Noam Freedman's noam.com

Review: Primo Oval XL

2013-04-06T00:00:00-04:00

My experience with grills was limited growing up and the first time I used one myself was in college. Our dorm had an annual outdoor BBQ, using a large two foot by five foot charcoal grill. Each year the grill was started by laying out a copious amount of quick-start briquettes and then dousing it all in lighter fluid.

Needless to say this wasn’t the safest exercise, and I remember my friend Paul getting a bit singed one year trying to light the fire. Even once the grill was lit there was no temperature control, so everything ended up well done and with the familiar flavor of lighter fluid.

After college I was introduced to more standard charcoal grills, such as the prototypical Weber kettle grill. These grills have reasonable temperature control through strategically placing the charcoal and then controlling the air vents, but they still take a lot of time to man and ended up with lots of ash cleanup at the end.

Choosing a Ceramic Grill

A former neighbor of mine has a Kamado Grill, but I hadn’t initially been thinking about getting a grill like that. It looked like it had a relatively small cooking area and seemed to take a long time for him to cook.

When I started to search for different grill options, I was reminded of my neighbor’s grill and stumbled into the world of ceramic charcoal grills. As I read more about them, they seemed too good to be true. Ceramic charcoal grills have all of the benefits of charcoal cooking, but are relatively easy to control and resulted in little ash. I learned that the relatively long cooks my neighbor did were actually a feature… Ceramic grills are capable of 800-1000 degree thin-crust pizza, 500 degree steaks, or, in my neighbor’s case, 225 degree slow cooked BBQ.

The traditional Japanese Kamado grill is what all modern ceramic grills are based on. These are built-in clay ovens that were fired with either charcoal or wood. The first Kamado-style grills were brought to the US in the 1960s, and several manufacturers still focus on the traditional round Kamado shape.

The Primo Oval XL

Primo Oval XL in Stainless Steel table

Primo Grills make a line of ceramic grills with a slight twist from the traditional kamado-style grill… The cooktop is oval. While a subtle difference, the impact is dramatic. The shape results in two key differences in the usability of the Primo oval grills.

The first difference is that there is a large increase in usable cooking surface without either increasing the weight of the unit substantially or altering the overall design. For example the BGE XL size has a slightly larger main grill size of 452 sq-in, but the flatter lid doesn’t allow for a full second cooking rack as the Primo Oval XL has.

The second difference is that it is much easier to do offset cooking. The Primo grills can split their firebox, allowing the fire to be set on one side and the food to be placed on the other. On the Primo Oval XL one can easily fit two pork butts on the main cooking surface in the offset configuration, while still leaving room on the optional second cooking rack.

After realizing the advantages of the Primo Oval XL, I visited a local dealer to see it in person and decided to buy one.

Lighting the fire in the Primo

The one thing to know about cooking on a ceramic charcoal grill is that you will void the warranty if you use lighter fluid, either directly or in the form of quick-start briquettes. The ceramic will soak up the flavor of the lighter fluid and you will forever more be tasting lighter fluid in your food.

The good news is that it is entirely unnecessary to use lighter fluid in a ceramic grill. Standard lump charcoal, which is only a little harder to find than the ubiquitous quick-start briquettes, is extremely easy to light. The key thing to understand is that you don’t need or want all of the charcoals to be going at once. The temperature would be far too high for most of your needs.

There are several ways to start the fire. Some people like to take a handful of charcoal and use a charcoal chimney to light those. They then put the lit coals on top of the bed of charcoal that they put in the grill. Others like to use a propone or MAPP gas torch to light a few spots in the grill. I go an even simpler route… I rip off a couple of paper towels, dip them in vegetable oil, and light them once I’ve placed each of them under a piece of charcoal. My method will take maybe 5-10 minutes longer to get up to temperature, but it has served me well.

Charcoal and smoking wood ready to be lit

Cooking on the Primo

While I do occasionally use the entire surface area of the Primo, I much more frequently take advantage of the split firebox to do indirect cooking. Below you can see an example of one of these offset cooks. I have removed half of the main grill surface, put in the firebox divider, and added half of the top rack as well to allow me to comfortably grill two 6.5 pound brisket flats.

