Page 50 October 11, 2013
DAN’S PAPERS
danspapers.com
Moe’s Southwest Grill: A Love Story Despite my love of all things local, I was incredibly excited to learn that Moe’s, and the glory of its Southwestern cuisine, has come to Hampton Bays. When you grow up on the East End, decent “fast food” is rare. Like beacons of culture elsewhere in the U.S., Burger King and McDonald’s are the last fast-food restaurants standing out East. And it’s a universally acknowledged truth that those two may be the worst-of-the-worst in terms of food that packs the most fat, calories and sodium. I hadn’t even heard of Moe—and his cousins Chipotle and Qdoba—until I went down South for school. In the parade of orientation activities, I was picked up by my new hall-mates and dropped into a world where queso reigns supreme. To this day, the hot, cheesy dip is a major reason why I choose Moe’s over its fast food southwestern brethren. Many in the Dan’s Papers offices were surprised to hear of my fascination with the chain. Though Moe’s provides healthy burrito options like tofu and whole wheat wraps, it’s certainly not the freshest thing to eat for lunch. I write a fitness column—why the obsession? My coworkers would like to write a column titled “Keep Unfit,” where they get to
divulge their favorite unhealthy indulgences. But they’re missing the point of keeping fit: I run so I can eat all the Moe’s I want, guilt free. Aside from Moe’s, here are my top three, non-local, massproduced foodie indulgences: Kool-Aid Bursts: It’s the six-pack of six-year-olds, and to me, it’s almost as good as beer. Better even, after a long run. Just look at the cartoon Kool Aid man on the box, dancing around with a single serving of the ’Burst. It’s just as delicious as you’re imagining. Cinnamon Toast Crunch and Lucky Charms: What? Adults can buy sugary cereals for breakfast. Welcome to Moe’s! Check out their new Hampton Bays location. There’s a little backstory on this: I ate a peanut butter and honey sandwich every more elusive French Toast Crunch all fit the bill. day for that crucial early morning meal for Hostess cupcakes, the ones with the swirls about four years, because that’s what my friend that look like a baseball: Editorial Director Marley—Wake Forest Track’s team captain—ate Eric Feil leaves the office midday each day before a race. (That’s right…“I saw Cady Heron to go to 7-Eleven, and he graciously asks if wearing army pants and flip flops, so I bought any of us would like something to eat. On a army pants and flip flops.”) The breakfast particularly trying Tuesday, the chocolaty offered the perfect combo of protein, carbs and goodness of a cupcake, with its soft cake and portability, with a touch of sweetness. Then I glorious icing, encasing just the right amount found out I was allergic to peanut butter. And of cream, fit the bill. Eric obliged my strange I have yet to replace my morning routine with request, and I now indulge in the two-pack on something quite as delish. Sadly, but for its too-reglar of a basis. lack of mobility from my home to the office, I think I’ll go for a run now. How far is it from Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Lucky Charms and the the Dan’s Papers office to Moe’s?
Jennifer Meihofer
By kelly laffey
Making the Right Call on Landlines By MATTHEW APFEL
One of the underrated aspects of technology is that it creates competition. Unhappy with Cablevision? Try DirecTV. iPhone too pricey? Samsung, Nokia and Blackberry are ready to make a deal. One area with lots of competition is home telephone service. With the advent of FIOS, cable modems and government deregulation, you have a lot of options. Do you even need a landline? Many people are cutting the cord and making their mobile phones their only phones. I’m not one of those people; landlines are a good thing. Here’s why: First, anyone with AT&T can tell you that wireless coverage just isn’t very good. Landline service might not be perfect either, but it’s infinitely more reliable than wireless. Second, landlines are cheap. Services such as Vonage cost as little as $20 a month, and even the cable companies are dropping prices. But which home phone system is right for you? Ultimately you’ll have to make that call (pun intended), but here are some options. THE MAINSTAY Vonage is the biggest VOIP service provider. (That’s “Voice-Over Internet Protocol.”) The system requires you to connect a separate piece of hardware to your modem, your router
and your base phone. That’s complicated, even for Dr. Gadget. It required several customer service calls, but once we got it going the service was reliable and inexpensive. Be careful about price creep: they typically provide an initial “trial rate,” but the price goes up significantly after six months, once they have your credit card on file. THE BUNDLER So why did I leave Vonage? Simple: I called my cable provider, told them I was unhappy with Vonage, and asked if they would match the price. They did! Here’s why: cable companies are all about bundling. They want you to use all of their services—TV, phone, internet— because this makes it harder for you to leave. In the end, the price from my cable company was just as good as Vonage, and it was easier to install. The cable VOIP system connects directly through your modem, so I got to throw away my complicated hardware and wires. THE CURVEBALL So there I was, happy with my Time Warner VOIP phone. Then one day, while watching a football game, I saw an ad for a service called Ooma. That’s an expensive ad buy, so I wondered where they got the funding. Turns out, Ooma has a pretty interesting value proposition. You don’t pay for monthly service; you buy the phone hardware when you sign up—it costs about $130 at Amazon—and then you can make all the calls you want for free. The phone enables most basic calling
features, but you need to subscribe to premium service for things like caller ID and forwarding. You’ll also need to pay a one-time fee of $40 if you want to keep your old phone number. Random side note: Ashton Kutcher was an early investor but has since stepped aside due to the proverbial management shakeup. THE GAMBLER There’s another landline option that advertises relentlessly on TV—but not in primetime. Anyone with insomnia knows that I’m talking about Magic Jack. It’s a USB drive that connects your home computer to a standard phone and essentially creates your own VOIP system, with unlimited free local and long distance calls to North America, for life. Magic Jack claims to have more than 11 million subscribers. I can’t vouch for call quality, and I can’t even find a straight answer on how much it costs. That’s why I call it the Gambler. OLD FAITHFUL No column about phone service would be complete without mentioning the phone company! Folks like Verizon will come to your house and give you reliable fast phone service like in ancient times. I’ve found that pricing is the problem; even with the Verizon bundle, you pay about $45 a month, and that’s just to get started. Just not worth the price, especially if you view your landline as a backup service. Those are some ideas to think about, so pick up the phone and give them a call.