Merry-go-round at warp speed!

This time of year it is hard to hold on. There are a zillion distractions. The weather invites us out to play. The quality and quantity of produce are suddenly in abundance. Families have lots of activities. Next Sunday is Mother's Day. Which way do I look. Where do I focus? Yikes!

I'll try to narrow things down a bit. First of all, the FRESH seafood this week is coming from Point Judith, RI. I have ordered 27 lbs of whole black sea bass. The vessel they come from, "Hope & Sydney," is bringing in specimens in the 1.5-2 lb average size. My plan is to fillet the larger ones and stuff and serve whole the smaller ones. Therefore, my menu has 2 seafood options this week. Both are sea bass but served in different manners. I had planned on mussels this week but that became not-so-available.

Regarding Mother's Day—No. We won't be open. But we do have gift certificates. It is always fun to watch folks bring in gift certificates they have received because they are usually very pleasantly surprised by the food we serve. They always mention when it was a gift and how much that person means to them. So it is a good thing. We can write gift certificates for any amount you choose.

We've got strawberries coming out our ears! We'll plan at least 2 strawberry pies, a layered strawberry and chamomile cream parfait plus whatever else we can make happen.  Prepare to meet thy strawberry!

Now that we have the other side open, we are now able to host any smaller meetings you may want to have. I am setting up a calendar so that the space can be reserved. Further down the road we'll also be hosting artist receptions when we get the gallery space ready for artwork. Do you have responsibility for any small gatherings? When I say small gatherings I mean 15-45 people. We can close the door and give you privacy for a board meeting, even a darkish space for projector presentations. If you want the space without a meal, we can simply rent it to you. If you want a meal served we can build it in. Flexibility is the key. We've got it.

Last week one of our customers brought in garlic scapes. At first I didn't know what to do with them. It seems that they are the flower stem parts of soft-stemmed garlic. Since all the garlic I have growing at home is the hard-stemmed variety, my garlic wasn't producing anything like that.  I have now learned they are great in stir-fries. I'm including them, as long as we have them. This is the serendipity part of the business I love. Many, many times customers, vendors and employees bring in items and either ask "What can we do with this?" or "How about we use this to do ...?" I love the collaboration when suppliers, cooks, artists, and creative people get together. There is a wonderful energy that is synergistic— bigger than the sum of its parts.

Friday night music this week will be the Renee Wood Trio. The trio will start playing about 6:45 and play 2 sets. The kitchen closes at 8:00 but will still serve desserts and beverages until the end of the 2nd set. Renee plays saxophone, Tom plays guitar and David plays drums. Their jazz is great dinner entertainment.

I better get on with telling you about this week's menu—

Tuesday~ Pulled pork is featured. We serve it on a whole-wheat ciabatta bun and team it with Cajun home fries and pickled red onion. $6.49
Wednesday~Seafood lettuce wraps. These wraps feature shrimp and scallops with a tangy sweet sauce mixed with red and green pepper, green onions and rice. They are served wrapped in leaf lettuce leaves. $6.75
Thursday~ Sorry, no tamales this week. Instead we'll fall back to the creamy chicken enchiladas, served with black bean & corn salad. $6.75
Friday~Curried chicken with Israeli couscous salad. $6.75

Seafood~ As mentioned earlier in this post, I am bringing in Black Sea Bass from Rhode Island. It'll arrive Wednesday after lunch and we'll begin serving it at Wednesday dinner. I'll plan on 2 versions, I think. My final decision will be made upon actually receiving the fish. My expectation is that I'll take the smaller-sized whole fish and simply stuff them with spinach, shallots, garlic, and mushrooms. Then I'll bake them until just cooked. It'll be accompanied by rice pilaf and stir-fried fresh veggies. This week I have zucchini, onions, garlic scapes, tatsoi and Napa cabbage in the stir-fry. That can change as my ingredients come and go. The second version is a piece of skin-on fillet that will get the royal treatment as Sake-Steamed Sea Bass with Ginger and Green onion. The whole fish version will be $18.99. The skin-on fillet will be $14.99. I think you could enjoy either.

With so much going on I am opting to keep things a bit simpler this week. The announced "Flavor Journey" is taking a week off. I expect I'll evolve something during the week. But right now I am pooling my resources and sitting back. I'll surprise you.

And isn't it time you scheduled your next Girls' Night Out? You've told us how much you've enjoyed them. We've been doing a few special things for Thursday nights. Among them are special appetizers and beverages designed to appeal especially to a feminine palate. We usually start Thursday night guests with an "amuse bouche." Are you familiar with this term? It is used to name a free morsel presented to diners before they even order. The name means to amuse the mouth. So it is a tasty tidbit meant to get you excited about what might be coming next.

Have a lovely week. Don't forget your Mother!!!!

~~Susan

At Last...

