A new era—lunch AND dinner

If you were looking for this post on Monday morning, there is a reason it is just now coming out Monday afternoon. As of this week we are no longer open Mondays for lunch. In fact, when we are open it is now for both lunch and dinner service. You would think that putting together a dinner menu would be a piece of cake after doing the lunch menu for over a year. But it isn't.

Sure, it would be fairly easy to just come up with a menu that features only fancy dishes. But I have to keep reminding myself of who our existing customers are and build the menu with that in mind. We are hoping to attract you for lunch for yourself and also dinner for your family. To that end we are presenting a menu that offers many of the items you have clamored for, as well as a few items that take things up a notch. Realistically, we know that feeding you during the week requires a menu that is within the bounds of what most of us can afford. Hopefully we will have hit that mark. I have no doubt that our menu will have some major tweaking in the next few weeks.  We are listening to your feedback as well as watching what moves and what doesn't. This is your chance to have an impact on what your dinner options are. So speak up!!!!

• Through the month of February you can try us out at dinner with a BUY ONE; GET ONE FREE on your first visit. This is only good Tuesday through Thursday and only on your first visit.

Last Friday was our first chance to enjoy the fresh fish. We got in several pounds of fresh Pacific cod. It had a very bright fresh flavor. It was beautiful! Feedback told me I could have boosted the additional flavors a bit. I am learning. This week we have Amberjack. This lovely fish comes from the Gulf and the Atlantic. It is in the jack family and has a very mild flavor, white flesh, a firm texture and very low fat. I'll kick up those flavors by first blackening the fillets (which involves lots of flavorful spices!) and cooking them on the griddle. They'll be topped with a sauce made from parsley, tarragon, capers, lemon juice and olive oil.  On the side I'll serve grape tomatoes and shallots sautéed with wine and capers. We'll have extra sides of garlic mashed potatoes, a fresh green vegetable or buttered egg noodles. The fresh fish will be available Wednesday through Friday at dinner.

We'll make sure there is a copy of our dinner menu for you to look at on the tables this week. In the meantime I'll address the lunches this week~~

• First of all, because of the cod I'll make a New England fish chowder for Tuesday and probably Tuesday only. Bruce will have French onion soup. Later in the week I'll do a Tom Ka Kai— that is the Thai chicken soup that includes coconut milk, ginger, and cilantro as its strong flavor components.
• Tuesday at lunch Bruce will have his Cashew Chicken Tamales. As strange as this sounds, they are really terrific. It has all the flavors you expect in cashew chicken; produced in a tamale. It will have a rice side with it.
• Wednesday I'll have the Tom Ka Kai soup ready, and it will be perfect to serve with a Pork Lo Mein. This dish features a linguini-type noodle topped with stir-fried ground pork and shitake mushrooms. The prominent flavors are ginger, sweet red chili peppers and sesame and tatsoi. Tatsoi is an Asian green grown organically locally that has a mild flavor and a gentle crunch.
• Thursday I'll do a Chicken Cordon Bleu crepe. Thinly sliced ham and grilled chicken with melted Swiss cheese and alfredo sauce stuffed in a crepe and topped with melted swiss cheese and alfredo sauce. Served over a bed of sautéed baby spinach.
• Friday we'll have a pulled pork sandwich served on a ciabatta bun and accompanied by our Cajun home fries.
• This week's dinner menu will be kept simply to the new menu with the only announced special being the fresh fish Wednesday through Friday nights. Next week I'll get more bold and plan specials for both lunch and dinner.

The music Friday night will be Open Mic. We have a few people lined up to play a few tunes each, so plan on coming in to enjoy a tasty meal and support the musicians. After this month, Open Mic will probably be on Thursday evenings. Tuesday and Wednesday evenings will have no scheduled music. Please note: From now on you will be ordering from the menu on Friday nights. You are still encouraged to make reservations and you CAN reserve a menu item. There will be wait staff to take your order and serve your meal as at a normal restaurant.

We hope you'll join us on this next leg of our adventure. Adding the evening meals has been a plan for a while, but the execution took longer than I had hoped. We are looking forward to the 4-day work week but are a bit leery about the long days.  Can these older bodies handle the extra workload? Stay tuned and find out. Most of all~ thank you for being a part of this adventure.

~~Susan

Time to Celebrate!!!!

It is hard to believe that last year at this time Jon and I were quaking in our boots. We had this little dream we hoped would solve our financial challenges and the tiniest bit of courage leftover from our days of cavalier youth. To that end we purchased a food trailer and decided to try out our concept. To our delight, you embraced it; thus giving us the larger level of courage needed to tackle the next level. We wound up celebrating our 40th wedding anniversary painting the interior of our current cafe location. Some people celebrate anniversaries by renewing their marriage vows. We just signed a lease and committed to going to the next step in our dream— a manner of celebration that demanded courage and determination. You have made it worthwhile and we thank you.  Cue the fireworks!

During this last year I found that getting local produce is not always very simple. Thankfully, Mary and Skip Badiny have always had SOMETHING available. They carried us through our first hot summer/ fall with wonderful tomatoes and peppers. Do you remember that wonderful bowl of fresh peppers we had sitting on the wheel housing of the trailer? We thought we'd be able to produce much of our own herbs and we've been able to produce SOME of it. As I am sure you have noticed, I am not the world's finest gardener/ plant Mommy. But we usually have enough fresh herbs to incorporate them into our foods. A few of you have listened and actually brought me your bounties and I appreciate that more than you'll ever know. Believe it or not, we actually have ENOUGH cucumbers and basil. I'm almost afraid to say that in case you don't bring me other things I do want right now.  I was very nearly embarassed in June when I had to go all the way to Jonesboro to their farmers' market in order to get fresh, relatively local veggies for a banquet where I had committed to serving fresh local produce.

