A pleasant drive with no hassles brought us back to the little town of Easton on the eastern shore, in Talbot County. We checked into the historic Tidewater in sort of in the middle of the historic district.
The rooms reflect the period (people were smaller then?) as you pretty much have to choreograph your movements around the bed so as not to bump into each other. Color schemes are quaint, and there are some nice furniture pieces tucked in, but the fact remains that there isn’t very much room.
Of course the experienced travelers bring along what is necessary to enjoy any room.
After settling in and resting a bit, we headed out for dinner, at a nearby place called “Out of the Fire”. I noted their "Friends" portion of the website mentions "Art of Eating" What little research I could find indicated that it was a good choice. My main target, the Bartlett Pear Inn couldn’t take us on the first night so we chose Out of the Fire for our initial meal.
A pleasant walk from the Inn took us to the restaurant which used to be a store, and shares an old building with a dress shop, so one half of the building makes it into a long, narrow dining space. Kind of a chummy little bistro appearance with menu in the window
(note the clever photographic technique of showing the street and menu in the same shot – in case you were thinking otherwise)
As you enter, you find yourself at a little make shift "stand" created by some draperies separating the street from the dining area. Stepping through the curtains, you are presented with a view of tables on either side of an aisle leading to the kitchen and bar area. Past that, it does open up a bit, but the main area is long and narrow. Tables are without cloths, done in a sort of gray granite like material, and the chairs and floor are black. Since one wall is the “outside’, it has windows, but the other wall is blank. It’s also about 25 feet tall. They have taken care of the “blankness” by mounting several larger than life paintings of (for want of better words) “ethereal” women, done in ghostly whites with whispy hair do’s. This is a lousy description so you have to go see for yourself.
We were approached by an affable young server, dressed casually in black (some had khaki slacks), delivered the (sizable) menus without speeches, and an equally large wine list. Being kind of a bistro place the menu reflects a large number of appetizers, pizzas, and salads. There was some appealing choices, and she did describe a couple of specials, and the soup of the day was a Tuscan White Bean. She asked if we would like some drinks, so duty made me levy the drink test, MFO had her normal Gimlet, and our friend ordered a gin and tonic.
While those were being manufactured (given the time it took) we perused the menu and the ladies decided to try the Mushroom Strudel with Cottingham Farm Greens, and having spied a plate full of Mussels across the room I chose those with just a little apprehension at the “spicy tomato broth”. For main courses, the Moroccan Lamb stew seemed appealing to MFO, and our friend liked the sound of the Grilled Lemon Chicken with garlic chickpeas and organic greens. Figuring my chances of the Paella for Two were none, I chose the Shrimp and Grits with a little apprehension of the with cheddar-jalapeno grits, Tobasco butter and sauteed Cottingham Farms swiss chard. Prices are reasonable, with most of the apps in the mid teens, the salads under ten, the (fired) pizzas about fifteen, and the entrees all under 25. Oh, at the bottom of the menu was the little phrase “no cell phones: priceless”.
About this time the drinks arrived, mine perfectly executed, but the other two were both in “rocks” glasses (i.e., not the normal “tall” expected with a G&T). Oh well, our guest took her first sip and eyes widened and a breathless “wow”! Upon return she asked the server if she could have more tonic, at which point she replied “Oh, I screwed that up!”, took it away and eventually returned with a proper G&T. We also ordered, and when the ladies expressed desire to have the Mushroom Strudel, she replied “oh, we’re out!”. Why she didn't know that in the first place escapes me. So the soup of the day was substituted and the rest of the order was accepted as desired.
While all this was going on, I of course was observing and noticed that the other clientele was pretty much an eclectic bunch. Most were DFD’d with appropriate bistro attire which included nice jeans, tasteful tab front shirts, etc. Generally looked like a chummy bunch as a lot of them knew each other. A few pony tails on the gentlemen, crumpled corduroy jackets, that kind of thing.
The first courses finally arrived on dishes reminiscent of Fiesta Ware, informally colorful and bright. My mussels must have been at least a couple dozen, quite plump and large, and the fears of the spicy sauce foundless. The soups were a bit thin, but had good flavor. The wine list is extensive and contains some good bottles, but we decided “by the glass”. I accompanied mine with an Alexander Valley Merlot, and MFO had a Yalumba Viognier.
After a bit of time the entrees arrived (note the continued use of “after a while”; “eventually”; and similar phrases, probably my only real complaint). Shrimp and Grits were tasty, nicely presented with pink shrimp, creamy white grits, offset by the bright green sautéed Swiss Chard. Again, (mercifully) the threat of jalapeno was hollow. The chicken was nicely marked from the grill, and the garlic chickpeas were quite enjoyable.
All in all, it was a good place to start, and after all seven of the other places were tried, I would have to say that Out of the Fire probably is the second best meal we had, but the gap between second and first is sizable. I certainly would put it on the list of places to go and relax and have some pretty good food, save the fine dining work for elsewhere. As long as you were
DFD
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