Newmark's Door

"How to Write the Ultimate Chick Flick".

Member of the Israeli Defense Force argues that Israel won the recent war in Lebanon.

Time for one of my irregular notes on Raleigh restaurants. (Earlier posts are here, here, and here.)

The Newmarks, while having some spirit of adventure, value consistency in eating out. Five of the places we have been going to regularly because they rarely disappoint us--and because they are short drives from North Raleigh--are:

Michael Dean's. At their new location (6004 Falls of the Neuse), there's a lot more seafood and some new pizzas.

Firebirds. If only they would serve the outstanding Durango Burger at dinner as well as lunch.

Bonefish Grill. Excellent grilled salmon specials.

Carrabba's. It may indicate just how pedestrian my taste is, but Chicken Bryan is one of my favorite dishes anywhere.

Solomon's. Very fine Greek/Mediterranean food. The owner always seems to be there and always seems to be interested in customer satisfaction.

We don't get to 518 West as frequently, but my wife and I had an excellent lunch there this summer and there's usually something excellent among their weekly specials.

Some places we've recently tried are EVOO, Asahi (Cary), Nelsons, Chipotle, Hard Wok Buffet (under new management), T. Q. Zheng's, Kemp's Seafood House, Vivace, Havana Jax Cafe (Wake Forest), Piper's Tavern, The Wild Orchid Grill, and North Ridge Pub. At EVOO my kids had "Big Greek Platters" which they enjoyed, and I had a steak frites special. The steak was excellent, the frites not so much. Asahi has an all-you-can-eat sushi buffet that's $12.95 weekdays; it's a good value. Nelsons has a Sunday brunch we thoroughly enjoyed, but it's pricey: $26/person plus a mandatory 20% tip. Chipotle's crispy tacos with barbacoa and red chili salsa are far above average for fast food. The new Hard Wok's buffet is a good value. At the others we had satisfactory-or-better meals, but they weren't particularly noteworthy.

Among the ones I'd like to try are BakeHouse Bistro, Cool Runnings (Cary), Fujisan Japanese Steakhouse, and Riviera.

Finally, two restaurants noted favorably here have recently closed: The Bamboo Club and Gino Russo's.

While reviewing my investment portfolio this summer, I did some calculations that may be of general interest. For the period 7/25/90--1990 chosen because I began then to invest in individual stocks for the first time--to 7/25/06, the compound annual growth rate for four well-known stocks are as follows (these numbers don't include dividends):

Hershey . . . . . . . . . . . . 13.89%

Wrigley's . . . . . . . . . . .  13.44%

Pepsi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.63%

Johnson & Johnson . . . .  14.65%

S&P 500 Index . . . . . . . .  8.19%

What brought this up was Jeremy Siegel's argument in The Future for Investors that one doesn't have to pick obscure stocks to make a nice return. His research highlights the excellent long-term performance of stocks with strong consumer franchises, particularly in food.

While hindsight is 20-20 and the efficient markets hypothesis contends that these stocks' fine past performances are reflected in their current prices, I still think it's an interesting observation.

I suppose this isn't surprising: for more than the last ten years, Cindy Crawford has had a little artificial help.

More good Guy Kawasaki: "Ten Things to Learn This School Year".

Haven't tried to apply this information--and I hope I never have to--but you may want to put this in a reference file: "How To Fix a Dead Hard Drive".

And here's a review of three file recovery software packages.

"Top 10 CEO Blogs". Including the one by the Main Craig Newmark.

"Maps for the masses": Quikmaps.

Rich Karlgaard asks another good question:

When in history has a store clerk had a claim on the middle class life … home ownership, a late model car or two? (Answer: never) Why must Wal-Mart uniquely bear the responsibility of supplying middle-class incomes to checkout clerks and shelf stockers?