This is the year of the dragon. In seafaring cultures that often translates to lobster or the logustino family. At the cafe we'll celebrate by offering Crawfish Etouffee over white rice. Recently, Zabar's, that internationally, highly rated New York restaurant was "outed" for using crawfish and calling it lobster in their lobster salad. Thouands of pounds of it had been sold for years at $16.95/ pound, before a New Orleans reporter read the label and called them out. We're telling you up-front. It is crawfish! It is the most local of dragons we could locate in order to properly celebrate.
The photo in this issue is of a piece I did several years ago entitled "Full Moon—Low Ceiling." I am including it because it is one of my pieces that celebrates the full moon. The title comes from the color of the sky at night when it is cloudy under a full moon. Sadly, this piece was stolen right off the wall while being displayed at the Gillioz Theater in Springfield a couple of years ago.
If you were lucky enough to be here last Friday evening, you watched some wonderful magic happen. Jon joined forces with Greg Kwalume, and together they played some awesome jazz. We have some other talent coming up, so watch for the updates.
This will be our last week that we'll be open on Mondays. Starting NEXT week (the 31st) we'll be open Tuesday - Friday for lunch AND DINNER! I am working on a dinner menu that includes many of your lunch favorites, plus several new entrées and appetizers. While the Tavern permit is yet to come through, we didn't want you to have to wait to catch us for dinner. This is a whole new ballgame for me and I am gearing up. Fear, once again, rears its ugly head and, once again I march forth, quaking in my boots but optomistic we can pull it off. Learning curves can be a struggle. It is always nice to be on the other side of them...and helpful to have a customer base that wants this as much as we do.
This week begins our new alliance with a local grocer who is bringing in fresh seafood weekly. This week we have access to FRESH Pacific cod. I'll prepare it Friday night as the seafood entrée. I try to make sustainable choices when planning the menu and Pacific cod is currently one of the best choices. So say several of the fishery watchlists like Seafood Watch (from the Monterey Bay Aquarium), SeaChoice and Fishwise. Flavorwise, cod have a lean, mild flavor profile with large flakes and a medium texture. I'll be baking it in Italian seasonings and serving it on a pasta coated with a pesto of
sun-dried tomato and roasted red peppers.
- All week we'll have the Romans on sale at 50 cents off.
- Soups: we'll start the week off with a hearty chicken and vegetable as well as roasted garnet potato bisque. Later in the week I'll add lentil soup with polish sausage.
- Desserts~We start the week with blueberry tart and carrot cake. I'll add gingerbread with whipped cream and a coconut almond cream sauce.
- Monday~ Crawfish Etoufée served over white rice $6.75
- Tuesday~ Cumin-rubbed pork tamales with cheddar rojas sauce and
buttered rice $6.75 - Wednesday~Creamy chicken enchiladas plus a black bean tostada topped with a citrus slaw $6.75
- Thursday~Pesto pizza with wood-fired chicken, shitake mushrooms, kalamata olives, mozzarella and Roma tomatoes with side salad $7
- Friday~Chicken LoMein with ginger and mushrooms served with stir-fried bok choy and tatsoi $6.75
- This is the last week for our usual Friday night format.
- Seafood entrée~ Italian baked FRESH cod served with sun-dried tomato and roasted red pepper pasta. Starts with side salad and garlic bread. $13
- Meat Entrée~ Beef and Italian Sausage Lasagna served with side salad and garlic bread $13
- Vegetarian Entrée~Spinach and Mushroom Lasagna served with side salad and garlic bread. $11
~~Susan
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