I really hope that the concept of a farmers' market here can go beyond baked goods and jellies and more folks will support it. From the feedback I've gotten, people are willing to buy at the farmers' market if there was anything fresh to buy. My visits have almost always resulted in my walking away wanting. I grew up in Dallas and that farmers' market is superb. In recent years the four huge pavillions there have been refurbished and it is standard procedure for Dallas' chefs to make the rounds. I am sure St. Louis's market has similar support. West Plains is sadly lacking. Considering how many good gardeners there are locally, I hope many will make the decision to take their goods to the market so the rest of us can enjoy the fruits (and vegetables) of their labors. Like artists and musicians locally, most farmers have to take their goods to bigger markets to make the effort worthwhile. How sad.

One of the options I have connected with is "Sea to Table," a collective of fishermen who provide fresh seafood directly from their docks. There are 4 different locations—Atlantic, Pacific, Gulf and Asian. Each one has a minimum of 25lbs of combined orders from each dock. In the Gulf coast location alone I have access to a vast selection of fresh, usually line-caught or skim (surface) netted items. Here is a partial list: Amberjack, gulf white shrimp, pink snapper, red grouper, red snapper, red swamp crawfish, sheepshead, vermillion snapper and yellowfin tuna.  Why am I telling you this? Because, if we had a stronger following for seafood, I could purchase directly from these fishermen and we'd have the freshest seafood in the region. To that end, let me know if you want any fresh seafood in any quantity. Maybe we can pool our needs and wind up with enough for an order. Each location has quite different varieties available. Each is sustainably harvested and in direct following of guidelines for maintaining sustainable seafood levels. All the quoted prices include shipping. Here is a link. fish@sea2table.com Interested? Email me to let me know or tell me when you are in the cafe. What is your favorite fresh seafood?

Recently, one of our customers commented that she thought the salads would be improved by the addition of a form of bread to accompany the meal. To that end, I have begun including a cornbread muffin with the Navajo salads. I am trying to figure out just the right flavor to add for each type of salad. What would go best with the Oriental sesame chicken salad? The Greek salad would be fine with pita but what about the Fuji chicken salad? I am happily awaiting your feedback and input. So speak up!

It is often a challenge to refine my menu. I try to add new flavors as the ingredients come into season. It would be so easy to jump in several directions. But it is important to have a level of consistency and expectation. I can't do really hot dishes as it would scare most off (including me). Last week, at Jon's urging, I included a chicken taco. It was made with our wood-fired chicken breasts, a chipotle-based sauce, and a slaw with a dijon beginning. The feedback was quite good. As before, with the pizzas, I am not trying to create items you would see at the local Mexican restaurant. This week (Friday) I am making a soft taco with pulled-pork shoulder. I'll use the same sauce and slaw as the chicken. I look forward to your feedback.

I am bringing back the Antipasto salad all week. If it has an Italian connection, it is probably in the salad. On a bed of chopped Romaine I'll have salami, turkey, ham, pasta, tomatoes, bell pepper, roasted red peppers, provolone cheese, parmesan cheese, red onion, black olives, portabellas, fresh basil and oregano. It will come already dressed with a lemon based herb/olive oil mixture and most likely, with some kind of fresh cracker or bread—no decision at press time.

Special for Monday will be a Waldorf chicken salad. It was first presented at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in 1893, this all-American Waldorf salad recipe includes chopped apples, celery, grapes, and walnuts with chicken and mayonnaise. I use some fresh herbs, as well. It will be served on a bed of lettuce.

Tuesday brings Bruce's creative forces in the form of hand-built tamales. This week he is making a

chicken florentine tamale with a parmesan cheese sauce, and a mushroom risotto

Wednesday I'll serve stir-fried pork tenderloin with shitakes, shallots and ichiban eggplant. This will be accompanied by fried rice.

Thursday I'll bring back the pizzas with a pesto-based pizza topped with shitake mushrooms, Juliet tomatoes, fresh basil, red onions and black olives plus mozzarella and brie. It'll be served with an heirloom cucumber salad.

Friday I'll serve those pulled pork tacos I mentioned earlier in the post. The dijon slaw adds a light crisp note.

Now for Friday night—
First of all, the entertainment will be Open Mic. Have you been working on something you want to share with us? So far, we have a couple of folks lined up and expect a few more. This night, although unpredictable, is always entertaining and often raucus. We usually fill up, so don't wait to make your reservation. The food should be pretty awesome. 

The seafood will be trout meuniere.Your meal will start with a melon salad made with watermelon, feta, onion, mint, basil, and jicama.  The pan-seared rainbow trout is finished with a sauce made from white wine, butter, shallots, garlic, lemon and capers. The trout is local from Rockbridge and you know how good that is. How about some garlic parsley potatoes to go with that? $12

The "meat" dish will be chicken pad thai. I'll keep it pretty authentic, but low key on the spice. You can boost the heat, if you wish. This rice pasta based dish features typical Thai ingredients like fish sauce, lime, peanuts, egg, Thai basil and poached chicken. $12

The "vegetarian" dish will be a veggie quiche packed with squashes, onions, mushrooms, spinach, corn and dill plus lots of Monterey jack cheese and fresh local eggs. I'll add a zucchini fritter topped with tzatziki sauce and a Roman roll. $10

We'll have all sorts of things we'll do during the month to celebrate our being around for a year. Next week on the 12th, Jon is the performer and everyone attending will get a free copy of his CD- a $10 value! If you like a mellow, bluesy-jazzy sound, you'll really enjoy his CD!

Thank you for making the trek with us this far. We hope you'll go the whole journey with us.

~~Susan