Brooks Tavern

One Last Weekly UpDate

2014-09-24T10:46:00.000-04:00

I've been pretty good through this "closing" thing, emotionally that is. I haven't cried. Until today. So far - and it is 10AM - I've already had three weepy moments. I managed to keep it together through the last days with the staff, the last service on Saturday and the Party last night, but now that I no longer have to be strong...well, all bets are off. I went upstairs to see Randy this morning and I was crying before I even got to his office!!

Oh boy.

A few final pictures of our final moments.

I wanted to take pictures of all the crews, lunch and dinner, but I only managed to get one of the day crew. Tiffany, Deiona, Sheronda and Mandrell have been a team for only a few months, but they were the best yet. No drama among this group, just hard work and good attitude. Sure, maybe we had a little trouble getting Tiffany to work in a timely fashion, but still, no complaints. They will do well in their next positions, no matter where they land.

The last Brooks Tavern burger sizzles on the griddle at lunch on Saturday.

Val and her mom came in to dinner Saturday night, for one last meal at the bar. It was so good to see Val on that momentous night!

Mr. Hewes was very dapper at his last BT supper. His spot at Table One will never be replaced.

Connie and Stu Godwin, along with Sinja Whiteley came in for the last supper, wearing their Brooks Tavern T-shirts! Yes, they knew they were on backwards - the better to see them with! The Godwins have been huge Brooks Tavern supporters, with always kind words for the staff and happy compliments for Kevin.

Mog Grosh didn't make it past the front desk before she began to tear up. Like the Godwins, the Groshes have been-several-times-a-week regulars for a very long time. We will miss seeing them.

The last ticket on the line on September 20th...

...and the last meals going out to the waiting guests.

The staff managed to take a selfie at the Party last night. Or maybe it was Lisa taking it for them. A nice shot of a great group of people.

And a last shot of Randy with a few of the kitchen crew and myself, at the end of the night last night. I think the best thing about our Party was having the cooks walking around passing out the food. They had such a good time with that! Meeting the customers and making small talk, it was a blast for them, and the guests certainly enjoyed the interaction as well.

And, if it weren't for Randy's vision, none of this would have happened.

It's been a great run! We have enjoyed some measure of success at Brooks Tavern, which I translate to mean making people happy in our dining room. It has been a fabulous 7+ years at 870 High Street, and we are certainly going to miss the adrenalin rush that is a part of running a busy restaurant. We will miss the customers, who have become friends in the way it can happen in this hospitality business, and we will miss meeting the daily challenges of making it all come together in time for service twice a day. Sure, there are a few things we won't miss, but they are mere shadows of the positive experiences we have had since we opened the doors to the Ironstone Cafe 28 years ago.

Are we going to be happy in our new life, without a restaurant to call our own? Time will tell. It has been our sole focus for so long, it will take some weaning to get it out of our system. Fortunately, we have our new venture to keep us busy in the coming months, so maybe the transition will be less traumatic than I am worrying it will be.

Thank you all for your unwavering support over the past quarter century. We feel very grateful that you have made it possible for us to forge a living here in Kent County, doing work we love with people we respect in the best of all possible worlds - the Eastern Shore of Maryland. We are very, very lucky and we know it.

Thank you thank you thank you!

Peace out one last time!

The Thursday Report

2014-09-19T11:54:00.001-04:00

It's truly a strange life we are living right now.

It couldn't have been any busier on Tuesday night, and of course I had not scheduled any extra staff. I believe I was in some kind of denial, thinking it was going to be just like any other Tuesday night at Brooks Tavern. So, it's me on the bar on the bar, in my usual place on Tuesday nights, as I have been for the past 7.3 years. But this is not a "usual" Tuesday night, of course. We are super busy - we do as many people between 5 and 8 o'clock as we did on Saturday night between 5 and 9. What fun! I tried very hard to keep a positive attitude about the whole thing, but because I was constantly just on the verge of falling into the abyss, it was almost impossible to act as though I was having a good time - which, professionally, is what I was supposed to do. I spoke to someone the next day, who had been a witness to the previous evenings events, and she commented that I did look busy, but that my demeanor was strictly business-like, not rude or annoyed. Uh oh. You know what that means in real talk, don't you? Bi*chy-like. I do know that when I was in the back of the house, I was not friendly at all - it was f-this and f-that. It was impossible to communicate pleasantly with the staff, none of whom deserved to be hassled simply because I was in the weeds. The two servers were Lisa and poor Mallory! Both of them were working their tails off, and Mallory was definitely scrambling to keep up. It was an unconquerable task; all we could really do was keep our heads above water.

However! I did break the second place record for making Pear Cosmos on Tuesday night. I didn't break Charlie's all time high of 23, but I shook up 16, which was 2 or 3 above the previous second place slot. Woot Woot!

That being said, for the rest of the week we are fully staffed! We expect to have a pretty rocking house for Thursday and Friday, as our valued clientele comes in for one last Pear Cosmopolitan and Carolina crepe. Saturday is fully booked with reservations, which will hopefully make that last night of service go smoothly. And on Tuesday we are having a party! Most of the staff will be there, working and mingling with the guests. I look forward to seeing Kevin and his crew out in the dining room for a change, personally taking on some overdue credit for all of their hard work in the name of hospitality.

There have been a lot of "lasts" lately, many of which are a little depressing. The last order from Bacchus, the last prix-fixe menu, the last time we'll see the driver from Chef's Warehouse...

...and the last meal for Karl and Bill. Karl and Bill are normally bar diners, that and Saturday lunch regulars, but they booked the kitchen table for their final BT dinner last Saturday night. It was busy, so there was some action in the kitchen, which I think is what it is all about when you eat at the kitchen tall-top.

Another last - Debbie's final shift at Brooks Tavern. Here she is, flanked by her two kitchen buddies, Sheronda and Tiffany aka "Stephanie". Debbie will be starting her new job at the Country Club next week, where I hope the staff takes as good care of her as the BT kitchen crew has. And by the way, according to Debbie, she is having a party here on Tuesday, so be sure to thank her when you see her next week at the Open House!

Since I had a bartender on for this last prix-fixe Wednesday, I was actually able to take pictures of the meal.

First course was a spinach salad with cheese stuffed cherry tomatoes.

The final prix-fixe entree was Kevin's meatloaf, a particularly good batch too. The downside was that we sold out by 6:30, which left more than a few meatloaf fans disappointed.

Dessert was a strawberry sundae, with some balsamic vinagar in the sauce to tart it up a bit.

Thursday's burger night was just about the mania we had expected. 51 burgers went out into the dining room, as well as 15 Pear Cosmos (I still hold my Silver Metal title on that!). We were cranking; everyone worked very, very hard to insure that our customers had a memorable time at their last BT Burger Night.

Another last - the last order of BT Burgers for Burger Mania going out. Despite Mallory's big smile, she's feeling a little blue about her BT stint coming to a close.

The Lyons party were the recipients of those burgers. And in the seat beyond them you can see Doc Blanchard, a regular diner we have mentioned on this site before. He did not know of the rapidly approaching deadline, so his arrival was quite serendipitous. He has been a grand supporter of Kevin and I and of our staff since the Ironstone Days, when he and his wife Barbara claimed table 41 each and every Saturday night.

There was also one last Herr Fest for Burger night - four Herrs and their respective spouses gathered together for a final meal together under our roof. The plans for Herr Cooking Classes are in the works.

This is the prep list for today. With the uptick in business, there is plenty to do in the kitchen. In some ways, it is good that work on the Circle has sucked the life out of our lunch trade for the last couple of weeks! The cooks have so much to do, service almost takes a back seat...

Our guests have shared a lot of memories with me since the news of our departure has surfaced. One couple told me last night that one of their first dates was at our place, and it is where they became engaged. Another told me that she had her interview for her job at Washington College at Brooks, and the professor who interviewed her was interviewed 26 years ago for his current position at the college at the Ironstone! They were dining together one last time with us. As we wind down our 28 year journey in the restaurant business in Kent County, it is very heart warming to hear stories that typify what kind of place a small business can be fortunate to hold in the local community. Restaurants especially are a place where memories are made, by way of special celebrations and important milestones. We are so grateful to have been a part of so many peoples lives for this long, sharing in the good, even in the bad sometimes, and only once in a while the truly ugly. It's really a very special existence, one that trumps any so-called "hardship" that a restauranteur might encounter.

Stay tuned for a few more "last" posts.

Peace out!

The Thursday Report

2014-09-11T10:30:00.000-04:00

A very busy Wednesday night last night with me on the bar shift left little time for photo documenting the prix-fixe menu as is my custom. Actually, lately it's been a little too busy to do much of anything except keep up. This last minute outpouring of support has been simply wonderful, really. It has been good for the staff and good for us, sad as the reason for it might be. We are challenged to remain committed to our product and prove to the staff that we will be professionals to the bittersweet end, and so will they. It would be the easy road to follow, if we just said "Oh, what the heck does it matter? We're closing anyway." But obviously, that is not the way we operate. We intend to be the best we can be, all the way through. And we appreciate more than words can say how our customers are also remaining committed to us.

That doesn't mean I like being on the bar on a busy Wednesday night, despite the shelter from conversation it offers me. And last night was particularly painful because it was too busy for the floor staff to handle well and I was too busy on the bar to help them. While I am here promising to be the best, we probably did not come across that way last night, and I was very disappointed to have to witness it. We want to go down in a blaze of glory, not as some inept comedy show. Luckily we have Meg scheduled on the bar for next Wednesday, so this may be the last time we suffer from being understaffed during this outpouring of appreciation. I could not take another night like last night...

Here is the only picture of the menu I was able to shoot - the linguine with mushrooms and leeks. There is a story behind this pasta dish... During one of Kevin's forays into the world of internet food, he came across a very interesting way to cook dry pasta. We've already mastered Mark Bittman's method of cold water pasta, which involves less energy use, but now Kevin has learned a way to cut back even more - soaking dried pasta. Soaking it for 90 minutes allows the pasta to absorb the water it needs to hydrate, so that all it needs after that is to be tossed in the sauce you've already made to serve it with! Wow! Who knew?

We made some sweet chile garlic sauce for the winter. That is some good stuff!

If you like summer meals, this salad from lunch the other day was for you - Redman's kale, squash and cherry tomatoes with slices of fresh mozzarella and a drizzle of balsamic vinaigrette. And, as summer winds down - not going to get over 75 or so starting tomorrow - be sure to eat all the watermelon you can. I recommend daily.

FYI - Kilby Cream has absolutely nailed the salted caramel ice cream. Nailed it. I can only compare it to Jan MacDonald's award winning version, and Kilby's comes in a close second. We are currently pairing it with an oatmeal raisin cookie in our ice cream sandwich, and it is a killer combination.

We had an interesting take on the tipping conversation last week, bringing to us a theory I've never encountered before. A couple of Jenn's customers had a drink before dinner and then each chose a bottle of wine to enjoy with the meal - she wanted red and he wanted white, so they got one each, and took the leftovers home. When it came time to settle up, the gentleman explained that he did not believe in tipping on the bottles of wine, although he is fine about leaving a tip for the "corkage". He carefully subtracted the cost of the two bottles - $42 - from the bottom line of the check, and then proceeded to replace that with what he deemed was a fair "corkage" fee of $15. He added that into the check and tipped on that new total. It appears that he is of the opinion that the price of the wine makes no difference, it's the opening and serving that he tips upon, the so-called corkage. I find his methodology to be quite creative, although his beliefs are not new. I have witnessed the controversy over tipping on a $20 bottle of wine versus a $100 bottle - why should you have to tip so much more on the more expensive bottle when it takes no additional effort to serve than the $20 bottle? But this corkage thing was taking the same premise to new heights. Or maybe just a little more careful thought went into his philosophy. The worst of it was that he then asked Jenn if that was okay, if that was enough tip for her. What is she supposed to say to that? She is a professional. She said "Whatever you want to do, sir, is fine with me." Really. And now I wonder, is his corkage fee $7.50 a bottle? Because that's a little low.

It is pretty exciting to think about all the new restaurants getting ready to come our way. The new Luisa's is slated to open soon in the old Village Bakery location; of course Cafe Sado is entering our space in November; Molly's outside of Kennedyville is morphing into Matthew's, with Matthew Whitehair at the helm; Barbara's rejuvenation of the Betterton restaurant that used to be Dublin Dock is rapidly approaching; and Steve from the Kitchen at Rock Hall will apparently be taking up residence at the Imperial Hotel dining room, with our sous-chef Jay taking over Steve's spot in that Rock Hall Kitchen later next spring. Wow! That is a lot of change coming! Not to mention a renewed Acme and new Redners. Kent County is just going to rock the food world, eh? We picked a good time to be diners rather than operators, didn't we? We are on a road to change ourselves, with our new business in Kennedyville demanding more and more of our attention. The K-B Market and Kitchen School has a FaceBook page, complete with a photo of the building while it was under construction in 1995! just need to do a little updating there! I attached a link to the page on the weekly email, which didn't work, so maybe I got it right this time...

I leave you today with a picture of what may end up being our legacy here at the Radcliffe Mill. That little red vine you see there in the shrubbery has gotten a firm hold on the bed by the loading dock, and if my experience with it in my home garden is any indication of the future, this lovely hummingbird attractor will continue to sprout here for years to come. You're welcome!

Peace out!

