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

September 13-17 Fish Tacos are back!

What a crazy week last week was. Holidays and non-stop rain do not a busy week make. What, to many, may have seemed a depressingly slow week turned out to be a week where we had time to really look down the road at our goals. We were able to put some things into perspective and prioritize some actions. I can give you more details later. But right now, let's move on to what you really care about-- this week's specials.

our courtyard before we got the umbrellas for the bigger tables

They may each seem familiar as we have featured them at different times over the last few weeks.

One of our most popular specials were the fish tacos. Well, they are back this week. To those who haven't tried them, they are on soft corn torillas and you get 2. We wood-fire tilapia and finish it with creole seasoning. Kicky! Then we top it with a slaw that has lime, chili, and cilantro as major flavor contributors. We sold out each day we made them. So if you know you want them, get your call in early in the day ...or even a day ahead to reserve your serving.

The soup is Tom Ka Kai. You may know this as Thai coconut chicken soup. This fairly light weight soup, by that I mean it isn't thick and heavy, has a (home made) chicken broth plus lots of shredded chicken, ginger, cilantro, onion, carrot, bell pepper & lemon along with coconut milk which gives it a distinctly Asian slant. We trotted this out our first week when it was 100F. It was sadly overlooked as NO ONE was thinking soup that week. Hopefully there are a few of you ready to think soup again. If I judge by last week, as slow as it was, you are definitely thinking soup.

The third special is a return of the Anti-pasto salad. This is a very dense salad that will fill you right up. Beginning with chopped Romaine, we add provolone, woodfired chicken, cabicola and pancetta (seasoned Italian hams), Kalamata olives, roasted red peppers, bell pepper, red onion, tomato, artichoke hearts, mushrooms, pasta, basil and parlsey. It is tossed with a dressing based on a lemon juice/ olive oil mixture seasoned with oregano, mustard and worchestershire. This is almost an extreme salad and it generated lots of positve comments the week we introduced it. I will serve the tapenade with it as well along with a few crackers.

Now back to long term plans and priorities--

Many of you asked us what we plan to do come winter. Judging by how many of you stayed inside during the non-stop rain last week, this is a valid question. We have very mixed feelings about this. You do know that there are food wagons operating all winter in Chicago and Boston and NYC. Of course, those guys are always bragging about not being weather wimps. Over the years I have, myself, become a weather wimp. Gone are the days when  I am willing to battle the elements-- especially if it risks my life. So that means, if it is icy we will not be there. We live 25 miles down US 63 and parts are quite hilly.

We would like to move to a permanent inside location but we are not in the position to further stick our necks out on much higher rent. We figure we have until the beginning of November to build our customer base as quickly as we can. Hopefully, we'll have you hooked by then and willing to face the elements for  a lunch that really satisfies. If you can tough it out with us through the winter months, we think we can be in a better position by spring to make changes.  That's the plan as of this week, anyway.

We've always been dreamers. Both of us are active artists; me-fiber, Jon- jazz guitar, so dreaming is a foundation of our beingness. But we've become much more realists in the last few years, too. This tends to soften our momentum but not determination toward our goals. We are far more cautious that we used to be.
Aah, age!

August 24-28 Gazpacho shooters, fish tacos, quinoa tabbuleh

August 24-28

Here we are beginning our 4th week at this game. We are really enjoying connecting up with people in the day-to-day course of business. For the last several years Jon has been interacting with the public primarily via telephone or internet. As a fiber artist in my other life, I would often spend many hours happily alone followed by weekends of meeting thousands of people at fine art shows. So this adventure has quite a different pace from our recent past.


As scary as this is, we are still having fun. I did get a couple of bad reviews on a thing or two and while it upsets me that anyone was less than pleased, I am delighted to get the feedback. I am not here to feed my ego. I am here to feed you. So I need to know what you like and what you didn’t. If something should fall short of your expectation—I want to know about it!!! Now the good news—I was stunned this week to have received phone calls from several of you raving about my specials. Score!!!!!!


On a personal satisfaction level, it is pure joy for me to see how quickly we have developed multiple repeat customers. As absolutely terrible as I am at remembering names when needed, I am actually beginning to remember customer names and preferences. It is a fun game to guess whose order it is by what has been requested. I know—silly grown-ups!!!


