When does summer start for you?

What is your benchmark for the start of summer?  The solstice—the "technical" start of summer is still 3 weeks away. We've experienced warmer than normal and cooler than normal temperatures and had enough rain to satisfy most farmers for months.

My personal benchmark is when I can start actually using some of the fresh produce in volume. Most of my garden flowers have shown their stuff and it is now time for the plants that earn their place in my garden by being not only edible but capable of adding a stellar layer of yummy to my usual fare, to take their turn. For weeks now Bruce and I have been able to clip herbs from our plants in the courtyard. The rosemary, mint, chives, and some of the parsley come directly from our container garden. We go through so much fresh basil that most of what we use is purchased. However, as our plants grow in size, we can incorporate them in larger volume into our salads and meals. I look forward to being able to pluck fresh tomatoes and peppers from our containers, but that comes MUCH later in the season.

The spinach lately, has been spectacular. As well as the arugula. If you still haven't tried this gem, you owe it to yourself to ask me for a nibble next time you are in.Mary and Skip Badiny do a yeoman's job of providing much of our fresh specialty produce.

The mushrooms have been a joy to have again. I've been using all 5 varieties available from Willow Mountain Mushrooms in Tecumseh. Those nice folks have a baby due this week, so maybe the mushroom delivery schedule will get interrupted. But the portabellas have been glorious wood-fired on the grill. I use them in the brown rice and stir-fried veggies. The shitakes are so pretty and look and taste great on the pizzas. Boy! What a surprise I got from how popular those little pizzas have been. Turns out you like pizzas made with pesto or goat cheese. We use the white button mushrooms on the build-your-own salads. The other 2 varieties you will see used on the tabbouleh salad on Thursday. They are called Oyster Mushrooms and come in many colors. We'll be using the yellow and grey ones. I was hoping to get more morels but it seems their season came and went in a flash. That is part of what makes them so special. Local foragers have promised me more varieties as the season progresses.  

I'm bringing back the real Caesar salad for the week. It will be available all week with optional wood-fired chicken or salmon. The real deal uses a dressing made fresh daily that incorporates egg, Worcestershire, lemon juice, anchovies, garlic and not much else. The bite of the Worcestershire gives a nice zing to the palate. The croutons are made using our own bread heels, sauteed in garlic and oil until crisp.I'll have big flakes of parmesan and include capers to round out the full authentic flavor. If you have never experienced a true Caesar salad, treat yourself. You'll be Jonesing for it soon enough and demanding I bring it back. There is something about the flavor that is truly unique and not satisfied with a bottled creamy dressing we have all accepted for Caesar.

On Monday I'll feature the Sweet Summer Salad again for one more day. As I said earlier, the spinach and arugula have been spectacular and when paired with the sweetness of the jicama and watermelon, the seasonal sweet vidalia onions and the craisins, they sing. The feta and black olives lend a balance of savory to the song. Almonds add a crunchy bite.Try it before it disappears.

A couple of weeks ago I served a Waldorf salad that was quickly gobbled up. In that same vein, I am doing a curried chicken salad this week on Wednesday. It'll have chopped chicken, grapes, celery, Vidalias (quick, before they are gone) and pecans from northern Missouri. The dressing is made from mayonnaise, lemon juice, honey and some curry. By the way, we NEVER use anything but real mayonnaise. That "Miracle Whip" or "Salad Dressing", as it is sometimes called, does not pass muster for me. Nor does margarine. We use real butter. Yes. It does cost a bit more. But I'd rather skip it than use the artificial stuff.

Bruce's Hand-built Tamales this week are Italian Tamales. They are crafted using Sweet Italian Sausage and served with marinara and confetti rice.

For lunch Friday we'll have a chicken taco salad. Mounds of seasoned chicken on a bed of lettuce, tomatoes, grilled onions and pepper jack cheese served with fresh salsa.

Friday night's offerings include:
Shrimp fajitas served with red peppers, Vidalias, spring onions, fresh tomatoes, lettuce, sprouts, lime, and salsa Verde; Margarita pizzas (olive oil, fresh mozzarella, fresh basil, sliced fresh tomatoes) and Italian potato salad; and Summer chicken pasta with stir-fried chicken, portabellas, Vidalias, wine, mostaccioli (tube pasta), pesto and fresh tomatoes with side salad.

Friday night we bring back Renee Wood and Tom Rowley—jazz saxophone and guitar accompanied by David Moore on drums. This wonderful trio has built a strong following locally and they never fail to please. As always, we suggest you call in for reservations. Last time we had them, we booked out in reservations by mid-week. Rather than try to squeeze more in, we'd rather keep things intimate. So plan ahead. We are going into the long Memorial Day weekend. Cafe number is 505-0302.

We will be closed on Memorial Day. Jon and I won't be slacking. We'll be clearing out Mom's storage unit in Springfield. Ugh! Bruce will probably be slacking. He's entitled.

It is expected to rain a lot this week. So we are offering 50 cents off your entree if you come in with rain gear—umbrellas, rain coat, pancho, etc. Defy the rain!!!!

