Welcome to May! Time to Fiesta!

This time of year has the merri-go-round at full-tilt speed. Most of the showier flowers have done their thing. We are in that "wait and see" period before most of our garden crops are ready. We are also in that period of weather that has our relatives wondering how in the world we can live in a place that has so many tornadoes. Since many of my relatives are in southern Ontario, they are completely confused. Using an analogy like living in California awaiting an earthquake doesn't calm their fears. Nor does living in Florida with its hurricanes. I am NOT a gambler when it comes to anything that is hit or miss on money. Our money has been too hard won to ever feel good about playing with it lightly. But, I do feel that living where there are tornadoes is a pretty safe bet. I have personally only known 2 people who were affected directly by a tornado. This despite growing up or living in Texas, Tennessee, Florida and Missouri. Just as my cousin (thirty plus years ago) was sure she would be stepping over rattlesnakes on the sidewalk in Dallas, they have a pretty distorted idea of what living here is like. My aunt was fascinated to learn we already had fireflies and freaked to hear about army worms.

With the other side now open, we are much more able to comfortably seat you and get you served. I've rotated a few of my quilts around so you'll see something different. Know anyone with a large corporate space that needs artwork? Check out "Slipstream Adventure." It is the big red-hued quilt loosely based on a Van Morrison tune that mentions an adventure in a slipstream. If you look closely you will see a turbulance in the way the colors move. I pictured myself caught in the spin of river rapids or the prop wash behind a turbine. Spinning movement. The fabric is primarily hand-dyed silk plus some strategic metallics. Need more data? See me.

With our Texas roots, we love to celebrate all things Mexican—especially if it has anything to do with food. This week we will explore many Mexican dishes while tipping our sombreros to Cinco de
Mayo. We won't even be open on the 5th, so we recognize it is a passing tip of the hat. But any excuse to dig out those "south of the border" flavors get our juices flowing.   Fish tacos are on sale all week. We are doing gorditas (pork taco) on Wednesday...well, just think Mexican. Thursday Bruce is doing his most traditional tamales—pork with roja sauce. Bruce is re-inventing lasagna using Mexican ingredients on Friday.

The dinner specials will begin with a full fledged Mexican Fiesta meal—Jicama-melon salad, Chicken Mole—Puebla style, Chilaquiles de Guajolote (Tortilla casserole with turkey), Corn pudding, and Almond flan. This full meal—salad, entrée, and dessert— will cost $15 and will be in limited supply—so call in your reservation and order for dinner any night this week.  We'll also serve a festive red sangria—$5.50

The seafood dish is also from south of the border and is made from shrimp and scallops. It is a garlicky linguine with seared shrimp and scallops, chipotle and queso anejo. It is available Wednesday through Friday nights. It will be $14.99 and be served with a side salad or jicama melon salad.

As mentioned earlier, one of the desserts will be an Almond Flan. I also have a key lime cheesecake with whipped cream and grated lime zest as well as Bruce's Strawberry not-so-shortcake toped with whipped cream and fresh strawberries..

We have music this Friday night. JT Chinn will strum his stuff—acoustic blues with a southern flair. Listen to him while you dine or join us for a cerveza and dessert. We'll have several Mexican beers on hand and maybe a couple of fancy non-alcoholic festive beverages. I am thinking sparkling lemonade, or a mango pureed something.

Where is my Mexican circle skirt when I need it? Oh yeah, I out grew it when I was 10 years old. Bummer! I loved that skirt.

It is sure to be a quite festive week. I hope you'll join us!

~~Susan

Local is better

This past Sunday was Earth Day. I thought I'd give you a bit of insight into what we are doing at the cafe to keep our carbon footprint as small as possible.

When we started this cafe we knew we would be doing things a bit differently from the get-go. Among the founding policies was to use as much locally produced foods as possible. That translates to using foods that have traveled the shortest distances and therefore used the least amount of fuel to get here. As the cost of fuel goes up, you'll see those costs translated into food costs. Hopefully, our approach will keep our prices more reasonable along the way. We have far less waste and scrap than most restaurants—utilizing as much of the fruits, veggies and meat scraps to make soups and broths. What does get wasted usually gets separated into compost. We have several customers who regularly take home our composting veggies for their compost heaps.

