No You Can't! Yes You Can!....and Rats

Coffee is bad for you….no, wait, coffee is okay for you. Red wine helps your heart, no wait, it doesn’t. How many times have we seen the scientific/medical community flip flop positions on things? Well, now we can add one more to that list: our much maligned finny friend, the striped bass or rockfish. As you will recall, we documented (5 June) an announcement from the Maryland State department of something that said we should “drastically reduce or eliminate our consumption of Rockfish caught in local waters”, because of the high concentration of PCB’s. Oh my gosh, headboats, restaurants, waterfront dives, crashing all around us. Now, last friday in the same newspaper (I use the term loosely) there is a front page article proclaiming: “State says keep eating rockfish”. It goes on to laud the benefits of the omega – 3 fatty acids that help your heart. Then it starts into some lame explanation of well, they really meant the PCB’s were high in fish from the ocean (Dry Dock menu change coming?), not the bay. If you eat the fish that come from the bay, you can have 25 servings per year, or about two a month. What’s a person to do?? As is often quoted, moderation in all things.

Really old time readers will recall that I once mentioned Ruth Reichl, editor of Gourmet magazine, published a piece about children’s eating habits, and if they were exposed to “real” food early on, it would pave the way for appreciating adult food for their later years. I really related to that. Well, I was watching TV the other day, mildly aware of what was going on, when a commercial caught my eye. It consisted of several shots of little kids sitting at a table, doing “creative” things to dispose of the food on their plate.. One little cherub was shown sneaking his pork chop to his dog. Another little nipper was shoveling his haricot verts into a little truck, and another emptying his plate into a basket when nobody was looking. The narrator chimed in saying “are you tired of “junior” not eating his food?” the resolution of this domestic issue was to supply the little infant with Tyson’s Chicken McNugget thingies. Good! Great! Let’s train Junior to eschew real food by pitching a fit so that he/she can have processed chicken parts, making Mom smiling, and getting rid of her duty to introduce cuisine to the next generation. It’s no freaking wonder that a generation thinks that food is prepared by asking for a number into a speaker, or figuring out how many seconds before the “bing” announcing din-din is ready. If we would like to have our children learn to appreciate good food, get rid of the easy way out of macaroni, chicken hunks, hot dogs, and other cop outs. It’s work, but it may be worth it. I hear you, my good friend (local) mom of two red heads, time is of the essence, but I also know you do it right. It can be done.

The Rats—

Saturday night, MFO and I joined about 30 others at Corbels, for a “Medley of Melody and Fine Food”. A special dinner to the accompaniment of The Pax Rats, a band made up of four local people well known to people associated with the Naval Air Station here. They all have alternate lives of real professional work, but here they were, dressed in sort of Blues Brothers garb, black suits with ties, and refreshingly no (visible) body art nor piercings. The music was of everybody’s generation (save the children of the band), and leaned toward American Standards, Torch Songs, and many classics. They performed 25 songs like Young at Heart (appropriate), The Way you Look Tonight, I get a Kick out of You, and well, you get the idea. I go way back (well, 13 years anyway) with the gentlemen who is the drummer. I try not to get into specific names here, and won’t, but most (local) folks can guess his identity as one of his former jobs was co-leading the ITT during the Super Hornet EMD program. He was known for rapid fire decisions, and timely action. So it’s no doubt that he is a drummer, and I was quite impressed with his timing and rhythm.

As to the food, it was nicely prepared as usual at Corbels. I was really pleased with a little amuse bouche for a starrer, which was a tasty shrimp perched atop some braised (?) spinach(? – maybe some other bitter green), and a fried polenta cake. Really nice way to tickle the palate. The rest of the meal consisted of a fresh green salad, a choice between marinated portobellos, herb crusted pork loin, or baked halibut with lobster sauce, and a couple of dessert choices. And here again, one of my pet peeves raised its head. I discussed this with the chef and understand and respect his reasons, but darn it I’m going to stick to my position. Tables were either six or four, and therefore there were little tents with our name and menu selections. Each table had at least two of the main course choices, if not all three. So at service time after the dandy amuse bouche and fresh salad was consumed, out came the entrees. Servers entered the room with servings of pork loin in each hand, and started to wander the room peering for “pork loin” tents, and then setting them in front of the owner. So there were tables in the room with pork sitting in front of some, and some looking at nothing. After all the pork had been delivered then out came the fish, and then the veggie entrée (which MFO had selected). Our table had been among the first to receive the loin, so by the time the table was complete (and it wasn’t forever, but some time had elapsed) the diner next to me tried a couple of bites and said that the pork had cooled beyond where she wished to consume it. The dish was taken, and replaced with a whole new dish which is as it should be. The quality of the food was very good, but gosh darn it, why can’t it be served as a table. This certainly isn’t unique to Corbels, as I run into this over and over in “banquet” settings. Again, there are back of the house reasons why it is so, but the front of the house isn’t quite happy with this approach.

And, just to show you I’m not (completely) loony, in the “Ask Tom” column of yesterday’s Sietsema’s restaurant review was a relevant comment. The reader had asked Tom why if part of the table wanted a la carte and others wanted a prix fixe option, why were they told that the table had to have the same option. Mr. Sietsema talked to the chef, and Tom appreciated his points, but said “Although I think it’s in the interest of a restaurant to focus on what’s the best for the customer….”. Me too.

Oh, the review gave three stars (a rarity) to Sushi Taro in DC. Expensive, but heavenly. Sushi fans take note.

DFD