Tween Times

It is that strange period of the year where the time machine begins to go haywire and the occasional reboot becomes necessary more often. This year we are pleased to be in preparation for several nice catering opportunities. We've gained much more experience this year and have learned to begin those preparations early. Ever the learning curve!

I am enjoying the gentle momentum we have going and hope we can keep it up through December 21st when we take a week off. We still have one date open for catering on the 22nd if you have any last- minute party plans. Originally we had planned to be enroute to Florida on that date. But plans have changed, and the date is now open. We can do off-site delivery, on-site private party, party staffing, floral arrangements and even music. Tell me what you need and we'll plan a custom cater just for you.

During the week we are pleased to make sure you get some healthy eating to go with all the dangerous goodies your friends and colleagues are bringing to work. If you have not tried the Equinox salad, I invite you to do so.  It begins with a bed of spinach and/or arugula, feta, red onion, pomegranate seeds, fresh apple, fresh pear, wood-fired chicken and bacon. We suggest topping it with our hot bacon dressing. $6.99 Yum!!! This salad will disappear after the New Year. So, get it now.

We have added 2 new dishes to the night-time menu. The first you may have had last week, which is  wood-fired salmon pasta with a light, red pepper cream sauce plus soup/salad for $14.99. The second is another pasta dish but made with chicken, stir-fried winter veggies, penne pasta, and a light cream sauce plus soup/salad for $13.99. I make my cream sauce a bit lighter than a traditional al fredo sauce. Except for there being no flour (therefore no gluten), it is made the same way. I do use heavy cream instead of milk to give it a thickened richness. Both of these dishes will be available nightly for the foreseeable future.

Soup~Start of week~ Chicken Posole; Thursday and Friday~ New England Clam Chowder

Tuesday~ Carnitas (2 crispy pork tacos on soft corn tortillas) $7.25; usually $7.75
Wednesday~ Spinach lasagna, side salad  $7.50
Thursday~ Meatloaf, garlic mashed potatoes and oven roasted root veggies  $7.99
Friday~ White chicken chili with side salad  $7.50

Flavor journey~All week—Lemony chicken pasta plus soup/ salad  $13.99
Seafood~ Wed.—Fri. Mixed seafood crepes (shrimp, clams, squid, octopus and real crab) in a cream sauce, winter veggie stir-fry; soup/ salad  $14.99

Time to kick life into high gear. Come replenish your body and your senses with regular visits to A La Carte Cafe. We'll keep the good food coming and try to keep the hassles at bay. Have a glorious week!

~~Susan

So much to be thankful for

As we enter the season of chaos that will prevail for the next few weeks, it behooves me to take a moment to pause and note some wonderful blessings.

Our Staff—As noted by more than one customer, we have a staff of very dedicated, focused folks who really care about doing a great job. Without exception, they are a joy to work with and make our jobs both more fun and easier. We know we are only a part of their lives but they make us feel like the cafe and you are very important.

Our suppliers—Maranatha Farm has been our "go to" source for local organic produce. Mary and Skip have managed to provide us wonderful greens year round and keep us in tomatoes, seasonal produce and herbs.

Sea to Table has provided us with the freshest seafood possible. Our orders are shipped the same day the fish/ seafood are removed from the water. The fishermen are careful to select species that are sustainable and not over fished. We take pride in delivering fresh seafood to the land-locked area we live in.

Jason McLaughlin has been making some of our breads for a while now. He understands my passion for quality ingredients without short cuts. He makes our dinner breads as well as the French baguettes we have used for specialty sandwiches.

Rockbridge Trout Ranch provides us super fresh rainbow trout during the warm months. We'll have it again come March.

Our landlord—With the patience of Job, Toney Aid has provided us with a space that totally suits our needs and has the personality we wish to convey. He and his wife, Kathleen, have been pivotal in their ongoing encouragement and support.

