Ronnie Raviv only dabbles

Ronnie Raviv joined Leah to try and figure out if he has any favorite things. We talk about cocktails, cocktail bars, books, TV, great meals and our friendship origin story. For someone who claims to have no favorite things, there was no lacking in conversation.

Like my beloved Zouks, Ronnie is not on twitter.

Show Notes

• Second City Conservatory 
• Quipfire Improv 
• Sally Albright
• Chicken Pot Pie origin story 
• Mexican Mule
• Journeyman White Whiskey
• Jasper Fforde 
• OCD TLV
• Taizu 
• Fantastic TLV 
• Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde
• Blind Barber
• Duck Duck Goat
• Aviary
• Rosemary
• Tango Sur
• Bar Roma
• Frasca
• Monte Verde
• Dear Margaret 
• Yom Tov Deli (Tel Aviv)
• Harry's Epic Israel Food Tours
  
  

Transcript follows

Ronnie Raviv  0:00  
Hello, my name is Ronnie Raviv. And I don't think I really have favorite things, but I have a lot of things that I like a lot, and you can hear all about them. In this week's finding favorites.

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Announcer  0:10  
Welcome to the findings favorites Podcast where we explore your favorite things without using an algorithm. Here's your host, Leah Jones.

Leah Jones  0:23  
Hello, and welcome to finding favorites. I'm your host, Leah Jones. It's Sunday, August 27. Really a beautiful, perfect day in Chicago after that brutal heatwave earlier in the week. Nice to have the windows open and to eat dinner outside today. Not too much to report other than my shoulder MRI shows a what seems to be a completely boring, small rotator rotator cuff tear. So hopefully, I will have some resolution to my shoulder pain soon. The orthopedist I saw last week said shit your shoulder is jacked. Which I think is sports for let's take this injury seriously. This week on the podcast I am talking with my one of my very dear friends Ronnie Raviv. You have heard about him on the podcast for years because he kept me company during a lot of chemo therapies and steroid Saturdays. We went to Israel on overlapping trips recently, so we just had that fabulous dinner in Tel Aviv. We talked about that a little bit. So I twisted his arm and said, Come be on a podcast. Now he does not listen to podcasts. He's not a he's not into the audio medium of podcasting. So I don't know if he will ever listen to this. But we have a fun conversation. Just sitting around bullshitting on the couch for an hour or so. And hit record. So without further ado, wear your mask. Wash your hands. Get your booster. I know a new booster is coming out soon. So I guess, wear your mask more diligently while you wait for the new booster to be available. And keep enjoying your favorite things.

Leah Jones  2:43  
Hello, and welcome to finding favorites. I'm your host, Leah Jones. And this is the podcast where we learn about people's favorite things and get recommendations without using an algorithm. Today I'm joined a rare in person interview for finding favorites. With my own personal algorithm. You do all the research that wire cutter doesn't do for me. So I don't have to do it. Yeah. What do we just found out recently? You didn't know what wire cutter

Ronnie Raviv  3:08  
was? No, I had no idea. You introduced me to wire cutter.

Leah Jones  3:11  
Right. So wire cutter is consumer a modern consumer reports. Yeah, basically. And then anytime I need a new phone. You are my Consumer Reports.

Ronnie Raviv  3:23  
Yeah, I would just from like the one article that I read or the one article with all the links to the other articles that I read. It it I wouldn't describe it necessarily as the modern consumer reports. I would describe it as the less nerdy Consumer Reports. So let's let's charts and figures and more. Recommendations.

Leah Jones  3:49  
Yes.

Ronnie Raviv  3:50  
It's a curated fair Consumer Reports.

Leah Jones  3:57  
I'm fine with him doing all the research for me. Sure. Because I am too lazy. Yeah, I would rather buy it. It'd be the wrong thing. Never return it and buy another thing. I wouldn't rather that but that's more likely how my life goes,

Ronnie Raviv  4:10  
right? Yeah, no, I'd much rather would buy the right thing to begin with.

Leah Jones  4:14  
Yes. Right. Which is why every two years when I'm a Verizon, it's time to buy a new phone. I call you with no warning. And I'm like, What phone am I buying today? Right. I've done that for 15 years, at least. Once I went away from my Blackberry,

Ronnie Raviv  4:29  
which I think we're all happy for.

Leah Jones  4:31  
Yeah. So Ronnie, usually, this is when so this is like the time of the podcast where people get to know the guest. And often we're I'm getting to know the guests because usually they are a complete stranger. Right? And you're not No,

Ronnie Raviv  4:48  
no, we've known each other for I was trying to do the math. I feel like 21 or 22 years we've known each other. Yeah. And we've known each other well, for maybe 18 years. Yeah, we know each other very well for 15 years. Yeah, maybe that's I think

Leah Jones  5:06  
that's about right. I moved here in Memorial Day 2002. Okay. And started going to open mics immediately. Yeah. And very quickly. Got to the tequila Roadhouse. RIP, RIP tequila Roadhouse and

Ronnie Raviv  5:25  
their crack fries. Yeah, they were surprised that were I don't know what they put on. There were so bad.

Leah Jones  5:33  
Well, there was my cousin's Friend's Boyfriend maybe wasn't conservatory with you? I don't remember. Okay. I think he was Greek. Okay, or he had a friend and I don't remember. Somehow I want to but one of your conservatory shows

Ronnie Raviv  5:55  
site. Yes. Second City conservatory Right.

Leah Jones  6:00  
Which quickly led to tequila Roadhouse. Yes.

Ronnie Raviv  6:03  
Because my many of the people I would go into group and that improv group, not only did stuff but also held an open mic. First tequila Roadhouse, then they went to Weiss fools. Yep. Neither of which are around because this is over 20 years ago.

Leah Jones  6:19  
Yeah. So it was a mixed bag. Open Mic. Yes. Very. So I did stand up comedy. And you were reading your as of yet unfinished novel

Ronnie Raviv  6:31  
as of still yet unfinished novel? Yes. And you would read a chapter a week? Yes, that was probably the most productive time because I had the actual deadline to like, do the chapter, right. But the way I write I don't outline or plan ahead, I sorta have to get into the, into the fugue state, which means that every time I sit down and write I don't necessarily remember what it was that I wrote, because I'm in a bit of a fugue state, right. And that's generally how I read books as well. I don't remember things after I just sort of get the good feeling. Yeah. And so I, so now it's just become this daunting mountain, because as the chapters pile up, every time I sit down, I have to read the whole thing to get into that flow. And it's just like, you know, if I have an hour to write, that's all well and good, but it'll take me like three or four hours just to read the thing to like, get into the meat into you know, and I don't have three or four. Let's be honest, I probably do. I just don't have the,

Leah Jones  7:28  
you don't have it set aside. You haven't scheduled in, right. Reread the novel,

Ronnie Raviv  7:33  
right? Before I read a new chapter, right? You know, so I'll like read, I like spend three hours rereading it to the right, a few pages. And then the next day, I have to like, reread a bunch to get into, this doesn't really happen. Maybe one of these days, I'll outline what I actually want to have happen. And that will help spur me on to like, Oh, now I need to read. Now I need to write this thing that happens. But I don't even know what will happen. It just sort of happens as it happens. Yeah. That's why I always wrote short stories when I was in college. Yeah,

Leah Jones  8:06  
I was gonna say maybe your short story guy.

Ronnie Raviv  8:08  
I am. But I don't like I want to write a novel. Yeah. I like I'm better suited for short stories. It's the same. It's the same thing with improv. Like, I did improv in college and we did short form improv improv games. And then and that's what I was good at, because I'm like, I'm good at that kind of quick joke thing. And then I went through the conservatory program at Second City, after many different things like twists and turns of my life and then ended up there. And I appreciate improv long form. Improv is an art form. And I sort of denigrate short form improv is just gimmicky, right? And so I don't like the short form improv as much. But that's the thing I'm better at I'm not good at the long form. So now I can't really do improv because the thing that I like, I'm not as good at writing that I I'm better at I don't like as much right.

Leah Jones  9:01  
But do you have? When's the last time you I don't I've never I don't think I've ever seen you do short form improv. I've seen you do sketch. Yeah. No, you haven't because I don't even know if I've ever seen you do long form improv. You have.