The Weekly Report From 870 High Street

2014-09-04T14:17:00.000-04:00

As we reach "hump day" on our third "last week" at Brooks Tavern, things continue to be very interesting. We are trying to be careful with our ordering, so as to not have a lot of leftover ketchup and such, but we don't want to actually run out of anything either. My brother has been doing some shopping for us at Sam's Club, because there are some things we can only get by the case, which we don't need, at this stage of the game. And, since we don't need a whole five gallon pail of dill pickles, Kevin took the advice of his Sister-in-Law and made his own, with a recipe she provided:

I'm not exactly sure if he followed Harriet's recipe exactly (probably not) but the results were perfectly acceptable. And the spears look quite nice on the lunch plates. It's sort of comical though, really, that he has to have that pickle on that plate. The plate is not complete without it, even if it means you have to make the pickles yourself!

I'm pretty sure I've noted in an earlier post that we have never actually closed a restaurant before, so this is an entirely new procedure we are following. Luckily, we will be able to do a Bulk Liquor Transfer to Mr. Wong, when he gets his license, so we don't have to worry about ordering too much V.O. or Captain Morgan, but the food will take careful monitoring. Some things will certainly stay on the menu until the bittersweet end - the calamari, the romaine, the crab cake and quiche for example. But as the days travel onward, the menu may begin to reflect more and more of what's in house. For instance, there may be a few #10 cans of hominy that will find their way into the Soup of the Day. Of course, any non-perishables can be taken to the local food bank at the end of the day, so it is generally the meat and produce that will have to be tightly ordered. Luckily we have a freezer! Ha! My plan, to help with this critical issue, is to eat something from the menu every night. I'm going to start with the scallop tempura, then the next night, a crab cake. The night after that, cream of crab soup, and then a crab cake the next night. The following night - crab cake. And perhaps the night after that I'll have...piccolo fritto! What ever it takes, I'm here to help!

It is no doubt going to be a challenging few weeks to come. Saying "goodbye" is going to be terrible. I've already had to do it with a few regulars and I know it is only going to get worse. Frankly, I've been kind of glad to be on the bar both Tuesday and Wednesday nights, because it limits the interaction I have with the guests in the Dining Room - I can only handle so much!

The traffic circle has been no friend of Brooks Tavern this week, that is for sure. They are putting in the curbing - god knows how Harry Morris is supposed to get into his driveway! - and so the flaggers are back, directing traffic to go around the circle counter-clockwise, which is of course very confusing. It must have been extremely confusing to someone this morning, because they drove straight across the circle, until stopped by cement. The driver had to be taken away by ambulance - whether the confusion was caused by a physical event, or the event caused by confusion, I can't say - and the Jeri-dan arrived shortly thereafter for the car itself. All of this mess of course caused an even longer back-up for traffic in every direction. Let's hope this is the last day for this. (Bill Kelly just dropped off our Redman order, and he was livid - he'd been on Route 20 for 45 minutes, trying to get the few miles to our stop.) (And this is even better - Mr. Bramble et al came in for lunch today! I told them we appreciated the business, as we were quite slow! He retorted that they hoped to be finished by September 20th... It was too funny.)

What a great menu we had last night! Some remarked that Kevin was trying to pave the way for the Asian cuisine soon to come to our dining room, but it was simply a coincidence. The starter was egg-drop soup, or, as Kevin phrased it, "drop-in-an-egg soup". Once again, this is an example of Kevin having fun with the Wednesday prix-fixe. He'd come across a technique for poaching eggs in advance to use in ramen noodles, and he decided maybe he could do the same thing for a menu soup. I think he felt he was 75% successful - most of the eggs came out perfectly, and the guests were able to swirl them into the hot broth. The method he used for these "slow poached eggs" came from David Chang's "Momofuku" cookbook, if you want to give it a try yourself!

Next was the sweet and spicy roast chicken on rice noodles. The sauce that these chicken pieces were tossed in after being roasted was ridiculous!!! The aroma alone got the salivary glands working overtime. It was so good, I for one could have just slurped it up with a spoon. And, believe it or not, he wrote down a recipe for it! The two key ingredients are ginger and gochujang - Korean red pepper paste. This dish is a serious keeper - it has a definite place on wings, for certain.

More food - tomato, bacon, mozzarella and string bean salad found only at lunch at Brooks Tavern last week. And only for one day...

Surf and Turf, BT style - St.Brigid's Farm veal with a Brooks Tavern crab cake.

Peach pie. One of those "last" things we are seeing more and more of around here. The last Brooks Tavern fruit pie.

Cherry tomato and mozzarella salad with Thai basil. The basil and the tomatoes are from our home garden.

The duck stir-fry has been featuring peaches in a coconut sauce. This is a very popular dish, which in itself bodes well for Mr. Wong's arrival in November, eh?

Kevin had another request for sweetbreads last week, and they were paired with more of that tasty SBF veal as a dinner special. I just realized that I never got one bite of sweet breads this go around. I'll have to add that to my bucket list for the next two weeks!

Many people have been quizzing me for details on our plans for the so-called cooking school we plan to open in Kennedyville later this fall. I realize that I am a little sketchy with details thus far, but basically we envision it as a casual yet serious place to learn new kitchen skills while you cook with friends, new and old. We hope to do weeknights and weekends - Saturday classes for kids, let's say, and maybe a ladies only Thursday night event, or a Friday night couples class. Subjects would range from perhaps a sauce making class to knife skills to "How to Make Mozzarella", with the end of the class resulting in food eaten together. And then there's team building, bridal showers, birthday and retirement celebrations, all events that could be documented via a specially arranged class with Kevin. And don't forget the wine! I am hoping that will be part of it. I imagine things will rotate in and out of repetition, with more popular topics appearing more regularly. If you think you might be interested in keeping track of what we are planning, please be sure to get on our current email list, as this will most likely be the only venue for communication in the beginning. You can email me through the Brooks Tavern web site, or at barbara@brookstavern.com.

Peace out!

The Thursday Report

2014-08-28T13:59:00.000-04:00

Our kitchen King is having a very bad week. So much to do, so little time, so little help. His right hand man - Jay the sous-chef - has been out all of this week with some kind of severe stomach virus. Luckily we began to put Dionna on the schedule at 11AM last week, and this week she is learning to work Kevin's station on the lunch line, but there is so much prep that only Jay does. That leaves it for Kevin to do, as well as doing his own work. We've managed to staff the line at night, thanks in large part to Mandrell stepping up to that plate, which is lucky, but still, it is too much. We want these last four weeks to be fun! a time for Kevin to pull out all the stops and fool around a bit with the menu. Well, that is not happening this week anyway. Hopefully next week Jay will be revived and the show can begin. Meanwhile, we have read the riot act to the remaining kitchen crew that we just cannot deal with any absences.

And the same is true of the dining room. I'm down to 2.5 bus people. Thank god for new-girl Gabrielle, who is working 9 shifts a week! Bussers are a serious cog in the service wheel. They can pretty much make or break the servers night, and I'm not sure the servers really even realize that!! But I do, and I am grateful to have found someone who wants to work these last few weeks, knowing it is not a forever job. Between Gabrielle and Tyler, I have the weeknights covered, with Mallory picking up the slack on Thursday and Friday, while Leah will do a double on Saturdays. We are sure cutting it close though, with no room for error. No one in the DR is allowed any time off either, from now until September 21st! Can we make it?

And, of course, since we are winding down, we have been very busy. Particularly at lunch...

Last night was a relatively mellow night, probably since I had asked Meg to cover the bar...

The prix-fixe menu opened with an eggplant mozzarella stack. Looked tremendous.

Stuffed Redman's peppers were to follow. Here they are, glory in their pans.

They sat on the plate like big, red softballs. Hard to tell what it was going to look like, unless you cut right into it.

Which is what happened next - I followed the plate to the table and asked the guest could I take a picture as she cuts the orb open? SBF veal and rice stuffing revealed.

Cream caramel was for dessert. I feel like we should have this on the menu for the next three Wednesdays, since I don't know when I will ever have this classic dessert again! My recipe - and yes, these are still my job - dates back to the Ironstone days, as do the little blue cups that we used back then. Now the blue cups mostly hold the chocolate pudding cakes! I think we have ten left - 28 years old! Just like me! ha!

Swordfish with tomatoes and bacon one way...

...and here it is with the same basic garnishes, done another way! Both look pretty tempting.

St. Brigid's Farm veal gets gilded with those same roasted tomatoes, but instead of the lemon butter sauce that is on top of the fish, there is found some melted mozzarella.

And last night I guess I was just hungry, because the piccolo frito looked so good! I had to take a picture.

Many of you have asked me what the staff was going to do after Brooks Tavern closes on September 20th. While Mr. Wong has suggested he will have jobs for the majority, most already have found other outlets for their various talents. Rayvon and Dashon have secured positions at Heron Point - Rayvon began working there on the weekend a few months ago and Dashon will start when we part ways here. Sheronda - the one I was most worried about - has accepted a position at Barbara Esmonde's new spot in Betterton, Barbara's on the Bay. She will be a huge asset to that start-up, this I know. Tiffany and Antwan are still unsure, but they both have Barbara's number, as does Dionna. They may choose to stay on Mr. Wong's payroll, if possible. Mandrell is considering taking a job down at the Outlets. Jay says that Mrs. Jay tells him that he can't take a new job until he finishes working on their house... As for the Dining room servers, Ashley already has gotten established with her house cleaning business, which is actually beginning to take over her life, apparently. Jenn has accepted a position with the Queen Anne's County public school system and Mallory will begin to work full time in her mother's salon near Kennedyville. Only Nicole and Lisa remain unaccounted for. Nicole may just wait out her pregnancy and start a new job after the first of the year. Lisa is basically undecided, but if someone is smart, they will grab her up!

Labor Day weekend this weekend, which traditionally marks the end of summer. We sure got gypped this summer. I made only one batch of popsicles. We never took Ruby swimming. We ate no sno-cones. There have been no sweltering sleepless nights. The electric bill has not hit quadruple digits. We haven't fried any eggs on any sidewalks, nor have we had any fainting in the kitchen. What kind of summer has this been? One for the record books.

Peace out!

Weekly UpDate

2014-08-21T16:00:00.001-04:00

I suppose the big news around these parts - meaning 870 High Street - is that Cafe Sado's owner has signed a lease to take over this space currently known as Brooks Tavern, as of October 1. Our last day of service will be Saturday, September 20th. Tony Wong hopes to open his new venture later this fall.

There are some naysayers who predict that an Asian style restaurant won't be able to make it in Chestertown, but I think it is a great fit. Plenty of us drive to Middletown or to Mr. Wong's place already for our sushi fix. Plus, if you look at the menu on Cafe Sado's web site, you will see that it is not just sushi - there are tempuras and stir-frys, even crab cakes and filet of beef. I don't believe Mr. Wong would be the success he is at his Chester location if he wasn't doing something right. And he's not just starting out - he's been an owner-operator for 6 or 7 years. Maybe people will be surprised. At the very least, having an ethnic restaurant come to town will certainly liven up the local dining scene, not to mention add some much needed variety.

That all being said, it is a very bittersweet time for us. First of all, we have never closed a restaurant before. The previous two businesses were handed over to new owners in a barely noticeable fashion. This time, not only are we shuttering the doors, but a whole new concept will be re-opening them, with no connection to us, our menu or our style of operation. We hope Mr. Wong takes on a few of our staff - some familiar faces in the dining room might be a comforting sign for our regulars - but Kevin and I will have gone up the road by the time sushi comes to Chestertown. We will have a bit of a rough time, I predict, saying our farewells not only to our great customers but to the restaurant life altogether. We have never done anything else, for the most part. I am not sure yet how we will handle this transition, but I do know there will be wine involved...

So, just what are we up to? Well, one thing for certain, we are NOT retiring, despite what you might hear. That door is not open. What we have planned is a small business in our old Kennedyville Inn building, which we still own and which needs to pay its share of the bills. We will be opening - hopefully this fall - the K-B Kitchen School and Market. Of course we have never run anything like this in our lives and have no knowledge of either culinary school or retail. A bit of a gamble, eh? Plus, with the recent change in schedule, we need to be up to speed a little sooner than we had originally thought. Still, we think, with a little self-education (like taking a cooking class somewhere) we have an idea for a business that could be welcomed in the community. Picture a professional kitchen that looks like a home kitchen, a room where the home cook would not feel intimidated like they might if they were faced with a wall of huge ovens and yards of stainless steel. A pleasantly home-y kitchen that serves a professional meal. Imagine arriving on a Friday night with your SO, getting your hands dirty learning to make homemade pasta with Chef Kevin, drinking a little red wine, and then sitting down with the class afterwards for a meal you helped prepare. Recipes included. Expand on that theme to include classes for kids, butchering classes or simply knife skills. Then get into team building, girls night out or a birthday celebration. Once you get going, the idea becomes sort of addicting, no?

As for the market, we envision it morphing into shape while the Kitchen School evolves. We don't plan on any perishables; instead maybe things like Rise Up Coffee or Shippen Creek cutting boards. Perhaps someone has honey they want to sell, or garden baskets they weave from phragmites (wouldn't that be nice! something with kudzu perhaps?) or skeins of rabbit wool. Food related items that are produced right here on the Eastern shore. It is obviously still a work in progress, but hopefully you get the picture. We have our construction permit and we are working with the K.C. Planning Office, who have been very helpful I might add, on the business plan. Those on our email list will get advance ~~warning~~ notice of what is happening; let me know if you want to be added to it. In any event, change is in the wind, whether we are ready or not. We hope to succeed at our new endeavor and we certainly hope Mr. Wong does too.

Our last day of service here at BT is September 20th. On Tuesday September 23rd we are going to hold an open house, from 4PM until 7. All of our customers and friends, purveyors and industry peers are invited. Maybe we can even get Mr. Wong to come and make it a welcome party for him!

