w/e August 10 Starting year number FOUR!

It is hard to believe that this time three years ago it was the hottest week of the year. Jon and I were scared and we had a massive learning curve ahead. We were working out of 4 coolers and 2 under-counter fridges. The spot I cooked in, in the trailer, was about 2 foot square and I stood there for 8 hours a day—prepping, cooking and doing dishes all from the same spot. Jon ran around setting up tables, umbrellas, buying groceries and watering plants. Ahh. Times have changed.

All this rain and cooler weather have been such a treat. Has anyone started planning their "Okay, we've had enough rain for a while dance?" I'm just glad we have intrepid diners who are not stopped because of a bit of wet stuff. All Hail the umbrella!

Terry Hamptom, with the Quill, has been given wider leeway in her feature writing and has now written an article on our cafe, our role in the community and our stance on sustainability and good food. It's due to come out on Tuesday. I am hopeful that it will help raise our visibility within the community and awareness on good food options. Included in the section will be an excerpt from my blog on our ingredient choices. If folks will just read that, we may gain a strong new audience.

We've already started the process on many of the plans we discussed last week. I am researching the liquor laws and finding out what we need in order to expand to the outside sidewalk serving. I have located the planters we need that will support the "fencing" needed to corral the outside seating. The sign on the wall that acknowledges the occasional need to lick the plate is nearly ready to be sealed down—after I move it 6" inches to the right. We've been saving wine bottles to create the down spot lights that will hang over the new bar and the seated banquette. We're putting numbers to all the items on the wish list. We'll soon be recruiting  labor in exchange for food/beverages to create the physical changes. We are still in need of a trailer that is long enough to haul 2 10-foot-long church pews. They are located near Cape Girardeau.

Fortunately, our traffic has begun to pick back up and we had a spectacular anniversary week. We know things will dip again as school gets back in swing. But hopefully, this will be a strong fall. If you have any dates planned for your holiday parties, it is not too early to put us on the calendar. Popular dates fill up fast. Remember, we can cater your party here or on-site. If you want your party to be easy on your part, knowing your guests will enjoy the delicious food, we're the guys to call.

It was nice to get all the feedback about our plans. Thank you for speaking up. Please keep those comments and ideas coming. You DO have a vested interest in what comes next.

The music this week is a new artist for us. His name is Josh Tyler and he is a singer/songwriter. Jon and I heard some of his tunes via a friend of his. We really enjoyed his music and think you will as well. His music is somewhat of a contemporary folk genre. Please join us Friday night to hear him perform.

For the dinner specials we visit both France and Mexico. France brings us boneless duck breasts with a honey lacquer or glaze. We'll pair it with a fresh tomato gratin which takes fresh tomatoes and seasonings plus a topping of bread crumbs and browns them for a crusty texture. I'll complete the dish with our super fresh summer stir-fry. This week we have all sorts of local veggies in the stir-fry including eggplant, zucchini, yellow squash, sweet red peppers, and cabbage—plus extras as they come along.

The seafood entrée comes from Mexico's coastline—shrimp chilaquiles. (pronounced chee-leh-kee-lez) This is nearly a casserole as it combines lots of shrimp with fresh peppers, garlic, Mexican cheeses like Crema Mexicana and Queso Fresco and corn tortillas that have been crisped and then baked in the sauce. I'll serve it with the customer favorite of Mexican corn pudding plus a bit of cilantro lime slaw. It will be a bit kicky without being too hot. ¡Que buena suerte! (what good luck!)

Lunches~
Monday~ Spicy cilantro, pepita pesto stuffed peppers $7.59
Tuesday~ Roasted veggie sandwich with eggplant, red bell pepper, mushrooms and onions on ciabatta with side $7.59
Wednesday~ Pizza with red sauce, spinach, tomatoes, salami and fresh mozzarella with side salad $7.99
Thursday~ Pasta All' Amatriciana—pasta with pancetta, Pecorino cheese, parsley, oven roasted tomatoes plus side salad $7.99
Friday~ Tortellini Antipasto Salad $7.59

Seafood entrée~ (Mexico) Shrimp chilaquiles plus corn pudding and cilantro lime slaw $14.99
Flavor Journey~ (France) Duck breasts with honey glaze, tomato gratin, summer stir-fry $16.99

We are having a huge amount of fun and hope you are able to join us regularly. If you see anything you think we are missing, please feel free to speak up. We are looking forward to traveling this journey with you on our team. You make what we do a joyful experience. Thank you. Have a lovely, rare cool August week. We'll be here for you.

~~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