Sometimes we get nostalgic for the spring of aught-four, and afternoons and evenings whiled away outside at the original Cotton's, on Yueyang Lu near Dongping Lu. The bar that occupied the space after Cotton's forced departure was to be avoided at all costs and then came Freelance, which despite helping Shanghaiist throw a damn fine 80s party, never really caught on for whatever reason. And so now we have Abbey Road, which we told you about at the beginning of the month. We've been there a few times now and we are happy to report that the look, the feel of Cotton's is back. A few notes: more ›

Is it strange that we had bowling during gym class in high school? The end-of-class bell would ring, we'd all head down to the parking lot and pile into our respective cars and drive on over to the P-Nut Bowl. After bowling two games, we'd drive back and get to school in time for Calculus. We always thought it was normal, but based on the funny looks we get when we tell that story, maybe it's not. Hmmmm ... maybe rural Pennsylvania is different from the rest of the world after all. more ›

Last week, the always entertaining People's Daily website ran a series of photographs under the headline "Yao Restaurant opens in Shanghai." The first Yao Restaurant opened in Houston, Texas, in 2005 -- Yao Ming's parents are part owners. The People's Daily headline surprised us. We hadn't heard anything about Yao opening up a place in Shanghai. more ›