We added screen doors to the front and back. On days when the temperatures are moderate and the humidity low enough, we keep the main doors open. I just love the sound of the front screen door when customers come in and out. My favorite sound is the low level chatter of guests. It sounds completely different when the doors are open. My hearing is somewhat impaired and the fact that the sound is impactful indicates just how important a sound it is to me.

 We've started using some microgreens and those have me tantalized. Each individual tiny plant has a distinct flavor. They may look like a garnish, but they pack a big punch. Be sure to try them next time you see them on your plate. Some are spicy, some very green, some just a lovely color with a mild flavor. They take about 2 weeks to grow to the point we use them.

A new change we've made on Friday nights is to start the music a little later—like 7pm. This has worked out well and allows us to focus on getting you served properly with food that is well prepared and hot. We close the kitchen at 8pm for the prepared meals but stay open until 9 and can serve from our tapas menu until then. These are sharable appetizers that are quickly prepared. Examples of these tapas items would include the pesto pizza, Tuscan brushetta, smoked catfish and chips, bacon-wrapped jalapenos, bacon-wrapped cream cheese and pistacio-stuffed dates and brushetta topped with basil goat cheese and fresh tomatoes. Our chips and salsa also make a great appetizer or snack to accompany your beer or wine choices. Don't forget we usually have fresh inhouse made desserts. But, you'll have to ask your server for the latest offerings.

And speaking of Friday night music, our own Jon Lumsden will be playing solo this week. He was teaming up with Greg Kwalume and Rick Brischetto, but Greg has been given a promotion and is being transferred to Atlanta. We wish him well but will miss his lovely guitar leads. Jon will play his own tunes as well as selections from the Great American Songbook.

I'm keeping the dinner specials close to home this week. The seafood will be from Rockbridge—just up the road off of State Highway 14. There have been several requests that we keep rainbow trout on our weekly menu and this just may be the debut of that. It will be available all week. The fillets are quite sizable—7-9 ounces. I'll lightly dust the fillets in flour with a bit of semolina flour and cornmeal plus a few herbs and spices. Then I'll simply pan sear in butter and olive oil. I'll serve it with our "Sea Sauce" plus rice pilaf, stir-fried seasonal Asian veggies and a side salad. Right now those seasonal veggies are tatsoi, Napa cabbage, green onions, red pepper and green beans. They will vary as the season progresses. $14.99

The "Flavor Journey" this week will also be from close to home. I am taking a pork loin, butterflying it and stuffing it with apples, sage, shallots and a bit of bread. It will be tied up and oven roasted. I'll serve it with side salad, garlic mashed potatoes and the previously mentioned stir-fry plus a bit of pan gravy. $10.99

Mary Badiny has done a fine job of keeping us in fresh produce. Unless you are growing your own, if you are not getting her weekly organics or the Semyck's fresh produce you are paying a high price for food that has been shipped across country and isn't as fresh. I encourage you to keep your dollars in the local economy and support these producers.

Now here are this week's lunch dishes~~

Tuesday~ Introducing our new wood-fired tuna sandwich. Jon is wood-firing the tuna fillets and then I am making that into a tuna salad. We'll keep it simple—tuna, mayo, mustard, pepper plus a little chopped red onion. We'll treat it like the Tuscan sandwich and add tomato and sprouts. It'll come with a side. It'll be available all week. If you enjoy tuna sandwiches, give it a try. $6.49

Wednesday~ Thai chicken noodle salad with peanut sauce. This has been a hit in the past. The base is a spinach salad with a rice vinegar dressing. Then chicken and noodles that have been dressed with peanut sauce top it. Sesame seeds and shredded carrots finish it. $6.75

Thursday~ Florentine tamales. Made with poached chicken and spinach with a parmesan cheese sauce. I think he is serving it with a risotto. $6.75

Friday~Pesto pizza with smoked chicken sausage, mozzarella, chopped tomato and mushrooms. Served with side salad. $6.75

I hope you have a chance to get out and visit us. Have a lovely week.~~
~~Susan

Red Snapper and Grouper Cheeks

Last week's shipment of stone crab claws from Florida was a resounding success! Every claw got eaten or sold. Yea! This gives me the courage to try out the next fresh-fish extravaganza. As I mentioned before, the Sea to Table source we have for fresh seafood ships the same day the fish are hauled aboard. We have minimums of 25 pounds per dock. But a nice twist on that is that I can specify more than one variety of fish from the same dock. So this week we are bringing in 15 pounds of red snapper and ten pounds of grouper cheeks. I'll serve the snapper at dinner. The grouper will be for lunch. Read further to see how I'll prepare the Red Snapper.

