All about rhythm and changes thereof

This week marks the rhythmic transition from summer to fall—school starts this week for many. We recognize that you may be somewhat distracted this week, but hope we see you anyway.  Gone will be the days of scorching hot sun and a perception of available time. Schedules will be kicked into high gear and a certain amount of frantic-ness might occur. Time for a deep breath and maybe a healthy lunch or dinner.

Many of you took the time to congratulate us last week and to add your encouragment on our growth. Thank you. That feedback is quite vital. We have been pleasantly surprised at the speed of our growth of late. While we try to keep up the quality of our food, you are helping to get the word out. We are keenly aware that word-of-mouth recommendations are the best way for us to grow. We know you might prefer to keep us as your little secret, but our sustainability depends on your sharing. We are all about sustainability!!!

Before I dive into this week's specials and flavor journeys, I need to mention that party season will be on us before we know it. We are already getting requests for holiday catering and use of our private dining room. So if you have in mind you'd like us to cater your holiday party or host your event in our space, don't put it off. In order to give your event the time and effort it deserves, we will limit our bookings.

Gordon Johnston will join us again to entertain on Friday. You may remember his easy-to-listen-to keyboard renditions of Van Morrison tunes or the locally-sourced themes of his own tunes. Gordon lives in Poplar Bluff and makes the trek out of a love of playing. Please tip him well. We want him back.

Last week we flew fresh, wild-caught Pacific Coho salmon in from Alaska. I hope you were among those who got to experience the incredible fresh flavor of this fish. Over the weekend we took one whole salmon and wood-fired it. You'll see it on the Tuesday lunch menu in the form of salmon tacos with pineapple mango salsa. There are about 12 orders available. $8.00

Tuesday night will usher in this week's Flavor Journey—our country of origin will be Vietnam. We'll do an appetizer of stuffed rice paper called summer rolls. The rice paper (like wonton skins but made with rice) will be filled with cellophane noodles, mung beans, thin sliced pork roast, carrots, cucumber & cilantro. Unlike wonton skins, these are served cold.  A dipping sauce will accompany. The entrée will consist of a Vietnamese beef salad topped with an Asian marinated flank steak, red onion, mung beans, cilantro, cucumber and shitake mushrooms. The dressing will be a light rice vinegar one.  It is totally gluten free!!!!  $11.99

Wednesday I'll bring out the Antipasto salad. This salad has a strong following. On top of a bed of Romaine I'll add provolone cheese, kalmata olives, red and green bell peppers, pasta, ham, fresh basil, Juliet tomatoes and red onion. These extra ingedients will all be tossed with a dressing made with lemon juice, oregano, olive oil, mustard and Worchestershire—aka 1905 dressing. The salad will be through Friday. $6.99

The seafood dinner entrées this week—please notice two seafoods of note~ first is fresh rainbow trout from Rockbridge. I'll simply pan-fry it and serve it with a saute of zucchini and fresh tomatoes plus a starch of buttered linguine or garlic mashed potatoes. As always, accompanied by a side salad. $14.99

The second seafood will be a shrimp and scallop manicotti in alfredo sauce. I'll use that lovely black pasta to make the manicotti. With a side salad, of course. $14.99

Thursday lunch will be the Couscous Salad with curried turkey, almonds and raisins. It is served over a bed of Romaine and is somewhat sweet. It is probably the coconut milk in the curried dressing that makes it so. One of the crowd favorites for hot summer days. $7.50

Friday lunch will be shrimp and scallop shish kabobs over a lemon rice. Simple, luxurious and yummy. $8.00

Desserts this week~~ I made a luscious New York style cheesecake topped with sweetened sour cream and drunken berries. $5 We are continuing to grill our poundcake with fresh fruit and serving it with our homemade vanilla bean ice cream. Also, I am playing with fresh figs. One of our customers brought me a couple of pounds of them. I am thinking fresh fig tart with goat cheese as an appetizer or maybe a fig and mascarpone something. Still creating....wait for it.....

I hope you have a glorious week~~

~~Susan

Starting year 3- We've come a long way, Baby!

As we dive into year number three we are marveling at how far we've progressed. Were you even a customer when we first tried out our concept from the food trailer? At that time we struggled for several months before we ever hit a day where we served more than 30 meals. Last week we served 297 meals over 4 days. Yea!

