On a mission of flavor

This week celebrates two full years that we have been playing this strange game of being restaurant owners. Our first three months found us operating out of a food trailer on Broadway. It gave us a chance to test out our concept before making major financial committments. Fortunately, you and your friends found that what we were doing was worth continuing. So we did. A big part of our concept was that we would work to expand the palates of those who live in this area. We wanted to be able to serve the foods we would be looking for if were in a large city. Another major aspect was the desire to be a part of the local sourcing movement. We really like the idea of a smaller carbon footprint and being an active part of that. There is a food revolution going on in this country that is fed by people rediscovering how much better foods are when prepared with ingredients grown and raised locally. This is a revolution even my mother would be proud of my participating in. I really like the idea that most of the monies you pay us stay in this immediate community. Thank you for being a part of the revolution.

When I make selections for our menu each week, the choices often come via recent wanderings through the pages of cooking magazines. I am constantly searching for dishes that will give your tongues an adventure but not be so strange it scares you. The Bahn Mi sandwich we recently added as a regular feature is just such an item. There are enough flavor elements that are familiar to give you the courage to try the elements that are a bit less familiar.

This week we are introducing several new flavor journeys. The meal I am most excited to present is a seafood paella from Valencia, Spain. While made all over Spain, each locale that serves this dish adds their own local specialty. We'll be including squid, octopus, clams and shrimp as well as some chicken and turkey sausage.  If all you read about was the seafood you might be startled if you had not already enjoyed some of those seafoods. But it is presented in a very familiar rice base made with ingredients you already know and love—garlic, onions, tomatoes, red and green peppers. As to the special flavors in this dish, we'll include saffron—the single most expensive herb on the planet! I have yet to be able to detect a definite saffron flavor. We'll use the recommended pinch—but that alone is about $10. The color of the dish overall will come from the saffron as well as a bit of tumeric or annatto. Annatto is the colorant in yellow rice. It also has basically no flavor of its own that is prominent. Together they meld to create a cohesive flavor richness. So give yourself a late summer flavor vacation in Valencia, Spain! This dish will be available Wednesday through Friday. $14.99

The response to our recent dessert—grilled pound cake with grilled fresh peaches, vanilla ice cream, caramel and almonds has been pretty spectacular. Another decadent dessert we've made is chocolate almond torte with chocolate raspberry glaze and in-house raspberry sherbet. We're having some fun playing with the various ice creams and sauces. We get to play—you get to indulge. Works for me!

Tuesday night as family pasta night has not gotten the reception we had hoped it would. I'll try it one more week with a classic tuna casserole. We know that our "crowd" doesn't seem to fit the typical family profile. Perhaps a fast dinner solution mid-week isn't what is needed. That's okay. We'll keep trying things out until we get a good fit. It is one of the aspects of having one's own business that is beneficial—versatility and speed of change. The downside is not having corporate marketing gurus doing upteen zillion polls. We do a few polls and seek your feedback, always, but not in the formal setting and broad scale that a nationwide polling might do. So what we do is specific to you, our local client base.  Your input is vital to the directions we take.

Tuesday at lunch we'll revisit the Pulled Turkey Dip Sandwich we introduced last week. It was well received at the time and we hope a new audience will get to experience it on a Tuesday. Rick brought this sandwich to our attention and we added our special aspects—like the cranberry horseradish sauce. It is served with a lovely dipping au jus sauce and is served on the French bread we are getting made to our specifications by Jason. Served with a side for $6.99

The "flavor journey" this week that is NOT seafood is ginger stir-fried beef with mung beans, shitakes, squash and green onions. That same flank steak we wood-fired for the Costa Rican Steak Sandwich will show up first in this dish. I'll serve it with jasmine rice. $10.99 with a side salad. It'll be available starting Tuesday night. There is a limited amount of it.

