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The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, November 5, 2008
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QUOTES OF THE WEEK
I see the little ears...that "o God, humiliate Bush
mouse is baked in there." and his party, O Lord of
- BRUCE VAN DYNE, an IBM executive from the Worlds, degrade and
Charlotte, explaining that part of a mouse was defy him."
apparently baked into a package of hot-dog
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S N EB B R
These students have strong opinions about the best
burrito, cheap beer and party-store pizza on campus.
But can they tell their favorites in a blind taste test? PHOTO
BURRITO ELITIST: MOVE OVER FOR CHIPOTLE CONVENIENCE STORE PIZZA PATRON: BELL'S IS BEST
BY GABE NELSON BYJEREMY GRUBER
on the one end of the spectrum,
there's Chipotle, which offers an
array of upscale, fresh flavors,
including corn relish, chipotle-
spiced steak and rice with cilantro
and lime juice. All in all, it's the
burrito restaurant for the gourmet
in each of us.
Of course, burritos havent
always been haute cuisine, and
that's the attitude conveyed by A
meal at BTB, the Ann Arbor-based
chain. The burritos are simple:
rice, beans, meat, cheese and salsa,
packed tight into a tortilla. There
are no overburdening flavors here,
just a rich blend of well-cooked
ingredients, and they're perfect for
a late-night meal on the way back
from a house party or the bars.
The light, distinctive flavors
made it easy enough to distinguish
the Chipotle burrito from the rest,
while the BTB offering's heavy,
rich flavor set it apart. Though
each has distinct merits, both
stood apart from the other two I
tasted.
The burritos from Panchero's
and Burrito Joint were easily iden-
tified by their dominating ingredi-
ents: in the case of Panchero's, the
beans and salsa, and in the case of
Burrito Joint, the rice. The meat
in both burritos was dry and over-
cooked, lost inthe mix withoutany
distinctive flavor.
Those restaurants do have their
advantages. Panchero's grills its
tortillas fresh on the spot, which
Burrito Joint offers wraps big
enough to feed a small army. But
it's not enough to overcome their
other faults. Chipotle and BTB
win joint control of Ann Arbor's
burrito title.
Diag Party Shoppe is also a con-
tender in the cheap slice category,
but just their variety of toppings
can be a virtue, it often means they
don't evenhave regular cheese pizza
to offer. Of the other places that sell
quickie slices - Bell's, Backroom
and In-and-Out - Bell's is the best.
Even though slices come offofthe
same kind of heated rotating pan,
you can tella Bell's slice comes from
an authentic pizzeria. The crust is
flakier and less uniform, and the
sauce a combination of sweet and
spicy. The cheese is also of a higher
quality than these other places.
To compare, Backroom pizza
has a plainer crust, saltier cheese
and sweeter sauce. Backroom is
nice because you always know what
you're getting, that patented Back-
room consistency. .
Backroom slices are often the
hottest. But there's a flip side to
freshoutofthe oven,whichisburn-
ing your tongue.
In-n-Out must be eaten rather
quickly after it comes out of the
oven, or else you risk a gooey crust
and overall disappointing dollar-
slice experience. If, however, you
catch a good pie, you're certain to
enjoy the slightly spicier offering.
TALKING
POINTS
Three things you can talk about this week:
1. Historical firsts
2. War in Congo
3. Convicted felons serving in the Senate
And three things you can't:
1. CNN holograms
2. Waiting in line
3. Joe the Plumber,
BY THE NUMBERS
Amount, in dollars, that Somalian pirates have made this year
from seizing ships
Number of vessels attacked by Somalian pirates this year
Number of vessels seized by Somalian pirates in the past month
Source: The New York Times
buns that he bought from BJ's Wholesale Club.
After reporters called to inform BJ's of the
incident, the company removed thousands of
bread products from 44 stores in three states
"I feel I had to take a stand."
- MARC M. KEYSER, a 66-year-old man from Sacramento, explaining his motives in sending out
120 fake letters alleged to contain anthrax to various local news organizations and Starbucks stores
in Sacramento. He said he was trying to warn the public about the threat of terrorism.
. BLIND TASTE TEST: Gruber correctly guessed all three,
* #7: BACKROOM #2: IN-AND-OUT #3: BELL'S"
* "It's Backroom. It's very consistent. "The sauce is a little bit "I like that it has a lot more cheese.
: The sauce is a little bit sweet. The more sour. The crust is The sauce is sweet but not too sweet.
cheese is a little bit salty. It's good." better than the first." And good thickness on the crust."
CHEAP BEER CONNOISSEUR: STROH'S, A STEP ABOVE
BY DONN FRESARD
- ABU YAHYA AL-LIBI, a top al-Qaeda official
believed to be living in Afghanistan or Pakistan,
denouncing Bush and the Republican party
before the presidential elections. Libi made his
comments after a sermon for the Muslim feast of
Eid al-Fitr.