Since so much of what we do is based on what you have told us you are looking for, I thought it might be worth sharing our current vision. First of all, my mission is to provide you with real foods made with real ingredients that are minimally processed. As much as we can we want to use fresh ingredients and make virtually all our dishes from scratch, thus avoiding the hidden ingredients causing so much trouble for many. Those hidden ingredients might be artifical sweeteners, gluten, MSG, preservatives and chemical colorings. To that end, we make our own dressings  and sandwich breads. We are currently having the French bread made for us to our specifications. But it has only 4 ingredients per the French regulations for "French bread"—flour, salt, yeast and water. We add no preservatives to our inhouse breads. We recently switched from using shredded mozzarella cheese on our pizzas to fresh mozzarella. This gives the pesto pizza a more upscale flavor profile while maintaining a "closer to source" ingredients list.

Our "signature flavor profile" comes largely from the meats we wood-fire. We are simply grilling the boneless chicken breasts, tilapia, corn and trout on a slow wood fire. We are still using up some of the wood from our 200-year-old oak that died 4 years ago. Needless to say, it was a big tree. Each week Jon and I prep and cook the meats to give them their distinctive flavor.

We are always trying to source what we can locally. As other chefs in the area have discovered, that is easier said than done. I am delighted with the relationship we have with Maranatha Farm for our largely organic produce. Mary and Skip consistently provide tomatoes, peppers, fresh herbs and the summer veggies like eggplant, cucumbers and squashes. When her supplies run low we can often get what we need from the local "fruit stand" where much of the produce is regionally grown. When it comes to eggs we love using local free-range eggs. Our second choice, while it comes from our purveyor, is still free-range, antibiotic-free brown eggs from a collective of Amish farms mid-state.

I wish our meat choices were so readily locally sourced. While we do use local grass-fed lamb for our gyros, the hurdles we have to jump through are onerous. We have to set an appointment with a state inspector to be at the processor when the lamb is slaughtered in order to have it inspected and legal for restaurant use. There are only one or two processing plants in the southern part of the state that even have access to inspectors. Being closer to a larger city would make this easier. We recently lost our elk provider as they were tired of the hassles they had to jump through in order to get their meat to market. They had to use a USDA inspector and had to have their entire herd trailered out of state to Illinois in order to be processed. It kinda defeats the whole purpose of local sourcing to have to haul the meat first out of the area and then bring it back in. We'll continue to seek more optimal solutions for our meats.

We are really having some fun with our desserts these days. During the warmer months I prefer to offer choices that follow the fruit seasons and are somewhat light. We are often making our own ice creams and using only wholesome ingredients to do so.  You won't find high-fructose corn syrup in our ice creams or in-house cakes and pies.  Lately we have been grilling our in-house pound cake and serving it with freshly grilled fruit and ice cream.

One of my biggest personal missions is to expand the palates of our customers. While the largest demographic to our customer base is people who are well-traveled, many who have grown up locally simply have not been exposed to a wide range of flavor offerings. I see it as my personal duty to remedy that. While I was traveling the country doing art festivals and before that, living in various parts of the country, I had the opportunity to experience a wide range of flavors. I am personally  quite fond of fish and seafood as well as various ethnic fare. I love to do fresh-ingredient based Latino cuisines and never tire of experimenting with new foods. So far that has been a winning combination that you have embraced. It works out well for me, as I get bored easily with "same old- same old." Our most common comment from first timers is, "I can't make up my mind; everything sounds good." Many have suggested a dart board for making choices. We have found, however, that most people find a few things they love and tend to stick to those. Nevertheless, I still create new dishes that I hope will lure you onto a new flavor profile. My "Flavor Journeys" are created with that in mind.

At this point in our lives, we find it is imperative to keep a high level of fun in what we do. With four 14 hour days, our nearly 60-year-old bodies are working harder physically than ever before. We are joyful that we get to work with such a happy team. Generally speaking, our policy is that if it isn't fun, fix it! We've managed to attract a team of happy, people-oriented and eager staff. They make what we do not only fun but have made those long days much easier. With school starting next week we'll have some shifting occuring, but our goals still will include a team of this caliber.

Did you notice we finally got new signage out front? Gone is the yellow banner with the wrong days and hours. Our new sign is simply large painted wooden letters spelling out the cafe name. Understated, yet visible. Our next major expense will be a new awning to cover the front of the main dining room. We're still a couple of months away from being able to make that happen. But on sunny days and rainy ones you'll be very glad to have the additional covering. Hopefully, it will encourage more folks to enjoy dining al fresco.