To quote the late Etta James, "At Last...." we have our license to serve beer and wine! After over a year of hurdles, gauntlets and hoops, the license arrived at the cafe on Friday. We were able to get a delivery of the basic American beers on Friday. Tuesday the craft beers will arrive and Friday we'll get the initial order of wines. Woo-hooo!!!! We are committed to having an environment where you can enjoy a glass of beer or wine without feeling like you are in a bar or a "meat market." We'll often offer specials on pairings of specific beers or wines with our daily specials.

Good timing, too. This week ends with St. Patty's Day. While we won't be open on Saturday, we'll be serving corned beef and all the fixin's at dinner all week. We'll even do a smaller portion on Friday for lunch. I hear we'll be serving both Guiness and Mickey's in celebration of the special event. It is quite important that you make reservations for Friday night if you wish to join in the festivities. I expect we will be fairly busy. Last year when we served the corned beef we had a full house.

This marks a milestone in our growth. Phil Wages stopped by after work on Friday and was the first person served a beer. He has been instrumental in guiding our selections. We respect his palate and knowledge and were delighted to make him the first.

I am often asked if we are still having a good time creating this adventure. The answer is a resounding YES! We have recently added more help which is making our work loads lighter. Bruce has been wonderful in his recent collaborations. He is responsible for the bread and dipping sauce we've been serving at dinner. We've finally worked out a schedule that allows for us to work a few less hours while still getting all the prep work done. Rick Mize is helping at both lunch and dinner. At lunch he is expediting and helping to get your meals and beverages out faster. At dinner, he is our primary waitperson. THIS Friday he'll be on stage with Dustin Collins and entertaining us with Irish folk tunes. We have more expansion news coming up soon. But be assured, we have no interest in getting real big. We just want to make sure we can accommodate everyone, get you fed with good food, good service and a friendly smile.

Dining al fresco—I have added some straw bales plus burlap to create a wind block. My intention is to slow down the wind so diners can enjoy the warm sunshine without being battered. I may have to add another layer, but I think it is going to work. We'll have the tables out most every day. Come get your Vitamin D while stoking up on the rest of your vitamins!

Jon has taken the remaining fresh salmon we had and wood-fired it. Some of it will be frozen for future use but we'll have wood-fired salmon tacos all week. Wood-firing gives the meat a wonderful smokey essence—like our tilapia fish tacos. We'll serve it up with soft corn tortillas, pineapple salsa, and a side of our delicious seafood sauce. It'll come with the usual side options of black bean corn salad, Italian potato salad, Cajun home fries or potato chips. $6.99

The pulled pork sandwich is featured this week, as well. Fifty cents off all week. It is served on a wheat ciabatta bun and accompanied by Cajun home fries and pickled red onions. This sandwich is flavorful and smokey and the meat will melt in your mouth. $5.99

Thursday Bruce introduces another tamale creation. This time he takes us to Portugal. These tamales are stuffed with Portugese chourico (also spelled, chorizo.) Not to be confused with Mexican or Spanish style chourico, Portuguese chourico is an intoxicating blend of lean pork chunks blended with paprika as the key note spice with the addition of garlic and other zesty spices. Portuguese chourico is then smoked to enhance its flavor profile. Chourico stuffed tamales with a Portuguese red sauce and Portuguese rice. Bruce suggests adding Bass Pale Ale from our new beer list for $3.50 instead of $4.00 (if purchased by itself) to compliment your Portuguese Tamales. $6.75 or $10.25 with Bass Pale Ale.

Friday lunch will be corned beef with potatoes, cabbage and carrots. This lunch-sized portion will get you started on your temporary Irish status. $6.75 If you want the dinner sized portion, come at night.You can add a Guiness or a Mickey's to complement the Irish experience.

Dinners this week~
The Flavor Journey this week is the corned beef served with boiled potatoes, roasted cabbage and carrots. At dinner you can get a hefty serving that also includes soup or salad for $10.99. Add a Guiness or Mickey's with your meal for just a few coins from your pot of gold.

The FRESH seafood this week is Seabass. We'll keep the preparation pretty simple. I'll serve it with a Mojo sauce (pronounced Mo-ho) made from garlic, slivered onions, olive oil, lime juice, and wine vinegar. The fish will first be seared, then oven roasted just long enough to take the transparency away. I'll top it with the Mojo sauce, chopped cilantro and sliced avocado. We'll serve it with rice pilaf, stir-fried Asian veggies and your choice of soup or salad. I haven't been given a cost yet.

I am working on putting together a clam bake. I have access to fresh mussels, wild Littleneck clams and oysters. If you have an interest in this, please let me know. As the cost for these ingredients is pretty high, I'll be trying to pre-sell a good portion of what I can produce. We are looking at doing this on the last Friday of this month—the 30th. I don't have final cost info, but my guess would be that the servings will be close to $20.

Upcoming events—

• Eeyore's Birthday Party~ the last Friday in April. Anyone want to help with Maypoles? Drum circles, costumes, facepainting, silliness on a grand scale. Our Austin roots come alive!
• Cinco de Mayo~ on Cuatro de Mayo. We'll acknowledge our Mexican neighbors to the south and serve Mexican beers, real Mexican dishes, and listen to our Tex-Mex tunes. Olé!