Monday, July 15, 2013

High Summer—High Jinx

The summer temps are beginning to reach their norms. The crops that were slow to germinate and sprout are now kicked into high gear and well on their way to producing a wide variety of delicious veggies and herbs. Time for some fun!

First of all—our musical guests this week are two founding members of the Blackberry Winter Band, Marideth Sisco and Dennis Crider. It is an honor to have them join us Friday night. Previously they have packed the house. So if you want to enjoy their tunes while enjoying your dinner, you'll want to be sure to make reservations. We'll be limiting the seating to what the Fire Marshall allows. Make that reservation today.

Now back to the food—As I said we are in high season with regard to produce and I intend to make the most of it.  This will be a great week to expand your palate and s-t-r-e-t-c-h those taste buds.

Word has finally gotten out about us enough that food producers are now coming to me to ask what crops I'd like to see grown. The first of those specialty crops is arriving this week, but in a small quantity to start. They are squash blossoms. These delicate gourmet bundles have long been enjoyed by Native Americans and as part of the Southwestern cuisine for decades. We'll be stuffing them with fresh cheeses and herbs and featuring them on some of the dinner offerings. Because we don't know what kind of volume they'll be made available, we aren't promising more than a nice chance to taste them. Assuming we are able to secure a larger quantity, we'll be adding in an appetizer that features them. We'll only be using the male blossoms and therefore we won't be cutting into the squash production. I bet less than 5 of our customers have ever tasted this delicate treat.

Did you hear? We now have hamburgers made with local grass-fed beef from Spring Creek Farm in Pottersville. We grill them up fresh and offer both a classic burger as well as a Southwestern burger. We'll highlight them on Tuesday, but they are available at all lunches.

Janet brought us some spectacular green beans and they will be served with both the evening stir-fry and as a featured side dish at dinner with shallots and fresh herbs.

Twice this week at lunch we'll be bringing out cold pasta salads that celebrate the summer heat. On Tuesday I'll make one that includes melons, feta and pancetta (Italian bacon/ham). Later in the week, on Wednesday, Amy has one that includes bacon, lettuce and tomato. Step out of your comfort zone!

And speaking of salads, Vincent suggested that we might want to make available any of our lunch salads as a wrap. We have some ginormous tortillas made just for that purpose. So for fifty cents more, just ask us to make it a wrap!

Thursday's lunch should be fun. We'll have Pork Fried Rice accompanied by Pacific Rim Gazpacho Shooters. I can't wait to bring out this chilled soup made with such fresh ingredients. Summertime and the soup is chilled!

Friday I'll make a Tuscan quiche that celebrates the harvest, as well. I'll include oven-roasted roma tomatoes, mushrooms, summer squash, onions, and fresh Italian herbs. It'll be served with a side salad.  Perfect summer fare.

Let's talk about the dinners now.  Oooo-wheee! The seafood entrée is ginger and garlic glazed ginormous gulf shrimp on a pineapple boat with Calico rice, pineapple mango salsa, and summer stir-fry.  $15.99

The Flavor JourneyLamb ribs that have been slow wood-smoked and finished with a rosemary garlic glaze, local green beans simmered with shallots and fresh herbs, summer stir-fry plus a stuffed squash blossom. This will be available in a very limited quantity. Reserve EARLY!  $17.99

Again, this week I am offering a third dinner special option. It will be a pasta prima vera with a very light sauce to bind tomatoes, squash, onions, garlic, mushrooms, carrots and green beans. This one is vegetarian at its base, but you can add wood-fired chicken or wood-fired salmon for a bit more. $13.99/ $15.99/ $17.99

We will also have a festive beverage for Friday night—peach bellinis. This luscious mix-ture combines ripe peaches, lemon juice, and sugar with sparkling wine. We'll offer this wine cocktail at $5/ glass.

Desserts~ Where to begin? As always, we'll have Drew's wonderful carrot cake. Then, we'll start the week off with peach cobbler. I'll add tira misu mid-week and by Friday I plan to have coconut and corn ice cream with brown sugar syrup. This truly celebrates the arrival of local corn. Now THAT is my kind of fun!

You know~I just bet I missed something. So much excitement. Come be a part of it.

Thank you for being a part of our growth and history. We love sharing our creativity with you. You have made it safe for me to explore and stretch and allowed us to truly celebrate each new flavor that comes our way. We need to increase our customer base to maintain our own sustainability. Your word-of- mouth is important to us. If you have not done so lately, how about rating us on yelp.com or yahoo.com or tripadvisor.com? Of course, if there is a problem, we hope you will give us a chance to get it right. Have a glorious week.

~~Susan

No comments:

Post a Comment