Red Meat Reviews » Food

Chupacabra Wine Made and Signed by Maynard James Keenan – Wine Review

Haaris Ahmed — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 20:29:29 +0000

Maynard James Keenan wears many hats, lead singer of Tool, A Perfect Circle and Puscifer and for the past couple of years has been dipping his creative finger making wine at Arizona Stronghold. Wednesday night Maynard was signing bottles at Whole Food markets in Santa Barbara which happened to be 1 block away from my apt. It was a cool 30 something degrees outside but I laced up my tight ass kicks and headed on over.

Before I tell you about the wine a quick rant. You can skip this part if you feel like it, its OK.

There was NO LINE but more security checkpoints than a crowded LAX full of Pakistanis flying to NYC, and I happen to be Pakistani so I know a thing or 2 about security checkpoints. This was quite the opposite of what I was expecting. I mean they had cops and more cops and some more security. I am always stoked on new wine and having Maynard sling his poison to boot, this should have been the greatest experience EVER, sadly it was the hyper opposite. Wine is warm and stirs great feelings of happiness, joy and all-around good vibes. This experience was cold hurried and all around stupid. I had all of 5 seconds to look at Maynard and his partner at Stronghold, had to stand behind red tape that was a good 7 feet back from the dudes, and was hurried all the way. Maynard apparently is a recluse and pretty funny when he is getting interviewed by the media so this behavior was expected, but not necessary seeing I was the only one there. Is this going to stop me from listening to anything Maynard puts out, absolutely not, his music rules, his wine……

I picked up a bottle of the Chupacabra, which is a blended Red. I liked it, but I did not think it was worth $19.99, but mine is signed by the man himself. It has a light fruity but sharp taste. The aroma is fresh, almost like flowers, and teh after taste is light as well. My lady didn’t like it so much.

If your a Maynard fan you will be buying this wine just cause. I am no wine expert but i know what i like, and this would go will with lunch on a sunny day, or a picnic, not dinner.

3 meats

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Velvet Devil Merlot Review

Ninja Restaurant FOUND in NYC – The Ninja Review

Haaris Ahmed — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 23:13:20 +0000

While on turkey break me and my California slice of heaven decided to check out the Ninja, a ninja themed restaurant, and yes I was massively excited.

So you enter the spot, ride an down an elevator and when the doors open you find yourself in Edo Japan circa the 14th century. CAUTION there are ninjas EVERYWHERE and they will scare you any chance they get. The food was not the greatest, but to their defense I was a bit under the weather.

The real draw is the furnishing and service. The place is low lit and everything about this spot transports you to another time. All the eating areas have sliding doors to add to the privacy factor. An unlike most restaurants this place is loud, both the servers and the patrons. Its a fun place to go! The best is the ninja magic that they do when presenting the food. They use fire explosions, ninja stars and black powder, hell even the menus are written on scrolls! In between courses they had a magician entertain me and my broad and not only was the magic a good change of pace, the ninja magician was actually a funny cat.

One of the only drawbacks about this spot was the food, which wasn’t bad, but wasn’t good for the amount you pay at this establishment. Yes this place is on the pricey side, but its a themed NINJA restaurant in NYC what did you expect?

Big ups to the ninja, they need to step it up in the flavor department but everything else is on point. I recommend this place to anyone who has a hard on for ninjas, likes a good time, and has some larger bills in their wallet or purse if that’s how you roll.

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Velvet Devil Merlot Review

Haaris Ahmed — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 05:58:51 +0000

A wine review? What else are you going to drink with juicy slabs of lamb but some solid red wine goodness. Do I know anything about wine, NOPE, but I know what I like.

So me and my miss miss were celebrating me locking her down for an entire year, and I went ALL OUT. We hit up this dope spot called ELEMENTS where I cant say enough good things about the food, staff, and service. So I let my lady pick the wine, and being the straight gangsta she is she picked the one with the dopest name, the Velvet Devil Merlot. I am not a Merlot fan, but after one sip of delicious fermented grape i was hooked. It was GREAT! It had a real dark flavor and went well with everything i ate. It had a smoky aroma plus a whole bunch of clashing distinct flavors that was smooth. I recommend this for any night weather you are having taco’s or mango sorbets.

Go out and buy yourself a bottle and comment if you agree or disagree.

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