Simple plans for a busy week w/e December 8th

This is going to be an insane week! We have three catering gigs this week and another 3 next week. We are thrilled to be doing them, but they are demanding an extraordinary level of organization. Fortunately, I was able to learn a few things from last year's experience thus making the learning curve a bit smaller. One of the aspects I learned was to keep other things going on to a simple level.  With that lesson in mind, I am not going to complicate matters by adding a bunch of new foods this week. In fact, I am simply going to discount our usual menu items and treat them as our daily specials. It might not be as exciting on your end, but I am confident we'll still be ble to warm your belly and make you happy.

As the holidays get under way, I would be amiss if I didn't mention that we have gift certificates. What better way to get your friends and employees off to a healthy new year than to give them an opportunity to dine with us? Just to remind you of some of the gems that make us special—our breads are mostly made in house or to our specs by a local baker; we make all our own dressings; you can get a good variety of salads...even at dinner; we use real ingredients, not fake and no hydrogenated fats; we source locally and organically, when possible; we are locally owned; our staff really cares about your experience and we are a happy bunch that are quite pleased you have joined us. In other words...you matter! We can make out gift certificates for any amount while you wait.

I keep watching for the vultures to return to Thayer. They are late this year. I was just looking up last year's blog and for the Nov. 27th post I was remarking how over 500 of them had come in to roost. Hmmm. Perhaps the drought altered things. I'll keep you posted on this natural event! I know you are waiting with baited breath.

Another of our staff I'd like to introduce is Paula Mize. This little bundle of energy just keeps astounding me with her immense heart and warm friendliness. You are most likely to see her when she is refilling your glasses of beverages. When not hiding out behind the counter, she is jumping in on prepping or helping to catch up a mountain of dishes. She is also quite talented in other ways. She is, herself, a fabulous cook and she has tons of experience in floral design. Now when we handle a cater we can also do the flowers and tablescapes. I think of her as Serendipity! She is Rick's mom and came along when we needed someone to fill in for an ailing staff member. She has been here ever since, and we are delighted.

We have not had any live music lately. Part of the reason is that 2 of our most talented musicians work here and we have been so busy we can't easily let them off to play. Jon plays jazz guitar and Rick along with his musical partner Dustin Collins, plays lots of Celtic music on his guitar. We are missing the live music and hope to go into the new year with a lineup. We enjoyed Vinny Ray and his violin with Thom Hoglen on guitar. But it seems he has hit the road and he isn't available. If you know of quality musical talent, please have them check in with Jon for an audition.

Soups this week— Tuesday and Wednesday, Paula's Minestrone; Thursday and Friday, Tomato and Pancetta Soup. Pancetta is an Italian form of rolled ham.

Lunches~~
Tuesday~ Fish tacos with a side; usually $7.25/ only $6.75
Wednesday~ Carnitas with guacamole, salsa, sour cream and torillas chips; usually $7.75/ only $7.25
Thursday~ Equinox Salad; usually $6.99/ only $6.49
Friday~ Spinach salad with wood-fired salmon; usually $5.49 + $3.99/ only $5.49 + $3.49

Dinners~~
Featured Flavor Journey~ Chicken veggie pasta; lots of stir-fried winter vegetables plus chicken in a light creamy pesto sauce on linguine plus soup/salad $13.99
Featured seafood Wood-fired salmon with shallots, white wine, roasted red pepper sauce on penne pasta plus soup/salad $14.99

Note: these items are now regular items on our dinner menu.

As always, we thank you for your ongoing support. You have given us the opportunity to bring you foods we think you deserve—healthy, wholesome and made from scratch with real ingredients. As the crazy pace of the holiday season sweeps you along, we appreciate the moments you take to enjoy a lunch or dinner with friends and family at our cafe. Thank you for letting us be a part of that joy.

