Weekending Feb 2nd-Ground Hog's day, already!

We have been blessed so far with a nicely mild winter. I know. I just probably jinxed us. But I have already heard rumors of the occasional brave narcissus raising its head. The forsythias are beginning to put their energies toward buds. It can't be too long. However, I am still awaiting the true harbinger of spring--the eau de skunk.

A couple of week's ago I had the opportunity to take a good hard look at where I really wanted to take our cafe. I shared many of my thoughts with you. I am happy to say that, without any delay what-so-ever, some new talent made a point of reaching out to me. While we are still establishing just what the roles will be, I am confident that I now have the staff to make those goals happen. I have always wanted this game to be much more than what I personally could make happen. I love treating this as a happy game and I am loving having others around me who want to play this game, as well. It is WAY more fun to conspire with others to create a game plan. I am looking forward to mining those talents and plugging them into the direction we are going. Please welcome the new faces. I'll introduce them to you in the next few weeks via this blog.

The opportunity to bring in the tuna last week went really well. Thank you for supporting us by ordering it. We sold out pretty darn fast. I had lovely feedback. Thank you.  By the way—if you'd like to tell the world how we are doing, please feel free to leave comments on our Facebook page. In fact, if you'll "like" us you'll automatically get notified when we have updates on the menu.

There are just a few slots left available for the Filipino Flavor Excursion. While there are still a couple of things to be finalized I can tell you that there will be 5-6 courses with 5 wine pours and one specialty beverage.The cost is $60 per person including the wines. The date is Saturday, February 23rd at 6 pm.

I have had several requests for a Valentine's dinner. I am still putting the menu together, but yes, we will do a special dinner. Valentine's Day falls on a Thursday so we'll be open that night, anyway and the full menu should be available. I would encourage reservations.We are also planning on having a photographer on hand in case you'd like your "valentines" photo taken. That will be fun. I'll try to post the special dinner menu later this week.

Several people have requested that we do more beef items at dinner. This week the "Flavor Journey" will take us to Russia for Beef Stroganoff. This dish, whose name most likely was chosen to honor the famous Stroganov family in the 1860's, has many variations. After the fall of  Czarist Russia  it was served in the upscale hotels of China. Americans were introduced to it by returning servicemen in the pre-communist era in China and following the second world war. As a family dish it probably was at its hey day  in the 1950s. Many of you probably have fond memories of being served it by your grandmothers. Nowadays it is most often made with a good cut of beef cut into either skinny strips or small bites. Those pieces are seared and sautéed with onions and mushrooms. We'll serve it over egg noodles but in Russia it is most typically served over what we would call "shoe string potatoes".  The creamy sauce has a characteristic bite brought on by the use of a bit of sour cream.  I'll serve it over egg noodles plus a braised red cabbage and pan-roasted broccoli. Includes soup or salad. $13.99 Available as of Tuesday evening

The seafood entrée will be a combination dinner of a crab cake and grilled shrimp. The crab cake will be made with back-fin crab meat, fresh herbal seasonings, egg, mustard and just enough panko breadcrumbs to bind it together. I'll top it with a roasted red pepper coulis. That is a thick sauce made with red peppers and onions that have been sautéed until tender and sweet and puréed.  Also I'll have a skewer of marinated shrimp and pineapple served with a coconut curry sauce and served over a bed of quinoa mixed with parsley, cucumber, craisins, almonds and snowpeas. Includes soup or salad. $15.99. Available as of Wednesday evening.

~~Lunch Specials~~

Tuesday~ California rolls( real crab meat) Miso soup, cucumber-wakame (seaweed) salad $7.95

Wednesday~ Antipasto salad (if it's Italian, it is in it) $7.75

Thursday~ Pork tamales with salsa verdes and Spanish rice $7.75

Friday~ Beef empanadas with black beans and tostones (fried plantains) $7.75

Flavor journey~ Beef Stroganoff over egg noodles with braised red cabbage and pan roasted broccoli $13.99 Tuesday- Friday

Seafood Entrée~ Crab cake plus grilled shrimp with pineapple, atop a quinoa pilaf.$15.99 Wednesday-Friday.

