Piquante

I ate this meal about a month ago, and still when I see that broken Gruyere ball, oozing out all it's goopy salty fried goodness, I get all tender and runny inside.



That salad was marred only by a large slice of lemon, rind and all, that had been placed surreptitiously under a pile of greens and which I placed in its entirely into my mouth. I don't know about you, but I don't find chewing on lemon rind and pith to be an enjoyable experience. In fact, I felt a little annoyed that they'd placed in there so sneakily, as that particular bite was a real buzz kill. I had been busy savoring the bitter greens and the crispy ball of fried cheese, which was large enough for me to parcel out piece by piece, so that there was one cheese bite for each salad bite, just the way I like it. Then I spent 5 minutes hating lemons with my mouth watering to get the bitterness out. Yeah, I know, "wah." Just sayin'.

Here's the salad before I popped that yummy little cheese cherry. Heh.



My entree was braised shortribs (again with the lemon, jeez... a little goes a long ways guys) and softshell crab.


The veg was baby bok choi and early radish, some hybrid sprouted from our server's boyfriend's Aquinnah garden. My but those figs look nice, hmm?

The shortribs were the most delicious thing about this dinner, once I'd scraped away half of that lemon rind. Otherwordly tender, the way only shortribs can be, marbled with layers of fatty marvelousness. Marble-ousness, if you will.

My main complaint besides that god forsaken lemon was the barely suppressed snobbishness when I asked for a cocktail menu. My companion argued for the restaurant's side (yeah, thanks), saying if they want to be strictly a "wine place" they don't have to reach out to the cocktail drinkers of the world.

My argument that they already had a full bar, why not have a small list of specialty cocktails, which makes it easy and fun to choose a drink they might not otherwise be able to come up with. By not only not having such an offering, but treating even the question with veiled contempt shows to me a lack of the kind of customer-centered philosophy that would exist in the dream restaurant I'm running in my head where everyone loves to go because it is perfect. Snarf.

But seriously. I was ready to spend money on a $12 cocktail, but I wasn't about to come up with it myself. So I drank water instead. How does that work out for you, wine snob restauranteurs?

Wham Bam Thank You Clam

I am, sadly, allergic to clams, but this is the big seafood vendor in the area and they're the place to go for fish, mollusks etc... let's call them Wham Bam Thank You Clam. They recently received a shipment of softshell crab, and were selling sandwiches cheap. It was tasty, hot, crunchy, salty, definitely 'oceany', although part of me has trouble with the idea of eating an entire crab, swimming fins, protective coverings, juicy organs and all, especially knowing they were in such a vulnerable state when they were harvested... still, add some tartar, lettuce, tomato and soft bun, and they make quite the dramatic lunch item.

Shmoop de Ville

A summer standby, mostly because we know the bartenders and they let us bring our little poodle in. I love a pet friendly eating establishment! This is what we always have there, although they aren't always good... the buffalo wings. On this occasion though, they were good: big, drippy, hot, spicy but not too spicy, just the way I like 'em.

What a good espresso martini looks like...

In case anyone was wondering... this is a Frescas espresso martini, practically black with a nice sweet foamy head. The way they are meant to be. Sigh...

Malarkys

Malarkys is the best. It serves food when everyone else is closed. The food is generally consistent, tasty, and reasonably priced. That means a lot. So, I'm a fan.
Here's a photo of their coconut shrimp, which is served with a sweet/spicy/fruity sauce. I like 'em.



That is one pathetic espresso martini, however. Sorry.

Frescas

Frescas is definitely the most reliable "nice" restaurant around. I don't recall ever feeling annoyed or leaving with lots of ideas of how things could have been better, which, as we've established, happens regularly. On this visit we were satisfied once again. There was a small something that could be considered an 'incident' (pork was pretty pink and needed to go back to the kitchen), but was made up for immediately and well, plus they have so much strong capital built up, I don't hold it against them. I'd have to say that in Frescas case, I could totally NOT run that restaurant better. See? I'm not a total douchebag.

First there were the fruity drinks. He got one called the Umbrella drink, with came adorned with lots of frills which he promptly removed. I had a pomegranite martini, and stole his umbrella. They were perfectly tasty, thank you very much.

Frescas used to serve cute little individual loaves of bread served hot on its own little wooden cutting board, with a small pot of herb butter and a teeny bowl of oil cured olives. Now THAT'S the way to start a meal! Now they serve large, warm slices of frenchy type bread, crusty on the outside soft on the inside, with olive oil and butter. Also delectable, if not quite as adorable.

I didn't take a picture because it was just bread.

Then there was the gorgonzola and shrimp dip with pancetta and greasy, crispy crostinis, and a baby spinach salad with grilled cippolini onions, raspberries and oven baked goat cheese. Oh and toasted hazelnuts. YUMMERS!

I had sea scallops and lobster ravioli. It was delish, hot and soft and melty in my mouth. He ate my nasturtium because I don't like to eat pretty flowers, for whatever reason.

This is the Snowball, on the menu for every season I've ever been to Frescas. It's vanilla ice cream rolled in poundcake crumbs, served with toffee chocolate crumbles. Uuuunnnggggghhhhhhmmmmmm....

This is what it looked like when we were done. Too full even to finish off the flowers!

The end. Thanks Frescas! Food, service, cleanliness, and ambiance were all great. We'll be back!

It's good to have friends who can cook...

Enjoyed a birthday barbecue at a friend's the other day, only got one picture to portray the delectable splendor. These particular friends are stellar hosts, cooks, cocktail makers, you name it. Here we see the tuna and bright pink salmon that had been grilled and served with a bit of tamari marinade, a melt-in-your-mouth sliced baked/grilled potato, a brightly flavored lentil salad, and a delicious olive/eggplant/tomato/onion concoction that I could have eaten all day long. Note the tendril of watercress that had been gathered that day from Blackwater Farm creek, part of a salad with homemade mustard dressing... loverly. I was also served a lychee liqueur martini with a black currant syrup floater that was to die for. And all it cost is my friendship!