~~Susan

Importance of local sourcing



morels as they are found

Do you sometimes feel that your choices in food options are controlled by large food congolomerates? Unless you are sourcing your food locally, you are! Wish there were fresher ingredients? Shop locally! As the gardening season shapes up, you can make those choices now for what you want to see in your garden and on your table. If you grow your own plants from seed you can go so far as to enjoy heirloom varieties. Ever wonder why you don't see some of the more exotic varieties on the grocery shelves? It is primarily because those varieties are more tender. That translates to shorter shelf life and more loss due to shipping long distances. Therefore, you will most likely see the tender varieties in your own garden or the farmers' market. One of my first experiences with that was while living in Florida. While south Florida can grow cantaloupes year around, the variety "ambrosia" is not shipped. It has very deep ribs and a tender skin and bruises easily. But the flavor!!!! Wow! The flavor was significantly sweeter and MUCH juicier. The same thing happens here with tomatoes, peppers, peaches, melons, etc. 
By sourcing locally FIRST, you are investing in the local economy and keeping the money in the region. We are slowly building our local sources and hope to have a dedicated group of local suppliers who can, together, keep us in a fresh supply. Do you know any local chemical free growers? Will you be participating in the community garden? If so, please let me know when you have a bumper crop!  I'll be looking for fresh peas, spring onions, carrots, lettuces, spinach, herbs, peppers, squashes, melons, corn, etc. Many of those come later in the year and from many sources simultaneously. I am first supporting Maranatha Farm's organic produce. Mary and Skip have done much to help promote our business and I am delighted to use their produce as much as we can. They have many long-time customers who get their orders as a first priority. I totally understand that and realize we'll have to look beyond them as a supplier, at times. That's where you might help. Please keep your eyes open for such.

Right now I would love to get my hands on local fiddleheads (fern fronds just as they come out of the ground), local morels and other edible mushrooms (must be clearly edible varieties), pea shoots (the new plants' fresh sprouts) and other wild local foods and herbs. Foragers? START!!!!

As we move into the salad seasons and away from the soup seasons, we'll be expanding your salad options and phasing out the hot soups. Last week we served real Caesar salads. If you think Caesar dressing is creamy and comes from a bottle, you haven't experienced the real deal. In actual fact, the real Caesar dressing contains fresh egg, worchestershire, mustard, wine vinegar and lemon juice and very little else. The croutons are made fresh from the oil the garlic is toasted in. To that are added anchovies and capers. Shaved parmesan  and garlic chips top it all. We are adding it to our everyday menu. It will be available alone, or with wood-fired chicken, wood-fired wild caught Alaskan salmon, wood-fired gulf shrimp or even wood-fired fresh Rockbridge trout.

We are also putting the spinach salad back on the menu. Maranatha Farm's organic spinach is the best place to start. To that we are adding hard-boiled local free-range eggs, red onion, roasted red peppers (we do our own), cajun seasoned pecans and feta. The dressing is a sesame vinaigrette or choose another favorite from our in-house made dressings. Like on the Caesar salad, you can add wood-fired chicken, wood-fired salmon, wood-fired trout or wood-fired shrimp. Holy Moly! We are having fun now!

The Roman Sandwich I added a couple of weeks ago has been well received. We have increased the volume of meat and added a larger size. The larger one gets 1.5 times the meat of the smaller one. In case you missed it, we are making a Roman bun that has chopped onion baked into it. We toast it, add coarse mustard, cheddar, Monterray jack, ham, hard salami and genoa salami. That goes into the toaster oven. When it comes out we add chopped black olives, tomato and spicy sprouts. They are served with a bag of potato chips. I think you will like it. Several people have told me it is their new favorite.

I am truly excited to add Rockbridge Trout Ranch to our list of local suppliers. Often, farm-raised means serious compromises are made in the rearing of the fish. Not so at Rockbridge. Each egg is hand fertilized and the fish are hand fed with high quality feed. The trout ranchers really brag about the quality of the feed they provide. As the fry grow, their home then becomes Spring Creek where they are getting fresh water constantly. We got our first order in time to serve it Friday night. Eight orders sold out by 6:15. I missed out getting to eat some of  the first batch. We cooked more at home. The trout was the most tender I have ever had. We took the rest of our order of 20 fillets and wood-fired them with the salmon, chicken, tilapia and shrimp. I think you will be over-joyed to add this taste sensation to your palate.

Okay—now we are OVER THE TOP!!! How about that wood-fired trout on the Roman bun with wasabi mayonnaise, tomato and spicy sprouts. Yeowza!  $7.50 with choice of chips or fruit.