I've got more to say but I better hold off until next time. Here's this week's menu info~~

Seafood dinner~~It is Coho season! As sockeye salmon season fades each year, Alaskan fishermen prepare their nets to target Coho, or silver salmon. Near Kenai lies Beluga Point, a peninsula jutting out into the cool waters of Cook Inlet where many people’s favorite wild salmon is now landing. Coho’s latin name, Oncorhynchus kisutch comes from the Greek roots onkos (hook) and rynchos (nose), alluding to their striking jaw hook that males develop during spawning season. Born in the river of their parent’s birth, coho fry remain in streams for over a year, moving seaward the following spring, returning to spawn when they are three years old. They are being harvested on Tuesday and shipped overnight to be served beginning Wednesday evening. I'll simply filet the large loins and bake them to order, lightly seasoned with salt and pepper and topped with a roasted red pepper coulis. I am committed to not over-cooking the salmon unless specifically requested. Medium rare to medium is my norm. We'll serve it with an eggplant casserole, and your choice of twice-baked potato or a fresh stir-fry of onions, squash and peppers, a side salad and my "sea sauce." $17.49 While I expect we'll have plenty, it never hurts to have us reserve a portion for you.

Flavor Journey~~I am nearly as excited to be serving this as the seafood. Rick and I are making  black pasta from scratch. The colorant comes from natural squid ink which adds a bit of an iodine flavor to the pasta. It is not an intense flavor, but it sure is stunning on the plate. Pure black! I don't know of any other restaurants within 100 miles that make their own pasta—much less squid-ink pasta. We'll top it with our wood-fired chicken and a Rosy gorgonzola sauce. I know gorgonzola has a strong flavor profile (bleu cheese), but I bet that the fresh tomatoes (the rosy part of the sauce) will tone things down enough to make it worth giving it a try—even if you aren't sure about the bleu cheese part. $12.99

Now the lunches~~
Tuesday~ Bahn Mi sandwiches—either pork or chicken. These Asian-based sandwiches have gotten lots of new followers. We marinate the meats in ginger, garlic and other Asian seasonings then grill them. The French bread is toasted, topped with a srarichi mayonnaise, freshly pickled cucumbers and carrots, sprouts and cilantro. 50 cents off at $6.49; served with a side.

Wednesday~ Rick's day to shine again. We are doing a beef dip sandwich. First we are slow cooking pot roast. Then we'll pile it on a French baguette, top it with mushrooms and Swiss cheese and provide an au jus to dip it in. If you don't know—au jus is the juice the beef was cooked in.  $6.99 with side.

Thursday~Grouper cheek poboy. This is probably the last of our grouper cheeks. We saute them in butter, salt and pepper and serve it on a toasted French baguette with "sea sauce," slivered lettuce and tomato. Served with a side item  $8.50

Friday~ You've been begging for it. The return and, nearly last chance, to experience our elk burgers. We start them with a wood-fire on the smoker to give them the smokey essence, then finish them to order on the griddle. We'll serve them on ciabatta rolls with grilled onions, melted Muenster cheese and an in-house blueberry chipotle BBQ sauce. Served with Cajun home fries.  $7.50 You won't find more gourmet than this! If you are serious about wanting this for lunch, I recommend you call in before Friday to have us reserve one for you.

I know things are about to get crazy as school starts next week. We love that we are a part of your lives and look forward to seeing you and hearing about the updates. Thank you for sharing us with your friends and family. We are especially proud as you bring in your visitors so they can experience our take on Ozarks fare. We are keenly aware that we would not still be here were it not for your continued support and encouragement. Thank you from the bottoms of our hearts!!!! Have a joyous and happy week.

~~Susan and Jon

On a mission of flavor

This week celebrates two full years that we have been playing this strange game of being restaurant owners. Our first three months found us operating out of a food trailer on Broadway. It gave us a chance to test out our concept before making major financial committments. Fortunately, you and your friends found that what we were doing was worth continuing. So we did. A big part of our concept was that we would work to expand the palates of those who live in this area. We wanted to be able to serve the foods we would be looking for if were in a large city. Another major aspect was the desire to be a part of the local sourcing movement. We really like the idea of a smaller carbon footprint and being an active part of that. There is a food revolution going on in this country that is fed by people rediscovering how much better foods are when prepared with ingredients grown and raised locally. This is a revolution even my mother would be proud of my participating in. I really like the idea that most of the monies you pay us stay in this immediate community. Thank you for being a part of the revolution.

