Pine State Biscuits – Reno, Nevada

In 2020, Ted Lasso burst onto the pop culture scene.  Not long thereafter my friend Alonna Smith, the brilliant owner of My Indian Stove practically begged me to watch it.  She realized that with my penchant for British comedies, I’d love the laugh-out-loud show about an American soccer coach who assumes the help at a Premiere League soccer team in the United Kingdom despite not knowing anything about soccer.  Lasso is the master of the one-liner as well as the bringer of balm during heart-warming scenes.  He’s warm and fuzzy…and as usual, Alanna steered me in the right direction. On the second episode of season one, Ted began the practice of bringing freshly baked biscuits to the football club’s owner Rebecca Welton.  “Biscuits with the boss” quickly became one of the show’s most endearing gags.  Moreover, it’s essential to the relationship Ted wants to build with his stoic, business-like boss.   Over the time, the daily biscuit fix defrosted Rebecca’s cold heart and she embraced Ted not only as integral to her team’s future, but more importantly as a friend. Bringing biscuits to his boss also displays Ted’s efforts to assimilate with British culture.  What Americans like Ted would call…

The Farmacy – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

In this age of “fake news,” biased media slants and unabashed tell-alls, the one recent headline which has pleased me most comes from Bloomberg. Splashed in bold typeface was the eye-catching lead “Mom-and-Pop Joints Are Trouncing America’s Big Restaurant Chains.” Elaborating on this contention, the first paragraph reads: “Americans are rejecting the consistency of national restaurant chains after decades of dominance in favor of the authenticity of locally owned eateries, with their daily specials and Mom’s watercolors decorating the walls.” The numbers bear this out–“annual revenue for independents will grow about 5 percent through 2020, while the growth for chains will be about 3 percent.” Fittingly, I read this article during my inaugural visit to The Farmacy, a Lilliputian lair of luscious food then located on the southeast corner of the Mountain Road-Eighth Street intersection. If big restaurant chains and their well-heeled operations are the proverbial muscle-bound beach bullies who kick sand in the face of scrawny kids, The Farmacy embodies the small underdog who fights back with the only weapons at its disposal: great food and friendly service at an affordable price. The Farmacy is David to the Philistine’s Goliath, the plodding tortoise to the overly confident hare, unknown…