So the condensed list of this week's flavor journeys—
All week~ real Caesar salad with optional wood-fired chicken or salmon
Monday~Sweet Summer Salad
Tuesday~Italian Tamales
Wednesday~Curried chicken salad on bed of Romaine
Thursday~Tabbouleh salad with oyster mushrooms
Friday~Lunch:chicken taco salad
Dinner~shrimp fajitas; Margarita pizza and Italian potato salad; summer chicken pasta with side salad

We always enjoy seeing you and have really enjoyed getting to know each of you. Our world has expanded greatly thanks to you. Have a great wet, week!

~Susan

The Learning Curve

Before we created A La Carte Cafe, I was a professional fiber artist. So I tend to approach the creative aspects of this business through the eyes of an artist. Last week that approach backfired. Actually... it bit me in the butt! From a restaurant management viewpoint I made an rookie's mistake. Oh, don't worry. It was nothing catastrophic. You probably didn't even notice on the customer end of things. What happened was I introduced too many new dishes in too short a period of time. My creativity got the best of me. The overall effect business-wise was just a lack of focus and perhaps a slower delivery time. From the other side—it wore me out and wasn't especially profitable.

Lesson learned—give new dishes time to gain their own following before introducing another new one. Ouch!!! I want it to happen faster than that. But I'll listen to the lesson and reign in my gusto just a nick. If you find yourself getting bored, I'll know I waited too long. Hopefully, you'll tell me when you are ready for something new. When we worked out of the food trailer, the flavor journeys or "specials" lasted a week. Since moving into the cafe I have wanted to have more variety during the week. Selfishly, I don't want to get bored. Believe me, I wasn't bored last week. But it was a bit much.

Why am I telling you this? Because you are an important part of who we are and what we are doing. It reminds of the duck that looks very smooth on the water but is paddling like crazy underneath. Guess who is doing the paddling! As a customer of ours, I feel like you have a vested interest in our growth and story. Many of you have stepped up with creative ways to help make our plan happen. Without that help we would not be as strongly placed as we find ourselves today. Thank you.

We had a lovely Friday night with the Howell County Bards and guests celebrating Poetry Month with a Poetry Reading. I was delighted with all I heard. Bruce shed his chef's apron and shared his poetry, as well. We are truly blessed to be working with someone who has talents on so many levels. There were several faces well known to us and several I didn't know previously. Well done to all! Thank you for sharing your talents with us.

This Friday Renee and Tom return to bring us guitar and saxophone jazz. I can't wait! Their music simply fills the soul. If you haven't joined us on Friday nights yet, you are missing the coolest place to be in town. We aren't trying to be cool. It just turns out that way. Reminder: reservations are encouraged and entree choices made before Friday morning will assure you get your first choice in entree.

This Friday night I am bringing back one dish that was loved by all—beef and sausage lasagna. It got consistent good reviews. I am very excited about the vegetarian sampler platter I am offering this week. I've been grazing through several books on tapas and appetizers. Many, many options are presented. So I decided that I will make a platter that has 12 items. There will probably 2 each of 6 different items. Things like Crispy Polenta with Pesto and Parmigiana, Ratatouille in Parmesan cups, Vegetable Fritatta, Greek Salad Brochettes, Fig and Olive Tepanade with Cream Cheese and crackers. You get the idea. Now this may seem like an immediate violation of the "Lesson Learned" but the idea here is to have an ongoing dish that can slightly change each week while having some semblance of permanency. In other words, you'll know there will be the key things you expect plus a flavor adventure or two to add to your palate. Plus it will be primarily vegetarian and will serve one as an entree or 3-4 as an appetizer. The second main entree this week will be one of Jon's personal favorites. Southwest chicken queso over corn waffles. Wood-fired, sliced chicken in a spicy cheese sauce served over corn waffles. You just have to try it to appreciate the depth of flavor. Not too spicy but definitely kicky.

Earlier in the week flavor journeys include—

Monday~ Elk Burgers with chips $6.25; Egg Salad Sandwiches 5.49
Tuesday~ Chicken Florentine Tamales with bechamel sauce and risotto $6.25; Salmon Tacos with Pineapple Salsa $5.75
Wednesday~ Paris Pizza-topped with portabella, wood-fired chicken, Brie and Boursin cheeses, and tomato $6.25; Trout Roman $7.00
Thursday~Ginger Chicken Lettuce Wraps $6.25; Guacamole Tacos $5.49
Friday~Lunch-Paris Pizza (see Wed) $6.25; Grilled Marinated Veggie Sandwich $5.49
          ~Dinner-Vegetarian Sampler Platter; Beef and Sausage Lasagna; Southwest Chicken Queso over corn waffles; appetizer Crab Gazpacho Martini- gazpacho topped with crab in a martini glass $5

We've got the new table and chairs. The outside tables are set up and the courtyard is developing daily. But most of all, we welcome you and want you to enjoy our good food prepared from fresh ingredients. Come join us and bring a friend. We're ready.