Ronnie Raviv  9:13  
I think, Okay, what if you? Well, I guess no, because it's because the seconds are the conservatory shows were more your sketch. They were born they were born out of improv to do with the improv in the class. And there was, there was a certain amount of improv, improvising on the stage. Like we make beats, we didn't have anything written out. Right. Sketches weren't, weren't scripted. But we sort of knew what was going to happen. A little more like, Curb Your Enthusiasm type.

Leah Jones  9:37  
I remember I guess I mostly remember your musical numbers. Yeah. White people brown line. Yes.

Ronnie Raviv  9:43  
I did not write that one. No,

Leah Jones  9:45  
but somebody asked you that you look at your watch. And somebody asks you the time and you were like, I don't know what time it is. And you put your hand down. Yeah.

Ronnie Raviv  9:54  
You have more memory than I do.

Leah Jones  9:56  
I think because of the time I lived on the brow, I took the brown line about Each and every time I get on the Brown Line, I would think about the song. Yeah. So

Ronnie Raviv  10:04  
yeah, no white people brown line. That was that was a brilliant piece of work. I did a song that was a parody of modern gender. Yeah. That was a mouthful. It was like a victim of the new new economy or something, which at this point is like, three economies ago. Because this was in the early aughts. Yeah. It's been awhile. It's been a lifetime. It's been so long. So yeah, so the last time I did improv, I think is when my undergrad improv group. This is pre pandemic came through Chicago, they would come through Chicago, New York or LA. So every three years it comes to Chicago. And then they, they they did a little show to basically no audience is just really for us. Yeah. And then they called on the alums to come. And I thought they were gonna just kind of, we were just gonna do a quick little scene, like what we would do at reunion is like a world's worst. I like my women or men, like I like my blank or whatever. Yeah. But no, they then said, Okay, now you're going to do now, all the alarms now you're going to do a long form improv. Which, so when I was going through that group, it's called quickfire? Yeah. When I was going through it, we only did short form improv, right?

Leah Jones  11:21  
Because it was before UCB. It was before the Herald had New York.

Ronnie Raviv  11:25  
Yeah, this was this was in the mid in the early mid 90s. So we only did short form improv. And so the only reason I even knew like, luckily for me, I had gone through the second city experience. So I had had experience with long form, right. But so this was in I think, 2017. Okay. And my last experience with long form improv was in 2002. Yeah. So, and I was by far the oldest alarm there. The next oldest alarm was from the class of 2009. Okay, so the next oldest alarm was sort of complaining that they hadn't done improv in a while. had done it at like at that point. quickfire had done long form improv when they were in school. And so they had last done in 2009. You know, I had last done it before they were even in school.

Leah Jones  12:22  
Right before they were in grade school.

Ronnie Raviv  12:25  
Not quite that far, but they weren't probably Junior High. Last time I did long form improv, right. And that only by like luck, because previous to Second City, I'd only done short form improv. So I was like, I felt like it was a fish out of water, but somehow didn't. Didn't crap the bed too bad, I guess. I don't know. We did. Okay. It was only for us. So it didn't really matter, right. low stakes, no stakes, stakes improv.

Leah Jones  12:50  
I did. Eventually I gave in and I did the five classes at annoyance when I was managing the ice cream parlor, right? Because so many lifetimes ago, many, many lifetimes ago. Because I was so tired of people asking me if I did improv, I was like, I do stand up comedy. Sometimes,

Ronnie Raviv  13:12  
ironically, because literally everybody who does improv their families all assumed that their stand up comedian, right, right. Oh, do some do some stand up comedian comedy Ford's like, that's not what I do. I do improv. Okay. Well then do improv. Right? No, it's a group thing. Right. Stand up here and do improv.

Leah Jones  13:27  
I know. But you did have me come out once and do stand up comedy. For your parents friends. For Param. Yes, I remember that.

Ronnie Raviv  13:37  
I wasn't, I don't think you would not have gone without No, I wouldn't you did it. And you were brave. They were they were they were welcoming audience.

Leah Jones  13:48  
They were welcoming audience. You had

Ronnie Raviv  13:52  
you had my favorite joke, my favorite Lea joke. But it will have been we don't necessarily have to.

Leah Jones  13:58  
Was it about the date with a little person? No, I remember that one being

Ronnie Raviv  14:02  
No, it was the learning Hebrew. Oh, yeah. That you the needle pointed for me. And I still haven't hung but I will in a minute. Yeah.

Leah Jones  14:10  
Right. So Ronnie helped me. When I was learning the alphabet, the Hebrew alphabet. We would like go to Jack's for chicken potpie. And sometimes I would drag out these giant workbooks and make them help me with Hebrew. And when I had finally gotten really confident that I could like, kind of like know the alphabet in order. I was like, Ronnie, I have learned everything from Alif to Zion,

Ronnie Raviv  14:37  
which you know, translated from A to Z except it's really more like if you're familiar with the Greek alphabet from alpha to zeta, and that's like the seventh letter. Right? But

Leah Jones  14:48  
you know, yeah. So I for Ronnie's 40th birthday, I cross stitched him something that said met LF

Ronnie Raviv  14:57  
Zion Yeah, from A to zeta Right. So essentially,

Leah Jones  15:00  
right, I've learned everything from A to F. Yeah. Which honestly appropriate. Yeah. Because I had not learned Hebrew from A to Z like, No, probably not. I can. I can't even function anymore. I used to use my Hebrew used to be better, but everybody in English, everybody in Israel's English got way better. And also technology got way better.

Ronnie Raviv  15:23  
Yes. Not as important anymore. No. But I remember that crowd really liked that joke, right because it was a crowd of Hebrew speakers. Right. So they, they were all right there they that was the that was the crowd. That

Leah Jones  15:36  
was the only crowd I didn't have to explain the punchline to Yeah, yeah, like we just did here. Right.

Ronnie Raviv  15:43  
But you know, jokes are always better when you have to explain the punchline.

Leah Jones  15:46  
Yeah. Right. So I did improv it annoyance. But I've never performed it outside of a class.

Ronnie Raviv  15:57  
So that's alright. That's fine

Leah Jones  15:58  
with me. Yeah, it's okay. I understand it. And I understand I don't want to do it.

Ronnie Raviv  16:04  
Yeah. Yeah, I'm sort of I'm sure I'm right there with you. It took me longer time to understand that.

Leah Jones  16:10  
Yeah. That you didn't want to do it anymore. Or that or to understand it?

Ronnie Raviv  16:15  
Both, I guess. Yeah. Because I was in a more because they started with the short form, right, which is like the games and the, the joke Enos right.

Leah Jones  16:23  
The Whose Line Is It Anyway, who's that's exactly boarded for puns and jokes and dad jokes and quick thinking, right. Yeah.

Ronnie Raviv  16:30  
Which is what we were, which is what I was really good

Leah Jones  16:33  
at. Yeah. So you're still really good at? Yeah,

Ronnie Raviv  16:36  
I think so. I'm okay that for sure. Yeah. But you know, when it comes to like, improvising long scenes where you have to like, react and have emotions and whatever, I'm not as good as that.

Leah Jones  16:51  
Till we met, and then comedy ended, comedy didn't really end I got transferred to London. So I was like, and you finish conservatory. And I think by the time I was back from London, I think the tequila Roadhouse might have been closed.

Ronnie Raviv  17:09  
I think it was around for maybe a little longer than that. But we were but they were no longer doing the open mic. Yeah.

Leah Jones  17:15  
Yeah. And we ran into each other at a board game. It's a bar on Addison started with a G threes. threes.

Ronnie Raviv  17:23  
I have no recollection of this. You know, me. I'm, you know, me. I sort of have no recollection of things. Yeah.

Leah Jones  17:30  
I remember it clearly, somewhat clearly. And then I recently searched my blog to see if I had when it happened. Okay. And I reference people that I'm like, I referenced someone named Jamie. And I'm like, Who the fuck is Jamie? Jamie Allen? Probably no, no. Like I was there with my friend Jeff from high school. Were Jeff from college. Jamie might have been his girlfriend at the time.

Ronnie Raviv  17:52  
Oh, girl. Okay. Yeah.