When I make selections for our menu each week, the choices often come via recent wanderings through the pages of cooking magazines. I am constantly searching for dishes that will give your tongues an adventure but not be so strange it scares you. The Bahn Mi sandwich we recently added as a regular feature is just such an item. There are enough flavor elements that are familiar to give you the courage to try the elements that are a bit less familiar.

This week we are introducing several new flavor journeys. The meal I am most excited to present is a seafood paella from Valencia, Spain. While made all over Spain, each locale that serves this dish adds their own local specialty. We'll be including squid, octopus, clams and shrimp as well as some chicken and turkey sausage.  If all you read about was the seafood you might be startled if you had not already enjoyed some of those seafoods. But it is presented in a very familiar rice base made with ingredients you already know and love—garlic, onions, tomatoes, red and green peppers. As to the special flavors in this dish, we'll include saffron—the single most expensive herb on the planet! I have yet to be able to detect a definite saffron flavor. We'll use the recommended pinch—but that alone is about $10. The color of the dish overall will come from the saffron as well as a bit of tumeric or annatto. Annatto is the colorant in yellow rice. It also has basically no flavor of its own that is prominent. Together they meld to create a cohesive flavor richness. So give yourself a late summer flavor vacation in Valencia, Spain! This dish will be available Wednesday through Friday. $14.99

The response to our recent dessert—grilled pound cake with grilled fresh peaches, vanilla ice cream, caramel and almonds has been pretty spectacular. Another decadent dessert we've made is chocolate almond torte with chocolate raspberry glaze and in-house raspberry sherbet. We're having some fun playing with the various ice creams and sauces. We get to play—you get to indulge. Works for me!

Tuesday night as family pasta night has not gotten the reception we had hoped it would. I'll try it one more week with a classic tuna casserole. We know that our "crowd" doesn't seem to fit the typical family profile. Perhaps a fast dinner solution mid-week isn't what is needed. That's okay. We'll keep trying things out until we get a good fit. It is one of the aspects of having one's own business that is beneficial—versatility and speed of change. The downside is not having corporate marketing gurus doing upteen zillion polls. We do a few polls and seek your feedback, always, but not in the formal setting and broad scale that a nationwide polling might do. So what we do is specific to you, our local client base.  Your input is vital to the directions we take.

Tuesday at lunch we'll revisit the Pulled Turkey Dip Sandwich we introduced last week. It was well received at the time and we hope a new audience will get to experience it on a Tuesday. Rick brought this sandwich to our attention and we added our special aspects—like the cranberry horseradish sauce. It is served with a lovely dipping au jus sauce and is served on the French bread we are getting made to our specifications by Jason. Served with a side for $6.99

The "flavor journey" this week that is NOT seafood is ginger stir-fried beef with mung beans, shitakes, squash and green onions. That same flank steak we wood-fired for the Costa Rican Steak Sandwich will show up first in this dish. I'll serve it with jasmine rice. $10.99 with a side salad. It'll be available starting Tuesday night. There is a limited amount of it.

Wednesday Rick shines again with a Costa Rican Steak Sandwich. We wood-fired flank steak to rare to give it a smokey flavor. We'll slice it thin; saute it with yellow onions; melt cotija cheese over the top and stack it on a French baguette that has been slathered in black beans. On the side you will be served an in-house salsa typical of the region. Get ready to get excited! $7.50 with a side.

Thursday gets another dose of the wood-fired steak served as Oriental Steak Salad. This is the original salad we made the Oriental sesame dressing for. Romaine, steak, ripe tomatoes, red onion, cilantro, feta. $7.50

Friday we'll bring out the Panzanella Salad again. With so many gorgeous tomatoes right now, it would be a crime not to do so. This salad has lots of heft and is quite filling while being made with no meat. The bread is sourdough that has been drizzled in olive oil, salt and pepper and crisped. You'll find cucumber, fennel leaf, kalamata olives, fresh basil, fresh shaved Parmesan, red onion and lots of tomato and peppers. The BEST way to eat your veggies!!!! $6.99

Well, that's it, kids! We'll be busy here prepping for your next meal. Your being here allows me to do a job I find quite joyful. I am able to stretch my creative muscles fairly often and that keeps things going in a forward direction. Thank you for allowing us to play this game and be winning! Have another glorious week!~~~

~~Susan



                       

Pasta night and private parties

Lately we've been looking at ways to grow our business without having to add more work for ourselves. A challenge! Two areas that were worth a look were a) figuring out how to make slower dinner service nights stronger and b) private catering and parties. In the evening the "other side" is seldom required except for Friday nights. It is therefore easily available for a private dining experience or party/meeting. I am delighted that we booked 5 events in the last week that will begin to fill out the private party/catering side of things.