The grouper cheeks are a special treat, as well. As named, they are the cheeks of the grouper. Usually, it is only the locals who get the cheeks. They are the most tender, have the least waste and taste fabulous. Frenchie's Seafood in Clearwater, FL built their customer base on these morsels. Most places batter and deep fry them. However, as you know, I seldom deep fry anything. Instead we'll saute them in butter and herbs and make a poorboy from them. Bruce's French bread will be the foundation. $9.99/ sandwich with side.

We couldn't be more delighted with the way things are going. This weekend, though, Jon and I have been exhausted. So we'll look for ways to provide great food and service while figuring out how to make more efficient use of our time. Fortunately, we have a team that works well together. Bruce consistently provides the prep, the night-time breads and many of the desserts. His creativity in the kitchen is an inspiration to us all. Rick helps pick up the slack in prepping the salad dressings for lunch and making sure all the forks are rolled. He expedites your orders out and clears off tables. Shonna has joined us and is also expediting and serving at night. We have help on Thursday and Friday nights with dishes. If we didn't, we'd all be here until midnight. Each individual is making an impact and their help has become vital. We are surrounded by folks who really care about good service, who are delighted by our menu and who appreciate fresh food. Besides, they each have a winning attitude and are a part of our game. Without their efforts Jon and I would still be only producing on the level we were at in the food trailer. We are producing nearly triple what we were  a year and a half ago. Your support and encouragement have allowed this to happen. Thank you.

By opening the other side, you will have about 30 more seats available at lunch and dinner. Eventually we will have about 45 seats over there. We pretty much filled the place Thursday and Friday evenings last week. It was pretty exciting. Thursday evening's Girls' Night Out is proving popular. Thank you for embracing that idea. We'll continue to offer special smaller entrees on that night as well as a few special appetizers. The Sangria has proven popular as well as festive. If you haven't joined us for dinner yet, you are missing out.

I am so pleased we finally got some rain. The herbs were beginning to show signs of need. We have basil, oregano, dill, thyme, tarragon, parsley, marjarom, rosemary, sage and chives all growing in the pots. Additionally, we have peppers and peas that can be harvested. I get a boost every time I walk outside and pick an herb to go into your meals. It is much more enjoyable than opening a jar or bag from the store. You would not believe how much basil we go through weekly, now. Between making fresh pesto for sandwiches and pasta, Bruce's pesto dipping oil and various breads that incorporate it, we use over a pound a week. A pound of fresh basil is a very large bouquet.

This week we have the Renee Wood Trio back to provide music during dinner. We are trying something new. We are moving the start time back a bit so we can get through more of the service portion of the evening before the randomity of the music complicates things. We'll still open at 5pm. We are just hoping we can get more of you actually fed before the music starts. As always, you are welcome to stick around for the entire evening. The kitchen will close at 8pm. Drinks, desserts and a few tapas-type items will be available after that.  Our hope is that by being able to focus on food delivery, you will get a meal that is of higher quality, hot as expected and have plenty of time to visit with friends.

Another option we are introducing is A La Carte Day for local offices. This is a designated day each month where your office staff can pool their order and we'll deliver it! We already have several offices that do this on an ad hoc basis. We are hoping that we can secure 3-4 offices per week that have us deliver. We are still working out the bugs—like how to handle the payments. But we now have staff that can deliver several orders at once. If you want your office to participate, give us a call and we can set it up. 505-0302.

I am trying to finish up the decor of our restroom. I am in search of inexpensive framed mirrors. If you have any you no longer care about, I'd love to have them. My plan is to paint all the frames a flat black and hang them, gang-style, on one wall. Please look around in your garage, attic or basement or at the next garage sale you attend. That long-forgotten mirror just might wind up on our wall of fame. Thanks in advance!

