Company: “Glad to see
them come, glad to see them go”; “house guests are like fish, after three days
they get old”…. We’ve all heard them.
Well FOJTE and wife left last Friday, and believe me, none of those
applied. We had a wonderful time with
them from start to finish. Not getting
maudlin here and I know many readers share the experience, but it leaves a big
hole when they leave. Makes the distance
between Maryland and STL seem long.
Nothing beats being with family.
While here, we had a great time. We participated in a special wine tasting,
got a private tour of a local flower farm, and with clever planning on our
part, we never ate “in” once, except on the final evening when FOJTE manned the
grill and cooked up a wonderful stuffed pork loin for dinner. And, poor thing, he had to struggle with
Kingsford charcoal and a common Weber Grill when he is used to the Big Green
Egg and genuine hardwood charcoal at home.
But with his culinary skills he pulled off a great dinner.
During their stay, we hit all the important local (independent)
restaurants (In chronological order):
Elements; The Ruddy Duck Seafood House (St. George Island); The Dry
Dock; and The Front Porch. All were very good, but of course (in this case) the
food was only a supporting actor to the company, with the food just enhancing
the experience. Good times. I suppose the tug of family (together with
crumbling body parts) will ultimately drive us from the digs to St. Louis.
And while we’re on the subject of restaurants (we never
stray far), there was an interesting article in an older (April! – with “new”
eyes, I can see comfortably again!) issue of Bon Appétit, on (gasp) a restaurant
chain. It was penned by their deputy
editor Andrew Knowlton who used to go by the moniker of “The Foodist”. Anyway, it concerned the Hillstone Restaurant
Group, which owns forty-eight restaurants under 15 names in 15 states. In the introduction he does admit that “In my
world, there’s no more pejorative word to describe a restaurant than chain”.
We’ve kind of kicked around what exactly constitutes a “chain” and won’t
rehash it here. This group kind of is in
that gray area, between what most people think of as chains (Olive Garden,
Texas Roadhouse, and Quick service McDonald types) and one off independents
(Elements, Dry Dock, etc.). Anyway, he
says that Hillstone properties are some of his favorite places to eat in the
country. They range from (2) Hillstone’s
in NYC (Hillstone); (3) Houston’s in Atlanta; Rutherford Grill in Rutherford,
California; (3) R&D Kitchen in other California locations: Santa Monica, Yountville, Newport Beach; to
name a few. He includes description of
meals in some of those places. What raises
them above other venues is the quality of the food, and service touches like
each server only has three tables (all venues have numbers of tables divisible
by three); each table is screwed to the
floor (no rocking); and a Martini glass that was replaced with a cool one half
way through. Stuff like that. I peeked at a few of the dinner menus of
places above and while they are not identical, they do have many dishes in
common. Apparently Spinach and Artichoke dip are common throughout. Chicken Waldorf salad, Hawaiian Rib Eye steak
are also favorites. Every Hillstone “I
had learned, is mind bogglingly consistent, because you know what every great
chef strives for, more than a creation of a ground breaking dish or Michelin
stars? Consistency”.
Anyway, there are photos of the food which of course looks
great. When travelling you might keep
your eye out. Interesting article.
And while not exactly related (hopefully) a couple of
observations on….. Doctor’s Offices! As
we advance in age, and increase in frailty
we tend to spend more time there.
Generally not a place you want
to go to, more often than not you’re there because you have to be. So, here’s situation
one: what do you do when you come across
an acquaintance? Not necessarily a good
friend who probably knows your issues anyway, but say somebody you usually see
at some social function all glammed up, and here you are sitting in an
oncology, cardiac, or endoscopy waiting room and there they are…what do you
say? Hi!... a) what are you doing here? Bad, bad; b) how are you? well, you wouldn’t be in the damn doctor’s
office if you were fine; c) nice to see you?
No, it’s not, you’re both are very awkward; d) think we’ll get
rain? Stupid, but safe. Tough situation. Better to avert eyes and hope no contact.
And that carries over to the staff. After you spend your twenty to thirty
minutes reading years old People Magazines with some inane TV show blaring the
nurse finally comes to get you. This procedure varies also. Some open the door and shout “MOODY”, some
use both names (I always get “William” and people turn and stare). Rarely, they use first names, which I think is
nice, or at least better. And once
headed toward the inner sanctum what’s the first question they ask? How are you?
See b) above. And lastly when
you’re in the exam room their last words are inevitably “Doctor will be right
in”. Next time you hear this, start your
stop watch. If “right in” turns out to
be less than 15 minutes, I’ll buy you a drink.
Next time I see you outside of a medical facility.
Meanwhile, enjoy the “heat dome”. And you may have to adjust how you
DFD
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