w/e May 18th Considering options

Having a very dynamic team playing for us is allowing us to take a look at options that might increase our sustainability. But we need your input and thoughts. Most folks in the restaurant game know that the more you are open, the better use you are making of rent you are paying anyway. We've been able to add Monday lunches because we have a team that can support it, and it doesn't require additional physical effort on the part of Jon and myself. As fabulously as things have been steadily growing, we really need to boost the sales we do on a weekly basis in order to truly make this work. We have resisted being open more hours, as Jon and I are maxed out on available energy. However... we are now looking at being open Saturday nights and are looking for ways to make that happen. In the past we have heard loudly and often that you wished we were open on Saturday evenings. We need to know.. is that still the case? If so, we need to hear from you in any manner you might get us the info and as soon as possible. It would probably involve a shift in the hours Jon and I are here, but would allow the addition of Saturday evening. While looking at this option we are also considering the format. Same as usual? Perhaps more of a cabaret? Reservations only? Please share your thoughts. When have you most wished we were open on a Saturday evening? What did you do instead? How can we generate the kind of loyalty on a Saturday evening we have gotten on Friday nights?
Changes are afoot. Perhaps we'll just make this a summer thing. Talk to us!

This week we will have music on Friday night played by Phil Orlikowski. If you are a fan of 70s classics, you'll love his renditions. He's pretty spectacular at channeling Bob Dylan, Paul Simon and a plethora of your favorites. Make plans now to join us Friday night. We are starting to hear from more musical artists and should be able to fill out the schedule more this summer. Menu options mentioned later in this blog.

Speaking of this summer... June 22nd, the Saturday AFTER Father's Day is the Flavor Excursion , the Moroccan Dinner. I am in the process of putting together the menu. It will be held outdoors at a nearby location. Ann Conner and Doug Page have generously made available the grounds of their lovely home. You may already know about their house and just didn't make the connection. They live in what WAS the Victoria Bed and Breakfast off BB highway, just north of town. We'll be situated so that we can see the sunset over the valley. A truly lovely location. BTW—I am trying to locate a group of belly dancers who might lend an air of authenticity to the celebration. If you know of one, please tell me. Our customers have consistently been the BEST source of information and help. Here's what we know so far: We'll limit the number of reservations to 30; the cost will remain at $60/ person and include several generous wine pours; we already have folks coming from afar and reservations could fill up quickly; we'll start about 6pm. As it is the day after the solstice, the sun will set late and the twilight will be lengthy. It should be a magical environment. We will try to make sure we provide plenty of options for those who choose to restrict their diets. If you have restrictions, make your reservation early and voice your needs. I can accommodate if I know the needs in plenty of time. The last Flavor Excursion was a blast but limited to 20 people. We have expanded our capability here but can't really go beyond that at this point. Please get your reservation in early so we can begin to predict our needs.

This week we are serving Red Snapper with Romesco Sauce at dinner. I will only buy red snapper from a known source as it is the most commonly mislabeled and fraudulently advertised fish on the market today. When properly sourced it is a succulent, mild-flavored fish option. It is sustainably wild-harvested from the Gulf of Mexico and the southeastern United States. I am pairing it with a sauce from Spain called Romesco Sauce. This dish's sauce was created by the fishermen of northeastern Spain to pair with local catches. It is made from fire-roasted sweet red peppers, ground almonds, olive oil, tomatoes and yellow onions and garlic. The flavor is rich, though mild. We'll pair the 6-8 ounce fillets with a bed of couscous, sugar snap peas, leeks, sweet red peppers and oven roasted garlic. I think you are in for a treat. We'll have 10 pounds of the fillets to take us through the week. Reserve early. $16.99 with side salad.

The other Flavor Journey this week is a preview of the flavors of Morocco with chicken. The dish is called Djej Besla and is made of stewed onions, chicken and preserved lemons. Additional seasonings include turmeric, cumin, paprika, saffron and fresh cilantro. I'll serve it over couscous and add eggplant with charmoula as the side dish. The chicken is marinated in the sauce before cooking and is rich and flavorful. The eggplant charmoula is also traditional and made using a seasoning that includes garlic, paprika, cumin, fresh cilantro and parsley plus lemon juice. The eggplant is double cooked for tenderness and actually served at room temperature. $13.99 with side salad.

On Monday Vincent shared his culinary creativity by making a vegetarian sofritto seasoned potato, black bean and corn burrito. I love that each of the A team has now created their own flavor expressions. Amy, Vincent and Drew are each very important in maintaining our day-to-day equilibrium. To them go the responsibilities for all the daily routine preparations that make preparing your meals a smooth operation. Great job, guys! 