One of the problems with my being on the bar Wednesday nights is that I am not able to take pictures of the Wednesday menu as it exits the kitchen, especially when it is super busy like it was last night. And not only was it super busy, but we had two new bus girls on the scene, one training to host and one training to bus, both of whom were being supervised by Kaitlyn - on her last night - while she also was expected to host and bus herself. Ha! That's what you get for leaving us, Kaitlyn! It was hectic as all get out, and I'm sure there was more than a little stress among the dining room staffers. I can only hope that things went relatively smoothly, but with two new girls who were probably not too well trained lose on the floor, well, you get the idea. I am sure it was not perfect. And I am also sure that Kaitlyn was quite glad when the night was over!

The menu looked terrific though, and I'm sorry I only got a shot of the first course.

That would be a mozzarella roulade with basil and roasted peppers. The entree was slow cooked chicken in cream with tomatoes - I would have loved to have had a plate of that - and dessert was Mrs. Fry's favorite: walnut roll. Kevin doubled that recipe, so it will be on the dessert menu today at lunch.

The chicken we have been running lately begins with the original "sous vide" method of cooking. The old fashioned poach-until-165-degrees method. Who needs an expensive machine when you have a big pot of water and a thermometer?

Kevin took a break from the veal and pork sausage to make some andouille...

...which is included in the shrimp gumbo on the lunch specials this week.

Meanwhile, at dinner, the lamb shank proved a popular item. Pretty hefty drumstick, eh?

We've been supplementing the regular delivery of Redman cherry tomatoes with some from our own vines this month. Volunteers in our bed, the best kind of tomato plant!

On Monday we picked up a box of peaches from Godfreys. If you haven't gotten any of their peaches yet this summer, you better move fast - they will be shutting down the operation after Labor Day weekend. Their peaches are delicious. We laid them out on a table on our porch before bringing them into the walk-in at work. They ripened up perfectly.

Peach pie was the first thing they went into. No photo proof, however, since it was on Wednesday night. Peach up-side down cake on the dessert menu today.

Bill delivered this spectacular box of Redman's peppers yesterday - and now I have a new screensaver. What beautiful colors! They'll be roasted and used for all manner of things, including topping for the special burger tonight.

I have a feeling the next few weeks are going to fly by. We have a lot to do to prepare for the next phase of our lives, while still doing what we do here at BT. Is it going to be fun? Probably not particularly, but it will be a challenge. I just hope I can keep my emotions in check...

Peace out!

Weekly UpDate

2014-08-14T17:23:00.000-04:00

That was quite a monsoon on Tuesday night.

***Speaking of which - if you were in on Tuesday night and wore a blue rain parka, can you check to make sure that you came home with the same jacket you arrived with? Another customer's coat went missing - an army green parka - and with it his car keys, which were in the pocket. There is a blue LLBean parka left hanging on the coat rack...***

Anyway, yes, we had quite a flood in the back parking lot from the rain Tuesday night. Luckily, one of the dishwashers noticed that staff cars were beginning to sit in a bit of a flood plain, and alerted everyone to the fact that perhaps they should be moved. Good he did - before it was over there was no longer any visible line between the holding pond and the parking lot, with the water lapping at the stairs of the loading dock.

The rain didn't stop the guests from coming in, thank goodness. When the lights flickered once or twice, there was a collective groan throughout the dining room, but lucky there too, they stayed on.

You should be able to see the parking curbs in front of that tree... The good thing about the overflowing holding pond is that all of the accumulated green scum went drifting out. Plus, our parking lot - especially that grungy spot in front of the dumpster? - got a thorough washing.

We all thought this scene in the foyer was worth a photo - umbrellas scattered willy nilly. We do have an umbrella holder in the restaurant, but some just didn't make it that far. And their owners were still slightly damp.

Last night's menu was an especially good one, particularly the first course. I was again on the bar - Tuesdays and Wednesdays will be my regular gig, for the foreseeable future - so I wasn't able to get a lot of feedback, aside from what I heard from my customers at the bar. And from one DR guest, who made a point to come to the bar to tell me how good it was.

Kevin had just gotten in a bushel of fresh picked Redman's green beans, so he hand selected some of the leaner ones to make the salad you see above. The blanched beans were tossed in shallot vinaigrette, then a roasted pepper stuffed with a roasted plum tomato - all, of course, from Redman - was perched on top, followed by a slice of fresh made mozzarella. The lily was gilded with a drizzle of balsamic glaze and dots of yellow pepper puree. A first course fit for any menu any summer.

Roasted Langenfelder pork was the centerpiece of the entree. The chunks of juicy meat were served on a ring of soft polenta, seasoned with fresh rosemary. How do I know the meat was juicy? I only have the photos to tell me, but what do you think?

Looks pretty appealing in the close up!

Dessert was a classic example of making lemonade. The almond cake that Kevin worked on Wednesday morning failed to come out of the pan in one piece. Damn, I hate when that happens. However, since he planned to serve it with a sabayon anyway, he just decided to combine the two ahead of time and make the whole thing into parfait. Turned out fine, and was a very adult tasting dessert, with its hint of Frangelica in the cake and the heady flavor of Marsala in the sabayon. Perfectly delicious, if not totally beautiful in appearance. Can you tell that the whipped cream is a bit over-whipped? That is a real battle, to get that right.

Pickles were on the schedule this week. We have a pair of pickling cucumber plants at home in our garden, and one is actually thriving! We managed to accumulate enough cukes to make a batch of our sweet pickle slices, and it turned out to be one of the best ever. I guess keeping the raw slices in their salty ice water bath for four times longer than the recipe suggested was the trick! This batch is so crunchy, you can almost hear them being eaten from across the room!

Another batch of garlic chile sauce made. Eventually we are going to jar this stuff up and offer it for retail. It is so good. Tonight they are mixing it with mayonnaise to put on the burger for Burger Mania. That is going to be good.

Yes, green beans are here. I am looking forward to seeing them roasted and on my plate.

When one of the ladies room toilets stopped flushing properly on Tuesday night, we thought maybe it was something to do with the monsoon? Of course why only one we didn't speculate. So, who is the mystery plumber? Typically, you know, for these sort of bathroom repairs, we call Pinder. But this seemed to be a relatively simple fix - it worked fine if you fussed around with it. Jay and Kevin looked over the inner workings and came to a conclusion that it could be repaired by our in-house plumber. We are very happy with the results, and happy that the Landlord doesn't have a Pinder bill to contend with. Who knew Kevin could be so handy? Of course, this does not mean that Pinder's Brian has to worry about job security...

Peace out!

Where's August?

2014-08-08T12:58:00.000-04:00

Hello August, I want my heat back. I realize that we are saving on AC bills and what not, but I like summer to be hot, the way it is supposed to be. It's only for a month or two; the rest of the year can be temperate or even cold. I suffered through the chill, so I don't think a few weeks of nice hot weather is too much to ask. But it doesn't look like it's going to get above the mid-80's for the foreseeable future, and if you ask me, that is not August. That's a very pleasant September.

It hasn't stopped the corn from growing though, has it?

We are between Bar Tenders at the BT this week, so that duty has fallen upon me. It means scheduling a host to cover my shifts on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. On Wednesday night that was Mallory's job, which also meant she covered the photography for the Wednesday Menu report. Here's her results.

Starter was a smoked fish cake:

Or, I guess, a faux crab cake...

Entree - not a very popular menu BTW - was St.Brigid's Farm calves liver with sauteed onions and a honey balsamic reduction. Calves liver is not everyone's first choice for dinner. Many of our Wednesday regulars opted out this week, it is true.

They missed the brownie sundae dessert:

Mallory took a nice shot of Kevin's roasted plum tomatoes, which were what garnished the fish cake at lunch on Thursday. (If you want a really great snack, take one of those roasted romas, lay a slice of fresh mozzarella on top and drizzle with a little balsamic vinaigrette. Snackers paradise.)

And she got a great shot of the sausage platter:

But when I downloaded the pictures, there were 20 photographs on there. I was going, what? 20 pictures? What the heck is on here?? I should have figured - selfies!

Here's the crazy girl crew, with Mallory at the front, her broad smile shining brightly:

My girls, having fun with the camera on Wednesday night - Jenn, Leah, Ashley, Kaitlyn and of course Mallory. They sure look like they are having a grand time! Hey girls, who's left out in the dining room taking care of the customers???

Here is what you want for lunch today - the BT BLT which = Bacon, Lettuce and some of those roasted plum Tomatoes plus a few slices of mozzarella. Take a bite of goodness!

Most of yesterday - at least until about 1:00 - was taken up by QuickBooks. Or rather, taken up by trying to get QuickBooks to come to work. With the help of Maureen from next door I was able to reach out to a QuickBooks tech, who, with the help of a $250 annual membership in their "Quix" support system, was able to repair the damage that supposedly a virus had done to shut down our check writing software. But that is not the interesting part. In paying online for the tech support, I inadvertently entered the wrong expiration date for the business credit card I was using, which denied the funds. After correcting my mistake, the order went through fine and the tech remotely worked on our computer until the repair was completed. Soon after he got off line, I checked our email. There was one from our business banking account regarding a questionable charge made on our card, so I checked our account, wondering if it was that mess up with Quix. Nothing there except for those recent transactions which I expected to see. Thinking perhaps that the email itself was fraudulent, I called Chase. Yes, there had been a bad charge, which they had denied. They had recognized it as a fraudulent charge because the expiration date was incorrect. And the incorrect date was the same one I had used at my first attempt to pay for my Quix account. In that flash of time, someone had breached someone's security and gotten our correct credit card number, along with the incorrect expiration date and made a charge. Wow. I called the Quix tech line to tell them that perhaps the weak link was on their end, but who knows. It is a crazy Internet world out there. Everyday you hear stories of peoples cards being stolen. I read somewhere that part of the problem with the security issues on the web is that the Internet was initially built for sharing, not for privacy, with patches being applied later to try to keep the fox out of the hen house. Maybe a little too late.

We would have been home in a relatively timely fashion last night, after another very busy burger night, except for a major catastrophe that occurred in the mop closet at the end of the night. One of the two dishwashers - who shall remain nameless at this point - somehow managed to knock over the 5 gallon bucket of Dawn dish detergent. This wouldn't have been a problem if the top had been securely in place. It wasn't. And even this wouldn't have been so bad - a big mess of Dawn to scoop up - if he hadn't then proceeded to knock over the full mop bucket in his haste to try to correct the fallen Dawn. Oh. My. God. What a frigging mess. It took a solid 45 minutes for Kevin and the DW to get the floor cleaned up and dry.

And here is where we have fun with boxes. I am now the queen of the box tower, since there has never been one to stand taller or last longer. All the way to the ceiling! Unfortunately my competitor Tiffany is out today, so she has not been witness to my success.

Our condolences to Frank Mattes and his family at Mattes Seafood. Their eldest son died on Wednesday from complications after surgery. We know they are thoroughly broken by this tragic event and our hearts go out to them. There's no better guy than Frank Sr.

Peace out! Enjoy the great weather ahead for Pirates Weekend in Rock Hall and don't forget to support the local restaurant scene while you are at it!

Weekly UpDate

2014-08-01T10:25:00.001-04:00

Welcome to Friday! I am thinking that everyone on our crew who worked last night slept very well when they went to bed. It was a crazy busy Burger Mania, made even busier by being somewhat understaffed in the dining room. It began when Ashley texted out sick. I was at home feeding the dog when I got the notice, so I called Kevin to see if anyone was off who could come in to run trays. He says that Jesse had just phoned to see if he was working, and he wasn't on the schedule so Kevin called him back to come in to work; meanwhile I texted Kaitlyn to see if she could come in earlier than scheduled and be the tray runner. She could. All set for burger night. Except at 6:30 when we are almost full I'm wondering where the 6:00 busser is. Jesse is way too inexperienced to be on his own on a busy night and I was worried about Mallory who is generally very punctual and reliable. I texted her. Bad news - she shouldn't have been scheduled because she has a regular gig at the softball diamond on Thursday nights, which I forgot about and put her our roster inadvertently. Oh c**p! (Don't ask me why she hadn't seen the schedule when it was first posted two weeks earlier and given me the chance to correct my mistake...) Anyway, it appeared that Jesse would be on his own, newbie or not. And he actually did a pretty good job of it, albeit with a lot of extra help from Kaitlyn and Jenn and the dishwashers. It was screaming busy and while we never actually got into the weeds, we were constantly one mishap away from it. All it would have taken would have been for an order to be screwed up or a tray of dishes to crash to the floor to send the whole thing spiraling down into a dark pit of madness. Whew. We got off lucky. And hopefully the guests didn't have any major issues that I will read about later on Trip Advisor...

Business has definitely been strange this summer. At the end of the second quarter, our sales are down almost 20% from last year. Prior to this, we've enjoyed annual steady growth. And it seems to be the weekends that are off the most. Lunches have been normal. Weeknights have been either average or extremely busy - see the paragraph above - but Friday and Saturday nights have been embarrassingly slow, for the most part. The extra business on the weekends is mostly due to tourists and other non-locals, so you have to wonder, is it the rumors of our closing frightening away this transient crowd that we depend on? Some have come in, surprised to find we are open, because that is not what they heard out on the street, at the marina, in the gift shop. I don't know. Charlie's theory is that it is due to the fact that every weekend this summer the weather has been phenomenal, which sends people out side to their boat or the porch or Waterman's deck, rather than into our dining room. That has some merit, although I find it hard to believe that it would have that dramatic affect. We'll find out this weekend perhaps, with rainy days predicted for the next several. What ever the reason, the kitchen has no complaints - their work is reduced while their pay is unchanged. The dining room staff, however, that is another story. They have taken a hit that the week day business cannot really cover.