Bruce has been busy making pickles again. In addition to dill, bread & butter, and sweet & sour pickles he has also developed a pickle with a decidedly Asian flavor profile. These are available most days for 75 cents a serving. If you are a pickle fan, you can't beat his refrigerator pickles. He makes them in-house and from all fresh ingredients.

Nicoise salad is a favorite of many big city restaurants. Pronounced nee-swaz', this French salad originates in Nice—hence the name; meaning in the style of Nice. It consists of Romaine lettuce, grilled and chilled tuna, hard boiled eggs, boiled potatoes and fresh green beans (aka haricort verts,) fresh tomatoes, anchovies and Kalamata olives. Each ingredients is laid out in a nice array. We'll serve this salad with a lemon-based aioli. A hunk of French bread and you've got a healthy meal. This week we'll serve this from Wednesday through Friday at lunch and it will also be available in our new "Grab n Go" containers for take home.  As time goes by, look for more offerings in the "Grab n Go" format. We've invested in some really nice microwave-safe containers for heating your choices. You'll want to keep these high quality containers and re-use them. This is an especially nice option if you are in a hurry. $7.99

This week's Flavor Journey is an updated version of Chicken Marbella. This dish was inspired by Moroccan tangines and Spanish braises. It was originated by chefs Julie Rosso and Sheila Lukins, owners of the now defunct Silver Palate from New York's Upper West Side. For over 25 years this was a mainstay of the dinner party. This updated version makes better use of the seasonings—red wine vinegar, prunes, Spanish olives, capers, anchovies, garlic, oregano and bay leaves. The original version had the chicken pieces topped with a brown sugar sauce. This version is topped with a savory sauce. We'll serve it with baked potatoes and those luscious green beans we have right now plus, of course a side salad. $10.99

There is almost no way you can cook Red Snapper that is bad. We're going to bake it with savory herbs like rosemary, and fennel as well as garlic, shallots and onion. A bit of lemon will finish it off.  I'll stir-fry some fresh veggies and serve with a rice pilaf. As a side sauce we'll include a dish of my so-far un-named seafood sauce made with mayonnaise, soy sauce, lemon juice, cayenne and horseradish.  The loins will be super fresh, having been caught and shipped on Tuesday for a Wednesday delivery. This is one of the most requested fish by our customers. Don't miss it. The cost is $16.99. I know this is higher than most dishes we serve, but we are not even marking it up the industry standard.

I truly hope the demand for fresh seafood continues. We lived in coastal Florida for several years and nothing gives me more pleasure to cook than fresh fish and shellfish. Please feel free to tell me your favorites. I can get in fish from Maine to the Gulf coast to Alaska. All are shipped directly from the dock the day the vessel lands.

So here's the menu day by day~~
Tuesday~50 cents off Trout Roman
Wednesday~Salad Nicoise $7.99 (also on Thursday and Friday)
Thursday~Polynesian chicken tamales; poached chicken tamales with sweet & sour sauce and pineapple fried rice $6.75; Grouper Cheek Poorboys with Cajun home fries $9.99
Friday~Salad Nicoise $7.99; Grouper Cheek Poorboy with Cajun home fries $9.99

Dinners~
Seafood~ Wednesday through Friday~ Roasted Red Snapper with Rosemary, rice pilaf and stir-fried fresh veggies $16.99
Flavor Journey~Tuesday through Friday~ Chicken Marbella, baked potatoes, fresh green beans $10.99
I hope you have a glorious week as spring continues to unfold. Get those gardens producing!

~~my warmest spring wishes~~
Susan

They are here!!!!!!

As promised, we have flown in fresh stone crab from Florida. By the time you read this they will be available. We expect to serve them primarily at dinner, but if you have a hankering to give them a try at lunch, you may at $4.50 per claw. We'll serve them at dinner for $18/ for four claws; 22.50 for 5. At dinner, I'll serve them with a nice side salad, baked potato and fresh green beans served in an Asian style. The claws will be served either cold or lightly steamed (your choice) and with a side of clarified butter for dipping. This is the last chance to get Stone crab until October as the season ends this week. Knowing we have the audience to bring in this remarkable seafood gives me great pleasure. To my way of thinking, stone crabs have the sweetest meat. Please let me know early in the week whether you need me to save some for you. We only have 25 lbs. and I expect them to go rather quickly. I certainly wouldn't wait until Friday for your fix. These are brought in via overnight shipment from Florida where the boat is docked.