Leah Jones  17:55  
I don't know. Like, I don't know the description of the people that I say I walked in with Oh, okay. And then you watch because I moved to London and quit comedy. And we figured out like, Oh, hey, what's up? Sell your number. And so then we went for chicken Popeye. Nice. Shortly thereafter,

Ronnie Raviv  18:14  
yeah. Chicken. Popeye was so good. Yeah. Last,

Leah Jones  18:19  
so rip jacks. Yeah. And long before they were closed. Rip the chicken pot pie.

Ronnie Raviv  18:23  
Right. Rip that chicken pot pie. More so than jacks. Yeah. And then the Diag. Yeah, it's

Leah Jones  18:28  
rip. Yeah.

Ronnie Raviv  18:31  
Yeah. But yeah, the chicken pot pie was gone long before that. And that was really the big tragedy of the whole thing.

Leah Jones  18:39  
Was the chicken potpie gone before your ability to process? Dairy?

Ronnie Raviv  18:45  
No, it was worth it. Ya know, my ability. My inability to process dairy disappeared before the dream pop. I did. But it was worth it.

Leah Jones  18:53  
Yeah. That's another conversation locked in my brain because it was so insane. Because you picked me up from the 14th station. And you pretended like I had any choice about where we were going to dinner. Right? Which was nice of you to pretend. Right? And then you said, Leah, you know, the type of chicken Popeye that you dream of? And I was like, I do not dream of chicken pie. I

Ronnie Raviv  19:14  
see. You remember this as dream of I feel like I wouldn't have put it that way. Maybe I did at that point. But I sort of always see it as you know, when you have a hankering for chicken, Popeye. And you sort of have in your mind's eye. What? You're sort of picturing like, Oh, I could go for that. Right? And then you order it. And it's like, oh, well, that's not really what I was picturing. Chicken Popeye, but it's not the chicken coop I had in my brain. Yes. This place had that chicken.

Leah Jones  19:45  
Yeah. And I was very skeptical. Of course,

Ronnie Raviv  19:49  
as was everybody I told this story to right there.

Leah Jones  19:53  
And you were of course correct because they they baked it an individual that you had a cross pinched on To the top of your bowl.

Ronnie Raviv  20:01  
Yeah. But it was just it wasn't it was beyond that it was I think it was like the way the sauce that like Allah King sauce or whatever it is. It's like the like just the chicken, the combination of vegetables, the proportions, the sauce, the flavor, the cross, like all of it. It was like the platonic ideal of a chicken about pie, right. And I had many a convert to that chicken. Popeye was good. It was great. And then the chef left and they could not recreate it. No. And then it just kept getting worse and worse and worse. And then they closed and it became a sports bar.

Leah Jones  20:38  
Yeah. And then somehow that was the last time we went I think was probably my 40th

Ronnie Raviv  20:45  
Yeah, I don't know what's been called for a while.

Leah Jones  20:47  
Yeah. But we went that's where we went after. That was where the after party was okay? Was Diag. Okay, because it was walking distance. So, according according to the pictures I have. Yeah, I don't I don't recall that either. No, I don't have a lot of memories. Right that night.

Ronnie Raviv  21:07  
Yeah, no, that and that was a bit of a blur. Yeah. Yeah.

Leah Jones  21:12  
Um, yeah. So that's the origin story. Yeah. Is comedy. And then happened to happen? Chance happenstance, happenstance. Yeah. Yeah. And people were listened to the podcast have heard about you, Matthew. David brozik. One of your good one of your best friends from college has been a guest. And people have certainly heard about you on steroids. Sunday. Steroid Saturday's one of my Mayo Clinic. Road trip buddies. Yeah, the OG hospital host the OG hospital husband. Yes. And you still probably wear your pen. That was that was really sweet.

Leah Jones  22:02  
So one of the things when we talked about favorite things, like what would you talk about? As favorite things first, you're like immediately I don't have anything.

Ronnie Raviv  22:12  
No, I still I've been racking my brains. And I have. I have no favorite things. I have a lot of things I dabble in and things I like, right. Like a lot of things. Yeah. I'm a fairly easygoing, sometimes guy. Usually going in a sort of very high maintenance way.

Leah Jones  22:31  
I joke last night about you being Sally Albright. But you are Sally Albright from When Harry Met Sally. I mean, I'm you are easy going in the way that Sally Albright is easygoing.

Ronnie Raviv  22:42  
I think maybe not quite that heightened. But yeah, there's just there's no, there's certainly some truth to that for sure. No, I'm, I like a lot of things. Yeah. I also hate a lot of things. But I like a lot of things. And I'm sort of, you know, generally fairly open to whatever. Is there a certain way

Leah Jones  23:01  
you'll eat almost anywhere as long as you can order around the menu. Which is true.

Ronnie Raviv  23:06  
Yeah. Because you're a lot of picky eater. Bit of a super taster. Yeah, not an adventurous Well, no, that's not true. I

Leah Jones  23:14  
don't think that's fair.

Ronnie Raviv  23:15  
You know, I'm an I'm adventurous. I just picky.

Leah Jones  23:18  
You are adventurous. If you trust the chef. Yeah, that's true. Because we could just talk about, we can even just talk about great meals we've had together. Yeah, we've had some good ones. Yeah. Because Thai zoo and Tel Aviv last year. Yep. And OCD. Yep. Are both to where it was where? You would? I mean, they both places where they took our tastes seriously? Yeah.

Ronnie Raviv  23:49  
Yeah. We said what we liked and didn't like whatever and pointed them in a direction, right? And they said, Okay, trust us, and they delivered.

Leah Jones  24:00  
Yeah. So I think if the chef can't deliver at that level, you are less adventuresome. Right, for sure. Or you will amend the menu to make something better than they have on them. And yeah,

Ronnie Raviv  24:13  
well, I mean, I try not to be as annoying about it as Sally. I try to, I generally try to say, just eliminate these one or two things that I don't like. And also like if there's like a thing that I have to eliminate five things. I'm not going to get that thing, right. I'm gonna just get the thing like okay, I can have this like just take out the raw onions and avocado and I'm good. Yeah, you know, just like the things I don't like. I don't try to like have them do a concoction. Except for if there's mac and cheese on the menu and there's chili on the menu. That's a thing where things have to be put together. Yeah, because that's amazing. Chili Mac is the best thing ever. And I don't know why any restaurant that has chili and then has mac and cheese does not have Have a chili Mac. Yeah, option. It's silly.

Leah Jones  25:03  
Yes. I do think we have to get the purchase doesn't have Mac and mac and cheese right?

Ronnie Raviv  25:09  
I don't believe so they have an amazing chili. Chili was so good. Chili was so good, but I did not see mac and cheese. Yeah.

Leah Jones  25:16  
So we'll have to get it to go and then take and then go to the mac and cheese. Max. Yeah, yeah. Be like don't worry. We have purse chilly

Ronnie Raviv  25:28  
we got chilly to go.

Leah Jones  25:30  
Yeah. Um, I don't know, do you wanna talk about with CD? We could. Or something?

Ronnie Raviv  25:37  
Oh, no, I could. I could. I could throw this back on you. Okay. I mean, the name of the podcast is finding favorite. Yes. So find my favorite. What's my favorite?

Leah Jones  25:51  
Well, your favorite liquor right now is Mezcal. True? That is? Yes. It's Mezcal number is affirm. Number one. This

Ronnie Raviv  26:01  
girl is affirmed. Number one, but with a huge caveat. Like the bartender was mixologist. Whatever has to be Mezcal is pickier. It's harder to blend. Okay, well, so if I don't trust the bartender, I will fall back on tequila, which is easier to deal with. But if the bartender is really good in Moscow, they can do a better job.

Leah Jones  26:29  
Right. So the the Mezcal meal has been your go to cocktail this summer?

Ronnie Raviv  26:37  
Yes. If I again, if you trust them, trust them. Otherwise, I'll go with Mexico meal because that's a lot more right. Reliable,

Leah Jones  26:46  
yeah. But I don't know when that because not you were never really you're not really a Gen drinker? Because that's a little too aromatic. Yeah. But for a long time, it was like vodka or rum, but like tequila, I feel like is new on like, in the last five years has gone up your list?