Food is more fun to talk about.

This salad of sunny tomatoes, fresh mozzarella and bright green parsley oil began the Wednesday night prix-fixe menu. A plate of summer.

This was followed by a new sausage Kevin has been working on - veal and pork, lightly cured and seasoned with smoked paprika, coriander, black pepper and nutmeg. The meal invoked a classic conflict of responses, at least from two customers. First report came from Table 7, when Nicole told me that they did not like it at all, because it tasted like a hot dog. They were very nice about it, they just didn't care for that flavor. Later Table 17 called me over. "Barbara!", she says, "This sausage is to die for!" See what I mean? After the first table complained, I had gone into the kitchen and told Kevin the remark, that they thought it tasted like a hot dog. "Perfect!" he responded. So, when the second opinion came in, I persuaded the guest to go into the kitchen and tell Kevin her feelings personally. She was happy to oblige, and proceeded to rave ecstatically to Kevin and Jay. So, what, you win some and lose some, right?

Dessert was a win-win:

A soft pavlova roll, filled with whipped cream and draped with blueberry sauce. I am pretty sure we will see this light dessert again before the season is out.

More summer on a plate, with the classic watermelon feta salad. I have been fulfilling my goal to eat Redman's sweet watermelon on a daily basis, which is made even easier when I can find it in these convenient chunks!

The picture above is not of something Kevin prepared for paying guests. It is a member of the squid family being grilled on our fire pit. A friend of ours went shopping at a Super H-Mart near her home in Virginia and brought us a big cuttlefish! Kevin simply seasoned it with salt and pepper and cooked it just for a few minutes over hot coals. It was very tasty - a lot more flavorful than your typical calamari but not as strong as octopus. Shopping at an H-Mart is a fabulous adventure; if ever you find yourself near one you definitely need to check it out. It is like no other grocery story experience.

We went shopping on Sunday to Mr. Harlan's peach orchard in Centreville. Next time we will call first. There were no ripe peaches, although plenty of beautiful specimens hanging from his numerous trees. They would probably be ripe in a few sunny days, but not while we were there.

There were a lot that were just gorgeous, but hard as rocks.

Mr. Harlan must have at least a hundred peach trees on his White Marsh Farm. We make the trek annually to wander through the orchard and generally pick a bushel or more of his tree-ripened fruit. We were just too early this year.

He also grows apples, which were coming along nicely.

And pears. Plus nectarines and several variety of plums. Some great scenery anyway, eh?

Well, I gotta go. It's the first of the month and inventory is calling. Have a great weekend, no matter the weather. There is so much to ~~eat~~ do this time of year, from fairs to farmer's markets. Celebrate the summer with food no matter where you find yourself!

The Weekly UpDate

2014-07-25T09:41:00.000-04:00

Of course the big news here down at the end of High Street continues to be our fabulous round-a-bout. Wow, is it ever making a difference to area commuters! Those that understand the concept, that is. There are still some ~~losers~~ drivers who think yield means stop and who also think you must stop to let traffic onto the circle, but for the most part it is proving to be a real glide-a-bout. For the past two nights, the Bramble crew have been working late doing the paving, which is a lot better for our business than having that flagger control traffic during lunch time. Overall it appears that the project will do what it is supposed to do and eventually I am sure the local populace will understand how to maneuver around it.

As usual, summer in Kent County is moving right along. We got our first Redman's watermelons this week and I will be enjoying a big slice everyday, as long as the supply lasts. They were featured on this week's prix-fixe menu, as a salad with feta cheese, a classic pairing if there ever was one:

This was followed by a sort of "Salisbury Steak", made with ground St. Brigid's Farm veal with a shiitake mushroom sauce. Had to be tasty, but I was only an onlooker.

Dessert was classic bread pudding with a fruity sauce of blueberries. Overall a popularly seasonal menu received well by our dining public.

Kevin has been working exceptionally hard lately, covering Mandrell's shifts, who has been ill since last Friday. He came in finally on Thursday, a little tired but mostly recovered and ready for work. He kept saying "I'm back, I'm back", which was of course a great relief to Kevin, who'd been pretty much setting up the line alone for lunch service. The most stressful day was Wednesday, when we had a party of 15 booked for 11:30. Thank goodness Dashan - from the night crew - was able to come in and be here to help get that group fed in a timely fashion.

Tiffany made her first up-side down cake this week, and it sold out that very night! Peach!

The meat special this week has been St. Brigid's Farm veal. One of the preparations was this cutlet with crab, Smithfield ham and sage, with a dash of lemon butter sauce. It looked delicious, and apparently tasted so as well.

Ben Dize celebrated a birthday this week at the Brooks Tavern, and for his special dinner he wanted bison. We tried to get some for him, but unless we bought practically a whole side, we couldn't get what he wanted, so we settled for a specially cut Pineland's steak:

Cooked perfectly medium rare with a mushroom sauce on top, it was a meal fit for a carnivore's special day!

KCHS class of 1973 had a mini-reunion in the BT dining room on Saturday. Stephanie Moore Pauling was in town visiting from her home in East Texas, and appeared for lunch with friends Cathy Wilson Coppol and Beth Simmons in tow. A lot of laughs were had by all.

We got some very bad news this morning. David Lippincott, who worked with us for several years at the Kennedyville when he was just a teenager, died at his home in Florida this week. His mom sent us an email, telling us he succumbed in his fight against his alcohol addiction. We are so stung by this sad news. Dave was one of the good ones, a very special person who worked so hard for us as a true team mate in our quest for success. We've never forgotten him, despite long years between sightings. He loved music, and introduced us to a band we would never have heard of otherwise - Morphine. Lately I've had one of their classics running through my head, "Cure For Pain", and now I know why. We listened to their "Like Swimming" CD this morning in tribute to the late, great Dave Lipponcott. He's found his cure for pain.

Peace out!

Weekly Report

2014-07-18T16:56:00.000-04:00

I'm having a little trouble posting this week - too much office work mostly, that pesky stuff - and too many other things that are simply demanding my attention elsewhere. For instance, when there are no daytime cooks in the kitchen by 10:30, it's time for me to come to the aid of our SuperChef and help prep for lunch service.

It's been such an odd summer, business-wise. Up and down, busy and slow. It has not been unusual for weeknight dinner service to be busier than the weekend which follows. Lunch has been steady - despite the trepidation that our traffic circle brings - but dinner is totally unpredictable. Last Thursday night was not so busy, which I blamed on the competing music in the park, but this Thursday: more music but very busy nonetheless. There is definitely some confusion whether we are actually open or not, which may explain some of the lightness of the weekends. I am fairly certain that we are open, otherwise why do we have so much to do here all day?

Wednesday prix-fixe featured a cold fruit soup and a hearty ragù, sort of a mixed signals kind of meal, given that we are pretty much smack dab in the middle of the summer. Kevin has been serving several hearty dishes lately, mostly involving braised meats, but when combined with the seasonal vegetables served alongside, they seem to be acceptable to our dining clientele.

The soup was a cold cantaloupe soup - Redman's cantaloupe of course - with ginger and mint. It was met with much success by those ordering the menu. Cantaloupe is not my favorite melon - I'm holding out for some of Redman's seedless watermelon - but the combination was found to be a refreshing and light starter.

The main course was a veal ragù over eggplant and mozzarella cheese. Not so light, this. In any case, several diners mentioned that they typically do not like eggplant, but this was the exception. We have been serving eggplant as a side veg too: roasted and mixed with honey, soy and hoisin sauce, garlic and ginger. Eggplant haters - some of them anyway - have been seduced.

The dessert Wednesday night was a chocolate zucchini cake, but my picture makes it look pretty unappetizing, so I opted out of sharing it.

One of the aforementioned braised meats includes local lamb shoulder with Kevin's new favorite sauce, mint yogurt, as morphed from Bobby Flay.

Burger mania last night featured these tomato cucumber slices, as being prepped in this photo by Sheronda. The stacks were dressed with a sweet and hot pepper vinaigrette and then put on the burger with a slice of Jack cheese melted on top. I like the idea of the cold/hot contrast; I just hope the tomato salad didn't slip out of the sandwich in a disconcerting way.

Bill is delivering corn several times a week from Redman's. Everyone just loves seeing that bushel come in, because they just love husking it.

Yellow and green zucchini are coming in also, as seen here in this sheet pan full of sautéed summer color.

The piccolo frito includes some zucchini sticks these days, as well as the new garlic chile dipping sauce.

The latest batch of sausages are made with St. Brigid's Farm veal. Kevin considers these his best effort yet, with both the right texture and flavor he is striving for. They are served under a bridge of onion rings, which in themselves are a special treat.

Haddock last night was a fiesta of shrimp, tomatoes and capers. In the background you can see some of that corn that gets cut off the cob for you and mixed with peppers and onions, and also the eggplant that has earned itself some new friends.

There seems to be a lot of local restaurant news in the works right now, which, if all of it comes to pass, will add some new dining places to our already vibrant dining scene. The most exciting is the future of the Betterton spot once dominated by Frank and Betty Bonass and known as the "Dublin Dock". Barbara Edmonds, local hospitality industry professional, has taken over the lease of the building and will be opening the bay side spot sometime - she hopes - in September. This is great news not only for Barbara but for Betterton as well, a town that would happily support her endeavor to bring some additional dining life to the Jewel. We've been to all of the post-DD incarnations and none have made it more than a season or two, for reasons most likely beginning and ending with the food. That being said, we used to love taking a Sunday drive with the dog to Still Pond Landing and then ending up on the deck of that restaurant with its amazing bay vista in the foreground. We look forward to reviving that tradition!

In Chestertown, word on the street is that a very successful restaurateur from Rock Hall will be taking over the Front Room in what used to be the Imperial Hotel. This also is great news, since the downtown dining scene always welcomes the arrival of a new popular spot which will bring more diners to support the dining scene downtown.

At Molly's in Kenndyville, local chef Matt Whitehair is now at the helm, which is again really good news for us personally, since we are only a five minute drive for lunch on Mondays. We have not been in there much since Jeren's departure, but this recent development would be enough to spur us into revisiting.

And, on the home front, we are encouraging Tony Wong of Cafe Sado to open a second spot here in this prime location in the Radcliffe Mill! The fact is, Mr. Wong has long been looking into possible locations in Chestertown to add to his already successful business on Kent Island, but has yet to find a suitable spot. He is considering being a tenant in the Mill, but so far he is not sure if it is too much kitchen and not enough dining room for his needs. Still, a sushi restaurant in Chestertown gets a very strong "yes" vote from many people, no matter where it ends up being, so we are hoping he finds a place to land very soon.

Peace out!

The Weekly Round-up

2014-07-10T21:14:00.000-04:00

Let me start off by emphasizing how easy it is to navigate the still-under-construction traffic circle at our end of High Street. It is awesome, how they have engineered this phase, so that traffic moves at a continuous flow, with generally no stopping whatsoever, even as the back-hoes and jack hammers work alongside you. Just glide right around. (We've been teasing the drivers about getting lost in the vortex of the circle...) Now, you do have to understand when to yield and when to not yield, and not all drivers have mastered that concept, as we know when we make a right hand turn off 213 onto the by-pass. Yield means yield to oncoming cars, not to simply stop for them, or for nothing, as the case may be. So, if you are in the circle, cars yield to you, if you are entering the circle you yield until there's a spot for you to slide into. Watching traffic from our big window by the bar has been an entertainment factor ever since we moved into the mill - first the fender benders, then the three way stop confusion, then the backed up traffic during pre-construction of the round-a-bout, but now, non stop traffic movement. It is going to be fine, albeit still totally unnecessary IMHO.

Charlie is on vacation this week, which means his three bar shifts needed to be covered. I thought I'd simply put Jenn on all three and call it a week, but that didn't happen. Jenn had a meeting on Wednesday night that precluded her participating at the BT bar for that shift. So, you guessed it, I posed as Charlie on Wednesday night, and wouldn't you know, it was one of the busiest in a while. We even had a waitlist going! I had assigned my role as Host to Kaitlyn, who did a most fabulous job, from what I could see from my position on the inside of the bar...But mostly I was pretty caught up in waiting on the several couples who were dining at the bar, plus making the drinks for the floor - I had all I could do for sure. At the busiest point, I turned around and pulled five drink tickets off the printer - including one for three relatively complicated cocktails. I needed to also get drinks for a couple who had just sat down, put in a food order for another and drop a check for a third. Normal routine for Charlie on a busy night. Not so normal for a poseur like myself! But, it all got done. And hopefully in a relatively timely fashion.

FYI - if you ever sit at our bar to eat while I'm on duty, the tip you might leave will be going to whoever is bussing that night. Or, as in the case last night, to be shared by the busser and the person doing my Hosting job. I gave up a long time ago trying to get people to stop tipping the owner. You do not tip the owner. But most insisted on leaving a tip and some suggested having it go into the "pot". So, I agreed to that, and while it doesn't go into the general pot, that extra cash does make its way into deserving pockets. And last night Kaitlyn and Mallory - bussing by herself - were both very deserving!

Soup and salmon were on the prix-fixe this week:

The soup was a coconut milk concoction with spinach and corn. It smelled heavenly.

The salmon was griddled and then sandwiched together with a filling of sauteed arugula and shiitake mushrooms, dressed with some miso ginger sauce and paired with sushi rice and vegetables. It was a nice looking plate.