Assuming we have no trouble selling all the crab, I will be bringing in Red Snapper next week. It'll come from the vessel Hired Gun out of Destin, FL. There is nothing as secure as knowing, not only that your food is wild, line-caught but also knowing the vessel itself. I feel very priviledged to be a part of the Chef's Collaborative. It is the organization that connects up chefs with sustainable sourcing of ingredients. It has given us a niche in the local market that is pretty much ignored by other establishments and allows us to bring you the freshest of ingredients.

Last week we initiated "Girls' Night Out." What a fun evening! We made a White Sangria we sold by the glass and most thought it a lovely addition. Sangria combines wine with fresh fruit. Also, we have now added Moscato to our wine list. It is a fairly sweet wine that many ladies have asked about. As before, we'll have smaller sized portions of our seafood and Flavor Journey. These will be regular features of our "Girls' Night Out." We'll also have some special appetizers just for you. I love hearing the background chatter in a full dining room and it certainly was chattery on Thursday!  It looks like this could be an enjoyable new tradition. Bring out your girlfriends, your mom, your daughters and join the blast.

As I mentioned last week, we are taking over the space next door. This means that we'll have more room to spread out, both at lunch and dinner. We don't have it all painted and primped yet, but we'll make the space available when needed. We still need to invest in some more tables and chairs. This week we added items the fire department inspection reminded us we needed to include. Also, after burning out 2 hand-mixers in the course of less than a year, we have purchased a new Cuisinart heavy duty hand mixer. Fortunately, we already had a good stand-mixer.

NEXT week~ Renee Wood Trio returns with jazz for your dining pleasure.

The flavor journey this week will be an Elk Meatloaf. This very flavorful, lowfat meat makes a wonderful meatloaf. We source our elk locally—it is raised in Dora. I'll top it with a hoisin sauce to give it a bit of an Asian flair. We'll serve it with a salad, garlic mashed potatoes, fresh green beans. $10.99

Here's this week's lunch menu followed by the dinner menu~~
Tuesday~50 cents off Trout Romans
Wednesday~ Thai chicken lettuce wraps with a sweet and sour rice plus side; $6.75
Thursday~Chicken Cordon Bleu tamales (stuffed with chicken and ham) with Swiss cheese sauce and asparagus risotto. $6.75
Friday~Spinach mushroom quiche with side salad $6.75

Seafood~ Fresh stone crab claws served with a side salad plus baked potato and Asian green beans. $18/4 claws, $22.50 for 5; add'l claws at $4 each.
Flavor journey~Elk Meatloaf; salad, garlic mashed potatoes, fresh green beans $10.99

