We’ll give the Scots
a little time to catch their breath for playing the bagpipes, and recount a pleasant day trip we made yesterday (in fluttermobile II - which is VERY pleasant)
A friend of MFO's has a historical document that she wanted to
give to the Maryland Archives in Annapolis, so we took the day yesterday to
drive her up for the transfer of the document.
It was a pleasant day for driving and even the journey across the two
lane Route 2 to the city wasn’t as hair raising as on some trips. Most everybody seemed to be willing to drive
in a reasonable proximity to the speed limit.
We got to the Capitol City around lunch time so we decided to have lunch
before we met with the State Archivist.
We had not been up there for a while, and our passenger had not
for even longer than us so rather than our (in a rut) Harry Browne lunch spot, we
decided that we should go down on the City Dock. It was a pleasant day and many boats were
parked in “ego alley” and many tourists were around. Amazingly we found a parking spot right
there, and only after parking and getting out did we find out it was a thirty
minute limit (for one quarter per). I
had a pocket full of quarters so figured I could feed the machine as needed.
Next question was where to go. There are plenty of options down there, but
since we were kind of in a “tourist” mode we figured what the hell, let’s follow
the example of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Benjamin Franklin and take
our guest to Middleton Tavern, the venerable landmark of the city dock dating
back to the late 18th century.
(that’s Maria’s peeking out on the far corner with the green awnings, another veteran)
Regular Annapolis visitors know the Tavern caters more to tourists
than fine diners, but for lunch why not experience the real deal. As an aside we noticed that that little “market”
in the center of the dock area (behind the red car) is again vacant. Several attempts at populating
it with deli’s, candy counters, bread vendors, etc. seem to have again failed. Anyway we told the nice young man on the
porch that we preferred inside rather than outside dining. As I said I have not been in the
establishment for more years than I can remember, but I was pleasantly surprised
once inside. Two smallish dining rooms
and a separate bar area (called “the lounge” by staff), with suitably nautical
stuff on the walls. Kind of fit if you
know what I mean. The inside person said
we could sit anywhere that was open (and many tables were) so we chose a round
table kind of tucked in the corner.
Unfortunately, we soon learned that …. would be taking care of us and asked
us if we would care for anything to drink while reading the menu, always a bit awkward situation with an unknown diner, so MFO said she’d have ice
tea. Whereupon our guest spoke up and
said “why don’t we have a glass of wine?”.
Amen, thank you. Soon, three
glasses of Kendall Jackson (best choice I saw) accompanied the menus and
silverware.
The (tri-fold laminated) lunch menu was pretty as expected, soups,
sandwiches, plates, appetizers, oysters (from the little raw bar in “the lounge”),
plus a little card on the table with today’s specials. Most of the items came with a side salad or
soup du jour (today’s was a “mixed chowder”, meaning it had fish, sausage, and
crab). Our friend decided she’d try the
(market price) crab cake sandwich, MFO had the chicken barbeque sandwich from the
special card, and I took a hot corned beef and swiss on rye from the same
source.
Speaking of crab cakes, at one point I overheard a diner at an
adjacent table ask their server: “Are the crab cakes good?” I have heard several versions of this question posed many
times, and I never can understand why it would be asked, and what the expected
response would be: “No sir, our crab
cakes are awful”; or “they aren’t really
that good”. Of course she replied “they’re
very good”. Wierd. The staff was quite informal
and easy going, no “are you still working on that?” or “how is everything?”
just water glasses full when needed. The
food arrived, and it wasn’t remarkable either way, MFO’s BBQ Chicken
was pretty much a boneless breast on a open faced bun with what looked like a
paint brush application of Open Pit sauce slathered on it. My sandwich was kind of a cylinder of rolled
up “corned beef” luncheon meat style encased in a melted slice of swiss, I suppose
pre (Sysco?) made and warmed up. It did
have some taste but was more like a eating a large hot dog than a flat
sandwich. The crab cake (I resisted
stabbing a forkful) did look pretty nice, broiled and exhibiting a fair amount
of lump. Our friend quite liked it. It was a nice relaxing lunch with pretty much
as expected results. I did kind of like
the homey atmosphere, so I left with a better opinion than when I went in. Good for a quick bite and for showing an
interesting space to a visitor. Oh, a quick comment: to reach the rest rooms, you have to climb three flights of stairs - plan ahead!
So off we went to the Archives and our appointment with the
State Archivist. He had many nice things
to say about MFO calling her a “wonderful archivist”, as she has helped him
many times with things historical at Historic St. Mary’s City. He was quite overjoyed to receive the
document our friend donated, a (I think a land patent) document from the late
17th century. It is good to
have those things where they should be, accessible to all (with controls)
rather than some dealer trying sell it, or showing up on Antiques Road Show.
Anyway a very pleasant day in the life, and nice to be a
part of passing history..
Oh yeah, in Middleton Tavern they didn’t worry so much about
DFD
I owe you a small rant, been a while.. this is trying to be
as apolitical as possible.
I’m sure we
all have our views on the people and programs new or existing, promises or achievements, but
geez, can’t we all just get along? Why
is the major platform of every candidate to run down and criticize their
opponent? He’s all bad! Vote for me!! We try to watch the local
evening news every night, but it’s getting so that it’s so venomous and isn’t
enjoyable. And how far to the election?
No comments:
Post a Comment