If you have eaten here in the past few days, you'll know that Kevin is on a Thai kind of kick. A recent library book - Simple Thai Food, by Leela Punyaratabandhu - has helped send him down that path. It is a very good cookbook, clearly written, and, if you have the ingredients on hand, which we mostly do, not too hard to follow. The picture above is one such recipe that Kevin tweaked only a little - Fish Cakes with Cucumber Peanut Relish (found on page 41). It has been very well received by our discerning lunchtime clientele! One guest told me it was one of her favorite Thai dishes and this version was the best she'd had! ha! He has also made the sweet garlic chile sauce (nam jim kai, page 187), and is going to give the recipe for sriracha a stab in the near future. There is a lot of inspiration to be had in a cookbook like this, and seeing as Kevin is constantly trying out new things, this is just a day in the life. We are the beneficiaries!

The very popular chicken dish morphed first into sausage and now into an entirely new plate, sort of a chicken cordon bleu, with cheddar cheese and bacon replacing the butter and ham. It looks very inviting, but I wish I had a picture of it cut open, so you could see the juicy center.

My focus these days is, as is usual about this time of year, on rosé wine. I have rarely met a rosé I didn't like, which makes it a challenge to narrow the field. I don't often succeed, hence the six different rosés we have on premise right now, with another on order for next week.

My current favorite - which has not reached wine list status yet - is this grenache-syrah blend from Chêne Bleu, a winery in Provence. With a very approachable balance between fruit and acidity, this is one of those rosés that you don't tire of after a single glass. In fact, you don't get tired of it at all, and it goes great with your chicken wings or your Chicken Tetrazzini.

My second favorite at the moment is from Clovelly Vineyard, right here on the Chester in Queen Anne's County. Tony and Donna Gibbons-Neff began planting their acres of multiple varietals five years ago, and this spring announced the first bottling. We have their 2013 rosé on our current wine list, and it is as good an example of rosé as any I have had. Dry, with plenty of crisp fruit, it is what we look for in a refreshing summer time wine. Or any time.

These two will be following the Mas Bressades which we are just about out of. I find the Artazuri to be similar to the Bressades - more full bodied, and pleasing to a red wine drinker who wants a hot weather change of pace. And, believe it or not, we are tasting the Cassagne even as I type. (Who am I kidding, "tasting"! drinking would be more like it.) It's a lovely salmon color, with a definite fruity minerality that I find a little less dry than some but pleasantly so.

Finally on deck is the BlackBird Arriviste. Disappointingly coming in as the 2012 when I'd hoped it would be the current vintage, this wine shows its strength in that it is still fresh and delicious. Some rosés do age well, as you find in the classic examples from Provence, and the Arriviste proves to be on a similar level. I would say it may have lost some of the fruit forwardness of the previous summer, but nothing lacking in flavor, and in fact may have evolved into another rosé that a diehard red wine drinker could accept as a summer substitute. Look for these wines - and more! - to appear on our wine list, some by the glass, as July and August unfold. Summer is short and there are a lot of pink wines out there to sample!

It's been a pretty average week here at 870 High Street, except for the walk-in going on the fritz just as the Health Inspector came in the back door on Wednesday. That was interesting. There have been the usual schedule "changes" to keep Kevin on his toes and the texts flying on the phone, along with some stressful delivery problems and the normal dining room demands. The weekend always comes around to help us reset our clocks, and we start out the new week refreshed and ready to meet whatever issues might be headed our way. It's been the same way for 28 years, and I expect it's the same for every independent restaurant owner-operator out there. It's a crazy way of life, one I suspect we will miss when we move onto the next chapter of our careers. But that's another story, eh?

Peace out!

Fourth of July Weekend!

2014-07-05T10:33:00.000-04:00

Thunderstorms predicted again for Thursday might be fireworks enough for the third of July!

But then we'll get this:

This was a very busy Wednesday, with a lot of business after 7:30, many of them new faces to us. The menu was very well received, as was the blueberry pie, made with delicious Godfrey blueberries and that not-so-secret ingredient.

Two summer classics arrived this week via Bill Kelly of Redman Farms - sugar corn and field tomatoes! I haven't tried any of the corn yet - it was immediately cut off the cob and the cobs themselves quickly made into stock - but the tomato I had was quite nice, plenty of sweet with a good balance of acid. And their grape tomatoes are also very good, a big improvement from the cello-packaged cousins. As a matter of fact, our Teddy Bear Fresh delivery today was made by one of the owners of the company, and he was quite impressed with the Redman produce that he saw on our cart when he arrived...

The menu Wednesday night began with some of those grape tomatoes, sauteed with a little olive oil and tossed with cubes of fresh mozzarella and linguine.

Just before it went out to the table, it got a final dusting of Parmesan cheese:

This ample starter was followed by sauteed chicken breast sauced with a spiced honey mint concoction largely influenced by a recipe in this week's NYT from superstar chef Bobby Flay. We have lots of mint (thank you Mrs. Holmes!); Kevin added his own twists (of course) for this rather unusual accompaniment to chicken, and overall it was a big success.

Reviews weren't so much mixed as surprised. "Different", say the Peacocks, with their usual candidness. Different in a good way though, they insisted, explaining that they just never would have paired mint with chicken. "Check our plates out when we are cleared" they said. So Leah dutifully brought me the plates, which were indeed thoroughly emptied. It certainly was a pretty color, but we have to give Bobby his due as to coming up with the idea for Kevin to interpret. On the shoulders of giants, once more.

Dessert was angel food cake with blueberry sauce, another crowd pleaser.

This is the new world famous Fried Chicken Salad Sandwich, making the special list at lunch. You have to try it. It is that good.

And here is the Smoked Fish Salad.

Another special for the lunch time crowd this week was rockfish tempura. Kevin has been having a lot of fun with that tempura lately, and since he is back on the lunch line, he is also having fun with the deep fryer! Neither of us can recall why we purposefully did not turn the fryer on at lunch until recently...

Blueberries have been the filling for the pie-du-jour lately.

This pie was made with Godfrey berries, which means it was super delicious, since those berries are the best. Sell-out both Wednesday and Thursday nights.

Speaking of Thursday night, what a scene! Thankfully I was staffed in anticipation of a busy night, but I think the cancelling of the RH fireworks worked in our favor, as we were hanging from the rafters from 6PM until after 8. Our two new busboys got quite an eyeful as to what "busy" means, with me barking direction at them the entire night. We even had a volunteer sit at the Kitchen Table, who also must have gotten quite an eyeful! And earful! Jenny and Geoff were captivated by the hysteria that flourished in the crazy kitchen scene Thursday night, but they missed the best one of all. Tyler cleared their table after they left, and as he was wiping it clean he asked "Should I re-set the kitchen table?" Both Kevin and I pleaded "NO!", and Tyler turned to Kevin and asked "What's the matter, can't you take it?" O.M.G. I about died with laughter. It was so hysterical. Kevin wisely said nothing, but at 9:00, when 14 year old Tyler asked if he should clock out (by law he has to be out at 9PM), Jay says to him "What, can't you take it?" The joke flew over Tyler's head, but it was perfect comic relief from the incredibly stressful night soon to be behind us.

Have a great weekend!
Peace out!

Cherry Ice Cream Soda

2014-06-28T09:34:00.000-04:00

Are you down with what I'm puttin' up?

What more can I say?

Report From 870 High Street

2014-06-27T16:38:00.000-04:00

For Sale - Veal Demi-glaze. Made with St.Brigid's Farm grass fed veal stock from the Brooks Tavern kitchen. $10 for 12 ounces. This stuff will make you the King of any Kitchen. Available now or later - it's in our freezer ready to go!

Summer arrived over the weekend and with it comes the warm days I love. I never complain about hot weather, because I am not a fan of cold. There really is nothing like summer in Kent County. Back before there was a Brooks Tavern, Kevin and I spent a year traveling the country, wondering if there was somewhere else we'd like to settle. Forty states later, we found nothing that met the standards already established by Maryland's Eastern Shore, and when we got back we greedily hoped the new restaurant wouldn't open before we had a chance to enjoy a full free summer in our own back yard. (We actually ended up getting not only the summer, but the next two seasons off as well, when the opening of BT was delayed until the following spring, but that's another story.) There is no end to outdoor pleasures, including being on or by some body of water or another. There seems to be no end to local fruits and vegetables to feast upon, and some years there are even a lot of blue crabs to pick. Hurricanes are rare, and while the humidity can become a little, well, damp, it is nothing compared to what folks in downtown Baltimore or Central Louisiana suffer through during the dog days. Lately the lightening bugs have been putting on quite a show through the trees, and of course the tree frogs never shut up. Of course there are also crickets, which have just begun to sing, but they are relatively short-lived (especially if you have a fly swatter close at hand). It's a great time to live in a great place.

Maybe that's why lunch has been so slow this week? Everyone is enjoying the noon meal al fresco? I'm not certain, but I hope it's a temporary glitch. Nicole has been out all week with a sick baby, so Kaitlyn put on the apron and has covered the server shift for the past four or five lunches, which made her happy, despite the relative lack of customers. It's always sort of depressing when you are slow - Kevin gets particularly distressed, because, of course, he believes it is because "they" don't like his food, which makes it personal to him. But this business always has its ebbs and flows, and usually we don't let the ebbs bother us. Unless they last a little too long... And lunch business is really the toughest shift of all, if you ask me, because you face the toughest competition: not only can your customer base get lunch at any number of equally fine local restaurants, but they can pick up a salad at Royal Farms, or grab a sub at C'Town or just run home for a lunch of leftover roast chicken on rye. It's mostly about time at lunch, for the working crowd, and money of course. We have never been able to make lunch affordable to the masses. When you are using top quality ingredients and paying a staff to do all the prep for your menu items, you can't. Our steak sandwich is $15. It's cut from the same New York Strip that is on the dinner menu for $30. The burger - grass fed, house ground on a house made roll - is $10. The $9 SausageWich we are serving as a special today is made with house made sausage and mozzarella, again on a house made bun. Five large shrimp in the shrimp stir-fry = $14. We've never been known as the home of the cheap lunch, and while these prices most definitely limit our range of clientele, it would be impossible for us to accept any other way of doing it.

I was not successful in getting a whole lot of pictures this week, although I did manage to cover the Wednesday menu.

The starter Wednesday night was particularly delicious - tempura scallops with spicy mayonnaise sauce. If you've ever had the rock shrimp tempura at Sushi Yama, you know what I mean.

Main course was St. Brigid's Farm calves liver, served with "bacon and onions".

The bacon in this case is the schmear of bacon jam over the top of the sauteed liver, and the onion appeared as green onion puree beneath. What a clown that Kevin is!

Dessert completed the trifecta - a dish of Kilby Cream vanilla, crowned with a sauce made from some of those sour cherries:

Actually, my favorite way to use this cherry sauce is to make a cherry ice cream soda - vanilla ice cream in a glass with some of the cherry sauce and several squirts of club soda. Cold and sweet and tart, good any time of day!

I always like a picture of the fish of the day adorned with crab and peas and ham. Redman peas. Jumbo lumps of Maryland crab. A few pieces of Smithfield ham to add a jolt of salt. A little lemon buerre blanc. Perfect.

Thursday night's special burger was dubbed the "Delaware State Fair" burger: yellow pepper puree with fried onions and sausage, topped with a slice of house made mozzarella. Yikes!

My favorite story this week involves a duck. It was the first thing that happened on our first day after the weekend, on Tuesday morning before we'd even entered the building. The Chef's Warehouse driver came barreling across the parking lot, at a rather faster than normal rate of speed, horn blaring and otherwise behaving slightly out of character. He rolled down his window and shouted "I've got a duck!" Well, we often get cases of ducks from Chef's Warehouse, but we were pretty sure this was not what Marlin was referring to...

Turned out, down in Chester, a mallard hen had flown into the truck and slipped upside down between the cab and the body! Marlin had tried to extricate her, but since he really was not willing to touch her, he was left unsuccessful. It was going to be up to Kevin. He managed to nudge her loose, and she fluttered down into the plantings next to the truck, apparently unharmed. Probably slightly discombobulated...

We set out a pan of water, from which she drank charmingly, and waited to see what she would do next. There were a few specks of blood on the white truck, so she definitely suffered somewhat in her harrowing ride up 213, but she seemed okay. We kept an eye on her, and about an hour after her arrival she ambled across the lot to the holding pond, which I think was slightly too scummy for her liking, because she quickly made it up the bank and headed into the Radcliffe Creek, all the while calling "Harry? Harry? Where are you? Where am I?"

We wish her well.

Now that school is out I have more resources for lunch time help - when they are not on family vacations that is! We now have a full time bus boy - one of two new young men in the dining room, much to the ladies' delight - who, at 14, is experiencing his first ever job. Tyler's mom worked with us at the Kennedyville Inn many years ago, so we've got a second generation staff thing going on here! With a regular busser during the day, I can put some of the more experienced busgirls on as host, which frees me up to do things like write Blog Posts. Leah had her first host shift yesterday, and she reveled in the new responsibilities this job brings. I love watching them as they take on the serious tasks of proper phone etiquette and dealing with guests who have a fondness for one particular table over another. There is a lot of customer relations to be handled in a restaurant dining room, and I can't stress enough to these fledgling hosts how important their behavior can be in forming the guests' opinions regarding the decision to patronize this restaurant over another. Answering the phone properly can by itself be a deciding factor in whether to visit a restaurant or not. The social skills that our dining room staff learn, especially at a young age, will come in very handy when they face larger issues later in life.

