Hello, everyone.
The first of the softshell crabs appeared today, and we plan to feature them on the very special prix fixe menu we will be offering on Friday and Saturday in honor of Skidmore Graduation.
Softshell harvest starts in Maryland in the early spring and works its way up the coast each week as the weather turns warmer until the molting season is over. The season is good so far, so it looks like we'll be able to get enough to offer them as an entree. (The season restarts in the early fall in the coastal north, but the autumn softshell season is far shorter and less predictable.
After the crabs shed their hard shells, there is a two-day window to capture and ship them before their skins harden. During this window, they can be eaten whole. The flavor is pure sea and shellfish. They taste incredibly clean, partly because the crabs stop eating three days before they molt, so there's nothing in their system to add unexpected flavors.
In addition to softshells, we will be offering a four-course prix fixe menu Friday and Saturday night that features Long Island duck with apricot and green peppercorns; veal scallopine cooked in cream and lemon; elk schnitzel with exotic mushrooms and dried blueberries; veal chop with mango and Chinese black vinegar; Diver's scallops with a truffled celeriac purée and wild ramp nage; New Zealand lamb with a purée of early English garden peas and a mint sauce; New York strip steak aux cent poivres; pheasant braised in port, finished with cream; Cornish hen with tarragon, mushrooms, Madeira and cream; grilled pork loin with tomato marmalade; and a vegetarian sampler with spinach risotto, minted cucumber salad and a cardamom-carrot shooter.
The meal also includes a wide range of appetizers, soup or salad and a wide range of desserts for $70 per person.
On Friday we have a few tables available at 5 and 5:30 and a few at 8:30 or 9 p.m. There may be a few openings unexpectedly because of the inevitable last-minute cancellations, and we'd love to serve you.
On Saturday we begin serving dinner at 3 p.m. to accommodate the post graduation crowd in a more measured way. We still have late afternoon slots available before the big rush, as well as late night slots.
The Pink Plate Special this coming week will be grilled hanger steak with French fries.
A hanger steak is a tender cut of beef steak which is said to "hang"
from the diaphragm of the steer, although it actually connects the two sides of the cow. It has an intense flavor that makes some people think of kidneys and can be extremely tender when prepared properly.
(The diaphragm itself is a tougher muscle, comprising the outer skirt
steak.) The hanger is attached to the last rib and the kidney. It resembles flank steak, but is a vaguely V-shaped pair of muscles with a long, inedible membrane down the middle.
There is only one hanger steak per animal, and the entire cut typically weighs about 1 to 1.5 lbs. It was sometimes known as "butcher's steak" because butchers would often keep it for themselves rather than offer it for sale.
The hanger steak has traditionally been most popular in Europe. In French, it is known as the onglet, in Italian the lombatello, and in Spanish the solomillo de pulmon. In the United States, it has only recently become popular; formerly, it was not separated as an individual cut.
Wireless Internet has made bar trivia bluffing almost impossible to get away with. Our bartender, Mitch, was quizzing customers on the facts as he learned them in grade school. He's the kind of guy who can hear "Stuck in the Middle" on the stereo and know within seconds that Gerry Rafferty wrote it and Stealer's Wheel performed it. Mitch stumped everyone with the most popular street name in the United States. Cheryl piped up Elm (she didn't know why she was so sure, but it turns out it was the answer in an early version of Trivial
Pursuit) and others offered Main, Broadway and Washington.
"No," Mitch said. "It's Church Street, I kid you not."
As soon as the paying customers left, Cheryl Googled it, and found out we might all be wrong. According to Wikipedia, which lifted its information from the Census Bureau in 1993, the most popular street names in order are Second, Third, First, Fourth, Park, Fifth, Main, Sixth, Oak and Seventh. Elm was 15th and Church didn't make the top 20. About.com ranks it Second, Park, Third, Fourth, Fifth and Sixth streets. Go figure.
One of our long-time customers (her parents have been bringing her since she was a whippersnapper) has been nominated for the equivalent of a Grammy Award in Tibet. Amalia Rubin was born in upstate New York, and grew up next door to a Tibetan Buddhist Cente, where she became interested in the music. She has now traveled as extensively as a 21 year-old can. Her album, Gangri dang Chethang (Mountains and
Deserts) has been nominated for a Tibet Music Award for Best International Artist, which is granted by voting. If you are at all interested, you can hear some of Amalia's music at http://www.amaliasdranyen.com/ and vote for her at: http://www.musictibet.com/awards/
Amalia has also asked people to consider voting for a friend of her's who has been nominated for best debut album, Lhundup (no last name). His album is "Fate of Tibetans."
Voting goes through May 22, 2007.
Our Sunday Jazz brunch this week with pianist Cole Broderick will feature fusilli with pancetta and grana padano ($13); crème Anglaise French toast with grilled ham steak ($14); soft shell crab po’ boy ($15); and parmesan crusted chicken breast with mushroom risotto ($13). Appetizer specials include steamed Rhode Island Littleneck clams ($12); a salad of Sunset Hill Farm greens tossed in a red wine vinaigrette ($7) 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 ($9 to $11); pancakes du jour ($9); 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).
Jazz pianist Cole Broderick plays from 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Live Piano Jazz
Jazz pianist Cole Broderick plays the baby grand Tuesday through
Friday night, and during Sunday brunch from 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.
(barring special events that preclude live music.)
Cost: No cover charge
Tasting menus
Chef's Choice seven-course tasting menu 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 or you can order from our extensive wine list.
Cost: $75 per person, 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: $50 to $200, depending on the number of courses and the wines
selected; available for two to 75 guests. Call Cheryl to make
arrangements 518.583.3538
The Pink Plate Special
offered Monday, May, 21, Tuesday, May 22, Wednesday, May 23 and Thursday, May 24.
$30 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:
Hanger steak frites
Notes on Nico and Léo: "Daddy, where do we keep the after dinner chocolates?" Nico asks one night. The servers had moved them to a new location for reasons only the servers understand.
"Why?" Chef Paul asked.
"Because I've already had dinner," Nico responded sensibly. "Now it's time for the chocolate."
Cheryl and Paul have a couple of employees staying out our house this week, and they have been trying to help organize their employers' generally disorganized lives. Consequently, or perhaps coincidentally, the couple has spent days trying to find keys, cell phones, cell phone chargers and other small items that have been tucked into unexpected places out of sight so that countertops could be cleaned. Because of this, Cheryl found herself out of contact with Paul Thursday night, when he took part of the evening off. After numerous phone calls, she imagined he was out on the town, when in reality he had slunk home for a kid-free nap. Unfortunately, his cellphone had died because he couldn't find the charger, Cheryl was stuck locking up the restaurant after a bar crowd even though she couldn't find her keys and had to write a newsletter, and the children were stuck awake way past their bedtime after the pinch- hitting babysitter was sent home. Two of our bartenders hung out to keep the children safe and entertained while Cheryl tried to hammer out the newsletter and remember the combination to the safe so she could retrieve the spare set of keys. Mitch, who had to get up in a few of hours to make breakfast for his own children before they went to school, tried to get Nico to calm down.
"It's nearly bedtime, Nico," he told the 4-year-old soothingly as he caressed little Léo. "You have to go to sleep and get up in the morning to have breakfast and face the day."
"Yeah," Nico conceded. "But I'm really hyper."
The Parker family
at Chez Sophie
518.583.3538