I am delighted to announce we now have access to some local grass-fed beef. We'll introduce it initially as the sandwich of the week—1/4 pound burgers on ciabatta with chipotle mayonnaise, queso fresco, guacamole, salsa and sprouts. It'll be served with a side for $7.79. The meat has been tested out at 95% lean. The shrinkage will be very minimal and the flavor bountiful. If you like grass-fed beef you won't find any better. If you find you like having this option we'll introduce more beef options.

We would love to serve lots of locally raised meats but the challenge has been threefold. Either the cost is really high, the minimum quantity too large for our storage capabilities or finding a processing plant that can reliably get an inspector. At this point, to get meat that can be inspected and therefore legal to serve, we have to take the animals to Cabool or Norwood. That's a trek and the fuel costs are not ignorable. Really good locally raised,  pastured pork has been available, but the cost is outside the realm of what most of our customers are willing to pay. So, as always, it seems to be a juggling challenge of priorities. Feel free to voice your preferences so we know what to be looking out for. If you hear of a processor/ butchering plant that has easier access to inspectors please let me know. Fortunately the hurdles for using local produce are nonexistent. 

Wednesday our pesto pizza with fresh mozzarella, roasted red peppers, red onions, and kalamata olives will be served with a side salad for $7.99

Thursday the special will be Thai sweet chili salad with chicken. Normally $6.29 plus $2.49 for the chicken; we'll discount the whole shebang for $7.99. This new salad that is available every day has gotten lots of new fans. Check it out.

Friday I'll bring out the crepes. We have fresh tarragon and rosemary now and that works beautifully with mushrooms and chicken plus a light sour cream/ white wine sauce. I'll add a side of sugar snap peas. $7.99 

We hope you'll join us for lunches as well as dinners. I couldn't be more pleased with the way business has picked up. Bringing in your friends and loved ones keeps things alive for us. We love meeting your family members and enjoy learning about their exploits and accomplishments. 

This time of year brings on lots of good news on that front. This week our male grandchildren have big things happening. Andrew who just turned 10 has earned special awards in scouting that is enabling him to crossover from Webelos to Scouts a year earlier than is normal. Our elder grandson is having his board of review this week with the expectation of being approved for his Eagle Scout. He has just turned 14 and already has built a climbing wall for a local grade school to assist the kids in learning to climb safely over boulders. Since he is in Clearwater, FL where there are almost no boulders, much less rock faces, teaching these skills to kids is a challenge. We are so very proud of our grandkids even though we seldom get to see them face to face.

Have a glorious week. I look forward to seeing your smiling face.
~~ 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

Seasonal shuffle

As we pass into the phase of the year that provides the hope of autumnal weather, we are making shifts in manpower as our staff return to school. Ashley returns to nursing school for her last year; Stephan and Corey return to their last year of high school. We'll be able to retain the boys on a more part-time basis, but will miss their happy banter. Ashley will continue to wait tables on Tuesdays and Fridays. At lunch Paula joins us in the pit. This little bundle of energy is a joy to work with and seems to understand our "if it isn't fun, fix it" concept of work. While much may be happening while preparing your meals, seriousness is not a part of it. Paula will be helping to get out beverages and taking food out to tables. We continue to tweak our delivery for speed and quality. We're beginning to get this learning curve thing down to a manageable level.

You may have noticed that our volume seems to be picking up. We couldn't be more delighted. Fortunately it has, thus far, happened at a speed we can adjust to. We're working with four folks in the "pit." Jon takes your order and gets things rolling. Paula gets your beverages going. Rick handles anything that needs grilling or cooking. I handle the salad end of things. Between us we are getting pretty fast. We are extremely aware that your time at lunch is limited and know that no matter how good the food is, if you don't have time to eat it, we're missing the boat.

We're making a strategy change regarding desserts at lunch. The wonderful grilled desserts take staff focus and sadly, interupt the rhythmn of delivery. Therefore, we'll be offering desserts that allow for instant delivery at lunch. These might include pies, cakes, or even tarts. But it'll be a dessert that can be plated with very little extra effort. We'll still make and serve the more spectacular grilled desserts but only at night. In fact, on Friday evenings we'll probably eventually dedicate a single staff member to preparing these gems. But don't go thinking that the lunch desserts will be a of lesser level. For example, on the lunch menu of desserts this week is a fresh fig tart. It is made with a pastry tart crust, pastry cream (thick egg custard) and simmered fresh Brown Turkey figs, topped with a brandy infused whipped cream and crumbled pistacios. Oh my!