Good news in the kitchen too: I daresay that Kevin has the best staff ever right now, working with him. Despite a few reliability issues with a couple of the day crew, he is very pleased with them all. The two newest employees - Deiona and Sheronda - are both great hires. Sheronda is a bundle of energy at lunch, with no task being too much to ask of her, and Deiona is a quietly confident presence on the salad station at night. As a matter of fact, I'd say she's one of the best we've ever had on that job! It is such a relief to have people who are actually happy to be here and willing to do what it takes to get the job done, with mature attitudes that don't include drama. Another success story would be Dashan, who has made great strides of late, taking the training of Deiona as his personal mission and being very successful at it. He has become invaluable.

Finally, ironically, I didn't get this whole post written during lunch service today because we got too busy in the dining room! Figures, eh?

Peace out!

The Weekly Round-up

2014-06-20T10:13:00.003-04:00

A lot of food pictures this week.

We'll start with my favorite seasonal fruit:

Yes, those are buckets of fresh sour cherries, picked by someone else. One of our regulars has a "cherry connection", and she hooked us up with three gallons of this elusive gem.

Antwan set right to work pitting most of them Wednesday night. (Meanwhile, someone is working alongside him with the trout...)

The first gallon are sitting in vinegar, the beginning of a nine-day process on the road to pickled cherries. My absolute favorite pickle, made with either sweet or sour cherries. And this year we are making both!

A small portion were cooked into sauce for the panna cotta...

...and a few more found themselves inside this pie. Which sold out in rapid order Thursday evening. One pie, one night, once a year!

The last gallon is going to either be sour cherry jam - my favorite of all jams, needless to say - or maybe another pie. The problem with pie is it is so fleeting, while pickles and jam can sustain you months from now. That being said, nothing beats sour cherry pie...

But cherry jam won - two batches this morning.

The prix-fixe Wednesday night featured an unusual starter - a variation, I agree, on mozzarella sticks. The version Kevin supplied was squares of house made pasta layered with fresh mozzarella, dipped in buttermilk and our seasoned fritto mixture, then fried until appetizingly gold in color. The crispy kale on top was the perfect foil for the creamy sweet cheese. I am really hoping this makes its way to the small plate corral in the near future - it was just too good to never see again!

The main course was also unusual in that it was comprised of seafood - salmon and shrimp with a red pepper sauce. For dessert, bread pudding with caramel sauce - maybe not the best choice for an extraordinarily hot Wednesday night in June, but hey, the rest of the meal was relatively light!

This is what the new chicken dish on the menu looks like - chicken sausage with lemon on the arugula and fettuccine. Kevin has really nailed this sausage, as far as I am concerned, but we'll just have to see if anyone agrees with me!

The rainbow trout has also had a make-over, now appearing with a crab glaze and spinach saffron risotto.

The Langenfelder pork shoulder on the menu is draped with a tangy ginger barbecue sauce, which I can anticipate being requested by the gallon for private backyard ribs on the grill...

The fish this week has included mahi-mahi with our classic lemon crab sauce. As I was spooning up the last of the last sauce pan of this sauce - my occasional treat from the Chef - I suggested to Kevin and Jay that perhaps this should just be the crab soup! A bowl of crab butter anyone?

Tiffany was very proud of the results of her first lemon icebox pie on Thursday. She might not be so happy on Friday when she finds out it is pretty much sold out and she'll have to make at least two for the approaching weekend!

This is my new screen saver - four quarts of fresh sweet Redman peas. Tiffany, Debbie and Sheronda spent part of the morning shelling them. I don't know where the peas will make their first appearance, but like the cherries, this is such a fleeting annual special, it's nice to put a few in the freezer to bring back that particular seasonal taste later in the summer.

And finally - my favorite all time meal:

Yes, that is a soft shell crab sandwich. Two dozen small but fat crustaceans came by the back door Thursday afternoon and I was granted two of the more papery ones - notice a few claws missing as well - but I could have cared less when I sunk my teeth into this messy sandwich. Heaven! We sold most of them last night as a small plate, but I'm hoping there might still be a reject or two left for me!

Peace out! Enjoy this most glorious weekend. If the National Weather Service has anything true on its website, it looks to be just about perfect for the first weekend of the summer. Get out to Godfrey's and pick cherries. Stop by Cathy's stand to pick up some of the first yellow squash of the year. Bring the kayaks out to Eastern Neck Island, and take your crabbing gear with you. Bike down to Betterton and take a stroll along the bay beach. Take a drive to Sassafras Wildlife Management area to hike the Bamboo Trail. Have a beer at Waterman's dock bar while you watch all the tourists eat crabs. Take the dog to Still Pond Landing for a swim. The summer is just beginning and you have only three short months to appreciate all the bounty that we have here in the Land of Pleasant Living!

Wednesday Prix-Fixe

2014-06-18T14:12:00.001-04:00

For some reason, Outlook is not sending or receiving any of my emails today...

So, here's the prix-fixe menu for tonight - in case anyone sees this!

Deep fried lasagna with sauteed kale
Salmon and shrimp with red pepper puree
Bread pudding

Usual disclaimers: price is $20.14; offer is good while supplies last; and the menu is subject to the last minute whims of the chef.

Weekly Round-Up

2014-06-12T17:09:00.001-04:00

The next time a full moon occurs on a Friday the 13th won't be until the year 2049. So, be ready tomorrow night for a lot of craziness...

This week has been crazy all by itself. Busy + short staffed = crazed chef. Whole veal coming in on Saturday + short staffed = crazed chef. Crazed chef + crazed staff = Brooks Tavern. At least the (current) staff can handle it. Let's hope the new crew mates adapt!

Wednesday night was one of the busy ones, with lots of regulars to talk with and everyone seeming to know everyone else. The menu was a good pull - from smoked bluefish to frozen coffee cream - plus there was rock fish and lamb to round things out.

First course on the menu was the the smoked peppered bluefish on a bed of chopped romaine lettuce and a creamy lemon horseradish dressing:

I got a taste of the dressing - very good - and the smoked fish - very good - but not all the components together, although it wasn't hard to imagine how tasty it would all be on one plate.

Langenfelder pork tenderloin was the entree. Fanned out like duck breast, one guest told me it didn't taste like pork. Or at least not like the pork they were used to. I'm not sure this comment can be taken as a compliment or not, but I know they meant it in a positive way.

Dessert was a frozen concoction - cream and meringue, coffee and almond -

resulting in a coffee almond tortoni, with a bit of chocolate sauce swirled from above for added pleasure. This is one of my favorite desserts - creamy but crunchy with the toasted almonds, rich from the cream but light from the meringue. We thought about adding a little amaretto to the mix, but then got worried that it wouldn't freeze as well, so we chickened out. Maybe next time.

Here's the picture you've all been waiting for - the head cheese finale! It was perfect. The savory gelatin surrounded the chunks of brined and poached meat, forming a refreshing cold pate of great porkiness. A little mustard sauce and a crouton created a bite of crunchy bliss. For a large plate, Kevin paired it with a roasted pork loin - all pork from the recent hog raised on Kim's Black Bottom Farm - to create a dish that was definitely a turf-and-turf to be remembered by those who were ~~brave~~ lucky enough to order it.

Just a couple more shots of recent food:

The romaine salad revisited - looking better and better.

An open faced red-pepper and mozzarella sandwich, served at lunch last week.

Crab cake!!!! Needs no introduction.

This pork taco - another lunch special - may replace the fish taco on the daily menu.

One of the luckiest things to happen last week was Kevin forgetting to order his usual case of artisan lettuce from Teddy Bear. Lucky because he remembered that Bill had said Redman's had lettuce, and turns out it is really gorgeous stuff. Kevin couldn't be happier with it. A nice mix, fresh as the early morning on which it is harvested, served only hours later to our guests. It is wonderful. As long as this lasts, he will be using it for all things salad.

The burger tonight was another showcase of Redman's produce - that young kale that Kevin is so enamored with, chopped "chiffonade", strewn over a Swiss cheese melted burger, with a warm bacon dressing overall. Yes, it really was a popular "special" burger tonight, which surprised me. But it did look good and messy!

Another special tonight featured the aforementioned Kennedyville's own St. Brigid Farm veal - the tenderloin - paired with the aforementioned crabcake. A sell out. No surprise there.

I have been begging Kevin for years to make cream of crab soup, and every so often he humors me:

I know his version will be the best, and several diners in the dining room tonight echoed those sentiments. Wherever I go, I order cream of crab, if it is the right season for the crab to be right (and even then, only if the crab is right), and it is so often way too thick and way too "cream" flavored, with the only taste of crab coming from whatever crabmeat is in the soup. Kevin's tastes like crab flavored cream. Not salty, not Old Bay-y, but simply creamy crabby. I'm going to encourage him to continue in this endeavor...

And the last picture is for you to identify. If you a member of this cult, you know what you are seeing.

Hopefully we'll be fully staffed tomorrow. Kevin is getting a little cranky. It's been a week or two of mystery as to who will be showing up to work and who won't, on a daily basis, and it gets old rapidly. My crew has been fine, except poor Nicole had to leave early on Wednesday because of an eye infection. She left Kaitlyn and me in charge of lunch, which normally wouldn't be too big a deal, but normally it isn't the afternoon of Kent School's graduation...First one table of seven, then one of eight, and multiples in between. It was hilarious, if you weren't us. But really, Kaitlyn did a fine job, and the two of us were a fine team; I don't think anyone really noticed that we were a bit short. Kaitlyn's main strength, in a situation like the one we found ourselves in on Wednesday, isn't that she can handle the customers, the ordering and serving with aplomb, but is that she never gets flustered! She has no fear. I told her tonight, that's probably because she has no idea what could possibly go wrong when you have a dining room full of customers and only one other person to help you. I, unfortunately, know that anything could happen to send the whole thing spiraling out of control before you know it. A spilled glass of tea, an order rung in wrong, a forgotten two-top. Boom! Everything is suddenly out of kilter and you are in the weeds, struggling to right the ship. But we were very lucky and none of these things ruined our day. Or the day of our guests.

Be careful out there this Friday the 13th with its unusual pairing of a Full June Moon.
Peace out!

This Weeks UpDate

2014-06-05T21:53:00.001-04:00

The weather forecast for the weekend is looking awesome!

Last night's prix-fixe was quite successful, and we were quite busy, thanks in part to several of our regulars having dinner before heading off to one of the many concerts being held in conjunction with the National Music Festival, currently going on around the area.

We've been offering this prix-fixe menu as a Wednesday special since the anniversary of our first year in business - May 28th, 2008. Just about every Wednesday since then we've been serving a three course menu for the price of whatever the current year is - right now it costs $20.14. It's a serious value for our guests, and it is also a serious playground for Kevin, where he can fool around a bit with new recipes or products. He often comes up with a dish that suggest a possible place on the regular menu, but this is something that actually rarely happens, for some unknown reason. What ever. It's our Wednesday special, and has been for six years.

That being said, why then would another local restaurant do the exact same special, on the exact same night of the week? Here's the publicity for last night's menu as advertised by our friendly competitor:

STARTING TODAY!

WEDNESDAY'S $10 TRIOS

(In Addition to Our Regular Menu)

