Will Sherman, proprietor of Sunset Hill Farm, called Thursday to let us know that he's in business for the spring. The first shipment of arugula, mustard greens and tatsoi will arrive Friday. He's not quite ready to start delivering salad lettuce, because there hasn't been enough sunshine yet. But we always think of it as the first sign of spring when we get Will's call. He and his wife, Debbie, eschew pesticides and extend the natural growing season in Newport, New York, through the use of greenhouses and hydroponics.
For those diehard sweetbread fans, Chef Paul has been purging a fresh batch this week and will be ready to start serving them Friday. He'll use his classic recipe, poaching the delectable glands before lightly breading them and sautéeing them. He serves them with a rich, balanced, sauce, featuring butter, vinegar and capers.
Cheryl left a note for our day manager, Jenn, to begin calling the dozens of people who are such fans of Paul's sweetbreads that their names are handwritten next to the telephone so we can call them the second we know that Paul is ready to serve sweetbreads. It's always a good idea, if you are coming specifically for sweetbreads, to let us know when you are making your reservation so we can hold back the appropriate number of portions for you
Pink Plate Special
The Pink Plate Special this week will be orange-scented braised beef on wilted salad with spring onions.
The Pink Plate Special is a weekly prix fixe special we offer on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. The Pink Plate Special is a $32 per person three-course special, including your choice of soup or salad, the featured entree, two selections from our cheese board or one of a couple of featured desserts and coffee, tea or espresso.
Weekend Jazz Brunch
The brunch menu this Saturday and Sunday will feature veal meatloaf with mushroom-sage gravy ($16); pork schnitzel with Dijon green peppercorn cream sauce ($15); bananas Foster stuffed pancake with house breakfast sausage ($14) and cornflake crusted French toast with grilled ham steak ($14). Appetizer specials include a crabcake with lemon caper mayonnaise ($16); a salad of mixed baby greens tossed in a red wine vinaigrette ($7); Rhode Island Littleneck clams steamed in white wine ($13) and soup of the day ($8).
The brunch specials run from 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. The complete menu, offered from 7 to 2 p.m., includes a Continental assortment of muffins, pastries, fruit, yogurt, frittata etcetera for $9; omelettes ($10 to $12); pancakes du jour ($10); the All in One, which includes 2 eggs any style, homefries, toast and sausage or bacon ($10); waffles with sweet cream butter and local maple syrup ($10); and Irish steel-cut oatmeal ($8).
Cole in the House
Cole plays the baby grand piano from 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday during brunch and on Tuesday and Friday night (barring special events that preclude live music.) He also comes in on nights he is not normally scheduled, such as Thursdays and Saturday nights, if he feels like it. Cole, who won a Billboard Critic's Choice Award for his 4-CD set of jazz compositions: "Seasons in Saratoga," recently released his seventh CD "Chez Sophie Jazz." This is the first time he's recorded with a vocalist. (The singer is Cheryl Clark, co-owner of Chez Sophie, wife of Chef Paul, mother of the adorable Nico and Léo.) Some of the cuts of the CD can be heard at http://www.chezsophie.com/.
Copies are for sale for $16 at Chez Sophie and through Cole's secure PayPal-friendly website at http://www.colebroderick.com/sound-7.htm
We can also mail-order the CD's for an additional $4 shipping and handling.
Mother's Day Brunch
On Sunday May 11, we will offer a Mother's Day brunch buffet-style brunch with a made-to-order omelette station, as well as a raw bar, a waffle station, a salad and vegetable station, desserts, and a carving station (for Easter we did Elihu Farm leg of lamb, baked cured ham and stuffed veal loin roulade. Specifics of May's extravaganza to be announced.)
We will be requiring a credit card to confirm the reservations, with a 24-hour no-penalty cancellation grace period. (After that, it's a $10 per head penalty.)
Admission is $35 for adults and $18 for children under 12, exclusive of beverage, tax and gratuity. A service charge of 20 percent will be applied to parties of 6 or more. We will begin seating at 10:30 a.m. and accept reservations each half hour until 3 p.m. Breakfast will be served from 7 to 9:30 a.m. and dinner seatings will begin at 5:30 p.m. with our normal à la carte dinner menu.
Skidmore/Albany Law Graduation
Skidmore graduation weekend is booking heavily. We'll be offering an elegant, four-course, $70 per person prix fixe menu, and will be serving dinner the Friday (May 16) of Skidmore Graduation weekend from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. by reservation. On Saturday, May 17, we will extend brunch to 3:30 pm. and start serving the prix fixe dinner at 5:30. We've also taken lunch reservations until 2:15 p.m. on Friday, May 16, to accommodate people driving up from graduation ceremonies at the Albany Law School Graduation and several other local schools.
Artist in residence Joseph C. Parker
This may be the last week to see Joseph's "Expressions of Love" exhibit, which features tiny sculptures that he created to be gifts for his late first wife, Sophie, over the 52 years of their marriage.
He is planning to bring in ne
The Chef's Choice seven-course tasting menu is available each night. The menus are designed based on the best and most creative dishes Chef Paul K. Parker is serving each evening. We will pair wines for you at an additional charge or you can order from our extensive wine list.
Cost: $80 to $200 per person for seven or more courses, plus tax and tip. Everyone at the table must partake in the tasting menu.
If you're feeling less impromptu, you can call ahead to arrange a special tasting menu with the number of courses and wine pairings designed to suit your capacity, dietary restrictions and budget.
Tasting menus arranged in advance will be printed on commemorative vellum scrolls personalized with the name of the host or the reason for the event.
Cost: Depends on the number of courses and the wines selected; available for two to 75 guests. Call Cheryl to make arrangements at 518.583.3538
The Pink Plate Special
offered Monday, April 7, Tuesday, April 8, Wednesday, April 9, and Thursday, April 10
$32 per person
includes your choice of soup or salad, a special entree, selected desserts or a cheese course and coffee, tea or espresso.
This week's special entree:
orange-scented braised beef on wilted salad with spring onions
Notes on Nico and Léo:
Cheryl and Paul got combination colds/flu this week after a week or two of driving themselves way too hard and sleeping far too little. Naturally, the children got sick too, a few days after the old folks were struck down. Every parent knows it's far harder to watch your children be miserable than it is to be miserable on your own. On Léo's first night of illness, she awoke at 3 a.m. in screaming terror, convinced that she had smashed her father's laptop. (Five-year-old Nico accidentally pulled his mother's laptop off the table under a month ago, smashing the crystal in the screen.) Apparently Léo took Nico's stress to heart, because she awoke at 3 in the morning, burning with fever, shrieking: "I broke daddy's computer!" Cheryl decoded the incoherent babblings first, and assured the child she had done no such thing, that it was just a bad dream. Léo persisted in sobbing in ragged, hoarse gasps about the bloody laptop until Cheryl snatched her from the covers, carried her to the table where her Papa's computer was charging, flipped open the lid and showed the child that it was intact. Léo aprubtly stopped making any noise, stared at the screen in amazement and passed out on her mother's shoulder.
The Parker family
at Chez Sophie
518.583.3538