Another dessert I am looking forward to presenting is a Double Chocolate Tart with Candied Hazelnuts and Black Pepper Ice Cream. You've been clamouring for chocolate—well, here you go. That is the item in the image above.  I've also got a Ricotta cheesecake we'll offer later in the week. All of these SHOULD be available at lunch. We'll hold back the grilled pound cake and fruits until dinner time. As you may have noted, we are making most of our own ice creams these days. This allows for more interesting combinations, fewer undesirable ingredients (like high fructose corn syrup), and the ability to be right on top of what is in season. How much fun is that? We've been doing so many desserts with egg yolks lately that we need a rash of egg white-laden desserts just to catch up. I am thinking meringues in the form of New Zealand's pavlovas, topped with fresh late season fruits and whipped cream. Probably next week. Can we skip lunch and go straight for the dessert?

Before I go into detail about this week's lunch and dinner specials, let me remind you of this week's Friday night entertainment. Vinny Ray will return with his 5 string electric violin along with Harry Styron on guitar. Vinny dazzled us last time playing wonderful jazz violin. A seasoned professional, Vinny is a past state fiddle champion. You can't help but move your body a bit while listening. As always, please tip them well. We want this caliber of musicians back and your tips are what help make that happen. Music will start about 6:30 pm. As always, there is no cover charge but we ask that you buy a meal or at least dessert.

So let's talk about the actual meals planned. We are trying out a new Trout Burger this week. It is made with rainbow trout and formed into a 5 oz. patty. We get it frozen from our purveyor and prepare it by grilling. It'll be paired with ciabatta, sea sauce, tomato and choice of sprouts or lettuce and served with a choice of sides. We have 20 servings and will serve all week, until gone. If you like it enough, we'll put it on the menu. $7.50

Tuesday lunch will take advantage of the large stash of fresh veggies we have right now. We'll do a grilled veggie sandwich on grilled French bread. It'll have grilled eggplant, zucchini, onion, red bell pepper, yellow bell pepper, and snow peas. All will have been marinated in an olive oil herbal blend beforehand. The bread will have a lemon, dill mayonnaise sauce. We are not yet open for "meatless Monday" but you can start your Tuesday off meatless.  $6.99

Wednesday, Rick will make a turkey and veggie lasagna. It'll have all the flavors you expect plus be a bit healthier. In addition to the ground turkey, you'll find zucchini, onions, ricotta, mozzarella and an inhouse marinara sauce. You may have it with a side salad or another side option. $6.99

Thursday we'll bring back the crowd and staff favorite—chicken mole tacos. We make the chile sauce from scratch using dried chilis, then blend in pepitas, chocolate and the rest of the fresh ingredients. This is very time consuming and as authentic as it comes. IF I can manage to get it right, we'll make our own corn tortillas. There is a bit of a learning curve there. We'll serve it all with a lime cilantro slaw and Spanish rice. $7.50

Friday I'll be making pesto pizzas. We'll take our local organic basil and create pesto. Then we'll smear it on our in-house pizzas blanks, top it with FRESH mozzarella, carmelized onions, Juliet tomatoes, and shitake mushrooms. I'll serve it with a side salad for $7.50. Add wood-fired chicken for 50 cents.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ And now for the dinner specials~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Flavor journey this week has its origins in the US south—Glazed pork shoulder. We'll take pork shoulder and bake it at a low temperature until it is nearly melting. Then we'll glaze it, serve it with a mustard green base, lima bean salad and baked fan potatoes. You'll also get a side salad to start. This may not immediately be on your flavor radar, but I invite you to stretch your palate and give it a taste. $10.99

I've been having some fun playing with the fresh pastas. Mixed seafood medley on fresh pasta with stir-fried veggies in a light cream sauce.This week I'll make a fresh egg pasta and top it with lots of currently in-season vegetables plus a medley of mixed seafood. The veggies will include tomatoes, green onions, zucchini, shitakes, snow peas and mung sprouts plus basil, white wine, cream and parmesan. The technique is most similar to the shrimp pasta, but with more variety of shellfish. The seafood will include shrimp, scallops, octopus, squid and clams. $15.99/ double seafood add $6.