Our customers— I feel like the luckiest cook around. I get to cook the dishes I like the most while still having the wiggle room to try out new dishes and tantalize your taste buds. After 2 years, you have gained enough trust to let me bring new flavors to your palate. You even have let me know when it wasn't quite right—so I could fix it. I love having the mission to expand your palate. It allows us all to grow. Thank you for being there.

This week's schedule:

Tuesday and Wednesday will be regular hours. If you're planning on dinner on these nights, it would be helpful to us to hear from you in advance with reservations. Not necessary, just appreciated.

Thursday we'll be closed.

After doing a quick survey we determined that being open this Friday evening would be beneficial for all. We have heard that you like to show us off to your visiting friends and family. How delightful. So we will be here for you. But not at lunch Friday—only dinner. Reservations are encouraged so we can plan for the right amount of staff.

The menu this week starts with soup. If you were in on Friday you, no doubt, were able to smell the lovely fragrance of onions slowly carmelizing as they cooked for many hours. Come Tuesday that will become French onion soup. We'll top it with croutons and parmesan disks.

Tuesday~Crab Quesadillas. This upscale quesadilla will be made with carmelized onions, gruerye cheese and Monterey jack and, of course, back-fin crab. We'll pair it with a pineapple salsa, guacamole and sour cream. $8.50

Wednesday~Creamy chicken enchiladas. This is one of our customer favorites made with fresh spinach, lots of poached chicken and a creamy cheesy sauce. Served with a side salad. $7.50

At dinner~

Seafood~Wood-fired wild caught Alaskan Salmon Pasta. I did a similar version last week using lox. We have wood-fired the planks of salmon, and I'll use them to top pasta that has a bit of roasted red pepper sauce, cream and parmesan, plus a bit of fresh dill and shallots. This will be slightly lighter than last week's version and have a larger portion of salmon. I expect this will become a regular menu item. $14.99

Flavor journey~Baby back ribs. So many ways to prepare them! We'll stay pretty traditional by giving them a dry rub first, then a 2.5 hour braise in the oven. We'll finish them off with a BBQ-y glaze and carmelizing heat. Approximate serving size will be a half-rack. We'll serve them with oven baked sweet potato wedges/fries and a side salad or soup. $13.99

We welcome you this crazy week and hope you find time to unwind with us. Have a joyous week and celebrate all our wonderful blessings of good food and loved ones.

~~Susan

Food Favorites for Fall

Wow! How do we follow up on last week? So many things went so nicely.

First of all—again, thank you for supporting our bringing in the fresh fish from Montauk, NY. Golden tilefish had not been on my radar previously. I think you'll agree that it was a nicely textured, mild fish with a very sweet taste. I enjoyed cooking it both in the curry broth and pan-searing it, then laying it over puttanesca and pasta. The scallops were an exceptional treat for me. They are my favorite seafood. These were huge, had never been in any solutions, and the texture and flavor were true.

I got the pumpkin mousse cornucopias with pecan praline sauce made last week but somehow never found time for the crepes with mascarpone and lemon sauce. They will be a priority this week along with a dessert featuring local wild persimmons. We are fortunate to have these local fruit and although most of us may have never tried a ripe persimmon, they have a reputation for being precious and delicious. So I invite you to expand your palate in dessert direction this week. Rick will also make another New York Style cheesecake. Thanks for the feedback on this concoction.

The Flavor Journey is back this week with a return of Beef Bourguignon. I made it last spring, and many of you really enjoyed it. Look for it at dinner starting Tuesday. I'll pair it with a baked potato and my seasonal stir-fry. Right now the stir-fry includes garlic, yellow onions, red cabbage, tat-soi, and zucchini. In case you hadn't noticed, that changes week to week depending on what is in season and available. Mary Badiny keeps me in fresh greens, and they change regularly. The beef bourguignon is sauteed with onions, mushrooms, carrots and, of course, burgundy wine.

We have wood-fired the remaining 5 filets of golden tilefish, and they will show up on the lunch menu as an upscale fish taco and on the dinner menu served over linguine with a roasted red pepper sauce. When they are gone—they are gone...until next time. I expect I'll bring in fresh fish again after Thanksgiving.