Ronnie Raviv  27:11  
Well, I think it probably was, realistically, it was there longer than that. Maybe afraid. Like I figured, because I'm like, I don't love the taste of alcohol, like vodka is my thing. And I like you know, and if you go to a bar that doesn't have anything, like you go to a like, an event, right? And all you know, they had the most basic stuff, then I'll get a vodka cranberry, right, you know, splash soda and some wine.

Ronnie Raviv  27:40  
But if there's a place that and then for a while, I was like, oh, but if you have ginger beer, I'll do a Moscow Mule. Yeah. And then I discovered the Mexico mule. And that is so much better than the Moscow Mule. Right. And then I was also like, at that point, I was like, But wait, but also if there's a margarita, I will go for a margarita. Yeah. And it's like, well, maybe, you know, really the only vodka drink I like is the vodka cranberry. And I like the Mexico mule as my fallback, right? You know, my my go to and I like the the the margarita, right? Maybe, maybe tequila is my favorite. And so then I'm like, You know what, maybe I want to kill a guy and I didn't know and then like, and then I discovered the Moscow Mule. And I'm like, wow, that elevates the, the Mexico mule to a whole new level. But you go to a bar that doesn't know what they're doing a Moscow Mule is gonna be hit or miss. Yeah.

Leah Jones  28:33  
I also I mean, mezcal has come into its own in America in the last few years. So

Ronnie Raviv  28:38  
it's more popular. You it was there, there were times where you there are a lot of bars that still don't have it. Yeah.

Leah Jones  28:44  
And they also suspect as you and your friends as like all of our paychecks have changed. And our base level to Keela has changed in our houses. Like in the I think there's like grote, we're older. We're middle age now. So we're not getting like the cheapest tequila and none of your friends have the cheapest tequila in their house and and so like I also think there's something to be said for like access to better quality. Yeah, I Yeah, that's a killer you were introduced to at 21 You probably want to drink today.

Ronnie Raviv  29:25  
Maybe or maybe it's about the mixers the quality of the mix. Like ginger beer just really solves a lot of problems. Yeah, alcohols in general. But also think that vodka is a much, much more consistent thing. So you know, there's bad gin and bad tequila and certainly bad Moscow. Yeah, vodka. It might be mediocre you know, but But by the same ticket there's excellent tequila is an excellent Moscow's right and excellent gins. And there's not really an excellent vodka. Maybe there's a few I have a very

Leah Jones  30:00  
nice vodka right now.

Ronnie Raviv  30:02  
Exactly a very nice vodka.

Leah Jones  30:04  
It's a Polish. It's the buffalograss. Polish vodka.

Ronnie Raviv  30:08  
Very nice vodka. It's not an excellent vibe. But it can't be excellent because there's just not enough complexity there. Right? It's like the best vodkas are the ones that taste least like anything. Right? Like the bad vodkas are the ones that like tastes a little bit like gasoline and the ones that the excellent bikers are the ones that taste less like gasoline fare, whereas tequila has the complexity of the brown liquors that I don't like right without being the brown occurs and I don't like

Leah Jones  30:34  
right, because the brown look, error is not on my favorites. No.

Ronnie Raviv  30:40  
But it's not just a bitter there's it's just that gasoline, turpentine sort of alcohol it tastes Yeah. And I don't know there's the peatiness I don't know there's something the barrel. Yeah. Because I because journeyman, we're plugging so many should get. You should get all sorts of free stuff.

Leah Jones  30:57  
Oh, I don't link to all of it. And they they give me nothing. Yeah. But

Ronnie Raviv  31:02  
journeyman, in three oaks, Michigan. They have a white whiskey

Leah Jones  31:10  
that's aged in glass,

Ronnie Raviv  31:13  
or it's not aged. They distill the whiskey but then they don't agent in the barrel, maybe a moonshine? No, it's whiskey, right? But it just doesn't have that PD. Yeah. Woody, barely taste or whatever it is that I don't like about it. That makes an excellent mule. And they also have this drink called OCG. The old country goodness, it's like an apple cinnamon, nice cider that they do either straight up or is a frozen slushy. And it's really, really good. It's good. Yeah. So with a white whiskey, that's the only whiskey to drink. Unless it's like a really, really cool, complicated, right drink where the whiskey sort of really balanced out by other stuff. Like get at the aviary. Yeah, plug plug plug.

Leah Jones  32:05  
Right so that the aviary and like less so the violet hour or what's the one on Damon?

Ronnie Raviv  32:16  
Violet hours on Damon? Oh, what's

Leah Jones  32:18  
the other one on Damon? closer to me? Damon on LinkedIn. Victor or Victor Victor bar?

Ronnie Raviv  32:24  
Yeah. Just like the sticks. Used to be Yeah.

Leah Jones  32:28  
So you do you also have I would say also a favorite thing of yours is a well crafted complex, very

Ronnie Raviv  32:35  
well crafted. Interesting cocktail. Yes, I do like that. Yeah. Oh, sorry. Yeah. Yeah. Well crafted, interesting cocktail or fantastic. In Israel. Yeah. Or bellboy? Right? In Israel in Tel Aviv,

Leah Jones  32:53  
Imperial.

Ronnie Raviv  32:55  
Imperial was good. Like Ultra. Yep. also has very good cocktails.

Leah Jones  33:04  
Yeah, I do

Ronnie Raviv  33:05  
have one Barber has good cocktails. Yep. There's another place that has had really good cocktails. I can't remember. There's a lot of places with good cocktails. Yeah.

Leah Jones  33:17  
So I think that is I think, like if you're in a new city, not that you go to new cities often, right? No, I don't if you are returning to a city. So like my friend Dave. He uses hardrock cafes as like, an excuse to go to a city. He collects going to them just because it gives him a reason to put a city on his itinerary.

Ronnie Raviv  33:41  
In and of itself, that's a terrible excuse. But if it gets you to a new city, it gets you there. But it's terrible underlying excuses.

Leah Jones  33:49  
Check off boxes. Yeah, right. There's a list you can check out against the list. Okay. So that is not, you know, not implying it is. So if you are returning to a city you've been to before Tel Aviv, New York. Chicago, I think you will seek out a new interest. Like you will seek out a cocktail bar. Yeah. Something to do. Yeah.

Ronnie Raviv  34:16  
I'm usually if I'm if I'm there on my own. No, that's not true. I'm usually there with somebody. Visiting somebody seeing somebody. Yeah. So I will get from them. What's the good? What's the good cocktail, right? So I went to business. I went on business to Copenhagen. And so I made sure that our business contacts told me where the good cocktail bar

Leah Jones  34:39  
right was. Yeah, yeah. So all right, so there I've already found Mezcal and fancy pants cocktail bar,

Ronnie Raviv  34:51  
Fancy Pants cocktail. Yes, girly drinks, girly, girly drinks.

Leah Jones  34:56  
I was just reading an article this morning about how sometimes men to freak out when they're served something in stemware and will like make the bartender put it in a rocks glass. Oh, my

Ronnie Raviv  35:08  
friend Bob hates coupe glass. Really? I don't like martini glasses because martini glasses are stupid. Because they spill everywhere. Right? But a coupe glass that doesn't spill as much as a little bit because it's up to the rim. Yeah, but no, my friend Bob hates Kool Aid. He like will reject cocktails if they come in. Like he's not if they come to him that he won't reject them. But he was like, sometimes if you if you remember his he'll say, Is that coming to coupe? Like, oh, and then I want it?

Leah Jones  35:33  
Yeah. I mean, I will sometimes say like, is it up or on the rocks? And I will often ask for something that's served up to be served on the rocks. Yeah. But that's because I love ice. Right? Yeah, that's a whole different thing. And not because I hate Well, it's I love ice. I will drink it way too fast and a coupe. Like if there's not ice in it. It's just might as well just be a shot. Right? So

Ronnie Raviv  35:57  
I don't know why I feel myself to ice. I do a good job of sipping when it's in the coupe glass. Yeah. Something about the coupe glass. Not that I love it or hate it and anything else but something about it always. Like if it's in a tall glass. I will down that like nobody's okay. Yeah, I'll go and like down. Yeah. Whereas in the coupe glass that's like, oh, it's like I can see the whole thing. And I can sort of take little, little dainty sips and none of

Leah Jones  36:25  
its hiding behind the ice. Right. Exactly. Exactly. And they're not served with a straw.