Last week we initiated Family Pasta Night on Tuesday evenings. Our intention there is to provide a simple weekday meal solution for you and your family. We'll have the food ready to go by 5:00pm. So if you have school events or meetings to get to we can get you fed and on your way lickety split. Just tell us when you come in if you have somewhere you need to be and when. We'll fix you up! This week I am making my summer meat sauce to go over angel hair. The sauce begins with a simple ground beef sautéed with fresh onions, garlic, tomatoes, dill and basil. It isn't complicated so all the elements get a chance to shine. We'll serve the pasta with a side salad and garlic toast. $8.99 and $4.99

On Tuesday we'll have both the Bahn Mi sandwiches—pork and chicken available. These are quickly becoming customer favorites. With a decidedly Asian flavor profile, we are the only ones to offer this flavor option within 100 miles, maybe more. The meats are marinated in ginger, garlic, cilantro, fish sauce,  and green onions. The bread is a French baguette we have made to our specs. It is light and crunchy. We toast it and slather it with a spicy  mayo. The veggies are freshly pickled cucumbers and carrots, fresh sprouts and sprigs of cilantro. If you have not yet tried this little delight, you should plan on it soon. We have both most every day. Usually $6.99. Tuesday it will be discounted 50 cents to $6.49.

Wednesday Rick gets to shine again. This week he is sharing his new pulled turkey sandwich. Slow cooked and very juicy, it'll be served on the French bread.  We'll serve a vinegar slaw with it and provide au jus to dip it in. YUM!!!! $6.99

I am loving having Rick take the reins one day per week. It lightens my workload and gives him a chance to stretch his gastronomic muscles. Rick already is quite skilled as a cook and innovator. He is utterly comfortable in the kitchen and a joy to work with.

Thursday we're having chicken mole tacos. The chicken is slow cooked for tenderness and mixed up with a traditional mole sauce. This mole sauce has a tomato base, dried chilies, pumpkin seeds and a wee bit of chocolate. This is a taste treat that you seldom see in Tex-Mex restaurants as it is quite authentically Mexican. We'll serve it on your choice of corn or flour tortillas. It'll come with a choice of sides, including black bean/corn salad. $6.99

Friday I am making chicken Pad Thai. It is one of my favorite Thai dishes. Rice noodles, sprouts, egg, chicken, peanuts, cilantro, lime...   You'll love it if you like Thai at all. $6.99

The Flavor Journey this week will be a lemon chicken pasta. We'll pound the chicken breasts flat and sauté them; make a lemon oil; serve with capers, parsley, butter, garlic and noodles. I know there is more to it, but I'm going by what I remember as I write this. $ 10.99 Normally I would have it available from Tuesday night on. But this week I'll wait until Wednesday as I have a small private party to cater Tuesday night in addition to the Family Pasta Night.  We don't want to wear out the cook.

The seafood will be Trout en papillote. That means our Rockbridge rainbow trout will be cooked in parchment along with the various seasonings and vegetables. This time of year we'll include squash, eggplant, tomatoes, lemon, fresh dill and thyme. I'll serve it with a baked potato. It'll be available Wednesday through Friday. $14.99

The Renee Wood Trio will join us on Friday night for this week's entertainment. Playing the great jazz classics, Renee is on saxophone; Tom Rowley on guitar and David Moore on drums. It's a nice accompaniment to a good meal.  

We thank you for sharing your favorite local musicians with us. Since we seldom seem to "get out" we are reliant on your good taste and recommendations. Please let us know who you would like to see and hear.