Although the offset setup only allows me to use half of the firebox, that amount of charcoal can easily allow me to run for the 12-18 hours I’ll need for a long slow cook. In fact, I typically use a method which runs the grill even cooler over night to intentionally lengthen the cook. There isn’t a difference in the end product, but starting earlier means I can time things to end for dinner while not having to change my sleep schedule at all.

Offset cooking on the Primo Oval XL

Temperature Control

Temperature control on the Primo Oval XL is very simple. There is a vent at the bottom that lets air in and a vent at the top that lets air out. You control the temperature by controlling these vents, which ultimately changes the amount of oxygen that gets to the coals. It takes very little airflow to get to normal slow cooking temperatures… 180-250F. For that temperature range, the top vent is open approximately 1/16th of an inch and the bottom vent is open maybe 1/4 of an inch.

The tricky part in learning how to adjust the temperature in a Primo grill is having patience. It takes a long time for you to see the results of your actions, so it is very easy to oversteer. It will typically take 15 minutes to see the full impact of a change you make. Once you get the hang of it, it is pretty easy to dial into a particular temperature range.

Over a long period of time, and a typical brisket cook will last 12-18 hours for me, changes in the wind or charcoal burning patterns can result in slow shifts in the temperature range on the grill. Originally I monitored the grill using a remote thermometer. On a long cook I’d tend to go out 2-3 times to make small adjustments to the grill.

After I was confident that I had mastered temperature control in long cooks, I decided to make my life easier and got a BBQ Guru temperature controller. The controller has a temperature sensor that sits in the grill and a fan connected to the lower vent. The controller drives the fan just enough to maintain the proper grill temperature. It is important that the controller learns the dynamics of your grill, and the BBQ Guru does a great job of that on the Primo. With the BBQ Guru controller looking after things, I can confidently leave the grill going while I sleep or go out to run errands.

Typical vent settings for slow cooked BBQ

Summary

Overall I couldn’t be happier with my purchase of the Primo Oval XL grill. When I originally planned to purchase a grill, the picture I had in my mind was having people over and cooking hamburgers and steaks. While I do occasionally cook hamburgers and steaks, the Primo has opened up a whole new world of BBQ to me. I’m much more likely to be slow cooking a brisket or pork shoulder than I am grilling steaks.

It isn’t that the Primo doesn’t do an amazing job on normal grill food, because it does. In fact, my wife often chides me when I order a hamburger at restaurants as they just can’t hold a candle to the wood smoked flavor and sear I can get on the Primo.

The reality is that doing slow cooked BBQ is just too simple to not do it. A typical cook will take at most 10 minutes to prepare the meat, 15-30 minutes to get the grill ready, and then in 12-18 hours I have a fantastic meal for my friends and family to enjoy.

Since a picture is worth a thousand words, how about a few pictures showing what is possible with the Primo Oval XL… Enjoy!

Sliced brisket hot off the grill

Juicy pulled pork

Applewood BBQ'd salmon with bamboo infused sea salt

Beef. It's what's for dinner.

2013 WSOP Schedule - Now with Structure Sheets

2013-03-30T00:00:00-04:00

Just a quick note…

I’ve updated the iCal calendar I created of the 2013 WSOP schedule with links to each event’s structure sheet. That will allow you to easily get to the structure sheet of the event you are playing by looking up the event in your calendar.

Enjoy, - Noam

Review: Tom Bihn Synapse

2013-03-06T00:00:00-05:00

I purchased the Synapse with the hope of using it as both an under-the-seat bag on long flights and a day pack when I’m at my destination. When I unpacked the Synapse, I was surprised at just how small it was. However like all Tom Bihn bags, every feature has been carefully designed and the end result is that the Synapse doesn’t need to be larger to hold everything I wanted.

There are five exterior zippered pockets on the front and sides of the Synapse, and one main pocket which has an internal pouch as well. The Synapse has a good balance between the size and quantity of organizational compartments, and I wouldn’t want to change the layout of the compartments at all.