Ronnie Raviv  36:30  
Which I never use. I very rarely use. Yeah. Only if it's like, really, really like impossible. Like it's piled high with ice and other things like, like sticking out of the rim.

Leah Jones  36:43  
Like the so we had a drink at fantastique in Tel Aviv with

Ronnie Raviv  36:48  
Chuck flowers, electric flowers, look them up on Google, which are

Leah Jones  36:53  
I have smuggled them home. They're in my purse.

Ronnie Raviv  36:57  
They're crazy. Yeah. It's just this little. It's like It's like almost I don't know how to describe it. It's

Leah Jones  37:07  
not quite a thistle. Yeah, because it doesn't. It doesn't poke you hurt, right? It's kind of like

Ronnie Raviv  37:15  
it's like the dandelions like the inside of the puffball. Dandelion. Yeah, before it's opened. No, after after it's open. When you've blown all the puffs off. It's like the round ball. It's a little bit bigger. And it's a little bit fuzzy,

Leah Jones  37:28  
right? Oh, you know, it's kind of like a pussy willow. Like the Yeah,

Ronnie Raviv  37:34  
but yellow. Yeah. And you bite into it just a teeny tiny little, tiniest, tiniest amount. It's bitter, and it's not great. And it doesn't taste good. But you just the tiniest amount just a little tiny nibble, like Alison Wonderland noodling on, nibbling on it and mushroom, just the tiniest little nibble. And then for the next, depending on how big the nibble was. 1015 minutes. Your tongue feels like it's constantly licking a nine volt battery. And as you drink something, it enhances that. Yes. And it's really, really interesting and cool and different and bizarre. Yeah. And unpleasant and pleasant at the same time.

Leah Jones  38:18  
I think you have been telling me about it for like four years.

Ronnie Raviv  38:21  
Yeah. And you and you still didn't quite picture it in your head.

Leah Jones  38:25  
No. Even in my mouth. I did not. It was so in SAM. It was you are as giddy right now as you were in the moment. So wonderful

Ronnie Raviv  38:35  
to see. For the look of a horror and shock on your face of like, what is this? What am I done? What is happening to my insides in my face right now? It was so awesome.

Leah Jones  38:49  
It was so weird. Yeah. And then it was right like a tequila based drink with a lot of ice. Yeah, a lot of drama. Oh, yeah.

Ronnie Raviv  38:57  
There was a plan sticking thorns. I'm all sorts of stuff. It was. Yeah. I think the drink was called like, dangerous. Something deep something like danger in the world in the name,

Leah Jones  39:06  
right. But it was very, it was it was very fun.

Ronnie Raviv  39:12  
Yeah, yeah. It was really, really tasty drink, too. Yeah.

Leah Jones  39:18  
I think that was the I think you did a better job or I got whatever. Oh, might have a good and plenty, isn't it?

Ronnie Raviv  39:25  
Well, yeah. Because you wanted something that tasted like licorice.

Leah Jones  39:29  
Yeah, but it was such a literal interpretation of tastes like licorice. It was was good. And plenty is melting in the bottom of a whiskey drink

Ronnie Raviv  39:37  
with some bitters that you could inject with? Yeah, syringe? Yeah.

Leah Jones  39:42  
It was dramatic and creative, but not delicious, right. I mean, it was fine. Yeah, it was but I'll never order it again.

Ronnie Raviv  39:50  
No. My drink was better. But honestly, the best drink was the one that we went with the electric flower. Yeah.

Leah Jones  39:59  
Was very funny. It

Ronnie Raviv  40:00  
was just for the gimmick would be fine. But it was not just a gimmick. It was a really, really good drink. Right. Really well balanced with the gimmick. Yes.

Leah Jones  40:06  
Yeah. So that was that's That was great. And I had gone to loutra earlier in the weekend in Tel Aviv and had some very nice cocktails to I don't remember what they were. Because it was all tequila. Yeah. And

Ronnie Raviv  40:24  
very few Mexican restaurants in Israel. Yeah. A little surprising. Yeah, but I mean, just from like, the palate like you would think like spicy foods and right. Cilantro. Yeah. It's like all these things. Oh, yeah, it's all rice. You'd think that it would be really popular in Israel and for some reason. There aren't that many of them

Leah Jones  40:50  
for many years. When I would like check a huge bag instead of checking a small bag or three

Ronnie Raviv  40:57  
small bag, three medium sized.

Leah Jones  41:01  
Um, and I would take like my friend David, when a trash bags like Benji and tall Tali both wanted like, El Paso taco seasoning. Like my friends were like, bring me like envelopes of taco seasoning. And American trash bags. And American toothpaste. And aspirin. Yeah.

Ronnie Raviv  41:24  
And then what would you bring back? Israeli ketchup? And my friend who is a modern Orthodox would ask me for Doritos, because Oh, because they're kosher isn't Israel. They're kosher.

Leah Jones  41:39  
I I remember, early trip bringing you back like olives.

Ronnie Raviv  41:44  
Yes, you brought? Yeah, but now you can get them. Yeah. I still have those olives and pickles because they were the wrong ones. They're the cracked olives that are bitter, as opposed to the sort of the more the Arabic olives that are bitter as opposed to the kibbutz olives that I like, and it was the the cucumbers in vinegar instead of in Brian.

Leah Jones  42:11  
I still I still have entries been at minimum 10 years that I gave you those possibly longer

Ronnie Raviv  42:20  
I think more like eight but yes, it's been a while. During the probably not. They're not. I'm moving in six weeks or so.

Leah Jones  42:28  
Yeah, I will sneak in and take them and throw them out for you. You're not moving them?

Ronnie Raviv  42:36  
Probably not. But it's against my religion to throw food away.

Leah Jones  42:40  
I understand. I understand that.

Ronnie Raviv  42:42  
I know. I know. It's possible I gave the olives to my mom because she does like those correct olives. Yeah, but none of us like the pickles and vinegar. Brian,

Leah Jones  42:52  
it's also sweet of you to wait eight years to tell me that I brought you the wrong thing.

Ronnie Raviv  42:57  
No. It was like it was so sweet of a gesture I'm not gonna I didn't have the heart to tell you know, beggars can be choosers I don't like the free thing you got me.

Leah Jones  43:09  
Um, when my nephews were of a certain age, which is much younger than they are now I would bring back I would go to the shuk and Jerusalem and buy like all of the fake Kinder eggs like I would go to the Kinder Egg store that had like all the off brand unlicensed Kinder eggs

Ronnie Raviv  43:30  
because they were legal here for a while. They're still

Leah Jones  43:31  
illegal here.

Ronnie Raviv  43:32  
I thought they weren't I thought they just thought they figured out how to because now you can buy it now they just buy them but they suck. Right because they don't have because they they've been protected for the litigious American mark. Yes.

Leah Jones  43:43  
So there were times when I would like have an entire layer of Kinder eggs and bootleg Kinder eggs for the kids of Leroy, Illinois, for the O'Briens and the DeVivo is to have like a Kinder Egg Unboxing party at my sister's house. Nice. Yeah.

Leah Jones  44:12  
Okay, other favorite things of yours. You consume a lot of TV for someone who is not a TV critic.

Ronnie Raviv  44:21  
Right? I do. I used to consume a lot more admittedly. I consume less nowadays. Yeah, still consume a lot.

Leah Jones  44:28  
Right? For sure. When we met you had three VCRs. Correct.

Ronnie Raviv  44:32  
And then you worked on a client on the TiVo account and the TiVo account. And so I got a TiVo that can record six things at once. Yeah. Which I still have. Yeah. Actually, no, between those I had a DVR I had like a I had a Windows Media DVR that could record four things at once. Yeah, but the hard drives kept going out. Yeah. And then I got the TiVo. I have that to this day. But now I'm not going to have cable in my new place. Right? So I'm gonna have to figure out what's going on with that whole new era. It's a whole new era. Yeah. Because YouTube TV isn't going to quite do it for me, but I'm not sure that ATT DirecTV is going to do it for me, but like, I can get you like I can get internet for sort of free because the building has internet, but I don't know if it's reliable enough, and it won't have the 18 T. Like, I'd have to pay extra. So do I want to pay the extra it's a whole big thing that I have to

Leah Jones  45:30  
sort of figure out it's, it's going to be a major lifestyle, it is going to be a major lifestyle change. But how what is your origin story with TV? Like, how did you become? When did you go from one to two to three visa like when I've only ever known you as someone with a huge queue of TV to watch, but I don't know why you watch so much TV.

