Jailer

Walking out of an Idinery, with a phone in one ear and worried about my schedule because the Idine detour had put me behind, I almost got creamed by a car as I crossed the street.

How ironic, I thought, to die over 95 frequent flyer miles. Anybody have something awful happen—car accident, mugged, food poisoning, missed flight, etc.—in the quest for what is in reality a few bucks worth of airline miles?

paradocs

Jailer: So glad you are still able to Idine with us! Fortunately, I have not had any close calls related to Idine.

oldpenny16

There are 2 IDine places in my 10 mile area that are bars that serve food. I haven't visited these places as I'm uncertain about the safety of the neighborhood. I will only do so much for a Dine.

best

We all need to be more careful while driving.

bigguyinpasadena

I and 2 buddies got horrible food poisoning a week ago at a participating Mexican restaurant in Palm Springs.I am still having ummmmm"problems"
I do hope the health depaetment lowers their rating,
BTW-All idines in PS that I have tried have been really,really,bad.

Jailer

Thought I’d try to a new Idinery and before entering I noticed a sign claiming that the credit card machine was broken and directing customers to the ATM down the street. OK, not horrible, but with (supreme) gas north of $4, it ‘twas annoying to take a 5+ mile detour. I went off in a huff for a sans-miles lunch.

At least they didn’t wait till after the meal to explain no credit cards, but why is it that the only restaurants that temporarily can’t take credit cards are Idine affiliated?

Carolellen607

Not sure this belongs in this thread but it is an idine restaurant I have eaten at :
(from the Staten Island Advance, a local newspaper)


Restaurateur cooperated with FBI
by Staten Island Advance
Monday August 25, 2008, 1:30 PM
In the weeks before Frank Fresca's execution-style slaying, he allowed the FBI on his property so they could fish evidence out of his marina - specifically, a metal pole investigators believe was used to incinerate the body parts of a mob murder victim.

The 66-year-old restaurateur "had been openly assisting the FBI in its search of the waters surrounding the marina attached to Fresca's restaurant," according to the latest filing by federal prosecutors in the trial of reputed Bonanno crime family soldier Joseph (Joe Black) Young

The feds believe that Young used the pole "to stoke the dismembered body of Robert McKelvey, which the defendant incinerated inside the furnace of his home," prosecutors wrote.

Young, a former U.S. Marine, is in federal prison awaiting trial on an array of charges, including the 2005 murder of McKelvey. Young is accused of stabbing, strangling and drowning McKelvey at the former Kreischer Mansion in Charleston - where Young was a caretaker - then sawing McKelvey's body to pieces and feeding the parts into the furnace.

The detail about the pole came to light in a letter by federal prosecutors arguing that Young be tried by an anonymous jury.

Prosecutors allude to Fresca's murder to make that argument - "Knowledge of Fresca's gangland-style killing, his assistance to the FBI in this case, and his close connection to the defendant and the Bonanno family would certainly 'cause a juror to reasonably fear for his own safety.'"

Fresca was found shot nine times outside his restaurant, Fresca's by the Bay at 225 Ellis St. in Tottenville, early July 30. The murder remains unsolved

JDiver

Come on, man! Is Fresca's by the Bay? That's what we need to know!

Seriously, that is seriously scary. And I'm glad to see Jailer is still with us.

My only scares have been once i started looking up our (many) local iDine restos on our Health Department website. Most are just fine, but the "rodent feces" and "inadequate refrigeration" kind of entries make me aversive to a few of our locals.

Frankly, I do like this opportunity to check Sacramento County CA restos out. Link.

Jailer

While I meant this thread for "horrible", I was a bit annoyed when the Tommy Pastrami where I got a gift card closed down. With about $20 left on the card, I tried another location only to be told that the independently owed stores only honor their own gift cards. Grrrrr. Two emails and a call to corporate went unreturned, but I think that I will live.

Beckles

I just assume that if I hadn't gone to an iDine restaurant all of those horrible things would happen to me ... at once ... then it's a win-win, I get the miles, plus I avoid all those calamities.

Jailer

OK...still not horrible, but decidedly odd.

When picking up dinner a week ago at a new Idinery, I noticed that they had a very large and welcoming patio that looked to be built in response to COVID.

The food was really good and since I was passing by today I stopped for lunch because who doesn't need an extra 100 AA miles?

It was mobbed, a good sign, with barely a parking space. Pop music blared and I wondered if this was a a private party. It wasn't and, although I planned to listen to an audiobook, Jailer is nothing but flexible and lives in the moment: that's how he rolls as do so many who refer to themselves in the third person.

I'd wandered into an ultra-campy high drag Devine-inspired stage show. It was profane and pretty funny, but I don't even know if they were singing or lip-syncing: Jailer may not be as hip as he pretends, as are so many who refer to themselves in the third person.

This, I learned from my waitress, is a standard weekend event with a regular crowd who were throwing money at the performers. That the glittering and festooned didn't circle my-tucked-in-a-corner table may be because I appeared to be a civilian, a newbie and/or because I was slightly hiding behind my phone.

And thanks (in advance) for asking, but, no, RN isn't my beard.

pinniped

Wow, I think I would actually *pay* 100 AA miles to be part of that.

hedoman

Jimmy likes your idine stories.