Wednesday Rick shines again with a Costa Rican Steak Sandwich. We wood-fired flank steak to rare to give it a smokey flavor. We'll slice it thin; saute it with yellow onions; melt cotija cheese over the top and stack it on a French baguette that has been slathered in black beans. On the side you will be served an in-house salsa typical of the region. Get ready to get excited! $7.50 with a side.

Thursday gets another dose of the wood-fired steak served as Oriental Steak Salad. This is the original salad we made the Oriental sesame dressing for. Romaine, steak, ripe tomatoes, red onion, cilantro, feta. $7.50

Friday we'll bring out the Panzanella Salad again. With so many gorgeous tomatoes right now, it would be a crime not to do so. This salad has lots of heft and is quite filling while being made with no meat. The bread is sourdough that has been drizzled in olive oil, salt and pepper and crisped. You'll find cucumber, fennel leaf, kalamata olives, fresh basil, fresh shaved Parmesan, red onion and lots of tomato and peppers. The BEST way to eat your veggies!!!! $6.99

Well, that's it, kids! We'll be busy here prepping for your next meal. Your being here allows me to do a job I find quite joyful. I am able to stretch my creative muscles fairly often and that keeps things going in a forward direction. Thank you for allowing us to play this game and be winning! Have another glorious week!~~~

~~Susan



                       

Pasta night and private parties

Lately we've been looking at ways to grow our business without having to add more work for ourselves. A challenge! Two areas that were worth a look were a) figuring out how to make slower dinner service nights stronger and b) private catering and parties. In the evening the "other side" is seldom required except for Friday nights. It is therefore easily available for a private dining experience or party/meeting. I am delighted that we booked 5 events in the last week that will begin to fill out the private party/catering side of things.

Last week we initiated Family Pasta Night on Tuesday evenings. Our intention there is to provide a simple weekday meal solution for you and your family. We'll have the food ready to go by 5:00pm. So if you have school events or meetings to get to we can get you fed and on your way lickety split. Just tell us when you come in if you have somewhere you need to be and when. We'll fix you up! This week I am making my summer meat sauce to go over angel hair. The sauce begins with a simple ground beef sautéed with fresh onions, garlic, tomatoes, dill and basil. It isn't complicated so all the elements get a chance to shine. We'll serve the pasta with a side salad and garlic toast. $8.99 and $4.99

On Tuesday we'll have both the Bahn Mi sandwiches—pork and chicken available. These are quickly becoming customer favorites. With a decidedly Asian flavor profile, we are the only ones to offer this flavor option within 100 miles, maybe more. The meats are marinated in ginger, garlic, cilantro, fish sauce,  and green onions. The bread is a French baguette we have made to our specs. It is light and crunchy. We toast it and slather it with a spicy  mayo. The veggies are freshly pickled cucumbers and carrots, fresh sprouts and sprigs of cilantro. If you have not yet tried this little delight, you should plan on it soon. We have both most every day. Usually $6.99. Tuesday it will be discounted 50 cents to $6.49.

Wednesday Rick gets to shine again. This week he is sharing his new pulled turkey sandwich. Slow cooked and very juicy, it'll be served on the French bread.  We'll serve a vinegar slaw with it and provide au jus to dip it in. YUM!!!! $6.99

I am loving having Rick take the reins one day per week. It lightens my workload and gives him a chance to stretch his gastronomic muscles. Rick already is quite skilled as a cook and innovator. He is utterly comfortable in the kitchen and a joy to work with.