Ronnie Raviv  45:56  
I don't either. Um, because it's good escapism, I always like watching TV. Like I had a TV, I got it, I got a small little TV. Like, I don't know, like a 13 inch TV or something for my Bar Mitzvah that I had in my room. So I'd watch TV there sometimes. And then I took that to college, and then we would watch Whose Line Is It Anyway, like we'd all crammed right, and we didn't have cable, freshman and sophomore year. So I would like take speaker wire and toss them out the window, click attach to the rabbit ears in hopes of getting a decent signal on. Because that's how old we are Lea. And so yeah, so I was watched that and then and then I guess maybe after college I started recording things on on the VCR so I wouldn't like because, you know, I'm I have friends who will not have plans because they want to go do something they want to watch TV or something. So I would like record whatever because why not? And so maybe a little bit after college that started but then it really was in earnest it during business school. That's when I collected sort of like a second and maybe even my third DVR. VCR. Yeah. In business school. So I could record things but not miss out on social occasion. Right. And also, there's an additional advantage of that is because if there's an hour long show that you record, you can zip through the commercials and watch it in 45 minutes very efficient. So yeah, so I think it's, I'm all about if you if I had to pick a favorite thing would be efficiency. That's which is really the polite way of saying lazy. But yeah, so it was really the efficient thing to do.

Leah Jones  47:50  
Right. And when and when, like comedy so much of it wasn't right. Yeah. I mean, classes might have been during the day, but like so much of comedy was Yeah, evenings and yeah,

Ronnie Raviv  48:01  
so I wouldn't be never home but I wouldn't want to I wouldn't want to miss out on things. Like you know, I'm, I'm a very much a homebody, right and need an inordinate amount of me time, right? I don't like having plans day after night after night after night after night after night. Right? Even if I'm enjoying all those plans it just like I get stir crazy. I need my time. But I don't want to be the kind of person who misses out on plans with friends. Because Oh, no, I have to watch this at home. Right? That's I feel like, you know, that's You can be addicted to the thing, but not make it ruin your life. Right. So, yeah, so I just like started recording anything that was vaguely interesting. And I would watch it. Yeah. And my bar for vaguely interesting is pretty low. Right?

Leah Jones  48:51  
It's not reality. No, I

Ronnie Raviv  48:52  
don't I don't do reality TV. And I don't like shows about unpleasant people making bad decisions.

Leah Jones  49:02  
It's a madman.

Ronnie Raviv  49:03  
Yeah. Madman Breaking Bad. I watched a few episodes and like, succession. Haven't you watched that? Yes. Like at this point, I kind of know, oh, this is a show about shitty people making bad decisions, right? I'm not gonna like it. Because if it's a good person making bad decisions, okay, if it's a shitty person making good decisions, like an antihero kind of a thing. You know, like a Dexter or whatever, fine. But if it's like a crappy person who's making bad decisions and gets in trouble for their bad decisions, like I'm not gonna root for them to get out of trouble. Like you just you do this yourself. Yeah. Why do I care if you get out of it?

Leah Jones  49:38  
That's how I felt. I feel like I watched the pilot of girls. The TV show it was on HBO. Lena Dunham. Yeah. Adam Driver. Yeah. And I think I watched the pilot and I was like, Oh, I agree with the parents. This show is not for me because I think the parents should be kind Putting her off. And then I think that was like one of like five episodes of the whole series that I ever watched because I was like, No, I think I think she should be cut off and have to like, figure it out a little bit better. Yeah, I

Ronnie Raviv  50:13  
think that was on during the years that I didn't have HBO. Yeah. Because I had HBO for many years while I was, you know, when I first moved into my apartment, because for some reason, the cable company screwed up and it wasn't scrambled. Great. So I had free HBO and Showtime and then one day they caught on and they re scramble them and it's not like I could pick up the phone and call them and say Hey, how come he scrambled the free Why am I free cable that I'm not taking away? Yeah, so I you know, watch the first several seasons of sopranos and the first couple seasons of Kirby enthusiasm, and then I lost HBO so then I didn't watch those shows anymore. Well, sopranos

Leah Jones  50:51  
was on Sunday nights right before the tequila Roadhouse. Open Mic. So sometimes people would watch it at kill Roadhouse in the front and the bar and then go to the back for the open mic. Yeah, maybe I recorded it. Yeah. Right. You're gonna have to find a whole new system.

Ronnie Raviv  51:10  
Yeah, well now so they all it's streaming DVR, so you could just have hit it, but from what I read, they're not good about time shifting. Yeah, like in my current on the on the TiVo, I can say, okay, record this show, like when it supposed to be but then keep recording for another, you know, three, five minutes, another hour and a half. Like if there's a baseball game on before a football game before? And they're gonna like start it late. I can just keep recording. Yeah. But now with these online, these these streaming DVRs. You have to sort of set to record the show after it because he can't like extend the show. They don't know well enough, and but you might be able to go back and I don't know. It's a whole complicated thing. Yeah. I'm gonna have to figure out yeah. So yeah, TV is sort of a favorite. Yeah. But again, okay. I have a lot of things I like but none of these are my favorites. The the cocktails is probably the closest Yeah, but like people ask me, oh, what's your favorite show? If you watch too much TV? I don't have a favorite show. Just like I watch a lot of shows. Yeah, I don't favorite. Yeah, efficiently. I don't have a favorite though. Yeah. I have a bunch that I like. So I like more or less, where I'd be hard pressed to even say what those are. Yeah. I also like with books, I watch a TV show or a movie or a book. And I get the good feeling of it in the moment. And I appreciate it. I enjoy it in the moment, but then asked me what it was about. Right. When I'll have a tough time. Yeah. I just like it goes out of my head. I'm like, Oh, I remember I liked that book. What's it about? I don't know. What happens and I don't know. I just remember that it came away thinking it was a great book.

Leah Jones  52:49  
Do you ever come away thinking it's a bad book? Yeah. Okay.

Ronnie Raviv  52:54  
But I'll still read it. i There's only there's only, I think, two books on my list that I have started and not finished. Which are Moby Dick. And gravity's rainbow by Thomas Pynchon. Which is weird, because there was a time period where I was when every book I was really enjoying and reading. Everyone was describing it as pinching ask. And I'm like, well, it's weird that the one book that I didn't finish is by Thomas Pynchon. But all these bitchiness, yes. I liked

Leah Jones  53:30  
I thought you were gonna say Moby Jack, either because you have told me before or because in the airfare she is sentence to live until she finishes the most boring book in the world.

Ronnie Raviv  53:46  
Book airfare and I don't remember. I have no,

Leah Jones  53:49  
not in airfare. It's it's further along in the series.

Ronnie Raviv  53:53  
I've read the whole series, and I have no recollection of what you're saying. This is what I'm talking about. Right. No recollection of these things?

Leah Jones  53:58  
Yeah. It is. It's one of my top topics I recommend to people.

Ronnie Raviv  54:06  
It's a good it's a good series of books. Yeah, sure.

Leah Jones  54:08  
Especially if people are readers. You're rewarded for being a lifelong reader. Yeah. And in his books, yeah.

Ronnie Raviv  54:16  
And there's good wordplay. And there's just clever. Yeah, yeah, it's good stuff. Yeah, Jasper Ford is very good. Yeah, I'm very much looking forward to eventually reading the sequel to my favorite book of his the great. The shades of grey shades of grey. Yeah. Not to be confused with 50 Shades of Grey, right. Shades of Grey is an awesome book. Again, don't ask me what it's about because I don't remember. I just remember thinking it was an awesome book. Let me tell you what I know. I know. It's I vaguely know it's like some people can't see certain colors, but some people can see certain colors, but not all of them. But then some people can like the more of the spectrum we can see. I don't remember what it signifies. But I just remember there are people who can like see greens and People can see reds. And there's like, sort of, but I don't really remember anything beyond that.

Leah Jones  55:04  
The it's the caste system is based on how much how colorblind, you are right with the people with the best cut the best vision at the top, and the most limited vision or at the bottom.