YOUTUBE-
VIDEO OF
THE WEEK
McCain would call
this ageism
You've heard it time and again: it's
your civic duty to vote in elections.
But what if you don't know basic facts
about the United States and can't
identify a picture of Joe Biden? Then
should you vote?
Perhaps not, according to the mak-
ers of this video.
In true Michael Moore fashion, the
creators of the video comically ques-
tion whether older people should
vote. As one man says, "I think we
need to think really seriously about
letting older people vote. I mean, you
see what happens when you let them
drive."
The makers of the video then inter-
view people in a large city, asking
them general questions about Con-
gress and prominent politicians and
judges. Some of them appear knowl-
edgeable. Most, however, don't.
When asked about the Bill of
Rights, one older man smiles and
responds, "Boy, that's a good one,"
before murmuring incoherently as he
stares at the ground.
The next old man interviewed
maintains that there are 51 states. A
woman confidently says that we have
50 senators, an answer which is much
better than another man's: "Well,
we've got quite a few!"
But the creators of the video didn't
just target older people. When asked
to identify a picture of Joe Biden, a
younger woman could not. "No, he
looks familiar, though," she says.
For some reason, people didn't
have any trouble identifying Judge
Judy.
- BRIAN TENGEL
See this and other
YouTube videos ofthe week at
youtube.com/user/michigandaily
THEME PARTY SUGGESTION
Election cooldown - After nearly two years of TV
commericals, speeches, debates and, of course,
voter registration drives, Election Day finally came.
However you voted, and whatever the election
results, you should reward yourself for perform-
ing your civic duty. Try this time-honored drinking
game: If your candidate won, drink. If your candidate
didn't win, drink more.
Throwing this party? Let us know. TheStatement@umich.edu
j
. . .f ..." ..." ..." .. . ."."."."."." ....."..".. ".. .." . ." . ."" """ fff . .. .
BLIND TASTE TEST: Nelson correctly guessed oll four.
: #1: BTB #2: PANCHERO'S
. 'This one's BTB and it's "I always hate on *
good. The meat had Panchero's, but this one
a good flavor. It was is pretty good. Normally,
tender. Nothing stuck I think the ingredients are
" out too much. It had a really dried out. I can't really
nice texture." taste anything but the beans *
though, that's a problem."
" #3: CHIPOTLE #4: BURRITO JOINT
+ "The steak is really the . "This is a big one. This
. best part here - the is by far the heaviest .. .
chunks are really big. I can It's pretty bland and the
tell the meat is pretty good - meat's tough and it's too
quality. You can definitely rich for my tastes. .
taste all the flavors in here,
much more than BTB"
There's no escaping cheap beer.
It's the firstcdrink you were handed
during Welcome Week, and it's at
the top of the grocery list in your
off-campus house. By the time
you're buyingitregularly,you prob-
ably know there are better options
than Red Dog and Natty Light.
So which lowbrow brew is most
worthy of your parents' hard-
earned dollar?
There's bad beer, and then
there's good bad beer. Stroh's is a
markedly good bad beer - much
more flavorful than the others. On
the other end of the spectrum are
watery brews like Busch.
The other two, Pabst Blue Rib-
bon and Blatz, are close toindistin-
guishable, with PBR seeming the
more carbonated of the two. Even
though I prefer Stroh's, I purchase
PBR more often. It can be found in
any beer store and it always goes
down easily.
Of course, at the end of the day,'
you're spending $5 a six-pack on
this stuff, so don't overthink it.
But if you haven't tried it, do give
Stroh's a chance. If nothing else,
the distinctive blue-and-red can
adds a touch of class to your budget
suds.
STUDY OF THE WEEK
Consuming alcohol results in a smaller brain
People who consume any amount of alcohol have a smaller brain
volume than those who do not, according to a study published in the
Archives of Neurology.
In the study, the Boston University School of Public Health examined
1,839 healthy people about 61 years old by subjecting themto a magnetic
resonance imaging (MRI) test of their brain.
The researchers found that the more alcohol people drank, the small-
er their brain. They found that those abstaining from alcohol had larger
brains than light drinkers (one to seven drinks per week), moderate
drinkers (eight to 14) and heavy drinkers (14 or more).
According to the study, men's brains are less affected by alcohol than
women's: only heavy drinkers had smaller brains than abstainers. For
women, even moderate drinkers' brains were smaller than abstainers'.
Researchers note, however, that differences in brain sizes were very
small, in some cases as small as 1.5 percent.
- BRIAN TENGEL
BLIND TASTE TEST: Fresord guessed two of four correctly, mixing up Pabst Blue Ribbon and Blatz Beer.-
#t: BLATZ BEER #2: PABST BLUE RIBBON #3: BUSCH . #4: STROH'S
(No response) "The second one is highly "The second and third are "The fourth one is my
carbonated. I think the really watery. They don't favorite, I think that's
second one is my favorite." have as much flavor." Stroh's. It was more of a
full flavor, it was tastier." ;
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