This week much attention and energy is going toward the beer tasting on Wednesday evening. I am happy to tell you we have sold out the 45 places we had available. We'll be pairing national craft beers (small batch specialties) with various appetizers. Although it isn't a meal, I expect by the time you have tasted the 7 beers plus the accompanying appetizers, you'll be full. In case you are not, we'll offer a 15% discount on your dinner that night.

Music returns this week with Gordon Johnston. His piano renditions of Van Morrison and similar songs, as well as his own tunes, are a customer favorite. Welcome him back and tip him well, please.

Let me introduce you to some of our staff. This week our senior dinner server, Ashley Romans, gets the highlight. This wonder-woman mother of 4 is going to nursing school and will graduate next spring. With the oldest kid under 8, she maintains an energy level I can only marvel at. She is superb at diving in and figuring it out while smiling and keeping a wonderful attitude. How fortunate we are to have her as a part of our team!

Here's the lunch menu~~

Tuesday~ Fish tacos made with wood-fired golden tilefish, plus side  $8.50
Wednesday~ Chicken alfredo over penne with side salad  $7.50
Thursday~ Spinach mushroom quiche with side salad  $7.50
Friday~ Baked potatoes topped with broccoli, Cheddar and wood-fired chicken with side salad  $7.50

Soups: Start the week with a chicken noodle soup that features our wood-fired chicken. Toward the end of the week I'll change over to posole—another customer favorite.

Seafood~ Available starting with Tuesday dinner until gone~ wood-fired golden tilefish served on top of linguine with roasted red pepper sauce. Soup or salad.  $14.99

Flavor Journey~ Beef Bourguignon served with baked potato or garlic mashed potatoes plus stir-fry of seasonal veggies. Soup or salad.  $14.99

As always, I hope you have a lovely week. Notice the last of the fall color as it tumbles from the trees.

~~Susan

Catapulting into fall

The changes perceived when we switch our clocks ahead or behind for "daylight savings" always feel like we have been launched into the next season. What was a gentle growing awareness of diminishing afternoon light suddenly becomes a need to find a light switch. I remember my mother telling me how her mother could work out in her summer garden in Canada until it was well and dark. She was able to do so because her eyes gradually became adjusted to the diminishing light. Were she simply to walk out and start weeding at dusk her ability to see what she was doing would be negligible. To me it is a bit jarring to suddenly discover it is nearly dark and it is only 5pm. But it also gives the true feeling of "full immersion" into the fall season. So if we have not yet been paying attention to the time of year—this is the wake-up call to do so.

Last week was spectacular in many ways. Thanks to you, we had a rousing week at both lunches and dinners. Then we hit Friday and burst through another record. We had an extra day as we did a cater for a private party held at the cafe. This pushed us to our limit in physical endurance. Sunday was a blessed relief and gave a whole 'nuther meaning to Zombie Day. What really pleased me was that the streamlining we did in order to speed up Friday night delivery really worked. This, despite being without Rick in the kitchen.

We loved doing the caters and are enjoying building up a supply of nice table decor to add a splash of elegance to the buffet table. Gotta find ways to store them now. Oy!

As wild as last week was, we were short-handed more than once. This prevented my making the pumpkin mousse cornucopias. I'll make them a priority this week. Also the lemon mascarpone crepes. BJ made some wonderful almond baklava and we zipped through Rick's tira misu. It seems that along with increased soup consumption, desserts are getting more attention. We'll try to keep up!

Thank you for all the lovely comments on the New England Clam Chowder last week.  I could not have been more pleased, myself. That recipe came from a recent Fine Cooking magazine article. It'll be a regular in the soup rotation. I made a double batch on Thursday and had to make it again on Friday and there still wasn't enough for Friday night at dinner.

I received an email from the Sea-to-Table folks pointing out that for those fishermen who weren't knocked completely out of the water by hurricane Sandy (sorry about the pun), one of their biggest challenges is finding a market for their catches as many northeastern restaurants are not yet back serving. So in an effort to do our part helping out we are ordering fresh fish from that region. Such a sacrifice!!!

