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MarsCon - DEMENTIA RADIO Dinner on Saturday Night - Part II

  • Jan. 18th, 2008 at 4:45 PM
animal drums
Note: I am throwing this dinner for the Dementia Radio folks. Sorry I can't include the whole con, but I have to keep it relatively small so that I can handle it.

Ok, the last poll is leaning in favor of $15-$20. I will endeavor to keep it at $15, and have made my restaurant choices accordingly.

Any of these choices will come with a Caesar Salad and a dessert, which I will arrange for. Paying some restaurant 400% more for something I can do without much work isn't worth it.

Here's the choices, in alphabetical order:

  • Boston Market

    • Choice of Rotisserie chicken or Meatloaf entree
    • Mac & Cheese and Mashed potatoes with gravy as sides
    • Tortilla Soup

  • Buca di Beppo

    • Choice of Manicotti or Penne Arrabbiata (penne with spicy sausage and marinara) pasta
    • Choice of Chicken cannelloni or Chicken parmesan entree
    • Garlic Mashed Potatoes and Roasted Veggies as sides

  • Famous Dave's

    • Choice of St. Louis Style Ribs or Country Roasted Chicken entree
    • Baked beans and Potato salad as sides
    • Corn Muffins
    • Buffalo Wings


I will leave this poll up for quite some time before I make a decision - a few weeks at least. If you are not signed into Livejournal, please let me know who you are so I know that random people that won't be at the con aren't voting.

Voting in this poll does NOT lock you into this event - I expect that if a choice you hate is the winner, you won't much want to join in. However, I would like to think that if you are voting, you are at least tentatively planning on attending.

One last note - I based my menu decisions on the restaurants' catering menus, which are VERY limited. We can discuss final menu choices later, but for now assume that what is listed is what ya get.

Poll #1123597 Dinner at MarsCon on Saturday Night - Part II
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

After reading the above menus, which would you rather have?

View Answers

Boston Market
2 (6.9%)

Buca di Beppo
19 (65.5%)

Famous Dave's
8 (27.6%)

Comments

( Leave a comment )
[info]mle292 wrote:
Jan. 18th, 2008 10:59 pm (UTC)
I would very much like to see a vegetarian option in the entree choices if it's at all possible.

Edited at 2008-01-18 10:59 pm (UTC)
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[info]dement1a wrote:
Jan. 18th, 2008 11:01 pm (UTC)
I'm afraid there wasn't much in the way of that from any of the 3. Buca has the manicotti, which is about as close as I could get to a vegetarian entree.
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[info]ericcoleman wrote:
Jan. 18th, 2008 11:05 pm (UTC)
I can deal with any of the above ... and would need two, since my middle child is probably coming with me to the con.
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[info]mle292 wrote:
Jan. 18th, 2008 11:06 pm (UTC)
Manicotti, assuming that it's just cheese, is fine for me.

I very much appreciate how much work has obviously already gone into this, I really do think it's a great idea.
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[info]dement1a wrote:
Jan. 18th, 2008 11:10 pm (UTC)
Yep - ricotta, mozarella and romano with non-meat marinara. Thanks for the props! :)
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[info]dadindinda wrote:
Jan. 18th, 2008 11:58 pm (UTC)
Thank you for doing all the research and footwork on this whole thing! And I'm for Buca all the way because we don't have one in Madison and usually MarsCon is the only time I get my fix!
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[info]dement1a wrote:
Jan. 19th, 2008 12:07 am (UTC)
Ya know, if you ever make it down to my place, there's one 6 miles from here :)
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[info]wwetuesday wrote:
Jan. 19th, 2008 01:19 am (UTC)
Wherever we eat, I hope that the number of people would be finalized ahead of time to avoid close quarters to the degree it was last year.
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[info]tomreedtoon wrote:
Jan. 19th, 2008 01:36 am (UTC)
I'm not in the running for this, but having done this before at gaming conventions, a little advice. Xerox a little form based on the restaurant menu with check marks and a space for the name. Hand this out, and collect the forms with the checks and the money.

Do NOT buy drinks there. Transported drinks from restaurants don't work. Provide a cooler with canned/bottled drinks (I'd prefer cans for recyclability) and maybe a cooler with lemonade, or unsweetened iced tea, in it. (Sun tea can be made without sun; just set the teabags in the water, and let it sit for a few hours. Serve with sugar, noncalorie sweetener and lemon.)

The restaurant will not want to parcel out those dinners. You will have to do it in the room, based on your checksheet.

And may I say that it's wonderful for you to do this. I kind of wish we could do this at Dragon*Con, but we're usually all too busy there and can't get together for a dinner.
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[info]wwetuesday wrote:
Jan. 19th, 2008 01:52 am (UTC)
I think you're misunderstanding. As far as I know, we're all going to the restaurant together, not take out or delivery and eating in a hotel room.
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[info]dement1a wrote:
Jan. 19th, 2008 02:02 am (UTC)
No, see the poll before this. We're going to order in catering and serve it at the hotel so we don't have to transport a ton of people to a crowded restaurant.
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[info]dement1a wrote:
Jan. 19th, 2008 02:08 am (UTC)
I've been doing this for over 6 years in one capacity or another, so I do know a thing or two about serving large groups.