This Week, Wednesday June 4th

TODAY

Tossed Caesar Salad

~~~

Chicken Pasta Saltimbocca

Linguine, Prosciutto, Sun-Dried Tomatoes, Sherry Cream, Mozzarella ~~~ Chocolate Mousse

Sure, there's no law that says a restaurant can't do any special they want. But really? In a business community as small as ours? Why would you? And why would you charge half the going rate? When we were coming up with our weekly specials, we never would have chosen to do an "Oyster Night" on Thursday, because Jeff already has a handle on that. We wouldn't choose to hold wine tastings on Tuesday evenings, the same night everyone goes to the Imperial for that. And Burger Night didn't become a BT thing until after Andy's closed up shop and ended their hold on that weekly special. Economics are tight for all of us and we all are struggling for pretty much the same business, so I can't imagine choosing to step so obviously on another restaurant's toes. And since it is only $10 for all three courses, my mind goes "Wow, Brooks Tavern charges twice as much for the same thing". Yeah we do. And it's delicious too. Our first course alone last night was worth $10. We won't be changing our weekly specials, and we also won't be practicing any behavior commonly considered to be odious within the Hospitality Industry, like poach another restaurant's employee or copycat a competitor's special on the same or any other night. You just don't do those things. You don't.

Okay, that's over.

We had a few guests who had some complaints last night too. I sat far too many tables at too close intervals, and next thing you know, the board is lined front to back with tickets. We were all hopping to make things happen; even Charlie was up to his ears with drinks at the bar. I'm sure more than one table was a little concerned that things weren't moving along at the usual rapid clip - especially if they were trying to get to a 7:30 show - but we only got one actual complaint. A pair of ladies left a note on the credit slip saying service had been too slow, and they showed their disapproval with the tip as well as with the printed word. Ashley was the server, and she couldn't have felt worse about it. She explained to me the guests' issues with timing, and it seemed nothing worked to her advantage; even when they ordered decaf, there was none brewed and so they had to wait for that too. It was unfortunate, and I can only think of two things that might have made the situation end on a higher note. If we had known earlier in their meal that their evening was progressing too slowly, we could have helped speed things up. And secondly, if the woman who wrote the comment on the credit card slip had left her phone number along with her complaint, I could have reached out to her and maybe make amends some other way. Unfortunately, neither of those events occurred, and we are left with a disgruntled customer who will most likely proceed to tell anyone who will listen about the poor service she experienced at Brooks Tavern.

A bad bottle of wine was the other negative scenario. Whenever a guest returns a bottle of wine because it has gone south, we don't disagree with them. We just get them something else. If the wine really is bad, we can send it back to our distributor; if it is just a case of the guest not liking it, we can offer it by the glass or even (!) drink it ourselves. Kevin is my go-to wine taster - his palate knows no challengers - and in my opinion, his reaction is solid. He tasted said bottle last night, decreed it fit for drinking, and so when the guests asked for another of the same, I suggested that no, maybe they should try something else. However, while I was opening the new bottle, when the customers asked me didn't I find the other bottle to be corked, I said, well, actually, no, that Kevin would probably be drinking it later that night. They were amazed and sort of surprised, but we left it at that.

You guessed it. Later, when Kevin had a real glass of the stuff, he remarked "You know, I think this wine is a little off". What?!?! We tasted it against a different bottle of the same wine, and yes, there was a difference. Corked maybe, but definitely not as fresh tasting, definitely not as good. This morning I sent an email of apology to the regular whose wine it was, and she was quite gracious in accepting it. (And you know, in my excellent 20-20 hindsight, knowing that this guest has consumed this same wine with several meals over the past months, perhaps having Kevin taste the wine was really unnecessary...)

Part of the this whole problem could have been prevented if the server had insisted that the host at the table actually take a taste of the wine before the entire table got poured a glass. This eliminates the possibility of everyone suffering through a nasty flavor, and also leaves enough wine in the bottle to return to the distributor, if need be. But this situation, with the guest having had this wine often enough in the past, the ritual was skipped and a bad ~~time~~ wine was had by all as a result. The lesson learned: taste first, drink later, especially if a cork is involved.

Despite the obvious disappointments these two customer relation experiences held for us last night, it was overall a fun and action filled Wednesday night, with a solid buzz throughout the somewhat noisy dining room and lots of regulars to chat with. The food wasn't too shabby either.

The first course was one of those prix-fixe starters that guests took an immediate liking to and several requested that it earned a place on the regular menu. A chick-pea cake was deep fried and then garnished with fresh mozzarella and marinated roasted red peppers, with a little bit of the vinaigrette from the marinade splashed over top. The marinade was made from a chive blossom vinegar that Kevin has been macerating for several weeks, ever since he harvested a big handful of freshly opened chive blossoms.

The entree was chicken cacciatore, Marcella Hazan style.

Chicken legs roasted with tomato, carrots and celery, and savory herbs.

The end result was served with its sauce over a mound of linguine and a dusting of Parmesan cheese. Looked good enough to eat. And we sold out. The dessert that ended the night was a creme caramel, just the right amount of sweet after the robust meal preceding.

In other news:

...the head cheese has been progressing nicely. As soon as someone orders it, I will post a picture. It looks stunning, in its cloak of gelatin, and I'd love to try it, but Kevin is being very stingy. After all, it was quite a labor-intensive production.

Knowing how to repair small appliances is quite important when you own your own business. Here's Kevin trying to figure out how to put the Kitchen Aid mixer back together. Oh, did I mention that knowing how to put small appliances back together was also important?

We entertained a father-son pair on Friday night last week - David Bowman and his son, Flyn, were on a Dad Date together, and opted to spend their evening at the kitchen table at Brooks Tavern. Their entire evening actually, as David was still sitting there while the cooks were sweeping and mopping. That's because 10 year old Flyn had taken over the restaurant. It began during dinner service when he became my helper on the salad station - I was on the salads because there was no one else who could cover the graduating senior's shift - and I was happy to have the help. He started out putting strawberries on the shortcake and eventually learned how to use his diaphragm to call out "Pick Up!" at the top of his lungs. Next thing you know, he was breaking down trays and bussing tables. I had to tell him not to circle the diners too ardently with his tray, since that might make them think we were rushing them...of course in Flyn's mind, he wanted to rush them because he just couldn't wait to clear the table. The last table of the night might have been a little confused, I think, when this small boy started telling them about dessert. "Well", he began, "we ran out of strawberry shortcake. But we have tropical paradise ice cream. I think it has peanuts in it". We all fell in love. Meanwhile, Dad's sitting at the tall top, while Flyn says "Just two more minutes Dad, two more minutes". He had such fun, and so did we! We'd love to have a tiny guest worker again, as long as I can get my insurance agent to agree. And the labor board, eh?

I only have two more shots of food, and this is from one of those "Chef's Dinners" that we do for donation gift certificates. This was Friday, when I was on the salads, so I wasn't always free to use the camera. I got one shot of the shrimp on kale, above, and the scallop below. It was about six small courses overall, put together by Jay and Kevin on the fly, and which, I gather, was well received on the dining end.

I have almost forgotten what the winter was like. The strawberries from Redman's did a lot to erase those memories - I think they were the best ever this year - and the steady supply of crab meat lately, sweet Maryland meat, has helped as well. It's one of the things I love best about life on Maryland's Eastern Shore - the change of season. Winter may have overstayed its welcome a bit this year, but we knew it would end eventually and spring - followed quite rapidly by summer - would soon take over. Four distinct seasons with four distinct eating plans. More than likely, the one we are headed into is the favorite for many of us, but they each have their reasons for being. I mean, when you think about it, would you want to chomp on an icy slice of watermelon in December? or attack a sweet potato casserole in July? Even crabcakes lose their appeal in January, when you know they are being made with out-of-season, or worse yet, imported crab meat. Why bother, when the real thing is coming soon to a kitchen near you? Cooking and eating with the seasons is what food is all about. Sure, it's partly about supporting local farmers and growers, it's partly about avoiding thousands of miles of carbon footprints, but it's also a lot about eating really good, really fresh, real food that is not the same every week of the year. It's what Kevin and I have been all about for the past 28 years in Kent County, from serving Mrs. Kelly vegetables and Marietta's eggs in 1986, to Kim's pork and Cathy's asparagus in 2014. The only thing that changes is that it just keeps getting better and better!

Peace out!

Way to Go, Kent County Restaurants!

2014-05-30T08:32:00.000-04:00

Our local restaurant scene is very well represented by the voters in the most recent "What's Up" magazine's readers poll of "Best Of 2014". Brooks Tavern diners voted us with the "Best Farm-to-Table Menu", which we certainly appreciate - especially since it shows that our customers appreciate what Kevin and his crew do with all the local produce and meat farmers from the area are providing for them. But we are far from alone in receiving the accolades: "Best Chef" on the Eastern Shore went to the well-deserving Steve Quigg of the Kitchen at Rock Hall, validating what his fans already know; "Best German" to Bay Wolf, long a mainstay in Rock Hall; "Mexican" to the Plaza Tapatia group; "Most Romantic" acclaim was achieved by The Osprey, another popular Rock Hall dining venue; Evergrain, on Chestertown's High Street claimed "Best Bakery:; Dennis Hager's Two Tree in Millington is the local "Best Kept Secret"; and JR's recently opened pub was voted the best place to "Meet and Mingle". Not too bad for the skinniest county on the shore - we are a force to be reckoned with! Or at least dined with!

I'm still not going to buy the plaque they keep trying to sell us...

The Weekly UpDate

2014-05-29T16:07:00.000-04:00

When last we spoke we were ogling strawberries fresh from Redman's strawberry patch. They were tastefully translated into strawberry shortcakes the next day - here's how that turned out:

I hope I can get a better picture at a later date, but nevertheless, this will always be one of my personal favorite springtime desserts. A sweet biscuit, split, spread with soft butter and heated in the oven, spoonfuls of sweetened fresh strawberries that have juiced plenty of syrup placed on the bottom half and over the top, with of course a healthy dollop of freshly whipped cream. The only way it can get better than this is when you make a whole 9" biscuit and do the whole thing the same way, and there are leftovers to eat cold the next day. Heaven!

Last night was plenty busy, despite the chilly drizzle, and the menu was a popular choice. The surprise hit of the night - to me - was the delight people took in the kale salad that was the first course of the prix-fixe. It really was tasty - another surprise to me, a devoted kale hater - and it will most likely worm its way onto at least the specials list while this early kale from Redman's is available.

The greens were dressed with a buttermilk-garlic dressing, with bits of Smithfield ham, toasted cornbread croutons and spiced walnuts. Kevin had planned to put feta cheese in with it, but at the last minute decided it really didn't need it. And he was right - the dressing was creamy, the nuts and croutons were crunchy and the kale was tender and sweet. A big hit!

The entree was roasted Black Bottom Farm pork, about which there will be more later in this post.

Dessert saw the return of the angel food cake, this time seasonally sauced with a rhubarb strawberry coulis. A few guests requested this as an a la carte selection for their dessert. Overall it was a nice menu, selling out in a timely fashion. My only regret is that I wish I'd been allowed some of the pork...

Anyway, the pork arrived on Friday, in the usual fashion:

It was a little disconcerting for all who entered the walk-in, to see that prone "body" on the floor. Kevin spent much of (our) Memorial Day weekend with this pig - including the ribs we slow cooked on the BGE for Sunday dinner - and served some of it roasted for the aforementioned Wednesday prix-fixe. One curious thing about this specimen - all the fat had been removed. By the butcher? Usually there is some very nice fat - sometimes even leaf lard - in the cavity and such, but not this time. Since you pay for the hog by "hot" weight, not after dressing, you'd kind of like to get everything you are paying for, you know? But where ever it went, the pig itself - fresh grown from Kim's Black Bottom Farm herd - will be on the specials list in some form or another for the next few weeks. What ever there is that Kevin isn't turning into cured pork products that is. Head cheese is going to be first:

The various miscellaneous parts - including the head, of course - will be boiled clean after this bout in the brine and will become a pate, perfect for summer, with a bit of gelatin to lighten it up. He also has begun curing the hams, which we won't see for several weeks, and goodness knows what else he has planned for the other primal cuts. He sure does love that whole animal stuff.

Even fish. We never buy demi-glace. Why would we, when Kevin and Jay are constantly producing bones for stock?

Karen and Ben Dize were in last night for her annual Birthday Dinner at Brooks Tavern, featuring lobster, which is also the annual menu selection. I did not get a picture of the main dish - hand cut fettuccine with lobster - but I did manage to snap a shot of the first course - lobster in aspic with asparagus. It was a beautiful thing, and apparently a delight on the palate as well.

The passing of Memorial Day Weekend means summer has really begun, and we can begin to anticipate the arrival of all of our favorite foods that the next few months will bring. After strawberries are through - and how short that season always seems - June can bring fresh peas, sour cherries and soft shell crabs, blueberries and finally fresh corn (everyone in the kitchen just can't wait for those bushels of corn to shuck!). Hopefully we'll have the eventual return of local tomatoes before August this year, and my favorite late summer treat: Redman's seedless watermelon. Lima beans. Fresh picked string beans. Bell peppers of every color and hot peppers of every temperature. Cantaloupe and blackberries, eggplant and zucchini. Cucumbers for pickles. Raspberries for jam. Peaches for pie! We don't want to rush it though. I plan to eat my way through as much produce as I can, on a daily basis, with no hurry to get back to apples and butternut squash!

Generally we find the coming couple of weeks to be on the slow side - weddings and graduations frequently demand most of the attention through the early weeks of June - but after that we look forward to sharing as much of the local summer bounty with our guests as they will tolerate. It's going to be our last summer at Brooks Tavern and we want it to be a delicious one!

Peace out!

Strawberries!

2014-05-27T10:26:00.001-04:00

A flat of just-picked Redman's strawberries came through the back door this morning. You know what that means! Strawberry Shortcake on the dessert menu today!

The Thursday RePort

2014-05-23T10:30:00.001-04:00

Tea Party weekend is rapidly approaching. This iconic festival has been a staple of Kent County's Memorial Day holiday since its inception in the late 60's, bringing colonial rabble rousing to new heights. The assorted food stands surrounding Fountain Park are operated solely by local non-profits, who more than likely find this influx of hungry tourists to be one of their main fundraising gambits of the year. (The line-up of organizations you can support with your food dollars can be found at the bottom of this page.) One of the perennial classics is the fried clam booth, operated by the Optimists(?). Someone last night told me that their favorite has been the Strawberry Shortcake, sold by the Order of the Eastern Star. Whatever your idea is of festival food, there will be an abundance of choices, and while the lines may be long, you can always pass the time with a beer in hand. All of your friends and most of your neighbors will be among the throngs, so there will be no lack of conversation. Plus you will see people you only see on this yearly basis. It is truly a "local" event, despite the mass of tourists who support it as well.