I hope you have a glorious week. I expect to.
~~~Susan

Tweaks hither and yon

As we continue to grow our little cafe, we seek new ways to serve you that might prove beneficial to all. We recently learned that the local upstart Italian restaurant has closed, as well as the locally owned frozen custard stand. We were sad to hear this. I have avoided making Italian tomato-based dishes because I didn't want to seem to be trying to compete with the Italian restaurant. Now it would seem there is a gap in flavors being delivered in this area. Additionally, Tuesday night has been the night with the least predictability of customers coming in.

So we are starting a family pasta night on Tuesdays. Every week we will produce a pasta that can be delivered quickly and affordably. This week we'll start with wood-fired chicken fettuccini alfredo. All our sauces will be made from scratch using quality ingredients. We'll have two portion sizes available—adult and half-portions. The adult portion will be a full 8 oz. of cooked pasta plus whatever other ingredients are included—like sauce and meat.The half portion will be exactly that. The adult portion will come with a side salad, warm bread and pesto oil. The half portion will have a choice between a side salad and fresh fruit and come with the warm bread and pesto oil. Adult $8.99/ half $4.99. As Tuesday is often a night where meetings and school/church events start at 7:00pm, we'll be workng hard to make sure you are out the door in plenty of time. We open our doors at 5:00pm and will have the pasta ready to be served immediately.

Each week we will change up the pasta variety. If there is enough demand we might also have a regular spaghetti and meatsauce that remains the same each week. But, that will depend on feedback. There are so many different pastas and sauces that can be explored. I am especially fond of those that follow the seasonal produce.

We will continue to deliver the Flavor Journey Tuesday-Friday. The seafood special will be dependent on when the fresh seafood can arrive. Most weeks that will be Wednesday through Friday or Thursday and Friday only.  I was quite delighted with the response to the mussels in curried cream sauce we offerd last week. We sold most all of it—leaving just enough that I got to take some home to enjoy. Some weeks that doesn't happen.

Last Friday night Rick joined me in the kitchen helping to get out your meals. We had a full house and I think we did fairly well getting meals out in a timely manner. Ashley, Corey and Jon were out front scrambling to keep you happy. The music was fantastic and had me dancing in the aisles. Thank you Vinny Ray and gang for keeping us so happy! We had the state fiddling champion playing in OUR cafe!!!!

My flavor journey this week explores the cuisine of northeastern Spain in the Catalonia region. Like other areas of the Mediterranean, the food utilizes produce grown regionally like eggplant, tomatoes, onions, zucchini, and olives. There are a few basic sauces that give Catalan foods their distinctive flavors. We'll be using them in the various dishes being explored. We'll begin with mushrooms sautéed with garlic and parsley. These could also be served on pizza or a pasta but we'll make it an appetizer. Romesco sauce is quite special to the area. It is made from tomatoes, garlic, olive oil plus almonds, hazelnuts and ancho chile. That will top the salad made from baby lettuces with olives and Cotija cheese. The entrée gets special treatment with chicken thighs baked on top of slices of fresh lemon, rosemary, thyme and sage with a wrap of allioli (a garlic, salt and olive oil emulsification central to the region's flavors) until the skins are crispy. Then we'll have a grilled vegetable compote called escalivada that features hot roasted eggplant, red peppers and garlic with olive oil. They'll grace a piece of grilled bread that has been rubbed with fresh garlic and tomatoes. The additional vegetable presentation will be spinach with pine nuts and raisins. These flavors are very characteristic of the region and give the fresh spinach a somewhat sweet finish, balanced by the savory of salt and pepper. Traditional dessert for the region would be a plate of mixed ripe local fruit. We'll offer that as well as less traditional desserts like grilled pound cake with grilled fresh peaches and vanilla ice cream.

Taking you on Flavor Journeys gives me great pleasure. As I have stated many times, my mission is to expand your palate, allowing you to experience new flavor combinations beyond what you might normally expect locally.

So the Flavor Journey menu is thus—

Catalan mushrooms with garlic and parsley

Baby lettuces with olives, Cotija cheese and Romesco sauce

Chicken thighs baked with lemon, sage, rosemary, and thyme

Grilled bread with red peppers and eggplant

Spinach with pine nuts and raisins

$12.99

a platter of fresh fruit is the appropriate dessert~ $4

The more complex red wine of cabernet sauvignon would serve the chicken well or perhaps the less formal pinot grigio would be a great wine to accompany this dish.

The seafood this week (Thursday and Friday only) is crab cakes. I'll make them as before with minimal binders and lots of back fin crab meat topped with red pepper coulis and our Sea Sauce. I'll serve it with a squash casserole and a choice of the usual side salad or upgrade to the baby lettuces with olives, cotija cheese and romesco sauce for $2 more.