The side pockets are mirror images of each other, but they have slightly different features inside. The left side pocket features three pen/pencil holders, while the right pocket has an Ultrasuede inner pocket to hold a smart phone or pair of glasses. Both side pockets have O-rings sewn in near the top. Tom Bihn sells a variety of accessories which attach to the o-rings either directly or using their 8” or 16” key straps.

The top-most center pocket is deep enough to store a 1-liter water bottle. Since Tom designed the bag to hold a water bottle in this pocket, the space in the other pockets is not affected when you fill it up. Just below that pocket is a small pocket you could use to hold change, keys, or a small wallet. I wish Tom had decided to put an O-ring in this pocket as well, as it would be a convenient place to strap on your keys.

The pocket along the bottom of the bag is surprising large. I could easily fit my two Tumi utility pouches with all of my electronic odds and ends, along with the charger for my laptop. There is an O-ring sewn into this pocket as well.

Interior of the Synapse's main pocket

The main pocket in the Synapse is fairly spacious for such a small bag. The pocket is wider at the bottom and narrower at the top, which follows the contour of the bag. The internal pouch is a little odd as it isn’t large enough to easily fit a laptop in a protective case, but it is too loose to hold smaller items in place well.

I did a test fitting of all the items I’d want to pack into the Synapse for a long flight:

Two Tumi pouches filled with cables and electronics odds and ends
13” Macbook Pro with Retina in a Waterfield Design Laptop SleeveCase
Apple iPad
Charger for the Macbook
A few Tom Bihn accessory wallets and pouches
A water bottle

As you pack a Tom Bihn bag, you begin to really understand the careful thought that went into the design. It was easy to find good places for everything I was packing. The water bottle went into the top center pocket, the Tumi pouches were attached with 8” key straps to the O-ring in the bottom pocket, and the accessory wallets and pouches where attached to the O-rings in the side pockets.

I put the charger for the Macbook at the bottom of the main compartment and the 13” Macbook Pro with Retina in a Waterfield Design Laptop SleeveCase barely fit into the pouch inside the main pocket. There was enough space left in the main pocket that I could have also put in my Eagle Creek toiletry bag and a change of clothes for an overnight trip.

One advantage to this configuration is that my Tom Bihn Tri-Star travel bag was much lighter. While I would normally travel with the Synapse packed inside the Tri-Star, I could see using the Synapse with my electronics as I packed above and only putting my clothes and toiletries in the Tri-Star. I could easily do a two or three-week trip with that setup.

After I unpacked the Synapse, I test fit it inside the Tri-Star. When it was empty, the Synapse easily fit into any of the Tri-Star’s compartments. I’d probably keep my laptop and iPad in it if I planned to pull it out for a long flight, and the Synapse fit fine with those inside the Tri-Star’s center compartment.

I bought the Steel Dyneema version of the Synapse, which meant it weighs a svelte 1.5 pounds, or 15% lighter than the alternative 1000 denier Cordura fabric. This was the first bag I’ve seen with the Dyneema exterior, and I like it a lot. It is smoother than Cordura, but it feels like it will hold up perfectly fine in normal use. The Dyneema is also less bulky, so that might be important to you if you sometimes want to carry it in another bag like me.

The rear of the Synapse with padded backpack straps and an adjustable sternum strap.

It might seem as if the Synapse was a perfect fit for my needs, but I ended up returning the Synapse. When I packed the Synapse with all of my items, I put the Synapse on my back. While I could see using it for personal trips, I couldn’t see myself using it to carry into a business meeting. I have no problem bringing a backpack with me, but the Synapse looked too small for my frame.

Tom Bihn has a generous return policy for exactly this situation. They encourage you to pack it with the items you plan to travel with and try it out inside your home. They give you up to 60-days to return any unused bag for a full refund, and in my experience they are lenient on this if you tell them in advance that you need more time for some reason.

Tom and team have announced that there is a larger version of the Synapse in the works, and I plan to try it out when it comes out. The only details they have given is that the new Synapse will be approximately 20” long versus 18.5” for the existing Synapse. The Synapse fit everything I possibly wanted to put into it quite well, so a slightly longer and wider version that fits better on me would be a winner. The new larger Synapse will not replace the existing Synapse in the product line, so it will be additional option for potential buyers.