This week we finally found some new chairs!!!! One of our tables now sports an umbrella, and most of my plants from my deck at home are now in the courtyard. Several have ripening peppers and a good part of my basil and rosemary is coming from the garden on premises.


Mary Badiny has had a banner year in banana peppers. So I am working with her to find recipes that use them in large quantities. My first special of this sort will be a roasted banana pepper gazpacho shooter. The photo is those peppers before roasting. Aren't they beautiful!


These mild peppers have a lovely flavor—even better roasted. The skins and seeds are removed and the remaining peppers are blended with garlic, tomatoes, parsley, broth and lots of cucumber. It is very light, cool and refreshing without being overpowering in flavor. I know for many of you, gazpacho is not on your palette list. That is why I am producing them as shooters. You can give them a test drive in a 3 oz. serving for only $1.50.

My hope is that you’ll be willing to let me take you on flavor adventures. Last week we were largely in Italy with the Antipasto Salad (which we sold a ton of) and the Chicken Pesto Sandwich (that we sold even more of.) Gazpacho is primarily from Spain while the fish tacos are more of a Western hemisphere concoction and then we are back again in the Middle East for the tabbuleh.


As the week progresses, the weather will become more amenable for dining. We hope you’ll join us.


My sandwich special—Blackened tilapia tacos with chili lime slaw served on soft corn tortillas (you get 2). You may have noticed lots of hoopla lately surrounding restaurants serving fish tacos. Nationally they are hitting their stride. Eleven years ago we were eating them with gusto in Florida. There are several versions out there, but my favorite version has the tilapia marinated in a Creole seasoning and then cooked over a wood fired grill. They are finished off in the kitchen by a quick warm up and a squeeze of fresh lime. The wraps are a double layer of corn tortilla. Sharing the space is a chili lime slaw. Slaw means it starts with cabbage. Instead of being sweet or tart, this slaw has a very fresh taste with a lime kicker.




My salad special—Quinoa Tabbuleh with wood-fired chicken, grilled eggplant and portabellas. This dish is gluten free because the quinoa is being used instead of the usual wheat. Quinoa (pronounced keen’- wah) is a grain that is vastly overlooked. It has a high protein content and is very flavorful. If you like couscous, you’ll enjoy this. If you haven’t tasted it before and are curious—please ask for a sample!!!!!! I would be delighted to expand your palette range by sharing a free sample with you. If you are vegetarian, it can be ordered without the chicken. We are trying out a new grower-- Willow Mountain Mushrooms from Tecumseh, MO. We expect they will be providing us with portabella and crimini mushrooms regularly. With their sourcing we may be able to explore the flavors of oyster mushrooms and other more exotic varieties—all grown under the healthiest conditions possible and available to you for purchase at http://www.willowmountainmushrooms.com/.


Special event in our courtyard. Last spring, during a time when I was exploring income options, I met Donna Brown. We were both working for the U.S Census. In our various conversations I learned that her dream was to get her book published and out into the world. I find it very exciting to know people’s dreams and I loved hearing hers. Recently Donna contacted me to tell me that she had, indeed, self published her historical whodunit—“When God Turned His Head” and was using her pen name Cygnet Brown. The books are just being delivered from the printer. To celebrate we are hosting a book signing Saturday morning, August 28th at 9:00am- 11:00am. Jon and I will prepare a complimentary continental breakfast with pastries and fruit and provide coffee and tea. This is a free event open to the public. You are most definitely invited. Help us launch this new book with all the excitement it deserves!!!

Bring along a new customer and you both get $1 off your meal.


Schedule change—We’ve tried doing Saturdays but never served more than half a dozen meals per day. So we are going to give that up after next Saturday. We would rather be there when you are more likely to want us—during the work week. So after Labor Day we will open on Mondays and give that a try. It may be that Monday is just as dead as Saturday. If so, we’ll adjust. Tuesday – Friday is safe.


Jon and I both thank you for giving us a chance to share our dream with you. You make this happen and our relationship is a treasured one. Please join us again this week and take your next taste voyage—perhaps to places you’ve never been before. The courtyard should be comfortable and you can stock up on your vitamin D without discomfort. See you this week!