Good timing, too. This week ends with St. Patty's Day. While we won't be open on Saturday, we'll be serving corned beef and all the fixin's at dinner all week. We'll even do a smaller portion on Friday for lunch. I hear we'll be serving both Guiness and Mickey's in celebration of the special event. It is quite important that you make reservations for Friday night if you wish to join in the festivities. I expect we will be fairly busy. Last year when we served the corned beef we had a full house.
This marks a milestone in our growth. Phil Wages stopped by after work on Friday and was the first person served a beer. He has been instrumental in guiding our selections. We respect his palate and knowledge and were delighted to make him the first.
I am often asked if we are still having a good time creating this adventure. The answer is a resounding YES! We have recently added more help which is making our work loads lighter. Bruce has been wonderful in his recent collaborations. He is responsible for the bread and dipping sauce we've been serving at dinner. We've finally worked out a schedule that allows for us to work a few less hours while still getting all the prep work done. Rick Mize is helping at both lunch and dinner. At lunch he is expediting and helping to get your meals and beverages out faster. At dinner, he is our primary waitperson. THIS Friday he'll be on stage with Dustin Collins and entertaining us with Irish folk tunes. We have more expansion news coming up soon. But be assured, we have no interest in getting real big. We just want to make sure we can accommodate everyone, get you fed with good food, good service and a friendly smile.
Dining al fresco—I have added some straw bales plus burlap to create a wind block. My intention is to slow down the wind so diners can enjoy the warm sunshine without being battered. I may have to add another layer, but I think it is going to work. We'll have the tables out most every day. Come get your Vitamin D while stoking up on the rest of your vitamins!
Jon has taken the remaining fresh salmon we had and wood-fired it. Some of it will be frozen for future use but we'll have wood-fired salmon tacos all week. Wood-firing gives the meat a wonderful smokey essence—like our tilapia fish tacos. We'll serve it up with soft corn tortillas, pineapple salsa, and a side of our delicious seafood sauce. It'll come with the usual side options of black bean corn salad, Italian potato salad, Cajun home fries or potato chips. $6.99
The pulled pork sandwich is featured this week, as well. Fifty cents off all week. It is served on a wheat ciabatta bun and accompanied by Cajun home fries and pickled red onions. This sandwich is flavorful and smokey and the meat will melt in your mouth. $5.99
Thursday Bruce introduces another tamale creation. This time he takes us to Portugal. These tamales are stuffed with Portugese chourico (also spelled, chorizo.) Not to be confused with Mexican or Spanish style chourico, Portuguese chourico is an intoxicating blend of lean pork chunks blended with paprika as the key note spice with the addition of garlic and other zesty spices. Portuguese chourico is then smoked to enhance its flavor profile. Chourico stuffed tamales with a Portuguese red sauce and Portuguese rice. Bruce suggests adding Bass Pale Ale from our new beer list for $3.50 instead of $4.00 (if purchased by itself) to compliment your Portuguese Tamales. $6.75 or $10.25 with Bass Pale Ale.
Friday lunch will be corned beef with potatoes, cabbage and carrots. This lunch-sized portion will get you started on your temporary Irish status. $6.75 If you want the dinner sized portion, come at night.You can add a Guiness or a Mickey's to complement the Irish experience.
Dinners this week~
The Flavor Journey this week is the corned beef served with boiled potatoes, roasted cabbage and carrots. At dinner you can get a hefty serving that also includes soup or salad for $10.99. Add a Guiness or Mickey's with your meal for just a few coins from your pot of gold.
The FRESH seafood this week is Seabass. We'll keep the preparation pretty simple. I'll serve it with a Mojo sauce (pronounced Mo-ho) made from garlic, slivered onions, olive oil, lime juice, and wine vinegar. The fish will first be seared, then oven roasted just long enough to take the transparency away. I'll top it with the Mojo sauce, chopped cilantro and sliced avocado. We'll serve it with rice pilaf, stir-fried Asian veggies and your choice of soup or salad. I haven't been given a cost yet.
I am working on putting together a clam bake. I have access to fresh mussels, wild Littleneck clams and oysters. If you have an interest in this, please let me know. As the cost for these ingredients is pretty high, I'll be trying to pre-sell a good portion of what I can produce. We are looking at doing this on the last Friday of this month—the 30th. I don't have final cost info, but my guess would be that the servings will be close to $20.
Upcoming events—
- Eeyore's Birthday Party~ the last Friday in April. Anyone want to help with Maypoles? Drum circles, costumes, facepainting, silliness on a grand scale. Our Austin roots come alive!
- Cinco de Mayo~ on Cuatro de Mayo. We'll acknowledge our Mexican neighbors to the south and serve Mexican beers, real Mexican dishes, and listen to our Tex-Mex tunes. Olé!
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