Thursday we're having chicken mole tacos. The chicken is slow cooked for tenderness and mixed up with a traditional mole sauce. This mole sauce has a tomato base, dried chilies, pumpkin seeds and a wee bit of chocolate. This is a taste treat that you seldom see in Tex-Mex restaurants as it is quite authentically Mexican. We'll serve it on your choice of corn or flour tortillas. It'll come with a choice of sides, including black bean/corn salad. $6.99

Friday I am making chicken Pad Thai. It is one of my favorite Thai dishes. Rice noodles, sprouts, egg, chicken, peanuts, cilantro, lime...   You'll love it if you like Thai at all. $6.99

The Flavor Journey this week will be a lemon chicken pasta. We'll pound the chicken breasts flat and sauté them; make a lemon oil; serve with capers, parsley, butter, garlic and noodles. I know there is more to it, but I'm going by what I remember as I write this. $ 10.99 Normally I would have it available from Tuesday night on. But this week I'll wait until Wednesday as I have a small private party to cater Tuesday night in addition to the Family Pasta Night.  We don't want to wear out the cook.

The seafood will be Trout en papillote. That means our Rockbridge rainbow trout will be cooked in parchment along with the various seasonings and vegetables. This time of year we'll include squash, eggplant, tomatoes, lemon, fresh dill and thyme. I'll serve it with a baked potato. It'll be available Wednesday through Friday. $14.99

The Renee Wood Trio will join us on Friday night for this week's entertainment. Playing the great jazz classics, Renee is on saxophone; Tom Rowley on guitar and David Moore on drums. It's a nice accompaniment to a good meal.  

We thank you for sharing your favorite local musicians with us. Since we seldom seem to "get out" we are reliant on your good taste and recommendations. Please let us know who you would like to see and hear.