Lunches~Tuesday~ Chicken bahn mi sandwich—Asian marinated grilled ground chicken on French bread with cucumbers, carrots, sprouts and cilantro, with side  $6.49

Wednesday~ Lasagna with beef, eggplant and squash, plus side salad  $7.50

Thursday~ Pesto pizza with fresh mozzarella, roasted red peppers, salami and shitakes, plus side. $6.99

Friday~Curried chicken and fresh mango salad. $6.99

Other items: Jon has misplaced his glasses somewhere within the cafe. Free lunch if you find them!

No music planned this week, thus far. That can change. (Renee Wood Trio next Friday.)

I hope the new family pasta night fills a void in your meal planning. We love it when you bring in your family and share your friends with us. We know you want to keep us your private secret but we NEED you to share us with others. Have a great week!

~~Susan 

A little relief for all!

After a seemingly endless wait we finally got a good rain. The forecast for the week is lovely AND bearable. In fact, I expect to see quite a few folks enjoying lunch al fresco this week. It will be interesting to see how the local flora responds to the sudden influx of water in abundance. Will there be the flowers we missed due to dryness early on? Will we skip right to the late summer sunflowers and asters? Watch and see.

We have music this week. Look for details at the end of my blog.

We are celebrating all sorts of happy harvesting right now. The tomatoes have finally started coming in. We are getting fabulous ones from Maranatha Farm as well as some heirloom locals. There's a no more classic way to celebrate the fresh tomatoes than a panzanella salad. Lots of fresh chopped tomatoes, toasted homemade bread soaked in tomato juices, wine vinegar and garlic, lemon and capers. I'll grill some lovely squash and bell peppers to top it off. That will kick the lunch menu off on Tuesday. $6.99

Wednesday we celebrate the classic combination of fresh green beans, ham, black-eyed peas, bell pepper and rice in the form of Hoppin' John. The name is thought to come from a bastardization of the Haitian Creole term for black-eyed peas: pois pigeons (pronounced: [pwapiˈjawn]). I'll serve it with a side for $6.99

Thursday brings on a celebration of another sort—fresh mozzarella! We have begun to use fresh mozzarella on our pesto pizzas now. They will also have fresh Roma tomatoes, fresh in-house pesto, wood-fired chicken and sliced mushrooms and onions. $6.99 includes a side.

Friday brings back the 1905 Salad from the Columbia Restaurant in Tampa. To Romaine lettuce we add ham, turkey, swiss cheese, tomatoes, romano cheese, Kalamata Olives (the original had green olives) and a dressing featuring worchestershire and lemon juice and an oregano vinaigrette. This salad has developed a strong folowing with our customers. $6.99

Thank you to those who took the time to give me feedback on an upcoming Flavor Journey. Your feedback strongly directs our actions and we DO care about what you have to say. I'll try to schedule a special dinner in the next month or so.

In the meantime, due to one response, I have planned a Flavor Journey this week. The focus will be Cubano. I am still trying to locate one of the major ingredients and will add it if we can locate it—that ingredient is plantains. The influence of fresh ingredients is very key to Cuban cuisine. Pork, chicken and fish/ seafood are the primary meats. In this case we are going to use chicken breasts marinated in a mojo sauce. Mojo's major flavor influences are cumin seeds, fresh orange juice, fresh lime juice, garlic and chilis. We'll start the meal with a salad made of Chayote squash which has been peeled and boiled then tossed with a light oil and mustard sauce. The main course is Spicy Cuban mojo chicken with warm mango and avocado salsa. It will be sided with black beans and yellow rice. For dessert I'll make a traditional flan—a caramel-topped custard. IF I can locate any plantains I'll add in chichachirritos or fried plantains served with a mojo sauce. The dinner is $11.99 and the flan is $4.

My seafood this week is two-fold. The first starting Tuesday night is shrimp, scallop and grouper cheek kabobs. My kabobs will be assembled with onion, red peppers, squash, cherry tomatoes and marinated seafoods. We'll grill them and serve them atop rice with "sea sauce", fresh citrus slices and with a side salad. You'll get 2 kabobs for $14.99. Add a third for $4 more. The second is Mussels!!!!! We'll have fresh mussels straight from Prince Edward Island delivered Thursday afternoon. I'll make a curried shallot wine sauce to braise them in. They'll be served with a rice pilaf and stir-fried squash, onions and tomatoes and come with a side salad. $14.99.

The music this week comes from a new source for us. State fiddling champion Vinny Ray will be this Friday's musical entertainment. Vinny will be playing original jazz compositions with his trio. Several of our customers asked if we had heard Vinny play and suggested he would be a great fit for our Friday night music.  You may have heard him at the recent Old time music festival where he played on the OMC stage with 2 other band members. Don't miss out! Reservations strongly recommended. No cover charge but you are expected to tip the band and we prefer that you join us for dinner. As always—we never try to "turn the tables." You are welcome to stay through all the music.

