as medium well, came out as medium rare. And even after asking the chef to fix it, it was only barely medium. The crab cake it came with was by no means exceptional. Both entrees came with a choice of soup or salad; we highly recommend the creamy chicken soup.
Overall, our experience at Café Belwah was satisfactory: our appetizers were excellent, but our entrees were just mediocre.
July 13th, 2008
Gerlinde’s Water Street Café
Located across from the Rockford Register Star news tower, Gerlinde’s Water Street Café seemed to us like a little piece of France in Rockford. The quaint patio overlooking a forested view of the River and the international flair of the music have quickly made this one of our favorite lunch spots.
We’ve noticed this café numerous times while parking at the convenient municipal parking lot above at night; however, it’s always been at night when Water Street is not open. They are open for breakfast and lunch, though you can make reservations to eat there for Saturday dinner. On Saturdays, head chef Gerlinde cooks up French delicacies for those willing to pay about $60 per person.
We mostly enjoyed their chicken salad sandwich with a fruit cup on the side. The fresh chicken salad features a perfect blend of white meat chicken salad and grapes, which gives the sandwich a little flair. The fruit salad is similarly fresh.
We also tried the Dutch Potato soup. We are always fans of soup in any flavor, but this Dutch Potato was exceptional. It was much thinner than potato soups often found in the Midwest, but it was equally filling. Another customer favorite is the black bean soup.
As for the café portion of the name, we tried their chai tea and were impressed. To go along with your drink of choice, we suggest you try one of their life-changing muffins. Is “life-changing” a little dramatic? Maybe. But they are all seriously good.
Everything is pretty reasonably priced for the excellent quality and friendly service. Most items are under $10. The next time we go, we’ll be sure to secure a nice table on their patio and try one of the seasonal salads on the list on the board inside.
[Water Street Café is located at 115 N. Water Street. Call them at 815.962.3310.]
July 6th, 2008
We saw the John Mayer and Colbie Caillat concert last Wednesday at Summerfest, as we previewed a few weeks ago. We arrived in Milwaukee about 45 minutes before the concert was going to start. Even though that would have been plenty of time to park the car and walk to the venue, we decided to go to dinner first. After grabbing some pizza we parked about three hours away. Well, not three hours, but it was $5 parking if that gives you a clue about how far away we were. We made the trek to the gates and realized we had to walk across the entire grounds to get to Marcus Amphitheater. Thankfully, the rain wasn’’t bad so we didn’t mind.
Due to our eating and walking, we unfortunately missed the opening act of Brett Dennen. Though we missed him, we sampled him on Youtube before the concert and he’s actually quite good. We wish we could’ve seen him live! Colbie Caillat was just starting when we arrived, and she was wonderful. Our favorite song that she performed was “Feelings Show.”
John Mayer put on a really great show. We knew he was a talented guitarist, but we really didn’t understand just how good he is! Our favorite songs from this concert were “Vultures” and “Gravity”. If you get a chance to buy one of John Mayer’s CDs, we highly recommend a live version. He’s a very impressive performer.
The cherry on the top of a fantastic concert was when we found a baklava stand on our way out of Summerfest. Our favorite pastry dessert completed what was a truly perfect night!
