Browne’s that is.. we
had planned to meet some traveling friends for brunch Sunday at Harry Browne’s
in Annapolis as they were going to be passing through. Unfortunately, they had to change schedule,
but MFO and I went anyway because: a) we had errands along the route, and b) we
do like the place. So first stop was at
Wentworth’s in Prince Frederick to load up on bird seed as the gold finches,
while nicely DFD, are eating us out of house and home. So did that, and proceeded to Annapolis for a
nicely civilized lunch. What we didn’t
know was that it was “Plebe Weekend” for the Naval Academy. Meaning the place was CRAWLING with sharply
dressed “middies” in their fresh crisp whites, usually accompanied by at least
three generations of family there to see son/daughter/grand of each, maybe
grand join the Academy. Meaning that
parking was a joke. I dropped MFO at the
restaurant on State Circle to secure the table, and then I had a hellish
fifteen minute tour of the area looking for a space. Me, along with about a hundred others. I finally found one, only to discover it was “residents
only” and you had to have a sticker. I
noticed that all the other cars parked there exhibited the sticker so meekly
pulled out. The only parking ticket I have
had in recent memory was in Annapolis when we arrived at the (expired) meter
about 5 minutes late.
Finally, a
gentleman in front of me approached his parked car, bags in hand and I darted
in behind him, only mildly impeding traffic.
After futzing around for a bit, he lit the burners and left, and I pulled
in. MFO in her wisdom (and memories of
last time) had brought along a pouch of quarters plus other loose change. In Annapolis, one quarter in the meter (yes,
even on Sunday) gets you seven (what did you say, Feeder?) yes, seven minutes!.
The next deposit (total fifty cents) raises the ante to fifteen minutes, and to save you the math,
that is two dollars per hour. Figuring we
would need at least a couple of hours, the meter gobbled the whole pouch plus
my pocket full of dimes and nickels.
Okay, end of frustration.
About ten minutes of walking found me at Harry Brownes, and I entered
the cool interior, with white table cloths, crystal and silver, and that
somehow just right tin ceiling. I spied
MFO at a nice little two top on the raised platform, and made my way toward
her.
Unnoticed by me, I was followed to
the table by (what turned out to be) Larry, and upon seating his first words
were “I’ll bet you would like a drink”.
No silliness, just that. Yes, why
yes, I believe I would. Given the time
of day and the sixty miles between us and home, I opted for wine. He said a complimentary glass of wine, champagne,
or Mimosa came with each entrée order. I
asked for a chardonnay, and MFO a Sauvignon Blanc. I asked if they were house wines. His reply was: “I think I can do a little
better than that”. I ended up with a
very nice glass of Talbott Kali-Hart, and MFO’s a Ponga New Zealand. Upon delivery, he just said I’ll let you wind down
a little bit and left (our menus remained closed). No “are you ready
to order?”, just a courteous departure. Nice.
It being Sunday, they did have a buffet which (according to
later conversation with Larry) contained all the usual stuff, eggs, meats,
seafood (not sure if there were oysters), waffles, smoked salmon display, and
an omelet station. MFO thought an omelet
would be nice, but unfortunately it didn’t appear on the a la carte menu. It had four variations of Eggs Benedict,
classic, crab, smoked salmon, and steak plus a wrap, a Panini, and a burger,
along with a selection of salads.
Given my walking tour of the city, along with a general
aversion to buffets, we decided to do the a la carte. We devised a little plan, so when Larry came
back to the table MFO said: “I see you
don’t have an omelet on the menu”. I was
in hopes of a response of “No we don’t, but I would be glad to get you one from
the Buffet”. The omelet maker was within
fifteen feet of our table. I don’t think
that would be unreasonable. What we got
was “No we don’t, I don’t have a good answer for you”. Understandable, but still… So she got the smoked salmon Eggs Bene, and I
did the steak version. Upon finishing my
wine, he caught my eye from across the room, raised an eyebrow, and soon
another glass was resting by my plate.
You might notice I have dwelled on service to this point,
and for good reason. While food is
certainly important, the enjoyment of same can be highly influenced by the
associated service. We came away
impressed with the service, and maybe partially because we sort of clicked with
Larry. As for the food, it was very
good. I took a picture of my steak eggs
benedict, but upon looking at it, I am not going to include it because it was
after a couple of bites, and with poached eggs, things degrade pretty
fast. Speaking of poached eggs both our
plates had perfectly poached versions, obviously done in the classic (and proper)
method of breaking the egg directly into boiling water. The inside was creamy yellow, the whites were
just firm and they tasted, well, like eggs.
None of those little cup things, but a nice egg. Have you ever tried poaching eggs that
way? I don’t have much luck. And the Hollandaise sauce was obviously
freshly made, no skin, it was bright and tasty..
A pleasant brunch, wish our friends could have joined
us.. Next time.. and there is still the
Vin 909 recommendation to check out.
Our other task did have something to do with food, and was
engendered by this picture from the recent
Brew and BBQ event at the fairgrounds.
I prowled around the “pro’s” and that little journey deserves a posting
by itself but came across this..
Not so much for the equipment, but the bag of charcoal. When I mentioned it to the FOJ’s who are both
pretty good around a grill, they both agreed that Rockwood was one of the best
charcoals to use. Silly me still uses
Kingsford, lighter fluid, and a common Weber.
Both of them have graduated to Big Green Eggs, fire starter cubes,
chimneys, and use the hardwood charcoal exclusively. So I decided to see if I could find Rockwood,
and turns out that it is available in Edgewater, on the way home from Annapolis
at an Ace (Hardware) lawn and garden shop.
Sure enough we stopped there and I now have a bag to try.. Reports to follow..
And I did have a lead off piece about the vagaries of
technology, but to save us both time, I’ll make that next post.
And tonight we are going to try to re-kindle an old
tradition a few of us had, a variation on “Boys Night Out”, called "Foie Gras
Night". Reports to follow.
For which I will have to be
DFD
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