Each week we meet more and more friendly local folk. I am humbled by how we have continued to grow. As we reach each new milestone, we are seeking ways to improve the quality of our service as well as the quality of our food. We are fortunate to have built an environment where we do get genuine timely feedback. We listen closely to your suggestions. They are not always right for us or our situation, but we do look at, not only the suggestions, but perhaps what might have prompted the suggestion. As we have grown we have gained some confidence in our ability to keep going. It feels really good. You have been there cheering us on and making sure we covered the basics all along the way. You are what makes what we do worthwhile. We love to see your smiling face! Thank you for being here and for sharing us with those you care about. We promise to treat them well.

~~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 

Volatile week ahead—better seek comfort food

The weather this week will be all over the temp and rain guage. We'll start out warmer than last week then plunge into the cooler ranges toward the end. Might even have to dodge some rain.  Sounds like time for foods that have some stability and comfort.

We are having some challenges in keeping out the flies with the screen doors. The wind blowing through tends to open the front door just enough to invite them in. Grrr. I have purchased an additonal spring and hope to tighten the existing one. Bear with us on that.

I've been looking for recipes that use edamame (fresh soy beans) in more ways than simply cooked in salted water. I have found an edamame hummus recipe that sounds quite interesting. I'll make it by mid-week for your appetizing pleasure. I'll serve it with sliced, toasted Romans.

Thank you, again, for your input on the surveys. The information you share gives us the umph we need to make this a destination you keep high on your priority list. It allows us to tweak your ideal scene without making expensive mistakes. We've been able to learn that the most frequently listened to radio stations of our customers are NPR and 88.1. We've also learned, over time, that the most common demographic of our customers is that they are well traveled. That tickles me, no end. It is those who have been to other places, tasted yummy foods and know what has been missing here, locally, that seem to appreciate what we do. Yeah!!!!

We'll start the week out with a French onion soup and salad special that will run all week. I even made some nice rolls to serve with it. Bruce makes the BEST French onion soup and he uses tons of onions. We'll top it with toasted croutons and parmesan rounds.

I have not done sushi in quite a while since the new Chinese buffet has done a pretty good job of that. But I have had several requests for sushi and will honor those requests. Monday I am doing spicy tuna rolls served with a cucumber/seaweed salad. It will come with a cup of soup (French onion) for $6.50

Tuesday Bruce will awe us with his hand-built tamales. This time he is going Italian with a sweet Italian sausage to stuff them, covered by his homemade marinara and rice. $6.50

Wednesday, the weather drops the temps and I think a classic beef stew is in order. Lots of beef, potatoes, carrots, onions in a rich broth, cooked until it falls apart. Paired with a small side salad and dinner roll for $6.50.

Thursday, the pizzas turn white with an alfredo sauce base topped with artichokes. With a side salad—$7.00

Friday, more comfort food. Grilled pork chops with garlic sauce, yellow squash casserole, fresh green beans and a side salad for $7.00

Desserts during the week will include a peach/nectarine galette (kind of a free-form tart) and a Boston Cream Pie made by me. Bruce has whipped up a new dessert based on the classic Bananas Foster. It is a layered vanilla pound cake with bananas foster-type filling and a cream cheese frosting. QUITE tasty!

Friday night will be an entertainment delight. Nancy Fohn will take the stage to sing songs from the Great American Songbook. A long-time music teacher who has taught in both Winona and West Plains, this gifted vocalist will strut her stuff accompanied on guitar by Jon Lumsden. I have heard them rehearsing and know they will provide a high level of entertainment.

I think the food Friday night should be just as exciting. We're definitely going on Flavor Journeys this week. It is time to give your taste-buds a travel treat.

We'll head south. The seafood entrée will be shrimp rellenos. They'll be served in little corn husk boats accompanied by a citrus-seasoned slaw, bacon-wrapped stuffed and grilled jalapenos, refried black beans and Spanish rice. Oh my! $12

The meat entrée will be another Indian dish—Chicken Saagwala. This spicy dish features lots of Indian spices but not too much heat. Key flavors include cinnamon, garam marsala, ginger, tumeric, garlic and cayenne. The main ingredients are chicken and spinach. This dish will be paired with Chapatis—a freshly made Indian flat bread, white rice and a salad called Kachumber which showcases tomatoes, cucumber and onion. You don't even need your passport. $12

The vegetarian entrée heads south, as well. It will be Sweet corn tamales with adobo sauce, tomato carpaccio with tomatillos, avocado and fresh herbs and classic white rice with plantains. $10

I highly suggest you each order something different and share! No charge for extra plates.

Overall, I think this will be a fun week. Please join us. Don't forget to give us a review on Yelp.com. We appreciate the input!
~~Susan