Bummer. None of my pictures of the menu last night turned out. They were all blurry! I must have changed the camera settings or something. Or maybe my hand were shaking just a little more than usual, although it's not like I've increased my coffee consumption. Anyway, today's pictures will be limited to veal parts.
The menu was good, if perhaps a tad heavy for our 90 degree July weather. The first course was a room temperature salad of eggplant and tomato, made with an assortment of beautiful heirloom tomatoes, the products of Melinda Blyman's apparently lush garden. They were one after another delicious, especially the yellow ones and the Black Krim. The latter tasted the way you expect a high summer tomato to taste. Exceptional.
The salad - which benefited from a good sop with bread - was followed by Kevin's latest meat loaf, made from the veal calf we just got in from St. Brigid's Farm. Kevin used some of the organ meats - tongue and heart - plus the cheeks, with the ground meat, which I am certain gave it that "je ne sais quoi" flavor that makes it so good. Sorry not to have a record of it.
Dessert was bread pudding with caramel sauce. It was a busy night, with our two new cooks still working out a few kinks but doing pretty well considering how they were dropped into play after a bit of an abrupt training period. Jay is bearing the brunt of the extra work involved when two new kitchen members start at about the same time. Kevin can be pretty brutal at times, in his "training" methods, and I am the first to suggest that perhaps he needs to lighten up a bit. Actually, I am probably the only person who would suggest that...and it usually gets me nowhere. But that's another story.
Now for a few photos that did turn out -
This breaking news photo is of our first cucumber from our rapidly expanding plant in our home garden. While one cucumber does not a jar of sweet pickles make, the future does indeed look bright. And, since we recently emptied our last remaining jar of last years crop, we are dire need. These promise to be good pickling cucumbers too, so we're excited, although I doubt we'll manage to put up 41 quarts...
The walk-in was full of veal parts after Friday's veal calf delivery. Kevin spent all of his Monday off here at the restaurant, breaking down 196 pounds of veal. Literally all day. He butchered all the primal cuts and separated them into smaller cuts, many of which go into the freezer for future use. This bus tub of bones will become demi-glaze.
The USDA number 8892 on these shanks tells us that the veal calf was taken to Haass Family Butcher in Dover Delaware for processing. The USDA supplies a number for all Meat, Poultry and Egg production facility, and if you know that number, you plug an M (meat), P (poultry) or G (egg) in front of it, and you can find where it was processed for your (safe) consumption. Just go to this website and click on the directory that lists the establishments by number, and it will take you where you want to go. (Ctrl F will open up the search bar on the PDF file.) All this means is that if you know the USDA number, you can find out where your food was processed, and from there you can find out what ever other information you might want to know. Or not. For some reason, I find this fascinating...
Three or four people had the kidneys for their lunch on Tuesday. One person took home two orders to eat at other meals! Tonight there is ONE order of sweetbreads for some other lucky person...
That's is for today. Sorry about the poor picture supply. I think I have figured out part of what the problem is, so hopefully the issue is resolved.
Oh, almost forgot - we've got a prime strip loin ready to be cut into steaks for your weekend grilling. Call me - or email, with a phone number where I can call you, since I still can't email out very easily yet - and let me know if you are interested. How many and how thick is what we need to know, and what you need to know is that they are $16 a pound.
Peace out! and eat plenty of ice pops this week, they'll keep you cool!
That's is for today. Sorry about the poor picture supply. I think I have figured out part of what the problem is, so hopefully the issue is resolved.
Oh, almost forgot - we've got a prime strip loin ready to be cut into steaks for your weekend grilling. Call me - or email, with a phone number where I can call you, since I still can't email out very easily yet - and let me know if you are interested. How many and how thick is what we need to know, and what you need to know is that they are $16 a pound.
Peace out! and eat plenty of ice pops this week, they'll keep you cool!
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