Alphabet soup..

Well, three kind of disparate topics today that don’t relate much (well, except all involve food duhhhhh.)  so we’ll take them in alphabetical order.

Losing the “B” Battle

No sooner than I went off on the insatiable urge of Americans to use the “B” word, did I get the following publications in the mail, almost back to back.  First our St. Louis Magazine

And then BAM! The Washingtonian

Both touting what somebody thinks is good for me.

One small distinction (defending the old home town) the STL version merely lists “best dishes” by restaurant with no “ranking”

while the Washingtonian has to assign a number to each one

(#1 = Jose Andres mini bar)

Makes one wonder how they decided which was…. Say, 56 and which was 57 (as opposed to vice versa).  And I’m glad I’m not an owner of the Timber Pizza Co.  “Come and dine with us! we’re the hundredth best restaurant in DC!!”

While at least STL kind of says here’s some options for you.   Having a SIL in Wisconsin, the fact that Olive + Oak’s serves Cheese Curds in the red hot heart of mid-America.  On a whim, I checked their site, and 1) was surprised to see Oysters also listed (in the red heart of mid America) with the Cheese Curds in the starter section

Note that the (unadorned) little bi-valves are three bucks each, while our SMC local versions go for about two.

Anyway, more lists and lists and lists, and next year/month they will all change.

End of First Topic, start of second; “C”

We accepted a last minute invite to join some friends for dinner last Saturday, and chose the Cow and Fish in Hollywood.  They are quite accessible to the Feeder (no stairs) plus the gracious owner/hostess always gives us a table near an outlet for my portable Oxygen concentrator).  Plus, the food is darn good!  They continue to upgrade their venue (chairs, tables) and this time I found they’ve change the form of the menu.  Used to be a trifold piece of paper and it has graduated into a single colorful laminated page without shrinking the font to two points

Although they cling to my serious gripe

I was especially pleased to see the following note included

7684

Buying local!, (and maybe they can buy another “e” for Sotterley)… ha ha..

Anyway, since I’m kind of on the trail of the fried oyster I enjoy the most, the table ordered some for an appetizer.

They were exceptional, and if I ever get to the point where I can produce anything like those, I’ll be happy! MFO got a special Steak Florentine, I got a steak/cake and our guests also had a steak and a salmon dish.

They were apparently down a server, so things took a bit longer, forcing the feeder to indulge in a second Hendrick’s Martini..Darn the luck.

So I will continue to recommend the place as long as you don’t mind those blasted Mason Jars on the table, and trying not to be annoyed by the adjacent table’s conversation.  We had the misfortune to be placed next to people who apparently felt it was necessary to speak (and laugh uproariously) without any consideration of the effect they might have on the next tables.  C'mon man!

Marching down the Alphabet, getting to the Third Letter “L”

Is for “Lobstah”.  I had the opportunity to get some fresh lobster from up east, and our source was good enough to steam it for us and it provided a very nice dinner over greens with Remoulade sauce for our Friday night dinner.

There was enough left over to feed us (and probably friends) so what to do with it?  Well, Sunday morning is a great time to prepare an omelette.  So we got out the remains

And picked it over… (Lobster is kind of like a big crab when it comes to structure)

I kind of dreamed up a “recipe” by raiding the refrigerator and assembled ingredients (tomatoes, scallions, wine, heavy cream, flour)

Made a roux, incorporated and simmered the non-egg ingredients

Cooked the eggs until just “set”; Added the filling (probably too much)

Did kind of a poor job of folding it (as usual); popped it in the broiler

And voila

Let it rest a bit and plated it

And

Hold it just a darned second Feeder!  Breakfast?  That ain’t Donald Duck OJ!!!

No siree Bob

It sure isn't!  it's (IMHO) the pinnacle product of French wines

 So the crustacean went to a good cause

Last of the Letters, N & M

N for “new”, word has it that the dark corner of Leonardtown may (finally) be filled with another restaurant, strangely enough maybe another French themed place…  stay tuned.

And C&F NMMJ

And everybody DFD