Tom Miller Official Blog

Starfucks

6/3/2013

Good morning! Welcome to Starbuck's. What can I get for you?

Customer 1: I'd like a Grande coffee in a venti cup with 2 pumps hazelnut, 2 pumps vanilla, 2 pumps caramel, 2 equals and 4 sweet and lows filled to the top with cream, with extra cream on the side, double cupped with no sleeve, a stir stick, and stopper put in the top.

No problem. Your name?

Customer 1: Dickhead.

How about for you, mam?

Customer 2: I'll have a tall half-skinny half-1 percent extra hot split quad shot (two shots decaf, two shots regular) latte with whip.

You bet! And your name?

Customer 2: Cunt.

Thank you, Cunt. Your order will be up in a minute. Good morning, sir. What can I get started for you today?

Customer 3: A grande extra hot soy with extra foam, split shot with a half squirt of sugar-free vanilla and a half squirt of sugar-free cinnamon, a half packet of splenda, oh and could you please put that in a venti cup and fill up the "room" with extra whipped cream with carmel and chocolate sauce drizzled on top.

Yes sir. Right away. Name?

Customer 3: Diarrhea Mouth.

Coming right up, Mr. Mouth. And sir, what can I get started for you?

Customer 4: I would like a goddamn cup of motherfucking coffee, please.

Cool beans! And your name?

Customer 4: Tom Miller

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Nostalgia

6/3/2013

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mars
oberon beer
spacemen on the television
their words, restyled for comedy
"water? i wonder if it's poisonous
like it is on earth"

warm bodies on all sides
i am disconnected
plugging in electric words
on my blog

what an ugly name for a
collection of memories and ideas
blog

i would love any one of these boys
to take me home
it is a sausage fest

gamers and geeks,
punks and grunge kids
the natural smells

deodorant is
an affectation we have
accepted as normal

and that is sad

the cutoff lines of communication
buried in those pheromones
may say things beneath the surface
that need saying

imagine if you could spray away
history, mask it and forget
what love meant at any given fixed point
in space/time

what if that were normal?
it is.

the mind is configured to make the best of things
to remember those moments which happened no matter how bad
if for only the good

i recall a rainy day in Disney world
all the best rides were broken down
we stood in the rain for hours sad and angry

years later, we reminisced
with great joy, the trials and tribulations of the rain that day

i sit alone
mars surrounds me
in its unfathomable reality
in an untouchable future

for now,
i am the king of the fairies
i am the king

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Why Dinner at Paramount Grill is Paramount

6/1/2013

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Chef Clif Nelson of Paramount Grill in Gainesville, Florida is a self-made man and self-trained chef. But he IS a chef, with no doubt, and of distinction. He runs what is arguably the best and most innovative restaurant in town. Nelson's culinary expertise was on display when I moved to Gainesville in the 80's. At the time, he was also the most sought after and popular DJ in the club scene, fixing himself at legendary venues like The Vatican and My Friends' Place. Thursday nights at M.F.P.--there was nowhere else to be if you were anyone at all. After working for some of Gainesville's finest restaurants including Sake-Drops, which was among the first in town to innovate the idea of a quality sushi fused with contemporary haute cuisine featuring French, Italian, and Mediterranean influences, Nelson later set off for other ports of call. When he returned, his already passionate dedication to excellence now exponentially hyperbolic (if that was even possible), he opened Paramount Grill and established both a unique brand and a product for which no other restaurant compares. Chef Nelson is a natural culinary wizard who combines proper respectful cooking of quality ingredients with an uncanny ability to blend some many and altogether unexpected flavors like a Picasso-style painter of food. Nelson's 4-dimensional plating typically provides a unique base which absorbs flavors as you eat your way down his constructed joy-rides of bold confident adventure--Perfectly seared (tataki-style/tosa-mi) sushi-grade tuna over black bean, sweet potato and delicate corn enchiladas; Pan roasted barrel cut Angus filet served over chive mashed Yukon golds with asparagus, roasted portabellos and white truffle sherry reduction--so tender your knife passes through the filet of its own weight; grilled just-before-medium duck breast which releases it's pure and juicy flavors over broccoli, crimini mushrooms and wild mushroom ravioli in a roasted tomato and Marsala wine sauce with surprises of Gorgonzola and pecans. My theory is that Chef nelson serves warm savory herb-scented muffins instead of bread (...with a smooth garlic bean spread in place of butter) because with bases such as I have described with which to absorb the concentrated melange of flavors cascading down like a waterfall as you go, who really needs bread? I recently dined there last night with my pal, Jason Hedges--the actor, singer, songwriter, magician, and all-around man about town, and it was a sinister sheer delight to hear his comments as he worked his way into his tuna dish: "Holy fu-k. Oh my God, that's insane. Jesus...wow..." We enjoyed the filet, the fish (both just cooked to pure perfection), and a shared appetizer of banana and cashew encrusted crab-cakes with avocado and a spicy Thai red curry mango aioli. How's that for a flavor combination! We followed up with a creme-brulee and a Mexican-style chocolate mouse with, I fathom, cinnamon and a subtle hint of cayenne? It was truly over-the-top. We paired our dinners with a pretty flavorful and nicely balanced by-the-glass house wine, McManis Merlot.

Give yourself a worthwhile gift and make a special night of Paramount Grill downtown. The tight crew in the kitchen and the equally passionate efficient and absolutely comfortable staff (Gary, he of old-school New York hutzpa, Diana, his lovely and attentive partner in crime & wine, and the rest of the service staff) will absolutely provide the care of your every need. Both dining areas of Paramount Grill (the original room and the expanded side-room) are bathed in warm color and classic fixtures suggesting a comfortable high-end but never snooty affair which you will remember fondly. The interior, with its many dark wood-framed nostalgic sepia-tone photos contrasting the decidedly contemporary and urban feel contributes to the sense that you are in the hands of a chef/owner who values tradition, enjoys modernity, and intends to put the customer experience first-and-foremost. Chef Nelson is often quiet and unassuming and carefully, unobtrusively eyeballs each and every patron looking for even a hint of dissatisfaction. He rarely if ever gets one. Paramount is a Gainesville experience unlike any other culinary adventure in town, and most diners go out of their way to let him know on the way out the door. "That was amazing..." or "...see you again soon, Chef..." or, "Holy sh-t, that absolutely blew my freakin' mind!" The last comment was mine. I had the filet.

-- Tom Miller

http://www.paramountgrill.com/
On Trip Advisor: CLICK HERE

Chef Clif Nelson

Paramount Grill

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Starfucks

Nostalgia

Why Dinner at Paramount Grill is Paramount

Tom Miller

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