Marching through the season

As you may have noticed, someone turned up the RPMs on the merry-go-round, again. You are not the only one thinking it is getting downright urban-feeling with the current pace of life. I take great personal pride in hearing our customers tell me how much of a refuge they feel our place is—a place where they can chill-out and let the pandemonium fall away. Sounds like a nice place to go.

As the season moves along, we are getting more and more requests for personal catering. We did a bit last year and are willing to do a bit more this year. I have deliberately moved slowly in this regard so we wouldn't get in over our heads. With a year of running things under my belt, I feel much more confident we can prepare foods for your next party that will leave you unhassled and proud. Most of what we are preparing are platters of munchables—like brushetta with Tuscan chicken salad. I am still developing our catering menu, so your input is quite welcome. The cheesecakes are proving quite a success and easily serve 12. Looking for something a bit different? Let's talk. You tell me your budget, your number of guests, type of event and any particular preferences and we can work something up. I can promise you freshly prepared dishes made with real, usually local ingredients that taste wonderful and require minimal effort on your part.

We're getting good feedback from our new meeting menu. This menu is designed for in-office meetings of eight or more. The pricing allows for savings due to methods of packaging and predictability. With 24 hour notice you'll even get free cookies. So many offices were telling us that A La Carte Cafe is their favorite source for lunch, that we felt we had to find a way to make it even easier for office managers to put together their lunches. Next time you are in, pick up a copy of the Meeting Menu. Your office manager will thank you. 

With the cooler weather, the hens are no longer on strike and we have lots of eggs coming in. Sounds like time for egg laden dishes. Remember, ours are free-range local farm eggs raised using no hormones or anti-biotics. Bruce has brought back both the Tiramisu and the lime-infused angelfood with drunken blueberries. Between the two of them, they use a dozen eggs. I’ll bring back the omelettes with wood-fired trout, cream cheese and dill/ shallot sauce. And even crepes filled with savory turkey and broccoli topped with a tarragon béchamel sauce.  

Later in the week the weather cools off again and we’ll serve baked potatoes topped with chili and cheese.  

Those who joined us last Friday night got a real treat. Andy Roose drove all the way from St. Genevieve to play for us. He played all original tunes and they were quite wonderful. We hope to bring him back a couple of times a year for his Americana-style songs. We found him to be a delightful person and look forward to building that friendship.

This Friday will bring Blind Bill Hilton. You can hear his music online at myspace.com/blindbillhilton. Give him a listen. Folk, rockabilly, blues—he covers them all while adding in plenty of his own tunes. You may have heard him play at Open Mic a couple of months ago. He is quite good. Nice voice. Remember—reservations are strongly encouraged. This way you not only get a seat, you get to eat what you want. 505-0302

Now here is this week’s menu~~
Soups~ Monday we'll start with butternut squash soup; later in the week we'll have chicken and suasage gumbo.
Monday~ The trout Roman and tuna Roman are both on sale for $6.50. The trout Roman features wood-fired rainbow trout from Rockbridge. The tuna Roman features a seared sashimi grade tuna steak. The bun is my Roman with yellow onions baked into the bun. I top it with Wasabi mayonnaise, tomato slice and sprouts. They come with a side- Italian potato salad, fresh fruit or chips. $6.50 

Tuesday~ Hand-built chicken cordon bleu tamales with a Swiss cheese sauce and broccoli risotto. $6.50

Wednesday~ Omelets with wood-fired trout, cream cheese and a light shallot/dill sauce. Served with a side. $6.50

Thrusday~ Savory crepes with roasted turkey and broccoli and a béchamel tarragon sauce. Served with a side. $6.50

Friday~ Lunch~ Chili and cheese topped baked potato with a side. $6.50

Seafood entrée ~ Shrimp Scampi with bread sticks and side salad $12.

Meat entrée~ Lemon chicken pasta, bread sticks and side salad $12.

Vegetarian entrée~ Savory spinach stuffed crepes with duxelle sauce (mushroom sauce) and rice pilaf and side salad $10

Come hide out from the chaos of your work week. We love having you.

~~Susan