I hope you have a glorious week. I expect to.
~~~Susan

Tweaks hither and yon

As we continue to grow our little cafe, we seek new ways to serve you that might prove beneficial to all. We recently learned that the local upstart Italian restaurant has closed, as well as the locally owned frozen custard stand. We were sad to hear this. I have avoided making Italian tomato-based dishes because I didn't want to seem to be trying to compete with the Italian restaurant. Now it would seem there is a gap in flavors being delivered in this area. Additionally, Tuesday night has been the night with the least predictability of customers coming in.

So we are starting a family pasta night on Tuesdays. Every week we will produce a pasta that can be delivered quickly and affordably. This week we'll start with wood-fired chicken fettuccini alfredo. All our sauces will be made from scratch using quality ingredients. We'll have two portion sizes available—adult and half-portions. The adult portion will be a full 8 oz. of cooked pasta plus whatever other ingredients are included—like sauce and meat.The half portion will be exactly that. The adult portion will come with a side salad, warm bread and pesto oil. The half portion will have a choice between a side salad and fresh fruit and come with the warm bread and pesto oil. Adult $8.99/ half $4.99. As Tuesday is often a night where meetings and school/church events start at 7:00pm, we'll be workng hard to make sure you are out the door in plenty of time. We open our doors at 5:00pm and will have the pasta ready to be served immediately.

Each week we will change up the pasta variety. If there is enough demand we might also have a regular spaghetti and meatsauce that remains the same each week. But, that will depend on feedback. There are so many different pastas and sauces that can be explored. I am especially fond of those that follow the seasonal produce.

We will continue to deliver the Flavor Journey Tuesday-Friday. The seafood special will be dependent on when the fresh seafood can arrive. Most weeks that will be Wednesday through Friday or Thursday and Friday only.  I was quite delighted with the response to the mussels in curried cream sauce we offerd last week. We sold most all of it—leaving just enough that I got to take some home to enjoy. Some weeks that doesn't happen.

Last Friday night Rick joined me in the kitchen helping to get out your meals. We had a full house and I think we did fairly well getting meals out in a timely manner. Ashley, Corey and Jon were out front scrambling to keep you happy. The music was fantastic and had me dancing in the aisles. Thank you Vinny Ray and gang for keeping us so happy! We had the state fiddling champion playing in OUR cafe!!!!

My flavor journey this week explores the cuisine of northeastern Spain in the Catalonia region. Like other areas of the Mediterranean, the food utilizes produce grown regionally like eggplant, tomatoes, onions, zucchini, and olives. There are a few basic sauces that give Catalan foods their distinctive flavors. We'll be using them in the various dishes being explored. We'll begin with mushrooms sautéed with garlic and parsley. These could also be served on pizza or a pasta but we'll make it an appetizer. Romesco sauce is quite special to the area. It is made from tomatoes, garlic, olive oil plus almonds, hazelnuts and ancho chile. That will top the salad made from baby lettuces with olives and Cotija cheese. The entrée gets special treatment with chicken thighs baked on top of slices of fresh lemon, rosemary, thyme and sage with a wrap of allioli (a garlic, salt and olive oil emulsification central to the region's flavors) until the skins are crispy. Then we'll have a grilled vegetable compote called escalivada that features hot roasted eggplant, red peppers and garlic with olive oil. They'll grace a piece of grilled bread that has been rubbed with fresh garlic and tomatoes. The additional vegetable presentation will be spinach with pine nuts and raisins. These flavors are very characteristic of the region and give the fresh spinach a somewhat sweet finish, balanced by the savory of salt and pepper. Traditional dessert for the region would be a plate of mixed ripe local fruit. We'll offer that as well as less traditional desserts like grilled pound cake with grilled fresh peaches and vanilla ice cream.

Taking you on Flavor Journeys gives me great pleasure. As I have stated many times, my mission is to expand your palate, allowing you to experience new flavor combinations beyond what you might normally expect locally.

So the Flavor Journey menu is thus—

Catalan mushrooms with garlic and parsley

Baby lettuces with olives, Cotija cheese and Romesco sauce

Chicken thighs baked with lemon, sage, rosemary, and thyme

Grilled bread with red peppers and eggplant

Spinach with pine nuts and raisins

$12.99

a platter of fresh fruit is the appropriate dessert~ $4

The more complex red wine of cabernet sauvignon would serve the chicken well or perhaps the less formal pinot grigio would be a great wine to accompany this dish.

The seafood this week (Thursday and Friday only) is crab cakes. I'll make them as before with minimal binders and lots of back fin crab meat topped with red pepper coulis and our Sea Sauce. I'll serve it with a squash casserole and a choice of the usual side salad or upgrade to the baby lettuces with olives, cotija cheese and romesco sauce for $2 more.