Review: Eagle Creek Pack-It Quick Trip

2013-03-01T00:00:00-05:00

As I focus on becoming more efficient about the items I pack for my trip, I have started to revisit what I’m using to pack things in. My toiletry bag was a relatively large unorganized bag and I decided that I should try to find something that is a better match for my needs.

In particular, I wanted something that is:

Sized for the items I want to carry
Lightweight
Designed with multiple pockets to separate items

The Eagle Creek Pack-It Quick Trip toiletry bag looked to be a good match for my needs. The Quick Trip is smaller than my old toiletry bag and it has two side pockets as well as a large center compartment.

Since I only take a single carry-on bag when I travel, and these days I’m using a Tom Bihn Tri-Star bag which means I’m carrying it on my shoulders or in my hand, the weight of my travel accessories is important to me. As I’ve begun to use it, I find that the Quick Trip is lightweight and compressible but still has enough structure to hold its shape on the countertop.

Everything ready to get loaded into the Eagle Creek Pack-It Quick Trip

Here you can see everything I bring with me:

Extremely small hair brush, bought in Munich near the Viktualienmarkt
Uncle Bill’s tweezers
Small sewing kit that I picked up from a hotel
CountyComm travel toothbrush
Small tube of toothpaste
Naturally Fresh deodorant crystal stick
Travel pack of Q-Tips
Mama Bear Soaps’ shaving stick
Vulfix Turnback Super Badger travel shaving brush
Gillette Mach 3 razor
Nail clipper
Dental floss

Everything here is permanently kept in my travel bag. While I could use these items for both home and travel, keeping a separate set allows me a few less things to think about when packing.

I don’t carry any liquids with me when I travel aside from the toothpaste, eliminating the need for a 3-1-1 bag. Technically I’m supposed to put the toothpaste in a 3-1-1 bag, but I’ve done at least 20-30 trips both domestically and internationally with the toothpaste inside my carry-on bag and never triggered a bag check.

If I did have to give up the toothpaste, it is easy enough to replace when traveling. I can get another from the airline, if traveling internationally, or the hotel when I arrive at my destination.

The Eagle Creek Pack-It Quick Trip packed and ready to go on a trip

All of my toiletries pack well into the Quick Trip with room to spare. I keep the smaller items in one of the outside pockets, the razor (and on longer trips a second backup razor) in the other outside pocket, and the remaining items all in the center compartment. The elongated shape works well in my Tom Bihn Tri-Star travel bag. While I would prefer if the Quick Trip was a little smaller, it compresses down to not take extra room.

Overall I’m quite happy with the Eagle Creek Pack-It Quick Trip and would recommend it to others with similar needs. Eagle Creek also makes a Specter version of the Quick Trip, which uses an ultalightweight fabric and weighs 1 ounce compared to 3 ounces for the regular version. I haven’t seen the Specter version in person, so I can’t comment on if the there is any downside to the lighter version besides a slightly higher cost.

Review: Tom Bihn Tri-Star

2013-02-25T00:00:00-05:00

This is the first review in my “What I carry” series. It is appropriate that the Tom Bihn Tri-Star is the first travel accessory I review, because the Tri-Star is my go-to bag for traveling. It is an extremely versatile carry-on bag, with a tremendous amount of room and great organization. The Tri-Star allows me to focus on everything other than my baggage when I travel.

The Tri-Star is available in either a 1050 denier ballistic nylon fabric exterior or a 400 denier Dyneema nylon ripstock fabric. I bought my Tri-Star before the Dyneema exterior was an option, but I’m not at all unhappy with the ballistic nylon exterior. The interior of both bags features a 200 denier Dyneema nylon ripstock fabric. You can choose to have a complementary color on the interior, for example I have steel on the interior and black on the exterior, or you can choose one Tom Bihn’s bright colors to easily see the contents of bag against the interior fabric.

The Tri in Tri-Star is carried through the design in two ways. There are three main compartments in the Tri-Star bag, which are each roughly the same size, and three horizontal zippered pockets on the front of the bag, which all go to the bottom of the bag allowing you to carry a surprising amount in them.