Ronnie Raviv  55:18  
But even the best limit, even the best vision, it's like, you only see one spectrum of colors,

Leah Jones  55:23  
right? And it's a coming of age story because of the age 16. You take the test, right? You're allowed to live without a caste until you're 16 or whatever. And then you take the test. And it is is the protagonist, I believe is realizing that if his parents are who his parents are supposed to be, he should not be able to see what he can see. Right. So they his mom stepped out to get his to get the kid better vision of a chance of a better future. You don't remember any of that that

Ronnie Raviv  56:06  
part? I don't remember. Yeah, no. No, I like read the book I enjoyed in the moment. And then I just come away with a good feeling.

Leah Jones  56:14  
Yeah. No, I'm excited for the sequel to Yeah, yeah.

Ronnie Raviv  56:20  
Yeah, it was really? Yeah. Because for a long time, it looked like he wasn't gonna do the sequel because it didn't sell that well, even though it's his best book, like by far. Yeah, the goal is because all of his books are good. But that one is the best book by far.

Leah Jones  56:32  
I think I've heard about him a lot during this current war in Ukraine. Why is that? Because a detail you don't remember from the era fair, right, is that the Crimea, the Crimean War has been ongoing for 20 years. Okay. Everybody in the UK eventually fights in the Crimean War, and it's unending.

Ronnie Raviv  56:54  
Yeah. I bet you remember something about the Crimean War? Yeah.

Leah Jones  56:58  
And so when it when it was annexed ahead of the war, a couple years ago, I was like, this Jasper Ford, like, actually, psychic, because it was like that. There was something wild that happened with Amazon and Kindles and like the deleting of content. And, you know, you don't really own your digital content. And so it was like Crimea, digital content going away, and something else and I was just like, what is Jasper Ford on? Like, how can he, as a futurist, and a science fiction writer have such a clear vision of where things are going,

Ronnie Raviv  57:43  
especially since it was written in such an almost absurdist fantastical way? Like nothing here is even remotely close to reality, right?

Leah Jones  57:52  
Yeah, I forget what your airfare is from.

Ronnie Raviv  57:59  
The 80s? Maybe? Oh, no. Like when it was published, or when published? Oh, like takes place in like, what feels like the 80s? Yeah. But I think it was, yeah, I

Leah Jones  58:09  
think I'm looking at my early aughts. I'm looking at my bookshelves as if it's there as if I haven't loaned it out for the 50th time, right. I've given it to so many people.

Ronnie Raviv  58:19  
I mean, I can Oh, takes place in alternative 1985. Right. Publishing 2001 According to Google, July 19 2001. So So pre 911, but

Leah Jones  58:34  
yeah, a pre Kindle.

Ronnie Raviv  58:38  
Yeah. You know, yep.

Leah Jones  58:42  
Amazon was only Amazon existed. But barely, barely. And only for books. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Cocktails, efficient TV watching. chicken potpie. That doesn't exist anymore. Right. Trustworthy chefs. Yeah. So which dinner do you think was better? tysew or OCD, OCD by far? Yeah.

Ronnie Raviv  59:09  
I mean, he was great. But OCD was amazing. Yeah. OCD was some of the best food I've ever read.

Leah Jones  59:13  
I was so nervous. I got so anxious that week, leading up to it that we oversold that we had oversold it.

Ronnie Raviv  59:22  
No, no, no, no, I wasn't nervous about that. I knew no matter what it was going to be good and fun and an experience and interesting. Yeah. And what was all those things, but it also was delicious. Yeah.

Leah Jones  59:34  
It was it was just a remarkable. Yeah. And every bite with one exception was phenomenal. For me. There was just that one salad. That was a little too sour. The chard? The chard, lettuce, chard greens. Yeah. And like the lemon sauce.

Ronnie Raviv  59:55  
Oh, yeah. You have you have a thing with sour right now.

Leah Jones  59:58  
Yeah, yeah. I made a face. I made a face when I tried it and I saw the staff see me make the face. And I was like, Oh, it was like unintentional, right? Because everything had been so perfect. Yeah. And even that one I appreciated but like just my

Ronnie Raviv  1:00:16  
I'm just off, ya know, just hit your jaw. Yeah, sour in the sour spot.

Leah Jones  1:00:20  
I mean hard in the sour spot. I still am thinking about the the freeze dried parfait the cloud? Oh, yeah.

Ronnie Raviv  1:00:30  
Which you would think that the top layer of it would be the melty part would be the melt in your mouth part. And the bottom layer would be sort of like the, but it was the opposite for me. Like the bottom layer was the stuff that melted and disappeared in your mouth like candy. Almost. It wasn't. And the top layer was sort of like it crunched down like those like, green plant. You know, the green Styrofoam look really thick. Yeah, Styrofoam stuff.

Leah Jones  1:00:57  
I know. You're talking about floral, floral Styrofoam. Yeah.

Ronnie Raviv  1:01:01  
Yeah, so it was like it's sort of that just got dense. So I would, I was expecting that top layer to just melt away like cotton candy. But it got dense. Yeah, and really good. And the bottom stuff, which was like more ice creamy sort of that. I figured it was going to just be like sort of become liquid and it just sort of disappeared. I don't know how Yeah, that was that was really good.

Leah Jones  1:01:22  
Yeah. And then like cuz it started with like, that was like a celery. Grenada. Yeah, it was wild. Yeah.

Ronnie Raviv  1:01:30  
And the creme brulee that mean made out of potatoes. Yes. With like little potato chips on it like yeah, like shoestring potatoes, but sweet. Yeah, that was and what was the ice cream with that?

Leah Jones  1:01:45  
It wasn't it was non dairy. I think it was salted like a salted caramel maybe.

Ronnie Raviv  1:01:50  
I feel like it was also something that was savory. Yeah. Like a savory like some of you would expect to be savory but they made it a sweet Yeah, ice cream. Yeah, potatoes, but like some like not potato ice cream. But like some other kinds of something like turnips. Yeah, like something. Yeah.

Leah Jones  1:02:08  
And now they've already changed. We were we went for the smoke and fire menu. They're already on a new menu. And it's like,

Ronnie Raviv  1:02:22  
yeah, we have to we have to go back. Right. So good. It was so good.

Leah Jones  1:02:25  
I think Thai zoo because it was so I think Thai zoo is what unlocked for us. Like, we can have a nice time if we don't have plans. Yeah. So Thai zoo was like a friend of your cousin's got us a last minute reservation. It's hard. it hard to get reservation but not impossible. Like OCD, right? We went a year ago. And it was they interviewed us at the beginning of the meal. And we were like, Yeah, take it away. Like what they ordered for us. Yeah. And my only the only thing I told them about me was like they serve like whole fish like racinos like whole fish. And I was like, I don't face. I can't deal with a face. I'm already embarrassed thinking about how to eat that in public. Right. So like, I don't want the full fish. But other than that, like, I'll try anything. Yeah. And that was such an amazing dinner because it was just like, didn't know it. We didn't know what we were gonna do. Yeah,

Ronnie Raviv  1:03:29  
we didn't know what to expect. Yeah. Yeah, we were very good at the sponge. We've had incredible luck with the spontaneous. Yeah. dinners in the last few months. Yeah, for sure. Yeah, like your birthday was awesome.

Leah Jones  1:03:44  
We couldn't if we had planned if we had made all those reservations, it wouldn't have worked.

Ronnie Raviv  1:03:48  
No, we couldn't have planned that. Yeah, the one thing we did plan like we did plan Yes. But we just decided to skip it at the last minute. Yeah. And go completely plan LIS Yeah. To like the most the busiest part of town for like restaurants like where you can't get reservations for anything. No. And we just went to four different places all without reservations. And ended up being we just went from place to place to place all within like a block and a half. Yeah.

Leah Jones  1:04:21  
Because that's all I could do at the time right? Yeah, blind barber for drinks. Yeah.

Ronnie Raviv  1:04:28  
And then Duck Duck go duck duck go for a last minute dinner right Open Table reservation Yeah, yeah, that

Leah Jones  1:04:34  
we did make a reservation but then like literally just walked across the street. Two minutes later. Yeah, we looked

Ronnie Raviv  1:04:39  
looked like oh, look, they have a table. It's 15 it's six. Let's go. Yeah, we put our name down. Yep. Went

Leah Jones  1:04:46  
and then and before every stop. We've went to aviary and tried to get an aviary Yeah.