I'm not taking orders when we get there; I'm ordering in catering - a couple entree choices, a couple side choices, salad, dessert. Trying to coordinate individual orders among 30+ people sounds like more agony than I'd like to even think about. I'm pretty sure that we'll be selling tickets beforehand so that I don't buy too little, or spend too much.

As far as drinks go, I'm well aware you never have the restaurant provide the drinks. That's a no brainer. Either people can get their own drinks from the consuite, or we'll get a bunch of 2-liters or make up a 5 gal cooler of punch with some diet soda on the side.
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[info]tomreedtoon wrote:
Jan. 19th, 2008 04:30 am (UTC)
Didn't mean to question your judgment or qualifications. I hope it works. With gamers, they always insisted on their individual choices. We had to write it all down, put out menus for a bunch of restaurants, and bring it to the table and divide it for them. Pain in the tuchus, especially when some jerk decided to steal a dinner and I had to give up mine to keep the victim happy.

Hopefully, Dementia folk will be not quite so obsessed as role playing gamers. D&D folk don't even like going to the bathroom during a gaming session.
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[info]pooh27bear wrote:
Jan. 19th, 2008 04:20 am (UTC)
If FD wins, I will be definitely out. The last two times I ate there I got violently sick. I have vowed never to touch their food again.

I am not much of a fan of BM. I personally would only eat there if no other choice (someone else driving and choosing, but I'd still grumble). So there is really only one choice for me. Usually I am less picky, but somehow you got two of the places I avoid.
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[info]pooh27bear wrote:
Jan. 19th, 2008 04:24 am (UTC)
P.S. THANK YOU so much for doing this. So much smarter than the mess we had last year.
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[info]mle292 wrote:
Jan. 19th, 2008 07:09 pm (UTC)
I am going to cross post this to [info]mnsf!
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[info]dement1a wrote:
Jan. 19th, 2008 09:51 pm (UTC)
Um, ok... I just need to not get this too big or too many people, because I can't really handle a huge crowd if I don't have a kitchen available, which I don't. This is really more for the dementia track people, not for marscon in general.

Edit: could you just take that post down? I realize it's "not fair" but this really isn't for all of MarsCon, and it's going to get called off if I get too many non-dementia track people trying to get in. I don't want people to just come get food and leave.

Edited at 2008-01-19 10:05 pm (UTC)
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[info]mle292 wrote:
Jan. 20th, 2008 05:31 am (UTC)
Whoops! Many apologies, I misunderstood the intent.

I'm not really in as I'm not involved with organizing and I apologize for any misunderstanding.

It's pulled.
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[info]mle292 wrote:
Jan. 20th, 2008 05:44 am (UTC)
Not fair?
I realize it's "not fair"

I feel a very strong urge to reply to this.

As someone who's spent quite a bit of my free time volunteering at conventions, I take absolutely no offense if you're trying to organize an event for the folks who give up the most time organizing the entertainment at a convention. Those are the people least likely to get the time off to go and get a bite.

PLEASE, PLEASE, PRETTY PLEASE (with my most solemn blessing) feel free to tell anyone who feels that they are entitled to this perk to get bent. I misunderstood the intent of the event, but I promise that I'll get over it.

I'm pretty sure that I can figure out a way to eat without acting like a four year old. I'm a grownup and shit. :)

I am wondering if I have mistakenly added this community to my watch group. My impression is that there would be announcements about MarsCon events and schedules but with a focus on the Dementia track. If this community is more for the organizers, I can pull it from my flist it if it is the preference of the maintainers.
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[info]dement1a wrote:
Jan. 20th, 2008 05:47 am (UTC)
Re: Not fair?
No, it's just this one thing, the rest of the community is just about the dementia track which is available to everyone. :)

Thanks for understanding.
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[info]tomreedtoon wrote:
Jan. 21st, 2008 05:43 am (UTC)
Please let me know how the poll works out! I've been to four Dragon*Cons with Dementia artists (I think) and I've wanted to get people together for dinner, but there was no agreement on menus. I got Luke and Carrie in 2005, Grant and his crew in 2006 (with a steak taken to Ken who gobbled it down too fast and got indigestion) and I bought Carla a burrito and Tom a soda last year. I really want to do better. Do more. Be a hero like you, lovely lady.

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[info]kizzykat wrote:
Feb. 3rd, 2008 02:48 am (UTC)
Out of curiousity.
This is CRoses from the chat by the way.

Is this just going to be for the Dementia artists? Or is it for those who are in the chatroom/artists/roadmonkeys?
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[info]dement1a wrote:
Feb. 3rd, 2008 07:28 am (UTC)
Re: Out of curiousity.
It's for the dementia community at large. I will have more info on tix for the event later.
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[info]kizzykat wrote:
Feb. 3rd, 2008 07:35 am (UTC)
Re: Out of curiousity.
M'kay, thanks for answering.
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