Vegetarians take note!! We are going to add a dish of brown rice and wood-fired portabellas with stir fried fresh veggies to the menu. The only salt will be that in the rice. We'll provide raw soy sauce, too. You can add tofu for a bit more protein. Meat-eaters may wish to add the wood-fired options—chicken, salmon, trout or shrimp. $5.99/ tofu add .75/chicken add 2.50/shrimp or salmon add 3.50/trout add 4.00

This week's flavor journeys—
Monday~ stir-fried chicken with pineapple, pine nuts and mung sprouts over brown rice.$6.25 Soup: chicken noodle 3.49/4.99/5.59 Salad: Spinach and Caesar (see above)

Tuesday~ It's Mardi Gras!!!!! Shrimp and grits plus side of fruit $6.25   Also Caribbean tamales $6.25 Soup~Red Beans and rice with boudin sausage(of course) 3.49/4.99/5.59  Salad: Spinach and Caesar (see above)

Wednesday~Egg Salad Sandwich—local free-range eggs star in this mixture. We add tomato and sprouts and a side of fresh fruit. $6.25 Soup~Red beans and rice.Salad: Spinach and Caesar (see above)

Thursday~Vegetable quiche—onion, zucchini, tomato, red pepper w/side of fruit 6.25 Soup~Portabella/Brie 3.49/4.99/5.59 Salad: Spinach and Caesar (see above)

Friday~Lunch—Wood-fired trout & marscapone omelet with side of fruit $6.75 Salad: Spinach and Caesar (see above) Dinner—Entree#1 Pan-fried trout and oven-roasted potatoes with side salad $12.00; Entree # 2 Chicken Pasta Alfredo with side salad and bread  $10.00

Desserts this week—
            Angel food cake with fresh strawberries and whipped cream   $4
            Key Lime Pie $4
            Pavlova with fresh fruit and whipped cream $4
Have a lovely week. We look forward to seeing you in our space.

               
              
 
               


  






September 7-10 Soup weather at last!

First of all-- we are closed this Monday for Labor Day.

Willow Mountain Mushroom's Portabells

Finally! The weather has calmed down a bit and one can once again confront a bowl of soup. I have those gorgeous portabella mushrooms from Willow Mountain Mushrooms and plan a portabella & brie bisque. A bisque is usually thickened with pureed rice instead of flour--so it is gluten free. The portabellas, as I mentioned last week, were the freshest I have ever seen. This week I'll saute them in butter and olive oil and a touch of white wine ( the alcohol evaporates out during cooking). The brie is a very mild cheese that melts nicely. There will be sauteed onions and garlic plus a touch of parsley and tarragon (from my garden). Simple pure pleasure. This is a thick creamy soup with a light cheese flavor- but not gloppy cheesy. Served with crackers and roasted red pepper tapenade. My tepanade is a concoction of chopped black olives, roasted red peppers, garlic, capers, olive oil and lemon juice. It often includes anchovies-- but not this batch.   Oh Yum!

I am surveying for your favorite soups. I am not using canned or powdered bases. Everything is from scratch. So speak up and get your favorite in the line-up. NO MSG!!!!!!

The sandwich--Grilled Black Forest ham and cheddar. This is a grilled sandwich. Your choice of bread and dressing. I am adding a cranberry horseradish sauce to dressing the line-up for your pleasure.  Served with seasonal fruit salad-- which right now is cantaloupe with blueberries.

The salad--Spinach salad with bacon, hard boiled egg (real farm eggs), red onion, mushroom, tomato, roasted red pepper &; grated mozzarella with glazed pecans and a sweet and sour hot bacon dressing. Served with crackers and roasted red pepper tapenade.

Good news for quesadilla fans! One of our most popular items has been the chicken quesadilla. I am increasing the size of the tortilla-- so you'll get a bigger serving. 10" instead of 8". You math wizards-- tell me how much larger that is-- keeping in mind it is a circle. Let's see-- you increase the diameter by 25%...you still get guacamole, salsa and sour cream on the side. Price remains the same. Double the chicken for $1 more.

Are you having an office meeting? Call in the day before and we'll have everybody's order ready to cart off right on time. We LOVE LOVE LOVE having office orders. Call in the day ahead and we'll even throw in free batch of cookies.

The umbrellas are in and many diners took advantage of the lovely weather and shady tables. I absolutely love to look out of my cooking spot and see happy diners enjoying the courtyard, good food and each other's company. It is totally ok to linger as long as other diners are not awaiting tables.

The community table is now available for those who wish to add company while dining.

Because it is outdoor dining, it is also pet friendly. If you bring along your dog all I ask is that you are considerate of others and have your pet leashed and under your control. I have been a dog owner for most of my life and know how seldom pets are welcome in dining areas. Need water? --no problem. Our itty bitty birdbath is just the right height.