The main compartment closest to the front of the bag zips completely open and has an internal divider roughly 1/3 of the way through the bag that can be zipped or unzipped as needed. I keep this divider zipped, which allows me to conveniently store a few different items without having them shift around. If I’m bringing a second pair of shoes, they will go in the smaller section. If I’m not, I’ll usually put my toiletry bag and a bag which holds some electronics odds and ends in that section. The larger section will then get a packing cube which holds a mix of socks, underwear, and shirts depending on the trip duration.

The front compartment with the two sizes of packing cubes and an accessory bag attached to one of the two O-rings. The fabric divider is unzipped in this picture.

Tom Bihn makes packing cubes sized for both the divided sizes and a full-size packing cube which fits in any of the main compartments. I originally used another packing cube in the larger divided section, but the Tom Bihn cube allows me to fit much more clothing into that area than I could before.

One of the great features of Tom Bihn bags is that they sew O-rings into their bags in strategic locations. Tom Bihn sells a variety of accessories which attach to the o-rings either directly or using their 8” or 16” key straps. There are two o-rings in each main compartment and one o-ring in each horizontal pocket on the front. I use the o-rings to attach several accessories throughout the Tri-Star. I would like an o-ring in the horizontal front pocket as well, but I make do without it.

I have two Tumi pouches which I use to hold my cables and electronics odds and ends. I keep the accessories I regularly use in one pouch and I use the other pouch to hold travel power adapters, so I only bring that along when I travel internationally.

The Tumi pouches have metal o-rings that allow me to attach them to the Tri-Star using the 8” or 16” key straps. The pouches are attached to the o-rings in the front compartment and can either sit on top or alongside the other items I place in the compartment, depending on how full it is. Having them attached allows me to easily access them in the overhead bin without worrying about them dropping on top of someone.

I also have two Tom Bihn Organizer Wallets. I use one to hold a home-made First aid kit and I use the other to hold some lounge access and credit cards I only use when I’m traveling. One of these lives in one of the front zippered pockets and the other lives inside the front main compartment with the two Tumi pouches. I also have a Tom Bihn Mini Clear Organizer Pouch which I use to hold business cards and a Tom Bihn Dyneema Mini Organizer Pouch that I use to hold my Ultimate Ears TripleFi 10vi earphones.

The back compartment features two compression straps to hold down clothing.

The compartment on the other side of the bag also zips entirely open. This compartment features two compression straps to keep clothing or other items in place. I usually use an 18-inch Eagle Creek Pack-It folder to hold my shirts, and then use the compression straps to hold the folder, a pair of athletic shorts, and an extra pair of pants. On a one-week trip, there is still enough room in this section that I can put a fleece jacket if I decide I want to bring one with me.

The center compartment only zips open a few inches down either side of the bag. There are two Annex clips in this compartment, which work with Tom Bihn’s line of laptop cases to keep a laptop secured. This is a nice design feature, but I removed the Annex clips from the bag since I don’t use a Tom Bihn’s laptop case. The clips are easy to reattach if I decide to use them in the future.

I use the center compartment to hold my 13” Macbook Pro with Retina in a Waterfield Design Laptop SleeveCase, along with my iPad, a couple of magazines, my laptop power block, and my toiletry bag (if it isn’t in the front compartment). A larger 15” or 17” laptop would easily fit in this compartment as well.

The four zippered pockets on the front of the bag.

The front of the Tri-Star has four pockets. Three horizontal zippered pockets on the left hand side and one vertical zippered pocket on the right hand side. As noted above, each of these pockets has an o-ring sewn in to attach accessories.

I use the smallest horizontal pocket to hold a small roll of gaffers tape, some zip ties, and a Maratac AAA flashlight attached to the O-ring with an 8” Tom Bihn Key Strap. I use the middle horizontal pocket to hold the organizer pouch with my business cards, and the largest pocket is usually kept empty to hold receipts, boarding passes, and other papers I collect during my travels.

The vertical pocket has fabric segments which snap together, allowing you to carry a water bottle in the pocket when it is open. You can also unsnap the fabric segments and use the pocket to hold other odds and ends. I keep the organizer pouch with my earphones in this pocket to allow me to quickly access them when I get on the plane.