Lunches~Tuesday~ Chicken bahn mi sandwich—Asian marinated grilled ground chicken on French bread with cucumbers, carrots, sprouts and cilantro, with side  $6.49

Wednesday~ Lasagna with beef, eggplant and squash, plus side salad  $7.50

Thursday~ Pesto pizza with fresh mozzarella, roasted red peppers, salami and shitakes, plus side. $6.99

Friday~Curried chicken and fresh mango salad. $6.99

Other items: Jon has misplaced his glasses somewhere within the cafe. Free lunch if you find them!

No music planned this week, thus far. That can change. (Renee Wood Trio next Friday.)

I hope the new family pasta night fills a void in your meal planning. We love it when you bring in your family and share your friends with us. We know you want to keep us your private secret but we NEED you to share us with others. Have a great week!

~~Susan 

A little relief for all!

After a seemingly endless wait we finally got a good rain. The forecast for the week is lovely AND bearable. In fact, I expect to see quite a few folks enjoying lunch al fresco this week. It will be interesting to see how the local flora responds to the sudden influx of water in abundance. Will there be the flowers we missed due to dryness early on? Will we skip right to the late summer sunflowers and asters? Watch and see.

We have music this week. Look for details at the end of my blog.

We are celebrating all sorts of happy harvesting right now. The tomatoes have finally started coming in. We are getting fabulous ones from Maranatha Farm as well as some heirloom locals. There's a no more classic way to celebrate the fresh tomatoes than a panzanella salad. Lots of fresh chopped tomatoes, toasted homemade bread soaked in tomato juices, wine vinegar and garlic, lemon and capers. I'll grill some lovely squash and bell peppers to top it off. That will kick the lunch menu off on Tuesday. $6.99

Wednesday we celebrate the classic combination of fresh green beans, ham, black-eyed peas, bell pepper and rice in the form of Hoppin' John. The name is thought to come from a bastardization of the Haitian Creole term for black-eyed peas: pois pigeons (pronounced: [pwapiˈjawn]). I'll serve it with a side for $6.99

Thursday brings on a celebration of another sort—fresh mozzarella! We have begun to use fresh mozzarella on our pesto pizzas now. They will also have fresh Roma tomatoes, fresh in-house pesto, wood-fired chicken and sliced mushrooms and onions. $6.99 includes a side.

Friday brings back the 1905 Salad from the Columbia Restaurant in Tampa. To Romaine lettuce we add ham, turkey, swiss cheese, tomatoes, romano cheese, Kalamata Olives (the original had green olives) and a dressing featuring worchestershire and lemon juice and an oregano vinaigrette. This salad has developed a strong folowing with our customers. $6.99

Thank you to those who took the time to give me feedback on an upcoming Flavor Journey. Your feedback strongly directs our actions and we DO care about what you have to say. I'll try to schedule a special dinner in the next month or so.

In the meantime, due to one response, I have planned a Flavor Journey this week. The focus will be Cubano. I am still trying to locate one of the major ingredients and will add it if we can locate it—that ingredient is plantains. The influence of fresh ingredients is very key to Cuban cuisine. Pork, chicken and fish/ seafood are the primary meats. In this case we are going to use chicken breasts marinated in a mojo sauce. Mojo's major flavor influences are cumin seeds, fresh orange juice, fresh lime juice, garlic and chilis. We'll start the meal with a salad made of Chayote squash which has been peeled and boiled then tossed with a light oil and mustard sauce. The main course is Spicy Cuban mojo chicken with warm mango and avocado salsa. It will be sided with black beans and yellow rice. For dessert I'll make a traditional flan—a caramel-topped custard. IF I can locate any plantains I'll add in chichachirritos or fried plantains served with a mojo sauce. The dinner is $11.99 and the flan is $4.

My seafood this week is two-fold. The first starting Tuesday night is shrimp, scallop and grouper cheek kabobs. My kabobs will be assembled with onion, red peppers, squash, cherry tomatoes and marinated seafoods. We'll grill them and serve them atop rice with "sea sauce", fresh citrus slices and with a side salad. You'll get 2 kabobs for $14.99. Add a third for $4 more. The second is Mussels!!!!! We'll have fresh mussels straight from Prince Edward Island delivered Thursday afternoon. I'll make a curried shallot wine sauce to braise them in. They'll be served with a rice pilaf and stir-fried squash, onions and tomatoes and come with a side salad. $14.99.

The music this week comes from a new source for us. State fiddling champion Vinny Ray will be this Friday's musical entertainment. Vinny will be playing original jazz compositions with his trio. Several of our customers asked if we had heard Vinny play and suggested he would be a great fit for our Friday night music.  You may have heard him at the recent Old time music festival where he played on the OMC stage with 2 other band members. Don't miss out! Reservations strongly recommended. No cover charge but you are expected to tip the band and we prefer that you join us for dinner. As always—we never try to "turn the tables." You are welcome to stay through all the music.

