Monday, August 5, 2013

Letting Go....


I guess it’s time to turn around and look forward instead of backward, although I am still warmed by the memories of the France experience.. funny how that lasts

And moving forward we are, as we are leaving on Road Trip Wednesday to go see the FOJ’s in Missouri and the usual “side trip” to Wisconsin.  A little twist is that we are going to stop at a museum in Cedar Rapids so MFO can offer some stuff from her SMC Historical Society Archives to them.

Things are moving fast, making it hard to keep up with local food stuff around here.. Two more places have “opened”; the Mission BBQ folk in San Souci, and the Ruddy Duck (Seafood and) Ale House in the “old Evans”.   Reports are that both are being swamped with customers.  Even though Mission is kind of a chain they are both independents.  The Feeder has not visited either yet, and probably won’t before the road trip.

We have had a few local food experiences since our return, however.  We had dinner with friends at DiGiovanni’s which I guess is under the new original owners.  It was okay, took a while for the food to appear even though the place was not full, and somehow most of the waitstaff looked like they would rather have been someplace else.  The word “guys” was used effusively.  I forget what I had, which probably says something.

On a better note, we had brunch at Bistro Belle Maison (Solomons) yesterday.  A friend joined us for what we had hoped to be a quiet interlude, with good conversation and nice food.  Brunch kind of lends itself to a leisurely time on Sunday to recharge yourself before getting back to whatever grind Monday brings you.  I am pleased to report that they do NOT have a buffet which is quite common for Sunday brunches, but instead offer a menu with several choices.  A lot of them included fresh peaches, as usual paying attention what is currently fresh and local.  Yesterday we enjoyed an omelet of artichokes and fresh vegetables, a beef tenderloin crepe with gruyere, and a flatbread (caramelized onion, sliced duck, topped with greens and crumbled cheese).  They also have a brunch drink menu offering Bloody Mary’s with your choice of premium vodkas, garnishes (celery, olives, Giardiniera, etc.) and even Bacon!  Also a choice of Margaritas like pomegranate or cucumber.  I asked our server if their Bloody Mary mix was hot, and was told “no, it’s very mild, not hot at all”.  So I ordered up one with celery and sea salt on the rim (another list of choices).   Well, when it arrived I decided that the server’s definition of “mild” was not the same as mine.  It burned on the way down.  After a few sips I diluted it with (the cucumber infused) water and it was much more suitable for my palate.  As has been our experience there, the food was outstanding.  A nice surprise was that the “Duck Fat Frites” that accompanied my crepe were about matchstick size, and a gave a very nice crunchy touch (except for the one that leapt off the plate onto my slacks leaving an instant grease stain… sigh).

There was live music was a singer with an amplified guitar.  Yes, we are too old, but as Tom Sietsema would say: “must speak with loud voices to be heard”.  It didn’t seem to bother the other tables so it may be a generational thing..  I will pay more attention next time to avoid the musical accompaniment unless it is a classical guitarist or something..  The food will bring you back regardless.

And lastly, another opening…  the little “Day’s Off” deli that occupies a space behind the Twist liquor store at the corner of the demon infested lights, finally has opened.  Seems like it has been forever in the process.  Anyway, MFO and I stopped in to check it out the other night and get a take away sandwich.  We were hopeful that it is a cut above the recently opened “Jerry’s”or the recently relocated Subway.  They feature the same kind of stuff (sans the oriental fried rice, etc, and pizza at Jerry's) but the usual array of hot and cold sandwiches, wraps, salads, cheese steaks, a plethora of “apps” in the form of nuggets, sliders, poppers, etc..  MFO selected a chicken Quesadilla, and I ordered a Reuben.  They also had a case of fresh fish, some meats and poultry, I am not sure what those are.  Perhaps the stock for the catering arm of the business?.. will have to investigate that further.  Except for the line cooks in the open kitchen, the staff seemed to be of high school age and were acting accordingly (at the time there was only one table occupied besides us).  My Reuben was served on rye bread, that was like you would get if you bought a loaf of common rye bread in the supermarket.  Same texture as ordinary white bread, only “brown”.   Lunch meat corned beef, and by the time we got home the sauerkraut juice had rendered the lower bread slice unusable..  when I asked MFO how her quesadilla was she replied “it has chicken”.   Since I would hope they are still a better alternative to other purveyors of that kind of stuff (plus they are very convenient to the digs) we’ll do another visit..

 
Sorry I am not talking about foie gras, hommard, or veau, but that’s the way it is.. and yet, yet, we still must be

DFD

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