My Return to Fuddruckers, St. Louis

I haven't been to Fuddruckers is about twenty years and I had never been to the one in St. Louis (Sunset Hills).  Overall this is going to be a good review but I have to say when I walked in I was almost tempted to turn around and walk back out.  The atmosphere and setup of this place could use a lot of work to say the least. That being said I was impressed with the food.  The wife and I both got the Kobe burger combo.

The burger was very good but not Kobe quality.  I got mine with blue cheese, which overwhelmed the flavor of the burger meat but that is my fault.  I had the presence of mine to cut out a bit of the cheese to get a better taste of the beef and it was pretty good.  The bun was perfect.  It was light and you didn't get filled up by bread.  The fries were not stead style but pretty similar and they had a great seasoning.  The thing that was most impressive was the condiment bar.  Everything was perfectly fresh, I am not sure how it was kept that way with all of the kids running around but even the tomatoes were perfect and that is a rarity at condiment bars.

Overall, it was an enjoyable experience.  If Fuddruckers wants to take that experience to the next level they'll need to give that interior an overhaul.  I wouldn't recommend you to take a first date here but for an established relationship this place kind of hits the spot in a weird way.

Red Dawn The Original vs The New

After watching the original Red Dawn I realize the new release was just a watered down version.  There were some additions to the new release such as the EMP weapon and a change in the enemy but it wasn't enough to make up for all the symbolism and additional drama in the first Red Dawn.

The names on the rock was a theme in the first version that completely lacked in the second version.  Then the choices the Wolverines had to make in the first version were much more dramatic.  Most notably shooting the trader and leaving a member to die.  I will skip describing the difference in ending but if you have seen both, come on the second version by comparison is a total fluff job.  The enemy is also a lot meaner in the original.

The enemies were also more developed in the original in terms of strategy and the emotional connection the developed with the viewer.  There was some good in them and honor as well.  As a viewer I still wanted them to die but I felt a little badly when they did.  The character development was also more thought out in the original and it was done very subtly.  Such as a moment in the movie were the character Robert is etching notches for his kills into his gun.

To me the original is clearly better.  Let me know what you think.