I hope you have a glorious week. Watch for fresh plantings in the pots outside. I am itching to get my fingers in the soil; even if only a pot. We've already got pea shoots started and I'll get chives, parsley and oregano going ASAP. As always we delight in hearing about your family happenings, food wants and silly jokes.

See ya!!!

~~Susan

Arrrgh! Time for some frivolity

As we move into the week, we'll be noting that we are approaching the equinox—one of 2 days a year where the days and nights are the same length. While driving to West Plains from Thayer, the sun comes up in the middle of the road on the equinox right in front of the racetrack. The road there has become the measuring device that gives me a chance to step back from the nuances of the days changing length and enables me to see just where we are in the scheme of things solar. Now the sun will be coming up more to the south of the road. When you are in route to work on Friday, note the location of the sunrise.  It will be just one day off of the equinox. Noting the sunset will also give you a similar indicator of where we are in our astral traversing.

Last week many of you asked me about the flowers we had on the tables. Those were "rain lilies." They popped up overnight after the nice long rain we got a week ago. They have no leaves I have been able to find—now or in the spring when the surprise lilies get their leaves. I always forget they are there until a good late summer rain. Then—a pleasant morning surprise. They are my harbinger of autumn just as the skunks are my harbinger of spring. Changes are afoot just after.

Wednesday brings us "Talk Like a Pirate Day." That is just the level of foolishness we are in need of. You'll see us sporting pirate motifs and talking funny all day. We might even have a few pirate jokes for you. One silly change you can make for a day or two, mostly to entertain yourself, is to change your facebook language to Pirate English. At the very bottom of your facebook page is the language button. Select English. Then, within the English options,  select Pirate. It is silly, fun, and easy to switch back.

After 2 weeks of trying it out, I am pleased to announce that the changes we made on Friday nights in the kitchen are working. I was afraid we had maxxed out the number of folks I could serve in a timely manner on Friday nights. We have streamlined a thing or two, put major components within easy reach, reduced the foot traffic in the pit, moved all salad and dessert operations to the back, kept the beverage service in easy reach of servers and worked out a better system for plating. These were all simply logistical efforts that have enabled me to focus on getting the entrées out hot and with a shorter wait by the customer. No shortcuts on quality have been taken and no additional staff needed. We did, however, add smiling Paula to Friday nights to help with hostessing, keeping glasses full, taking empty plates off tables and expediting food going out. Our small kitchen has limits of delivery and trying to find ways to max it out is a challenge. After this, though, we may have to get more defined in the reservations we make, with definite times staggered more evenly. Right now everyone can arrive at the same time and it makes it tough to get a smooth flow. Just another one of the learning curve items that we are discovering as we go along. I must be getting soooo smart. There sure seems to be a lot to absorb and work out.

We had planned on opening for Monday lunches. We still plan to, but there has been a delay. Rick is the main person who will be in charge of the prep and delivery on Mondays at lunch. He has been suffering recently from a non-ending level of pain in his neck and shoulders. While this is going on, we are not going to over-burden him with this higher work load. Please bear with us and know we have listened to you and know you want a Monday lunch option. Jon and I are physically at the maximum we can handle, currently. With the exception of a few caters, any expansion will have to involve those young kids we hire. So we await a healing.

Soup season is now in full swing. We'll strive to keep it available at all times. The varieties will flucuate. This week we'll start out with "caldo con queso y pollo." In English, this translates to "soup with cheese and chicken." I'll be taking garlic, onions, and fire-roasted Hatch peppers and sautéing them until soft and juicy. Then we'll add in chicken broth, poached chicken and cream, adjust the seasoning and add Monterey jack cheese to finish. Later in the week we'll start some onions for a French onion soup. Those get caramelized for half a day. This fall we are separating out our chilies from the soups. The cost of ingredients is usually quite a bit higher on the chilies and we need to charge for them as entrées instead of soups or add-ons.

An example of this is that the white chicken chili we'll serve on Wednesday (Arrrrgh), we'll make as an entrée and offer with a side salad or other side option. About that chili, we start the night before with white navy beans soaking overnight. The Hatch peppers (mild) will have a prominant role in the flavor profile. We use our wood-fired chicken in this recipe which gives it a full smokey essence. I'll serve it with cornbread or roll.