Up! Running! and Ready! for Round 2

Goodness! I can't believe it has been more than a week since I last posted to the blog.  In all fairness I DID post to FaceBook. But it is a true indication of our level of exhaustion going into the opening that I skipped posting the last few days before and during the first week of being open.

So my report!--

Well it happened! We jumped through the first round of hurdles-- health department inspection, site location, menu planning. On Tuesday we opened for our first lunch. We expected a quiet start and were pleasantly surprised by many friendly faces. There were a few hiccups the first couple of days-- running out of a couple of key ingredients, a few slower-than-expected preparations. We thank you for your patience while we figure things out. Those who called in orders had virtually no wait, again, thank you! Having never cooked in a restaurant environment previously, I had a bit of a learning curve figuring out transitioning from adventurous home cook to food truck chef.

What worked well were the in-house fresh breads and sandwiches and the salads. Sadly, we opened during the hottest week of the summer so the soups were largely overlooked. Too bad since the freshest ingredients with the most fleeting flavor subtlety were not able to be appreciated. I understand-- it is just too darn hot! So I've taken the soups off the menu until the weather cools a bit or our customer base has developed enough trust in my culinary skills to follow my lead and try out something unfamiliar.

Speaking of trust-- I know that a big part of our foundation for growth will be built on mutual trust. I have to trust that you actually are looking for quality fresh food prepared fast and you have to trust me to keep the quality and flavors high. Hopefully the trust will extend to you allowing me, over time, to take you on flavor adventures and expand your palette. If you are at all like me, you get bored eating the same stuff all the time. 

I'd like the opportunity to take your taste buds to places they might not have been before. My plan is to walk the tightrope between health food and gourmet. I'll avoid extreme flavors while celebrating the freshest, usually local, often organic in-season ingredients.  

We've a had a few humorous moments-- like when I had to tell the party of 10 on Friday to bring their own tables & chairs! You'll be happy to know that we have 3 new bistro sets--small tables with 2 chairs each.  We have also added tableclothes so the courtyard will sport a much more festive air.

We're spending our 2 days off assembling the furniture and working on getting the word out. This time of year it is very tough to find basic outdoor resin chairs. So if you have any you aren't using, we'd appreciate borrowing a few. We could use as many as 16-20. To keep it simple, you could just write your name on the bottom and drop them off by the trailer.

We've streamlined the menu a bit. Those items that didn't get your attention are off it for now. I've figured out the speedy assembly thing ( I hope) and we finally got proper to-go containers for the bigger items. That was another funny moment-- trying to wrap paper plates in cling wrap! SOOOO clumsy!

The later batches of Greek dressing got rave reviews and I think the Greek Salad and Navajo Salad will make your taste buds dance.

Our most popular items-- the chicken quesadilla and the gyros are getting a strong following. We are using wood-fired  marinated chicken breasts in most everything calling for chicken. That extra edge of flavor is Jon's cooking contribution to the menu. He uses nothing but wood to fuel his grilling fire. We've been working our way through oak from our dear old 100+ year old post oak that bit the dust the year before the ice storm. Big tree. See? Where else would you get to know your food like this?

For those who have yet to try the gyros, let me try to entice you. First of all, the correct Greek pronunciation is “yee-rohs." I start with a 50/50 mixture of ground lamb and beef. To that I add onion, garlic, marjoram (similar to oregano) & rosemary. This is the meat portion. It is made into a loaf and baked, then sliced and grilled.  This usually goes into a pita. The only varieties available locally are the dry ones that get split and stuffed. Cardboard. Typically Greek pita is a very soft and a bit thicker. I have chosen to use soft flour tortillas as a substitute and I am giving you 2 instead of the usual one. Red onion, feta cheese and tomato are the salad portions and then Tzatziki  (pronounced tat-zee-kee) sauce adds more moisture in the form of Greek yogurt (thicker than normal yogurt because the extra moisture has been allowed to drain off) cucumber, garlic and mint. Yummy, yummy fills my tummy! Wonderful on a hot day!

We make our guacamole and salsa daily. Part of the learning curve has been to figure out what to make fresh each day and what needs to be made in larger batches.

Also-- new this week is the Lunch Bunch Punch! Our new business cards have arrived and they have a built in punch card. Ten punches and you get a free meal. Some of you are already nearly half-way there!

And last but not least--This week's special comes from the Columbia Restaurant in Ybor City, FL-- that is the Cuban part of Tampa. It is called the "1905 Salad". This is our absolute favorite family salad. I'll only be making about 6 servings a day to start. So call in to reserve your portion early!

I've altered it slightly by using Romaine instead of Iceberg and Kalamata olives instead of Spanish olives. Enjoy the combination of lettuce, tomato, Kalamata olives, sliced turkey breast, Swiss cheese and Romano cheese. The dressing uses olive oil, Worchestersire, lemon, garlic, oregano and red wine vinegar.

We look forward to seeing you this week. We always seek your feedback. Be a part of our adventure!