Sandy has left the building, the pool deck is spruced up (they’re
supposed to pour next Tuesday), so maybe we should return to the horse that
brought us, namely a little buzz about local food , a couple of happy
surprises, and then a curious little story regarding Julia
First some buzz…
I hear from “sources” that bids are being sought for the
“new Lighthouse (restaurant)” over on the Solomons. I think the land has been sold to new
parties… stand by. At least it isn’t a chain!!
The “Tea Room” over in Leonardtown has once again changed
hands. I have heard that it is pretty
much same format. This is, what, the
third(?) “under new management” in the past few years. It always amazes me what motivates people to
knowingly get involved with a place that has failed at least twice and think
they’ll make it work. Kind of same thing
with the Willows… “going back to its roots”; “our dream has always been to open
a restaurant!”; one (?) year later: shuttered.
I think the Feeder idly predicted that..
I have had reports that that little blue topped place near
Baggett Park on the west side of Route 235 between Summerseat Farm and Mount
Zion Church is serving “real” food. I
had always thought that it was just kind of a mom and pop 7/11, but have been
told of a couple of good meals there.
One was a grilled smoked salmon.
I think it’s called Laurel Grove Station, and calls itself a locally owned family restaurant. No idea on alcohol availability (always a feeder consideration)
Pleasant Surprises...
A bit ago, as part of a little birthday celebration for me, I had occasion to have cocktails and dinner at the Tides. Besides the noise, the Tides
has a pretty nice bar and good cocktail service. If you catch it on a quiet night, it can be
quite enjoyable. In honor of the event, I diverted from my
DMOTRWAT, and had a Dirty Gray Goose Martini, up – (sort of a traditional drink with
this friend). I like their practice
of giving you a side car with the drink.
Anyway, we survived the usual happy hour din (must shout to be heard)
and decided to stay for supper. I have
to admit that the last few times I have eaten there, the food has been
undistinguished. I am happy to report
that all three of us liked our food very much (Hey! This is good!). I had a swordfish dish (lightly blackened as I
recall), MFO had a scallop special, and our friend had something else. We splurged on a nice bottle of Chalk Hill
Merlot which served quite well. We also
had a surprise drop in by another friend.
Nice evening.. We’ll go back for
another shot at the food to make sure it wasn’t a onetime deal or evaluation
blurred by the Martini
The other very nice experience I had was my first visit to Bistro Belle Maison at (why do they always say “at”? it’s IN!!) the Blue Heron Inn on Solomons
Island. I had heard good things about
it, so finally made a reservation, and we went over for dinner (Thursday through Saturday only). The place is primarily a B&B and not made
to be a restaurant, so the tables are sort of plopped in what would ordinarily
be the living room. It’s kind of a large
space and I think maybe there are eight or nine in there. The restaurant has a “small plates” format, and the
menu changes fairly often (like weekly).
The night we were there, the menu on a single sheet offered 8 items ($8 to $18). But within the eight choices there were dishes
leaning toward appetizers (Escargot stuffed mushrooms, herbed garlic butter),
salad (crisp greens, avocado, radish, scallion, corn), and some are more like
main courses (Seared sea scallops, with “peanut butter ‘n apples” – apple –
celeriac – celery heart slaw, thai peanut sauce). So you can fashion a traditional style meal
or just pick and choose. Portions are
small enough that a single plate/bowl can give three people a couple of tastes,
which makes it fun to share. In fact,
that’s kind of the idea. The night we
were there, some of the items were gone, but we were kind of late for around here (7), and it made
the experience kind of interesting and relaxed as a Bistro should!.. we had an excellent server which helped. Without all the descriptors, our party of
three had the scallops, sweet potato gnocchi, a trio of local sausages, and the
escargot. We ordered all at once, so
everything showed up in random order, I still have to come to grips with
that. Anyway, we were all quite
satisfied with the food, and we did have room for dessert (which included a slice of “Kim’s
Key Lime pie”). They also have an interesting and affordable
wine list, plus full cocktails (no, I didn’t give them the test). The
chef/owner is Amanda Comer, a graduate of CIA, and kind of a food fixture
around here. They have recently
installed a more commercial kitchen in the garage. Good
stuff is coming from it. Suggest you
call for booking, walk ins might be iffy..
A good and fresh option... and it's NOT a chain!!
Julia..
Friday afternoon, MFO and I attended a luncheon up in
Waldorf hosted by the newly formed Community Foundation of Southern Maryland
(Charles and St. Mary’s). Their purpose
is to manage funds and provide grants for nonprofits. It was held in the Jaycees facility in
Waldorf. I went to represent one
agency, and MFO another so we drove separately. Anyway, they honored some major supporters, one
of which was our County’s Margaret and (late) “Doc” Jarboe. Besides the food and proceedings, they had a
little program called “Tribute Show to Julia Child”, which of course caught my
eye in the advance publicity. Turns out
there is this lady, Mary Ann Jung, who goes about “impersonating” or maybe
giving impressions of various historical people. Her little brochure lists her repertoire as
Good Queen Bess (Elizabeth Tudor); Rosalie of Riversdale (from an 1812
plantation); Amelia Earhart; Clara Barton; Margaret Brent; and more recently has
added Julia Child to the list. It was a bit difficult
to make the connection between “Julia” and giving, but they tried hard and
maybe “passion” was the best hook. She
for cooking and others for philanthropy.
The event’s program was made to look like Julia’s famous Cookbook “Mastering
the art….."; and for the luncheon it was "Mastering the Art of Giving".. At any rate, she began by swinging a
(rubber?) chicken and brandishing a knife.
Ms. Jung’s Julia was several (well, lots of) pounds lighter than the
original, and quite a bit shorter. In addition
her hair was sort of a rolled affair that gave the impression of a hat brim,
rather than the frizz I sort of associate with Julia. She did fairly well with the shrill high
pitched voice however.
After the swinging chicken, it was mostly a compacted
biography of Julia, and she dragged a couple of people from the audience for
her husband Paul, and also co-authors of the cookbook.
I am not exactly sure how I felt about the whole thing
(which lasted nearly an hour!). Julia of
course is an icon to those of us who value food and cooking, and is in
large part the impetus for the boom in cooking, and de-mystifying French cooking. So while Ms. Jung didn’t poke fun at her, and
was not disrespectful at all, but it just kind of put me off. Came off as kind of buffoonish or something. I will give her credit that during a follow
on Q&A period, she was pretty critical of the movie “Julie and Julia” which
I still refuse to watch.
Anyway, it was an interesting time and helped a good
organization. Food was a buffet of just
what you would expect at such an event. No worse, no better, however we were both
DFL
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