One of the hardest hit areas was Montauk, NY. That is the dock after the storm. I have ordered and expect in on Tuesday 10# of fresh sea scallops and 15# of golden tile fish. The golden tile fish is a species that seldom makes it outside of the Northeast region but is highly prized locally by chefs. It is a firm, large-flake white-meated fish with a  mild, sweet flavor. This species is a prime example of "you are what you eat" as they eat primarily crustaceans—shrimp and crab. This gives the fish a noticeable sweetness in their flavor profile.  This report regarding local conditions comes from my rep at Sea-to-Table: "The dock and our fishermen in Montauk, NY are slowing drying out. There is still a lot of flooding in the area, and streets full of sand. They did, however, fare better than some of their neighbors. A few boats need to be evaluated to make sure they are safe to go back out on the water, and some equipment needs to be replaced. They are in good spirits, though, and happy to be sending fish to our chefs again. The boat that caught the Golden Tilefish is the F/V Sea Capture and the F/V Endangered Species caught the Scallops." I think F/V means fishing vessel.

I have never found dry-packed scallops available in Missouri. These scallops are coming in dry-packed. What this means is that they have not been soaked in any kind of solution that alters either their flavor or weight. The size we are getting are 10-20 per pound. When you consider that most "bay scallops" are 100-200/ pound you'll begin to appreciate their size.

I am digging deep to find recipes that show off the freshness while still expanding your palate. For the golden tilefish I have 2 directions I will take it. The first is Italian and the second is Thai. If you prefer Italian, I'll serve it over pasta with a puttanesca sauce. This fresh sauce is made using onions, garlic, Kalamata olives, anchovies, tomatoes, capers and fresh mild peppers. I'll use a penne pasta. As always you may have soup or salad to start.

In the second direction the golden tilefish is actually cooked in a mild coconut curry broth. The plate starts with a layer of rice, then a layer of fresh steamed spinach, then the fish and is topped with the curry sauce. Either version will be $17.99 and you'll get a 6 oz serving (before cooking) with soup or salad.

The pan-seared scallops will be dredged in a mildly seasoned flour and pan-seared in olive oil and butter. I'll top them with our in-house pesto sauce and serve it with rice on the side. $17.99 with soup or salad.

With so much going on in the seafood arena I am not doing a separate Flavor Journey this week. However, next week Beef Bourguignon will be showcased.

Here are this week's lunches~~

Tuesday~ Trout burger with home fries $7.00
Wednesday~ Turkey dip sandwich on ciabatta with home fries $7.50
Thursday~ Chicken pad Thai $7.50
Friday~ Pesto pizza with side salad $7.50

Soups this week~~ I'll start the week with Tom Ka Kai- the Thai coconut chicken soup that so many love. I'll try to have it through Thursday when I also serve the pad Thai. Later in week~ Creamy spinach and garlic soup. You'll just have to try it. It is wonderful.

Seafood Dinner Entrées~~    3 of them!!!!!
Fresh Golden Tilefish with puttanesca sauce over penne pasta; Soup or salad $17.99
Fresh Golden Tilefish with Thai coconut curry sauce over steamed baby spinach and jasmine rice. Soup or salad. $17.99
Fresh Sea Scallops lightly seasoned with dry rub and sauteed in butter and olive oil. Served over rice with a drizzle of our in-house pesto. Soup or salad. $17.99

We got a last minute email that Vinny Ray can't play this Friday. No explanation so far. Hope we'll be able to re-schedule soon. Remember that next week Gordon Johnston will be playing. I love his laid-back style and he can make Van Morrison rock!

Also next week~~
Our first Beer Tasting! Space is filling up fast, so get your name on the list without delay. We'll try out 5-6 national craft beers along with paired appetizers. $10 per person.
Watch for the beef bourguignon and wild persimmon desserts.

Have a glorious week! Don't forget to vote!~~

Susan