Whenever I take on a cuisine that is often created in other restaurants, I want to do something fairly unique. I have no interest in competing with what other local restaurants are serving in a head-to-head match-up of dishes. Therefore, I most often will take a more authentic, home-based version of a dish and go from there. This week were are serving beef fajitas as one of our dinner choices—the Flavor Journey, in fact. So what is going to make mine differ from the local Mexican restaurant's version? Well, first of all, we are wood-firing dry-rubbed flank steak to give it a smokey essence. The veggies we'll serve it with are freshly grilled onions, red and green bell peppers, Hatch peppers, local yellow squash and fresh jalapenos. It won't be terribly hot but it will be flavorful. We are now using a whole-grain tortilla for our quesadillas and may try to use them for this, as well. You'll get all the side fixin's like guacamole, sour cream, pico de gallo, cilantro, lettuce and sprouts, plus lime as well as our own seasoned black beans. We can even serve it with a cold beer or a glass of sangria. Available Tuesday- Friday.

The seafood entrée this week is our crab cakes. I take a special pride in making these. They are held together with as little binding as possible and are quite flavorful. There is no such thing as fresh crab unless you are cooking live crab, as most of the boats cook the crab while still at sea and package it before landing. We recently did a head-to-head tasting comparing the various crab options locally available. By far and away the back-fin crab we got from our purveyor was better tasting than the lump or claw available through the grocery stores. Even though "lump" is considered the best tasting universally, the local option had a chemically aftertaste that was distracting and made it not worth using. Each serving is 2 cakes. They will be accompanied by a fresh butternut squash ravioli. Yep. I'll be making fresh sage pasta and stuffing it with butternut squash. Also I'll serve it with fresh, creamy garlic spinach. You can't get much more autumn-y than that. They will be available from Wednesday until Friday nights. As always, it'll have a salad, or this time of year, you may choose soup.

I am retiring the Solstice Salad this week. It has had a nice run. The new Equinox Salad will take its place. As with my all my seasonal salads, it takes its cue from what are seasonally special ingredients. The arugula and spinach return as a base. I love the spicy, peppery flavor the cool-weather arugula gives. To that base we'll add apples and pears, crispy bacon, feta, red onion, roasted red bell pepper, wood-fired chicken and a hot bacon dressing. It'll make its debut on Thursday. After Thursday, it'll be available all week until the next solstice in late December.

Friday's lunch brings back one of the crowd favorites—creamy chicken enchiladas. This recipe uses fresh spinach, mild Hatch peppers, lots of chicken, corn tortillas and Monterey jack cheese—gluten free! You'll get 2, plus black beans, Spanish rice and a whole lotta love. I expect to have 12 servings. Call in your order to reserve.

Now let's address desserts. You've embraced the grilled poundcake with grilled fresh fruits and our in-house vanilla ice cream. I have pavlovas, which are air-filled crisp meringues, topped with sautéed cinnamony peaches and pears, brown sugar-frosted pecans and finished with a brandied whipped cream. Also, this week, French Silk Pie. This creamy chocolate goodness is devine. The grilled poundcake is night-time only. The pie and pavlovas are anytime.

So in a condensed form~~(more details; see above text)
Tuesday~ Trout burgers are 50 cents off. These are proving quite popular. We serve these seasoned trout patties with Rick's lemon dill mayonnaise, tomato and sprouts on grilled ciabatta. It'll come with a side. Usually $7.50—Tuesday $7.
Wednesday~White chicken chili with side salad. $6.99
Thursday~Equinox Salad. $6.99
Friday~ Creamy chicken  enchiladas $7.50

Flavor journey~ Beef fajitas with grilled bell peppers, Hatch peppers, onions, yellow squash, and jalapenos. $12.99

Seafood entrée~Crab cakes with creamy garlic spinach and fresh butternut squash ravioli. $14.99

I hope this week finds you moving forward with your goals and optimistic about your future. Have a happy one!

~~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