Fold-away backpack straps on the rear of the bag add a great carrying option to the Tri-Star.

When the Tri-Star is fully packed, there are three ways to carry it. There are a pair of handles on the top of the bag, which are comfortable to use as long as the packed weight is no more than 10-15 pounds. There are also a pair of attachment points on the top of the bag to allow you to add a Tom Bihn Absolute Shoulder Strap to the Tri-Star. The Absolute Shoulder Strap can be used to carry the Tri-Star on either one shoulder or across your body. I find it comfortable for up to 15-20 pounds of packed weight.

The last option is a pair of backpack straps that zip into a pocket on the very back of the bag. These straps are permanently attached at the top of their zippered pocket and clip into hidden attachment points on the sides of the back. The backpack straps feature a horizontal sternum strap and a removable waist strap. The backpack straps are padded and are very comfortable. This is how you will want to carry your bag for long distances or if you pack a particularly heavy load in your bag.

I usually pack the bag around 15-20 pounds and I alternate between carrying it with the handles and using the backpack straps. I don’t usually use the Absolute Shoulder Strap with the Tri-Star because I find it much more comfortable with the backpack straps, as it balances the bag on my shoulders and allows me to have both hands free.

Since I’ve switched to the Tri-Star last year, I haven’t missed my wheeled suitcase. There is no situation where I prefer a wheeled bag to using the Tri-Star, and I’ve had many situations where it is easier to use the Tri-Star than a wheeled bag. My worst wheeled bag experiences have been going down escalators with a spinner suitcase that barely fits on the treads, and trying to wheel the same suitcase on thick carpets in the Las Vegas hotels. There are no comparable situations with the Tri-Star and it is always a delight to carry.

The "What I carry" series

2013-02-24T07:00:00-05:00

I’ve flown between 100,000 and 120,000 miles a year for the past four years between my personal and business travel. Needless to say, I’ve spent a lot of time focusing on what I bring with me (e.g. my packing list) and what I bring it in (e.g. bags, packing aids, etc).

The last time I checked a bag during my business trips was over two years ago, and that includes many one-week trips and a couple of two-week trips. It wasn’t too difficult for me to reduce down to one bag, but it will take some effort if you like to have a completely different outfit for every day. For example, I will only take a couple of pairs of pants for a week-long trip, but I know some people wouldn’t want to do that.

There are many benefits to not checking a bag. The obvious benefit is that I greatly reduce the risk of losing my baggage if the baggage is with me in the cabin when I travel. Less obvious is the time saved by not waiting for baggage to come out at the baggage carousel, which is time I’d rather use to get home and see my family or to settle into the hotel room.

Of course, many people are now beginning to limit the amount they bring with them due to new airline fees for checked and carry-on baggage. I fly enough that my status with the airlines usually lets me check at one or two bags for free, but I love the convenience of traveling with only a carry-on bag.

Waiting for your bag while I'm on my way... Photo by flickr user: xfile001

There are many great resources on one-bagging travel and how to think about what you need versus what you want. Two great resources are OneBag.com, which focuses on the process of getting down to one bag, and One Bag, One World, which focuses on gear reviews and the one bagging lifestyle.

Given these great resources I’m not going to go over the one-bagging method or lifestyle, but instead focus on the products I’ve tried out. Most of these products are ones I use today, but a few will be products I tried out and decided didn’t work for me. I will update this post as I add reviews for the items in this list.

I will focus on bags and other packing-related items:

As well as some non-packing items that I always bring with me:

First Aid kit
Maratac AAA Flashlight
CountyComm tools

Restaurant review: Craftsteak , Las Vegas, Nevada

2013-02-20T00:00:00-05:00

I’ve been traveling to Las Vegas to play in poker tournaments at least once or twice a year for the past decade, so I’ve dined at many recommended steakhouses. Tom Colicchio’s Craftsteak is easily my favorite steakhouse in Las Vegas, and is one of only two restaurants that I try to visit each time I’m in town. What pushes Craftsteak to the top for me is the combination of the steaks, side dishes and service.

