Local eating
Dec. 27th, 2006 11:24 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pecuniumWe went to dinner tonight. After a day of photographs, and shit-shovelling, not cooking (but eating our fill) was a consummation, devoutly to be wished.
Stella's Cafe is nice. If one makes a reservation the corkage is $5 the bottle. We took a merseault (very nice) and a zin, and a petite syrah (which were ok, but not to the level of the merseault).
The place is small, and the kitchen is open to the room. Sit at the counter and you know if the chegf uses his apron, or a towel, to wipe his hands.
The service is friendly, but slow (we were some 20-30 minutes waiting for a menu; though Glenn and Peggy being regulars, and we opening our own bottles may have had something to do with this; on the flip side, there was only one other party in need of real attention, and two waiters).
We ordered a puttanesca appetizer. This was a chopped olive and pear tomatoes bruschetta. The bread was a rosemary whole wheat pita. The topping had cheese and pignolia, tomatoes, olives (black and kalamata) and olive oil. It could have used more of the topping, but it was good nonetheles.
The salads, excellent, though the ceaser could have been made up of smaller pieces of lettuce. I think almost whole leaves (the only ones of less than three inches were small enough that cutting off the base was enough to reduce them to less than that). The mixed greens, with cranberries and hazelnuts, was well balanced. The vinaigrette was just right, and the bitter greens weren't lost oin the sweet, nor were they too assertive (Peggy says it was lacking in radicchio, so perhaps this wasn't quite as it per norm).
The last leg of lamb was gone, so I had the smoked steak. It was served just as I ordered it (I like a piece of meat to be just shy of medium, and this seems to be a hardship, it's either running red, or cooked to almost well). Maia ordered the vegitarian stir fry. The noodles were actuually cooked as a single lump. Browned, and crunchy, on the outside, and soft on the inside. She had peas (in the pod) green beans, asparagus, carrots, mushrooms and onions. I had potatoes (with a rich cheese, not a blue, but of that family; though milder. Maia, who dislikes, "mouldy cheese" didn't recoil, though she thought it too rich) and some asparagus.
Peggy ordered the Dungeness crabcakes. I had a bite... enh. I think crabcakes just aren't for me. They taste of tuna casserole.
We passed on desert, but I did get a taste of the Mirror Pond ale (the tap beer). It's from Oregon, and pleasant. No malt left over, but a pleasant hoppiness. It's not bitter. No, a beer ought to be slightly bitter, but not too much. This was just as that ought to be.
All in all, I can commend it, the prix fixe isn't cheap to look at (tonight it was Thai peanut soup, a goat cheese salad, and a bone-in rib eye, $44) but I suspect the totality is sufficient (the steak is $24, so the soup, and appetizer probably fill out the price, esp. when one figures the scale of purchase).
Stella's Cafe is nice. If one makes a reservation the corkage is $5 the bottle. We took a merseault (very nice) and a zin, and a petite syrah (which were ok, but not to the level of the merseault).
The place is small, and the kitchen is open to the room. Sit at the counter and you know if the chegf uses his apron, or a towel, to wipe his hands.
The service is friendly, but slow (we were some 20-30 minutes waiting for a menu; though Glenn and Peggy being regulars, and we opening our own bottles may have had something to do with this; on the flip side, there was only one other party in need of real attention, and two waiters).
We ordered a puttanesca appetizer. This was a chopped olive and pear tomatoes bruschetta. The bread was a rosemary whole wheat pita. The topping had cheese and pignolia, tomatoes, olives (black and kalamata) and olive oil. It could have used more of the topping, but it was good nonetheles.
The salads, excellent, though the ceaser could have been made up of smaller pieces of lettuce. I think almost whole leaves (the only ones of less than three inches were small enough that cutting off the base was enough to reduce them to less than that). The mixed greens, with cranberries and hazelnuts, was well balanced. The vinaigrette was just right, and the bitter greens weren't lost oin the sweet, nor were they too assertive (Peggy says it was lacking in radicchio, so perhaps this wasn't quite as it per norm).
The last leg of lamb was gone, so I had the smoked steak. It was served just as I ordered it (I like a piece of meat to be just shy of medium, and this seems to be a hardship, it's either running red, or cooked to almost well). Maia ordered the vegitarian stir fry. The noodles were actuually cooked as a single lump. Browned, and crunchy, on the outside, and soft on the inside. She had peas (in the pod) green beans, asparagus, carrots, mushrooms and onions. I had potatoes (with a rich cheese, not a blue, but of that family; though milder. Maia, who dislikes, "mouldy cheese" didn't recoil, though she thought it too rich) and some asparagus.
Peggy ordered the Dungeness crabcakes. I had a bite... enh. I think crabcakes just aren't for me. They taste of tuna casserole.
We passed on desert, but I did get a taste of the Mirror Pond ale (the tap beer). It's from Oregon, and pleasant. No malt left over, but a pleasant hoppiness. It's not bitter. No, a beer ought to be slightly bitter, but not too much. This was just as that ought to be.
All in all, I can commend it, the prix fixe isn't cheap to look at (tonight it was Thai peanut soup, a goat cheese salad, and a bone-in rib eye, $44) but I suspect the totality is sufficient (the steak is $24, so the soup, and appetizer probably fill out the price, esp. when one figures the scale of purchase).
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Date: 2006-12-28 01:54 pm (UTC)