Have you tried our new key-lime bar with coconut ice cream? Here's a photo of it. It is rich and cool and refreshing—all in one piece. We make the coconut ice cream in house as well as the key-lime bar. It is one of our new line of "grown-up" desserts. Another is the grilled pound cake with grilled fresh peaches, whipped cream and caramel. $5.

Have a lovely week!~~

Susan

Withered and seeking cool relief

The month of July has gotten off to an August-type start. We moved up here to escape the Texas weather! Luckily we grew up with this weather and know the value of a) staying inside in the cool, and b) foods that can make it seem a bit cooler.

In case you are chomping at the bit to see us this week, be aware that we are remaining closed until Thursday. It just didn't make sense to come in for a single day...when we need the rest. But I am using this resting time wisely to get ready for what comes next.

Thanks to the really wonderful support we got from our customers, there was only a single fish left from the sockeye salmon we flew in. I filleted it and Jon lightly cooked it on the wood fire. (I then froze the cooked meat.) I'll use it in 2 dishes this week for as long as it lasts. I expect to get about 8 servings of each dish. The first will be a lunch dish—wood-fired salmon tacos on corn or flour tortillas, with a peach- mango salsa. The last time we made them, they flew out the door. If you didn't already see the color of this fish's flesh, you'll be amazed at the depth of its redness.

The evening use of this salmon will be in a roasted red pepper, wood-fired salmon pasta. The sauce will be cream-cheese based. It'll be topped with fresh chopped local Juliette tomatoes and basil. It is my personal favorite seafood pasta. Of course, it'll come with a side salad, or for an additional $2.50 you can upgrade to a Caprese salad made with fresh local heirloom tomatoes, fresh mozzarella and fresh basil topped with extra-virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper.

Have you tried my Solstice salad at lunch yet? It starts with the ingredients of the Caprese (as above) but is served atop a bed of Romaine plus a serving of wood-fired chicken for $6.99.

Friday night the service was slower than I'd like to be known for. To the end of remedying that, we are moving Rick up to the kitchen to assist in food prep on Friday nights. His many years of experience in this arena will make my job much easier and get your dinners out faster. As has always been our policy, we are not trying to turn the tables, merely get you fed in a reasonable amount of time.

To keep things cool we are bringing out some refreshing desserts. Our newest dessert uses fresh peaches. We are grilling sour cream pound cake  and fresh peach slices in butter and cinnamon.
The plate gets a drizzle of vanilla cream. Then we top it with the grilled poundcake and slices of peaches. Then we add natural vanilla ice cream, caramel syrup and sliced almonds. Oh my!!! $5.

The next dessert is a key lime bar that has coconut, white chocolate and real key lime juice and lime zest. We'll serve it with our own coconut ice cream, whipped cream and lime zest and almonds. $5.

Survey time!~~
I want to get back to creating some special "Flavor journey" meals. It is nice to be able to add a special that takes your taste buds on an adventure but it is nothing like a whole meal geared around a specific cuisine. Recent reading has presented me with menus based in Corsica, Portugal and even Somalia. I know it would be fun to create an evening of any of these cuisines. The challenge becomes WHEN? In the past we participated in a "dinner club" that met occasionally and we did exactly that—served a full ethnic cuisine. I was able to share a bit of the history of the foods as well as why the specific foods are part of their cuisine. I think this group faded out. I'd like to bring back the concept. To do it right we'd need to dedicate an evening to JUST that MEAL. So my survey question is—what night of the week, except Friday, would you most likely be available for such a feast? We'd be bringing in special ingredients and the cost would be appropriate—probably about $30 per person, plus wine. So part 2 of the survey is—would you be willing to pay for such a feast?  We would promote it at least a month in advance and take reservations. There would have to be a minimum of 20 participants to make it worthwhile, and you would have to make a committment. Please let me know via Facebook, email, or fill out a survey card while dining at the cafe. Depending on your response, we'll be planning the next Flavor Journey soon.

So here's the short version of this week's specials menu for Thursday & Friday~~

Lunch~ (both days) Wood-fired salmon tacos with peach-mango salsa $7.50;  Pork bahn mi sandwich with side $6.99

Dinner~ (both days) Wood-fired salmon pasta with side salad $12.99, or upgrade to Caprese salad +$2.50
Italian seasoned slow-cooked pork chop served with eggplant parmesan and black-eyed peas and side salad.  $11.99 (Salad upgrade also available.)

As always, I look forward to your feedback, comments and your smiling, hungry face. Have a great week; we'll see you Thursday & Friday!

~~Susan