You are unlikely to get a bad steak in any of the top Las Vegas steakhouses, but not all of them serve high quality American wagyu steaks. Craftsteak has an ever changing selection of wagyu cuts. They typically have New York strip, ribeye, skirt steak, filet mignon, and flat iron. My favorite wagyu cuts at Craftsteak are the skirt steak and the flat iron.

Although they were often fantastic when cooked medium rare, I’ve been more consistently happy with the steaks once I shifted to asking for them to be cooked medium. I find that Craftsteak’s wagyu cuts have just enough extra marbling that they need a bit more cooking to render the fat.

Wagyu skirt steak by flickr user: ehfisher

The side dishes at Craftsteak are sized for sharing, so make sure you don’t order too much of any one side. I’ve never encountered a side dish that didn’t live up to our high expectations, so I would recommend you try several sides. My general philosophy on food tends towards the "Vegetables are what food eats" end of the spectrum, so I usually stick to my Craftsteak staples: potato purée, baby carrots, and corn. My fellow diners typically add on orders of hen-of-the-woods mushrooms, brussels sprouts, and asparagus.

Filet mignon, potato purée, and grilled corn by flickr user: Koocheekoo

The service at Craftsteak is well matched to the food. They have teams of two servers in each section, which allows for very attentive service with someone often within sight in case you need something. I’ve always had great service at Craftsteak, and we have one waiter in particular who we ask to get if he is working that day.

If you are going to be in Las Vegas and want to try a great steakhouse, I wholeheartedly recommend Craftsteak. I suggested it to a well traveled colleague who had some clients to entertain, and he sought me out the next day to shake my hand and thank me for my recommendation.

What's in your wallet? Foreign Transaction Fees

2013-02-17T00:00:00-05:00

Most credit and debit cards charge fees if they are used overseas, often called Foreign Transaction Fees. These fees are usually calculated based on a percentage of the amount being charged, although occasionally they are a fixed fee per transaction.

It is important to note that there is ultimately always some cost if your transaction is in a foreign currency as the bid/ask on the currency conversions have a small spread to them. Typically the exchange rates from your credit card company or bank are the best conversion rates you can find. For example, you will often find you have the option to charge in the local currency or in your home currency. I have never encountered a situation where the exchange rate being offered was anywhere near as good as that from my credit card company.

While most cards have foreign transaction fees, there are many that you can find that don’t. If you travel overseas often, it is worth doing some research to find one or two cards that don’t charge these fees. If you search online you can find sites that keep lists of cards that don’t carry a foreign transaction fee. Instead of attempting to recreate that here, I will share with you the credit and debit cards that I have that don’t have a foreign transaction fee:

American Express Platinum Card
Chase United MileagePlus Club Card
Chase British Airways Card

American Express Platinum Card

Photo by flickr user: antwerpenR

I usually bring the AMEX Platinum Card with me when I travel, but ironically I almost never actually charge anything to this card. The main reason I have this card is to get into American Airlines Admirals Club lounges when I’m traveling on American Airlines domestically.

In addition to this benefit, there are some international lounges that I can get into with the card and I’m able to accrue Membership Rewards points when I use my Corporate AMEX for business travel.

It wouldn’t make sense to have this card solely for the Admirals Club benefit as a direct club membership is slightly cheaper given my status with American Airlines, but I travel enough that it makes sense for me to get this card to use all of the benefits together despite the $450 annual fee. There are some travel-related annual spending credits you can earn with this card, which can help offset this fee.

Chase United MileagePlus Club Card

This is a recent addition to my wallet. Since I do most of my travel on American Airlines or their One World partners, I tend to accumulate enough American Airlines miles for my One World award travel needs. Since United has some good Asian routes that American Airlines doesn’t, I’ve switched to the United MileagePlus Club Card for my day-to-day credit card usage.

I earn 1.5 miles for every dollar spent on this card, which is better than the other options to accumulate United miles. It also lets me into the United lounges when I’m flying domestically, even if I’m not flying on United. Since I can use my AMEX Platinum card to get me into the Admirals Club anytime I’m flying American Airlines, I only use this feature when there isn’t an Admirals Club lounge in the airport. For instance, the Las Vegas airport has a United lounge but not an Admirals Club.