Well that's it, folks. We hope you have a lovely week and even more that you get a chance to join us this week.

~~~Susan

New things to come

Adding the new beers and wines was just a first step. If you have not seen the beer or wine you prefer yet, please tell us so we can incorporate it into our plans. We had to start somewhere and what we got in initially is just a base. We have not yet added any wines beyond our "house wine" which is a restaurant-only brand, and many have declared it quite drinkable. We'll begin adding a few California wines then Missouri wines. Why in that order? Because the California wines are, so far, better known. We want to add a few Missouri wines. The cost per case is much higher than many of the California wines. The local palate seems to be toward drier preferences. Many of the Missouri wines are a bit on the sweet side.  We'd really like to get your feedback on personal wine preferences. One of the brands someone brought us to try was quite nice but unavailable for restaurant purchases. Darn. We are keeping our eyes out for Organics, too. We DO listen and feel you have a vested interest in what we choose.

As of the first of April we are officially taking over next door. The front part will be more dinner seating. The back part will become a small, fine-craft gallery featuring Missouri artists. The second side I am initially calling "MO a la carte." The very back part will be restaurant storage. There is a second bathroom over there, as well.  Our plan is to give you room to spread out at lunch and the ability for more to dine and listen to music on Friday nights. Virtually all seats will have a view of the stage when the double doors are open. Now we just need to purchase tables and chairs. We plan to have 3-4 tall tables with bar stools to give the "back row" a good view over the tops of other diners' heads. As with our other developments, they will happen as the income is produced rather than sticking our necks out to finance them. That may take some patience on your part—ours, too! We would LOVE to do it all, instantly. But, we won't. We'll be sane and keep it real.

Our priorities have been to enhance the areas that prepare us to deliver better and faster service. This week we are adding another rolling cart that will hold large trays. We'll then be able to prepare and hold our dinner side salads and desserts on nights when we are quite busy. That, alone, will speed things up considerably. We are also getting our servers some nice beverage trays to assist in delivery of your drinks. Simple things. But they add up!

Seafood~~I was delighted to hear from several of you that you'd like to be able to participate in purchases for fresh fish. This helps us quite a bit. Since my local source has dried up, I can so far only get fresh fish in 25 lb. minimums. This week I am sticking with sashimi grade (able to be purchased in smaller quantity) tuna that will be seared and served with a wasabi oil with sweet soy, sesame rice, a crab sushi maki, and seaweed salad with an Asian stir-fry. We'll have that Wednesday through Friday. I am working on the stone crab for next week. I got my seasons mixed up and April 15th is the LAST day for stone crab until October 15th. The cost for the tuna dinner will be $14.99. The crab next week will be higher.

The Flavor Journey at dinner will be the creamy chicken enchiladas (three) plus a side salad and sautéed summer squashes and onions topped with cotija cheese along with Spanish rice. Available from Tuesday, all week. $10.99. I make these using fresh spinach, fresh poblano peppers, chicken breasts, fresh cream and corn tortillas. We've served them several times at lunch and they always sell out. The dinner size is three enchiladas rather than two.

Thursday night is Girls' Night Out. We'll have smaller portions of both of the specials—the Flavor Journey and the seafood as well as pitchers of Sangria. I'll also have a special appetizer—grilled polenta topped with shitake and button mushrooms seasoned with butter and thyme. We have created an environment where you can feel comfortable enjoying a night out with friends and not feel like you are going to "get hit on." Why not start a new tradition among your female friends and make the scene on Girls' Night Out?

For Tuesday~I have been delighted by the number of people asking me to bring back the pimento cheese quesadillas. A long-time southern tradition, it stands up to our criteria of "real food." We make this from scratch using cheddar cheese, fire-roasted red peppers, minced onion, jalapeno, worchestershire, cream cheese and mayonnaise. This mixture then fills a pair of flour tortillas and is grilled. Served with a side at $6.75.

The Bahn Mi has been very well received. Bruce has gotten the French baguettes figured out. I did it last week with the marinated and grilled pork. For those of you who don't do pork, I am adding chicken meatballs. It will be available after Tuesday. The sandwich has a wonderfully Asian flavor profile and the French bread has a nice texture. If you bought one the first time I made them, I am using more meat now. The sandwich includes a mayonnaise spiked with Srachi, julienned carrots and cucumbers that have been pickled in a sweet brine. Cilantro tops the sandwich. I serve it with a side: Italian potato salad, Cajun home fries, black bean/corn salad, fruit or potato chips. $6.49 The plan is to keep this as a regular menu item.

Yes—the fresh fruit side is back.

For Thursday~Bruce is at it again. He is bringing back another favorite tamale—Garlic poached chicken tamales with cheddar rojo sauce and Spanish rice. $6.75

For Friday~With the craziness of the weather I can see no reason to hold off on making ceviche. I'll combine shrimp, scallops, crab and calamari with lime and lemon juice, sweet peppers, jalapeno, cilantro and garlic. The acid in the citrus juices "cooks" the meats of the seafood turning them opaque and giving it the mouth-feel and taste of cooked seafoods. I'll serve it over a bed of lettuce and with a side. $7.50 ( I paid almost $8 for a lunch-sized portion of ceviche in Austin 25 years ago.) If you like seafood, you'll love the clean taste of ceviche.

Desserts this week will include a strawberry cobbler and carrot cake with cream-cheese frosting. Those are my entries. I'm not sure what Bruce has in mind. I know he'll surprise us. He has already got angel food infused with lime and drunken blueberry sauce.

I hope you enjoy this week of spring—in ALL its glory.

~~Susan