Ronnie Raviv  1:04:54  
So tried to start the evening at aviary. We were denied because it was closed for private event. Yeah. So We went to get drinks at blind Barber. Yeah. And we went to dinner. Then we tried to go back to a beer. Yeah. And we're denied again. So then we went to to get dessert.

Leah Jones  1:05:08  
And we said, where would you go for dessert? And they told us about rosemary. This Croatian restaurant. Yeah. It's like what do you have now been for dinner? And I have not been Yeah,

Ronnie Raviv  1:05:15  
it is. Really good. Yeah.

Leah Jones  1:05:20  
So then we just like so rosemary, also very hard to get a table at

Ronnie Raviv  1:05:24  
like I've looked. Yeah. And I might, it's not an easy get.

Leah Jones  1:05:28  
But we just waltz in. And they

Ronnie Raviv  1:05:30  
sat us like, at the kitchen. Yeah. Like, at the counter at the kitchen. We were the only ones and yeah, had dessert there.

Leah Jones  1:05:38  
So we have like three, we ordered two. And they brought us a third because it's my birthday. Yeah. So we had these amazing desserts there.

Ronnie Raviv  1:05:45  
And as soon as they pop them down, we get a text from the aviary saying okay, you can come over Yeah, so we just download desserts and went wander over the aviary and had a nightcap there. Yes. A really good evening.

Leah Jones  1:05:57  
It was a fun night. Yeah. Yeah, so we've had good luck and we had good the night before your birthday party. We went to Frasca.

Ronnie Raviv  1:06:06  
Yeah, fresca, fresca. Braska fresco Frasca? Yeah

Leah Jones  1:06:10  
oh my god, we ordered so much food we

Ronnie Raviv  1:06:12  
ordered so much.

Leah Jones  1:06:16  
Delicious. Got it got a table right before it started to rain again. Right before everybody from the patio had to come inside. Yeah. Tremendous luck. Yeah.

Ronnie Raviv  1:06:28  
A few other like one or two other places to that we just lucked out on.

Leah Jones  1:06:32  
Yeah, like we went to Tango sore after we saw Oh, yeah. Heimer. Yeah.

Ronnie Raviv  1:06:35  
And that's like, yeah, we're just like, hey, let's walk towards your car, and then maybe go drive somewhere. It's like, oh, or we could go into here, right. Oh, and then. Oh, and a few months before that we had we went to Barbara Roma. Yes. Where my friend is my friend's husband is the headshot. And so we went there and just like got a table there. Also not a particularly easy get that's pretty popular place.

Leah Jones  1:07:01  
Because it was a day after

Ronnie Raviv  1:07:05  
day after 420. So I go and I say hello to my friend. And he's like, Oh, I'll bring you some dessert, which he then also brought us a salad because he decided that we weren't eating healthy. Right. So whereas the salad and then he brought us he said he would bring a dessert he brought CBD to desserts and their leftover CBD infused chocolate. Right, which were so good. Yeah.

Leah Jones  1:07:28  
And we were like, Hello, fellow kids. We will have your CBD chocolates now.

Ronnie Raviv  1:07:32  
Yeah.

Leah Jones  1:07:35  
Um, yeah. So we have had a good luck in the last year. So like, I mean, even in Minnesota last year in Rochester, we had some good meals. Yeah. That Thai place was delicious.

Ronnie Raviv  1:07:48  
Thai place was delicious. The Pancake place. Yeah. Outstanding. That was so good. Yeah, pumpkin or whatever the place was.

Leah Jones  1:07:58  
Yeah, that was really good. Yeah. So we've found some favorites. Yeah,

Ronnie Raviv  1:08:01  
good meals are my favorites. Yeah.

Leah Jones  1:08:05  
Well, and that's like, your whole you know, you're from a family of people that like good food. Yeah. So the bar is high.

Ronnie Raviv  1:08:17  
Yeah. And but even if, even if it's food that I won't like, like, I have a pretty good sense of what people like. So I like always like picking things for people. Yeah. For menus, like, Oh, here's something that you will like, yeah. And I'm usually pretty spot on. Yeah, if I do say so. Like, I just have a good. Like, I don't like it, but I can imagine what it tastes like. And I know what taste profiles people like. Yeah. And have so I'm like, Oh, this is this is within your taste profile. Yeah. Yeah, that's something I would touch with a 10 foot pole. But that sounds like it would be really good for somebody who likes somebody stuff. Yeah.

Leah Jones  1:08:53  
No, you're really good about. Like, truly, I would never have to look at another another cocktail menu in my life. Because you'll always pick the right thing for me. Like, you're never gonna pick that you would never pick for me something that's just you're this. You're my favorite. Your backup plan. Right? Like your bench drink.

Ronnie Raviv  1:09:17  
Yeah. Yeah. Like I'm not going to pick something for you that I would like because I think it tastes good. Right. If it's not something I think you would think it tastes

Leah Jones  1:09:24  
right. Yeah, so I think I could truly abdicate decisions about cocktails to you and I would be fine.

Ronnie Raviv  1:09:36  
No, probably. Yeah.

Leah Jones  1:09:41  
And sometimes food is I also like to be efficient, not looking at menu.

Ronnie Raviv  1:09:48  
Yeah. Yeah, and I like the challenge of picking food that I think people will like, yeah. Like, I'm not going to touch a shrimp mango dish to save my life but my mom should be all over. Yeah, so I'm like, Oh, you would like that one. That one sounds like it would be really good for somebody who likes shrimp and mango and avocado or whatever like, right? Like for people who like that thing like that like the way this is described that sounds good dressing. Yeah, that sounds like it would be really really good. Just not for me. Yeah.

Leah Jones  1:10:17  
But you tried the mango gazpacho and Tel Aviv didn't you? Did

Ronnie Raviv  1:10:21  
you tasted I did. I mean, he went around the beetroot? despacho. Like I'm like, I'm gonna taste it. Yeah. I'm not necessarily gonna like it. Yeah. Generally tasted

Leah Jones  1:10:34  
I was just telling Diane Josh this morning about the hibiscus.

Ronnie Raviv  1:10:41  
Hibiscus. Yeah, that was good.

Leah Jones  1:10:43  
Yeah. So um, great. Well, do you want people to follow you on the internet?

Ronnie Raviv  1:10:54  
I mean, if there's not much to follow,

Leah Jones  1:10:58  
or anything you want to promote but not on a night when we want to go? No.

Ronnie Raviv  1:11:07  
Yeah, no. Yeah, go to Rosemary. It's really good restaurant. Yeah.

Leah Jones  1:11:12  
I really want to go to Monteverde. Oh, yeah. high on my list. Yeah. Checking.

Ronnie Raviv  1:11:18  
I think we needed to get a reservation there as well.

Leah Jones  1:11:21  
I think we need to go for lunch one day. We might just have to show up and see what's yeah, see what's what they hold walk ends at five. So yeah. But that's, that's still on my list. And I And dear Margaret is still on my list. It just wasn't. You weren't feeling it that I just super wasn't feeling it. And I had made those reservations months in advance.

Ronnie Raviv  1:11:43  
Yeah. No, it was like, You were looking forward to that. And then all of a sudden, like, in the day or two before you're like, This is really heavy, rich French food. That is not what I was envisioning.

Leah Jones  1:11:55  
Right. And they don't, they don't have like cocktails. And that's part of the fun about going out to eat with you is like, also having cocktails. Yeah. That was I think that surprised me that OCD didn't have any cocktails. Right.

Ronnie Raviv  1:12:13  
Or did you know they had the you could get

Leah Jones  1:12:16  
the head spirits? They had spirits? Right, but they didn't have

Ronnie Raviv  1:12:20  
they didn't have tails, per se. Yeah.

Leah Jones  1:12:24  
I mean, we made up for it. Yeah, for sure. So, um Well, you can find finding favorites on Instagram finding faves pod and Twitter. As long as Twitter exists, please. X. Gross rate and review on Apple podcasts or good pods if you listen on Stitcher. stitcher goes away soon, so switch to good pods or Pocket Casts or something else for podcasts. And keep enjoying your favorite things.

Ronnie Raviv  1:12:57  
This is fun. Yeah.

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Transcribed by https://otter.ai