Have you tried our new key-lime bar with coconut ice cream? Here's a photo of it. It is rich and cool and refreshing—all in one piece. We make the coconut ice cream in house as well as the key-lime bar. It is one of our new line of "grown-up" desserts. Another is the grilled pound cake with grilled fresh peaches, whipped cream and caramel. $5.

Have a lovely week!~~

Susan

Withered and seeking cool relief

The month of July has gotten off to an August-type start. We moved up here to escape the Texas weather! Luckily we grew up with this weather and know the value of a) staying inside in the cool, and b) foods that can make it seem a bit cooler.

In case you are chomping at the bit to see us this week, be aware that we are remaining closed until Thursday. It just didn't make sense to come in for a single day...when we need the rest. But I am using this resting time wisely to get ready for what comes next.

Thanks to the really wonderful support we got from our customers, there was only a single fish left from the sockeye salmon we flew in. I filleted it and Jon lightly cooked it on the wood fire. (I then froze the cooked meat.) I'll use it in 2 dishes this week for as long as it lasts. I expect to get about 8 servings of each dish. The first will be a lunch dish—wood-fired salmon tacos on corn or flour tortillas, with a peach- mango salsa. The last time we made them, they flew out the door. If you didn't already see the color of this fish's flesh, you'll be amazed at the depth of its redness.

The evening use of this salmon will be in a roasted red pepper, wood-fired salmon pasta. The sauce will be cream-cheese based. It'll be topped with fresh chopped local Juliette tomatoes and basil. It is my personal favorite seafood pasta. Of course, it'll come with a side salad, or for an additional $2.50 you can upgrade to a Caprese salad made with fresh local heirloom tomatoes, fresh mozzarella and fresh basil topped with extra-virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper.

Have you tried my Solstice salad at lunch yet? It starts with the ingredients of the Caprese (as above) but is served atop a bed of Romaine plus a serving of wood-fired chicken for $6.99.

Friday night the service was slower than I'd like to be known for. To the end of remedying that, we are moving Rick up to the kitchen to assist in food prep on Friday nights. His many years of experience in this arena will make my job much easier and get your dinners out faster. As has always been our policy, we are not trying to turn the tables, merely get you fed in a reasonable amount of time.

To keep things cool we are bringing out some refreshing desserts. Our newest dessert uses fresh peaches. We are grilling sour cream pound cake  and fresh peach slices in butter and cinnamon.
The plate gets a drizzle of vanilla cream. Then we top it with the grilled poundcake and slices of peaches. Then we add natural vanilla ice cream, caramel syrup and sliced almonds. Oh my!!! $5.

The next dessert is a key lime bar that has coconut, white chocolate and real key lime juice and lime zest. We'll serve it with our own coconut ice cream, whipped cream and lime zest and almonds. $5.

Survey time!~~
I want to get back to creating some special "Flavor journey" meals. It is nice to be able to add a special that takes your taste buds on an adventure but it is nothing like a whole meal geared around a specific cuisine. Recent reading has presented me with menus based in Corsica, Portugal and even Somalia. I know it would be fun to create an evening of any of these cuisines. The challenge becomes WHEN? In the past we participated in a "dinner club" that met occasionally and we did exactly that—served a full ethnic cuisine. I was able to share a bit of the history of the foods as well as why the specific foods are part of their cuisine. I think this group faded out. I'd like to bring back the concept. To do it right we'd need to dedicate an evening to JUST that MEAL. So my survey question is—what night of the week, except Friday, would you most likely be available for such a feast? We'd be bringing in special ingredients and the cost would be appropriate—probably about $30 per person, plus wine. So part 2 of the survey is—would you be willing to pay for such a feast?  We would promote it at least a month in advance and take reservations. There would have to be a minimum of 20 participants to make it worthwhile, and you would have to make a committment. Please let me know via Facebook, email, or fill out a survey card while dining at the cafe. Depending on your response, we'll be planning the next Flavor Journey soon.

So here's the short version of this week's specials menu for Thursday & Friday~~

Lunch~ (both days) Wood-fired salmon tacos with peach-mango salsa $7.50;  Pork bahn mi sandwich with side $6.99

Dinner~ (both days) Wood-fired salmon pasta with side salad $12.99, or upgrade to Caprese salad +$2.50
Italian seasoned slow-cooked pork chop served with eggplant parmesan and black-eyed peas and side salad.  $11.99 (Salad upgrade also available.)

As always, I look forward to your feedback, comments and your smiling, hungry face. Have a great week; we'll see you Thursday & Friday!

~~Susan