That being said, there are some detractors. The crowds! No one buys anything in the shops - they just want to use the restrooms. It's the "same old, same old". The block party started out free, now it costs 20 bucks! The lines! The crowds! The streets are blocked off! People drink in the street! The crowds!

So what. It's still a blast, if you don't mind lines and crowds and porta-potties. There is people watching out the wazoo, and gossip parties on every corner. The food is forbidden on a daily basis, which makes it all the more special this one weekend of the year. There's beer and wine for walking around, passing the time. And don't forget there's the always hysterical raft race on Sunday. So, go already, and have fun. And when you are ready for a sit-down meal, with real silverware and glassware and china, brought to you by a server in an air-conditioned dining room, you know where we are.

We had fun Wednesday night, mostly because Mallory was working her first dinner as a server. I should have documented it with a photo, but I didn't want to make her any more nervous than she already was. She's worked a few lunches before, so the learning curve was not overly steep, but it is a bit more involved; there are a few additional duties that she had yet to experience. By the time she was specialing her third table I could tell she was relaxing into the groove. She did fine. And now we have a back-up server!

The prix-fixe menu she was describing included toasts of smoked bluefish, as a starter, followed by stuffed catfish. We weren't very busy - pre-holiday perhaps? - but with Mallory being slightly new on the floor and the sudden walk-out of the relatively new busser, we all had plenty to do.

I'm not really sure what the guests thought about the bluefish mousse - mostly they mentioned the supporting asparagus salad - but I thought it was quite tasty, being smoky enough to give the fish something to talk about.

The catfish was stuffed with spinach and Smithfield ham, and sauced with a little lemon butter sauce.

Dessert was a white chocolate panna cotta. One customer described it as bland, and "not really very good", so I'm not sure it was that big a hit. Perhaps with some additional garnish - raspberries or strawberries maybe - it would be a bit more flavorful. The recipe Kevin used was similar in some ways to the original Claudia Fleming panna cotta recipe we've followed since the beginning, orchestrated with very little input from me. The end result promised a subtle sweetness from the white chocolate, with a perfect "panna cotta" texture (meaning "not rubbery"), but maybe it was just a little too subtle. More tweaking, if there is a next time. (I have been trying to steer clear of most of the dessert duties, except for making the Caramel Slice or occasional cheesecake as needed, because I know if I give "him" an inch, he will have me in for the mile.)

Best news coming out of the kitchen last week was the return of the CrabCake! Finally Kevin was able to secure enough Maryland meat to support the demand for his take on the Eastern Shore favorite. The only letdown so far is that it is not 100% jumbo lump, because the brand he likes best is mixing the backfin with the lump in the same pound. Still, it is 100% Maryland Blue Crab sweet meat, with as little binder as needed, and gluten-free. It is a very welcome addition to the specials list, and eventually it will appear back on the regular menu. Along with its big cousin, the CrabSteak.

This was the look of the "Mixed Grill" we've been offering lately, featuring that scrumptious white sausage served on last week's prix-fixe, accompanied by a skewer of SBF calves liver and a slice or two of house-smoked pork belly. A little mustard sauce on the side please. What a great plate!

Here's Dashan, trying to stay out of trouble...

Also finally back on the menu - lamb! This is leg of lamb with a roasted tomato and olive sauce, on top of chickpea feta pancakes. It's been awhile since we've had any lamb available, so it has been receiving a very warm welcome. Hey Mac, are you listening??

Kevin made a few changes to the dinner menu this week, including changing the rainbow trout from that immense fish taco to this more debonair approach - with shrimp, house-cured bacon and creamy polenta. A bit more manageable than the previous rendition, I would say.

And, speaking of cured, here is another example of charcuterie from Chef Kevin - duck ham. I know that sounds sort of contrary - who knew that ducks had hams?? This stuff is incredible. Partnered with some very good cheddar cheese on a slice of toasted bread with a side of (house made) cherry catsup = a winning small plate that we hope to see again.

Kevin and I - and everyone on the day crew, really - want to send a big shout-out to Bob Sipes, head of Chestertown Utilities, and his crew. They saved lunch yesterday. The problems started around 10:30 when Tiffany noticed that the water filling the pot sinks was a suspicious brown color. A call into the Town Utilities office alerted Mr. Sipes to the issue, and he sent someone to start flushing hydrants. Apparently the work on the traffic circle involved dealing with some water pipes and the result was a build up of iron and other undesirable minerals in our water supply. Flushing the hydrants - first up stream at Coventry and then the one right in our parking lot - would flush the pipes and clear the water. At 11:15 they started flushing the hydrant in our lot. At 11:30 our first lunch guests arrived, with the water still streaming brownly out of the hydrant. We knew we really couldn't open without a clean water supply available, but we were hoping things were on the mend, so we welcomed the two ladies with one caveat - we could only offer ice tea to drink. We couldn't make coffee or pour soft drinks, and least of all, no glasses of tap water. (Not to mention the fact that the toilets were looking a little shaky as well...) But, by the time the party of 8 arrived (and ordered water all around) we were "in the clear". So lucky! And so thankful to the Chestertown Utilities crew for their very prompt attendance to our needs. We're just one little business, down here on our corner of High Street, and for them to pretty much drop everything and help us out was a tremendous thing. Thank you Mr. Sipes!

Hope everyone has a great Memorial Day weekend, full of hot dogs and lawn chairs.

Peace out!

This Week's UpDate

2014-05-15T10:30:00.000-04:00

My morning had such a start that it could only go up from there, so that's a good thing. It all began last night when we couldn't find our cell phone. I was the last one with it, and when we didn't hear it ring when we called it from the office, we thought maybe I'd left it home. But no, not at home, not in the car, not in the van. Then it went to voice mail. Great. All I could think was that maybe I'd inadvertently thrown it out with the junk mail, which I'd had in my hands when I came back from feeding Ruby, along with my wallet, sunglasses and the missing phone. I could have just tossed it in the trash without realizing... So, this morning, you know what that means. Dumpster diving. I was in the disgusting process of digging through yesterday's yucky garbage, with a pair of tongs mind you, when the driver from Chef's WareHouse came to my rescue - he actually found the phone! It was on the file cabinet underneath my order book. How he found it I don't know, but I'll tell you what I do know: starting your day by digging through yesterday's garbage is not the greatest. It is not an image that is easy to dismiss, trust me. Luckily no one took any pictures.

So, it's only up from there!

Kevin was pretty sure that the sausages he made for the menu last night were going to be pretty good, and he was right.

The white sausage on last night's menu - sometimes known as "boudin blanc" - is an emulsified sausage made with chicken and pork fat stuffed into pork casings. These were then twisted into individual sausages and poached to doneness prior to service. Sauteed to order, where they were nicely browned, they were served with a bit of demi-glaze.

His recipe for this - which is written down - follows a classic 5-4-3 ratio for forcemeat, being 5 parts meat, 4 parts fat and 3 parts water. Kevin has been making sausage for years, although the emulsified ones have been a little trickier to master (that great hotdog that we only saw once comes to mind), but he thinks he may have it nailed now. Just in time too, because he has been invited to make veal sausages for St. Brigid's Farm's September Field to Fork dinner. If he can pull this off again, using SBF grass fed veal, our future will be golden! Binkerts, look out!

The plate was quite inviting looking, with a mound of mashed potatoes and salads of beets and beans. We actually enjoyed one of the sausages this morning for our breakfast, alongside duck-fat fried potatoes and onions. Sometimes a bad morning can be turned around, eh?

Anyway, the Prix-fixe menu last night began with a mozzarella roulade, filled with asparagus and spelt, on a bed of Little Gem lettuce and balsamic vinaigrette:

The spelt added a pleasantly chewy texture to the cheese roll.

Dessert was another great success for Kevin. With James under his wing, he made a chocolate mousse cake that is bound for the dessert list.

Hard to beat chocolate cake filled with whipped cream and frosted with chocolate whipped cream. It was a big hit, and a second one will be on today's lunch menu, in case you missed it.

I know it gets to sound like a broken record - and believe you me, he really is not perfect! - but Kevin can surely cook. The above plate is more proof of that. Here we have his foie gras paired with some slices of duck ham. Yes, you read that right - duck breast brined and smoked just like pork, to make ham. Incredibly flavorful and savory, you have to try it to believe it. Just imagine a local meat case, filled with slices of this ducky goodness, stacks of juicy sausages, piles of smoked pork ribs. This is a bit of what we hope to do, in our next life, and it starts here at Brooks Tavern.

We've been getting queried lately regarding the arrival of the CrabCake (not to mention the CrabSteak), and it certainly is time, but so far the Maryland crab meat supply has been slightly sporadic. Of course pricy too, but that is to be expected. There doesn't seem to be any timeline to offer; we just have to take what nature and United Shellfish have to offer and hope it happens soon. Meanwhile, the late appearance of crab means that the Oyster Fritter is still on the menu, as long as the oysters remain plump this late in this unnatural season. And soon, strawberry shortcake!

We've had our Coconut Caramel Slice on the dessert menu lately, and the most recent batch was made even better with the addtion of Steen's Cane Syrup, compliments of Brenda and Larry Lyons, recently of New Orleans. When Brenda asked Kevin what they could bring him back from their trip to the Crescent City, he quickly put in a request for some Steen's, and he got his wish! What a nice thing to do - and what an improvement this ingredient adds to the flavor of the Slice. Thanks so much Brenda and Larry, it will go to good use!

Our guests frequently enter into the kitchen, sometimes invited, sometimes spontaneously. That was the case with this fellow last night, who rambled into the back with a request for the Chef. Or was it a suggestion? Something to do with MacDonald's? What ever.

Oh, it's John Mercer!! Here's a man who never shies away from offering his opinion! John and his wife Lynn are good customers of ours, and John is always quick with a joke. For a long time we had a running commentary regarding squirrel, during our squirrel catching adventures, but you never really know what John is going to come up with, one moment to the next. Just be ready for anything!

Finally, the big story of the week - Debbie had her second anniversary at Brooks on May 10th!

Here she is, behind her co-worker "Stephanie" at the pot sink this morning. Debbie loves her job at Brooks Tavern, showing up every Tuesday and Thursday morning with one question on her lips - "When do I get Paid?". She is good for us, and Tiffany (aka Stephanie) takes very, very good care of Debbie. I should say that the second question from Debbie usually is "Where is Stephanie?". Happy Anniversary Debbie, we should have baked a cake!

Peace out!

The Weekly UpDate

2014-05-09T10:05:00.000-04:00

A lot of wasted time this week at my desk. Yes, computer ~~crap~~ issues. Wednesday it was the trials of getting the email list over to the new computer - I wasted at least two hours trying to avoid doing it in a way that took two hours. So, it ended up taking 6 hours. I am so clever! This morning I've spent over an hour trying to stop conduit.search from taking over my browser. Yesterday I had installed Chrome as a supplemental browser, to use with my online class, and apparently it dragged this hostile search engine along with it. I've uninstalled Chrome but conduit hasn't let go yet, so I've yet to solve that mystery. It's very annoying.

And speaking of annoying, check out what we had to do yesterday:

This is the Brooks Tavern version of an oil spill clean-up. We recycle our oil to a guy who uses it as fuel for his car, and we stack the used oil in five gallon buckets next to the dumpster. Well, Wednesday, when the oil in the deep fryer was changed and the used oil placed outside, it all leaked out of a crack that was in the bottom. of the bucket. We left Wednesday night, not realizing until the last minute what all that "wet" stuff was by our car. The next morning you could see the tracks of everyone who walked through the oil toward their cars across the parking lot. (Mandrell commented, upon his arrival Thursday morning, that it looked like Hansel and Gretal had left a trail to find their way home.) Thursday morning Kevin laid cardboard over the oil; later in the day Rayvon took over, as you see above. He pulled up the oily cardboard and sprinkled a 20 pound bag of cat litter over the cement, to hopefully absorb the fry oil. What a mess! But at least it isn't super hot out, eh?

Wednesday night was meatloaf, which is always a popular prix-fixe menu, but the pasta starter was what got the raves:

Angel hair pasta, studded with the first asparagus of the season, plus garlic, Parmesan cheese and cherry tomatoes, was a hit!

And look at the meatloaf! That looks so good. To me, the true test of meatloaf is how it tastes cold - which is the taste I got of this one - and if it's good cold it's going to definitely be delicious served hot with an onion gravy!

We were so excited to see Bill Kelly come through the back door yesterday with the first flat of Redman's asparagus. Usually the bearer of the first fresh local vegetable of the season gets a big fat smack on the cheek, but that was Cathy. This year Bill was fine with just a photo-op with Kevin. And last year the first delivery was on April 30th...

How exciting is this! And while Bill didn't mind a more sedate greeting, I know Kevin missed his first annual sight of Cathy coming through the back door, following her classic ring of the door bell. Hopefully she'll be coming around one of these days!

I didn't get a whole lot of pictures of food this week, but I did get a few shots of people. This first one is a pair of our somewhat younger regulars, sitting in the cubby with Mom, enjoying the Wednesday night prix-fixe. There is nothing I like better than to see little kids eating Kevin's food with such gusto. So often all this age wants is a grilled cheese or kid's pasta, without anything green within miles of the plate. These two - and we do have a few more pint sized diners who are as adventurous as their adult counterparts - are pretty much game to try anything, especially when Mom assures them that they will like it!

Speaking of adults, below is a group of a few of them, relatives of mine. My sister Marty, second from the right, was in town for a conference, which called for dinner at Brooks. My nephew Jay sits to Marty's left, with his wife Mandi across. My brother John, soon to be a retired high school math teacher, is at the head of the table, with his wife Harriet to his right. It was a mini-family reunion! I joined in when I could, especially to hear about the exploits of Jay and Mandi's new flock of chickens...

We were pleasantly surprised by a quick pop-in by this old friend - Andy! She came by with our ToT check but was on her way before we knew it. Ever since leaving her enormously successful and still missed bar on High Street, Andy seems to be busier than ever and we rarely see her. One of these days we'll have a date together, that is certain.

The low point of last week was Becca's last shift at Brooks Tavern. She has been working as a busser here since August of 2012, and doing a wonderful job. She is one of those kids who started out as shy and awkward around the customers but gradually blossomed into a confident and hard-working employee. She has left to take a server position at Waterman's, at which I am sure she will shine. I would loved to have kept her here, but there is no growth available and it was only a matter of time before she would move on to next level somewhere else. It was a very tearful moment when she gave me her two weeks notice, and more tears were shed on her last night, but we are very proud of Becca, and wish her all the best at her new job.

That's all for now!

Peace out!