What I Ate: December 5, 2009 (Phil's Icehouse, IKEA)

Lunch: We were on our way to Austin Plumbing Supply to take a look at some Toto toilets (they have an amazing inventory of Toto's in their showroom including the Neorest 600 - the most awesome toilet that I know of) when we almost passed Phil's Icehouse. Since it was there, we were hungry, and we had a pretty good meal there last time, I decided to pull over for a burger. I ordered The Brentwood Burger (A bacon cheeseburger w/ lettuce, tomato, sliced onion, pickles, mayo, mustard, 2 slices of bacon, cheddar cheese on a toasted sourdough bun) while Tina had The Crestview Burger (A chili cheeseburger w/ chili, cheddar cheese, sliced onion & mustard on a toasted jalapeno cheese bun). We both felt our burgers were not as good as the first time we had eaten at Phil's Icehouse. Tina's burger - which we had a mini version of last time - was coated with too much yellow mustard to the point of overwhelming the chili and burger. My Brentwood Burger was made horrible by an overly sweet bun. It started off okay - the bun was just a bit sweet. But, that sweetness grew with every bite until about half way through the burger I couldn't take another bite. I ended up getting a knife and fork and eating the rest like a hamburger salad avoiding the bread. The fries were also kind of stale tasting - not a good experience.

Dinner: We went to IKEA to shop for a cheap table to use as an auxiliary desk for my office (as well as a desk for Tina). Whenever we're at IKEA, it's like we're at a Las Vegas casino - I have no idea what time it is or how much time has passed. By the time we wandered through the showroom, figured out which tabletops to buy and which legs and for what purpose, and got to the midway point of IKEA - the restaurant/cafe - it was 7:55pm. It was then that we realized the IKEA restaurant closes at 8pm and no food was left except the Swedish meatballs (which I was going to get anyway). I got an order of meatballs, mashed potatoes, and gravy, and we shared a side of overcooked vegetables. I suppose one benefit of being the last customers is that we get a LOT of meatballs. Of course, when at IKEA you have to get the lingonberry juice (which I usually like to mix with some Sprite/Sierra Mist, but strangely enough they had all sorts of sodas except for a lemon/lime soda… closest thing was Mountain Dew which I didn't think would mix well with the juice).