and after crossing Kent Island we headed south and after a short(ish) drive arrived in Easton. Was re-acquainted with the charming little town (the historic part), with many little shops and galleries, although the day (Sunday) closed a few. Being sort of late in the afternoon, around 1:30 or so we all agreed that lunch would be just the ticket. Our route into town brought us past the little restaurant called Scossa
Which I had heard about and had been meaning to try. Indeed it was open, with sidewalk seating, and open doors into the interior of the restaurant. The weather was very nice and all the outside tables were occupied so we acquiesced and went inside to a table toward the back. Turned out that that was a good choice as it provided insulation from the passing cars and gawkers. The space is done all in muted wood, with beige wall treatments and under stated lighting. Softly lit by the afternoon sun, it provided a very pleasant place, just the thing to recover from the rigors of the road. We were seated by a very nice young man who was at least the shift manager, or maybe one of the owners since he spoke with an Italian accent. No “Hi I’m”, just “Good Afternoon would you like something besides water to drink?”. A couple of glasses of Chardonnay and some lemonade were soon brought to the table. We did the standard “we need a couple of minutes” and were left alone to unwind more and enjoy the chardonnay. During the lull, we did peruse the menu. They feature northern Italian Cuisine, and the menu reflects it with sweetbreads, veal loin, duck, calves liver almost anything you could want. And, this was just lunch, dinner would be a different matter. FOJTE chose a sandwich of hot porchetta and provolone cheese with rosemary oil; his wife also chose sandwich of fresh mozzarella, and tomato with basil olive oil, and MFO went a bit upscale with veal meatballs (after an translation from Italian by the gentleman – which I didn’t make note of). Sucker that I am, when I heard the off the menu special was risotto with truffle and shrimp, I had to go for that. The response from the server was “Sir, that will take at least twenty minutes, is that okay?”. What music to a food person’s ears! What it really said to me was: “it will be made to order, not scooped out of a pot, is that okay?”. And, although I don’t normally like this ploy, he suggested maybe a plate of Calamari while lunch was prepared which in this case was justified. Since we were famished, we all agreed. And indeed we were extremely happy we did. What arrived was an excellent plate of tender, crispy, Fried calamari all’arabbiata. No rubber rings, just flavorful rings of good taste with the slightly snappy sauce of garlic, tomatoes, and red chili. No heavy “marinara” stuff. Bread was brought along with some crisp house made crackers. By this time FOJTE had a lovely glass of Pinot Noir as our second Chardonnays arrived, about the time the food did. Ladies of course were served first, with a pretty sandwich and a beautiful plate of the meatballs over some creamy polenta with a tomato sauce. It was more of a brick red rather than the bright red stuff you would get from a jar. Then the gentlemen were served the sandwich and the plate of risotto. Alert readers (especially one I know of) will remember that a dish at Tony’s in St. Louis of white truffled risotto was memorable, but I would have to put this right along side. A glowing dish of creamy rice with black flecks of earthen truffle with probably some truffle oil on top with four butterflied grilled and interlocked shrimp. The rice was cooked as I like it, just the slightest crunch, but still requiring a spoon. The shrimp were some of the best I’ve had in a long time. Everyone spontaneously said “wow” upon tasting their dish, a good sign. While the Italian gentleman checked occasionally we were further served by a young lady with an accent I immediately identified as French, but as happened to me before, it turned out to be Russian.
At any rate, four extremely satisfied diners emerged into the sunlight with renewed spirits and a rekindled appreciation for what a good leisurely lunch can do. I would recommend Scossa be included on any trip to Easton, but from what followed, I would also recommend you don’t do only one night, because you will miss something..
We did a little looking in some of the (open) shops and guess what, there were decoys..
We then meandered down the road (very carefully) to the quaint little town of St. Michaels, another little town hugging the water.
Again, more shops, little cafes, galleries, and we finally found our B&B (warning - site has music)
which turned out to be right next to 208 Talbot, another restaurant of some eastern shore fame. Speaking of restaurants, some may remember how hard it was finding a (good) restaurant open Sunday night, with our first choice of the Bartlett Pear Inn a lovely looking place being scuttled by Talbot County Restaurant Week’s kickoff event (Sample, Sip, and Savor). In the spirit of if you can’t lick ‘em, join ‘em, we decided to attend ourselves. It was held in “The Oaks” and old home that has been expanded and converted into a (smallish) conference center. Situated in the town of Royal Oak on the water it provided a wonderful setting.
For a moderately priced ticket, you were able to sample fare from a lot of the restaurants in the area. I’ve never seen so many chefs’ jackets at once in my life. Each place had a “station” and featured little bites of something they were proud of. There must have been about 20 or so represented. We had sliced tenderloin with chimichurri sauce, smoked mussels on homemade paprika chips, seared duck breast on greens, you name it. We did seek out the Bartlett Pear Inn, and were treated to a lovely foie-gras foam on a bread crisp sliced so thin it made me wonder how they did it. Their Inn Keeper had been very helpful in our planning and it was great to get to meet her. It will sponsor another trip on another day. I, of course didn’t take the time to take good notes (why, yes, I believe I would like to try that!) so I may be a bit off in my description of some of the items. I was impressed by the quality of everything, and it makes me want to try several of the places..
So, after tasting and sipping, we made our way (very carefully) back to The Parsonage B&B in St. Michaels, and enjoyed another bottle of wine, some cheeses, and a couple of cigars on the candle lit balcony outside of FOJTE's room(shown earlier in the day)
A great start to our little soujourn, and the next day would be the day of the vine.
Oh, of course we attended the kickoff event
DFD
No comments:
Post a Comment