I poked fun at Michael Pugliese a while back for the stiff manner of his onscreen commercial appearances.

“I’m Michael Pugliese,” he boldly intones, “and I AM the president of Platt College.”

The emphatic assertion presumably being forced by a challenge as to whether he truly is the president of that institution. I AM! he says.

Well, I guess he AM doin’ sumpin’ good there.

According to the Tulsa World, the restaurant at the local campus has just been added to Wine Spectator magazine’s “World’s Best Wine List.” In northeastern Oklahoma, only Polo Grill and Fleming Steakhouse joined Foundations Restaurant (the culinary school’s real-customer training ground) on the list. There are plenty of other restaurants in the area with nice wine selections, so recognition from the magazine is certainly a feather in the chef’s cap for Timothy Fitzgerald, who heads up the program and orders in the wine selection.

The article appears in the August edition of the magazine.

McHuston Booksellers & Irish Bistro did not make the cut. In fact, we haven’t even made the soft drink selection list, but all things in good time.

Meanwhile progress continues on the food front: we’re now offering our carry-out menu at lunchtime, featuring soups, salads, and sandwiches to go. Guest seating is intended for the near future, but in the meantime a ten percent discount is being offered on all call-in orders to go between 11am and 2pm.

As the menu is still a work in progress, we don’t have shiny laminated copies to hand out, but feel free to drop by and pick up one on simple card stock. Through August 15th we’ll give you a freshly-baked Otis Spunkmeyer cookie just for stopping by and asking!

The early reviews have been good (thank goodness!) on our Irish Stew and Potato Soup, along with the Ballycue pulled pork barbecue sandwich and Mamie’s Slow Roast, a tender, sliced roast beef with mashed potatoes and gravy. Now that’s some comfort food, even during the month of August in Oklahoma!

I’m Larry, and I AM the cook and bottle-washer at McHuston Booksellers & Irish Bistro! (although not quite ready for the Platt College-type primetime TV commercials…)