This card carries a $395 annual fee. I was able to get the fee waived for the first year when I signed up, but I plan to keep the card even after the first year. The extra .5 miles per dollar I receive makes the annual fee worthwhile given that I tend to use these miles for award redemptions that are close to $0.05/mile. That makes the break-even point $8,000 worth of spend.

Chase British Airways Card

While the first two cards are ones that I regularly carry with me when I travel, I don’t actively use the Chase British Airways Card anymore. I signed up for this card when there was a sizable initial bonus of 100,000 British Airways miles with very little spend required, but given my travel needs it makes more sense for me to use the United Club card or my SPG card instead.

2013 WSOP Schedule

2013-02-14T00:00:00-05:00

The 2013 WSOP Schedule has finally been announced, with 62 bracelet events this year. The WSOP kicks off on May 29th, with both the casino employee’s event and the $5,000 No Limit Holdem Eight-handed, and finishes with the $10,000 No Limit Holdem Main Event starting on July 6th.

As I did last year, I’ve created an iCal calendar of the WSOP event schedule. The individual event structures haven’t been posted yet, so I will add them to the calendar entries once they are up.

The calendar entries start at the beginning of the event and end when the event registrations close. I have assumed that the event registrations end after the second break as they did previously, for a total duration of four hours and forty minutes (e.g. four 60 minute levels and two 20 minute breaks). If they change the timing this year, I’ll update the calendar to reflect it.

Enjoy, - Noam

Restaurant review: Kabuto , Las Vegas, Nevada

2012-08-30T00:00:00-04:00

Since so much about your sushi experience can be tied to the fish that is available on a particular day, or your memories of how all of the flavors came together, I like to bucket sushi restaurants into four categories instead of an absolute ordered list:

Top tier: I fly out of my way to have sushi there. If in the city I will try to go more than once.
Mid tier: If I’m traveling to the city, I’m going to make a reservation.
Bottom tier: If there is a social event at the restaurant, I will go.
Not ranked: If there is a social event at the restaurant, I will decline.

Kabuto is unequivocally in the top tier, and is only the third US restaurant that I’ve been to that I put in that category¹.

Kabuto serves traditional Edomae sushi. Edomae sushi is very unlike what one would experience in the vast majority of sushi restaurants. It is a very simple style which emphasizes quality ingredients and exacting preparation. This is not the place to order a California roll, Philadelphia roll, or anything that would require mayonnaise in the preparation.

The restaurant is extremely small, with ten seats at the sushi bar and an additional eight seats at two tables. I would recommend sitting at the sushi bar, both to marvel at the sushi making process as well as to be able to eat the sushi at it’s freshest… right when the sushi chef puts it on your plate.

Preparation of the sashimi course for the omakase dinner

Your initial options at Kabuto are between the omakase and the nigiri sampler. The omakase consists of a small appetizer, a selection of sashimi, a few small cooked dishes, nigiri sushi, a hand roll, miso soup, and dessert. The chef creates the sushi selection for you individually, so aside from working around allergies you will be presented with what the chef wishes to serve you. The nigiri sampler is similar to the omakase but is just the appetizer, 10 pieces of nigiri sushi, a hand roll, and dessert.

After the set sushi course, the chef will ask you if you would like additional pieces of sushi. Their daily menu provides a list of 20-30 sushi pieces to choose from. All of their sushi is flown in for them, so everything they have is very fresh.

Although all of the sushi I had was fantastic, the best of the best for me was the wakaremi and the kamashita fatty tuna. The chef explained to me that wakaremi is a small triangular piece of tuna from close to the fin. It is as fatty as chu-toro, but was better than any chu-toro I’ve ever had. I didn’t ask what made the Kamashita tuna different from the other o-toro, but it was also better than any o-toro I’ve ever had.

Wakaremi sushi from Kabuto

In my opinion, Kabuto is among the best sushi restaurants in the world. I will certainly be coming again on future visits to Las Vegas. I only wish Las Vegas was a natural international airport connection, as I would happily schedule extended layovers to be able to go to dinner here.

The other two are Sushi Sasabune Honolulu and Sushi Sasabune LA. I put Sushi Sasabune NY in the mid tier category.
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