Friday Fun and Foodie Stuff

Need something to do today in the land of nothing to do?

4 and 8 pm – the St. Mary’s College Choir and Chamber singers along with the brass ensemble will perform John Rutter’s “Gloria”. It will be in Montgomery Hall, room 25 (downstairs). Monty hall is at the far end of the field behind admissions, and isn’t the usual venue over by the State House. Not much seating, go early. The feeder is quite booked today and not sure he can make either performance. It should be a great way to kick off the holiday season. Brass and voice make a great combination and I always enjoy John Rutter’s choral pieces..

7 pm – The lecture series at Sotterley concludes this year’s program with a lecture by Dr. Bradley Gottfried (Prez of CSM) entitled “The Civil War Comes to St. Mary’s County”. Apparently he’s quite the civil war historian. No charge, it’s in the big white barn to the right of the other buildings. MFO did a bit of research for him.

PM in general – First Friday in Leonardtown our little artsy hub, with open places to eat and sip, and North End Gallery will have the opening reception for the Bud Adams and Mary Jane Rowe exhibit. Hopefully the hot dog guy will be there. Can’t beat dogs and art!!

Foodie Part

There is an interesting article in today’s Enterprise about the new occupants of the Roost, now called the Lexington Restaurant and Lounge. Oddly enough it’s the first article in that publication relating to food that is not written by our friend Mr. Mercer. Anyway, it goes on to say the new owners are the Greers (“a couple with a long history as restaurateurs in Southern Maryland). Turns out the long history means they operated the Lunch Box Diner on Bryan’s Road for 15 years. No comment one. They quote those new owners comparing this venture with the previous one: “Some of it is different. We serve breakfast, lunch and dinner at the diner but this place is, like, the finer steaks, seafood”. Like, no comment two. Of course I wish any new eating establishment luck, but their location is (IMHO) a big risk. There are also a few facts about the legendary Rue years of the Roost.

In the same publication is the weekly “best food I ever ate” article by the usual person, this time featuring “Yum’s Grand Buffet”, a Chinese food place up in Pinefield Shopping Center in Waldorf. According to the author you can find it by going across from the Dollar Store and Lefty’s Barbeque. No comment three. The owners are Jasmine Huang and Stephen Cheng, quite appropriate for the cuisine. But, after the usual rote recitation of the menu and mention of the All You Can Eat Buffet, he quotes Mr. Cheng as saying he “is in the process of hiring an Italian Chef (italics mine)” what’s up with that?

And finally, somebody sent me a link to a piece in the New York Times that lists “100 Things Restaurant Staffers Should Never Do”; the first article lists the first 50, more to follow. It was reassuring that many have been previously complained about from this office. A small sampling:

7. Do not announce your name. No jokes, no flirting, no cuteness.

17. Do not take an empty plate from one guest while others are eating the same course.

18. Know before approaching the table who has ordered what. Do not ask “who had the shrimp?”.

40. Never say “good choice” implying that other choices are bad.

43. Saying “no problem” is a problem.

There were many others with which most diners would be familiar. The real shame is that there has to be a list of 100 “don’ts”. Is bad/uncaring service so common that there are a hundred (top) things that should be corrected? Maybe someday we’ll see a list of “3 Things that….”.

On the positive side, I overheard this remark in a local restaurant lately from a server at a distinctly NOT DFD’d table: “There is a coat rack in the hall if you would like to hang your cap up while you eat”. Go get’em!!
Of course we had no problem because we were

DFD