libbie and grove

Friday night began at Cafe Caturra for a cafe au lait for hubs and an unoaked chard for me. We nibbled on the "breads and spreads." Grilled bread drizzled with olive oil was served with three dips: herbed goat cheese (my fav!), tomato basil chutney (a little on the oily side) and artichoke and white bean puree.  I listened to a barista banter with a customer about classic rock songs in a I-sing-the-song-you-name-the-artist sort of game. He was singing "Born to be Wild" and swearing it was Thorogood. I never told him it was Steppenwolf and that he must be thinking of "Bad to the Bone," because it was not my conversation and I did not want to seem like a know-it-all  (but I really am where classic rock is concerned. a side note: when i was working retail i used to live for classic rock weekends on the radio station because those songs made the day go so much faster. bow down to my classic rock knowledge!) So, off we went across the street to Coast which did not open until 5:30. So, I made a detour into Pearl's Cupcake Shoppe and Elephant's Toe antiques. The red velvet cupcakes were surprisingly good (i'm still scarred from a Carytown cupcakes red velvet misadvenure) and moist. The cream cheese icing was spot on, although I am a red velevet snob and prefer my icing the old-fashioned, Southern way. Which is to say that one makes sort of a light roux and then adds that to creamed butter and powdered sugar for a faboo texture, sans cream cheese. But, I can live with cream cheese icing.  The cupcake itself was missing a chocolate umph! but again, I am spoiled and biased by my Nana's and Mom's red velvet cake. So, not a bad cupcake when all was said and done, just not traditional. And the store interior is cute as a button! They just need a little sitting area by the front windows. I will be back to try the Elvis (bananas foster cake and peanut butter icing) and the Chai honey! Their FB page says that they have gluten free and vegan options as well. The Elephant's Toes antiques stop resulted in the purchase of a pretty little green Jasperware vase.

And here is where I introduce hub's style of food-rating: "Okay" (not really sure I know of anything higher than this other than two instances: upon introduction to a cold melon soup in Santa Fe and a lavender creme brulee in San Fransisco. he will tell you about those two occurrences ad naseum if given the opportunity), and "dookie." The "dookie" meter has varying degrees of which I will spare you (hubs does deal with peoples' innards all day, so forgive him.) Let's just say that Coast was almost at the bottom of the dookie scale. Appetizers were she-crab soup for him and pea soup with housemade cheese for me.  The she-crab was redolent with the sweetness of crab meat and was appropriately thick. It was a bit on the oily side. The pea soup was okay, but not remarkable or memorable. Salads were mesclun greens with fig vinaigrette, which was overwhelmed by raw onion (which I loved and hubs hated,) and a salad special of haricot vert, golden beet, charred sweet onion, pistachios, and blue cheese vinaigrette.  The blue cheese and fig in the dressings were absent. The onions in the special salad were cold and slimy and the temps of all ingredients of the haricot vert salad not consistent. We split the scallops for our entree, the searing of which was perfect on one side and missing on the other, and which had great flavor. The scallops were served over cous cous with pesto, which was more like pesto-flavored green water.  We asked for sriracha and were given chili oil. The service was attentive and unobtrusive, but the food was overpriced and not well executed.

From there we walked down to the Westhampton and saw Chloe. Was very entertaining although the female characters were tragically flawed in a Woody-Allen way. Why can't male screenwriters and directors make female characters more easy to relate to instead of flat-out bonkers? But I love this theatre, especially the back row right in the middle. And one can get Lavazza coffe drinks. The only thing this theatre lacks is Manner bars at the concession.

The previous weekend we had Saturday lunch at Arcade Cafe. I have had nothing but good experiences here, but this one was a miss. We were seated and the waiter hollered in passing that it would be awhile until he could get to us. I was basking in the sun and finishing up this book (scandalous!) so I was okay with that once he brought water over (5 minutes after we sat down, but no menus) Now, I will give him some slack because I used to wait tables myself, and it appeared that he was the only server and he must have been frazzled, but it is not okay to treat your customers rudely. Hubs asked if he could get his egg salad sandwich on Texas toast and was met with a sharp "No!" Which is silly really, because he was asked his bread choice anyway. It was 20 minutes from ordering to food, which is inexcusable for lunch. Especially when that lunch is cold sandwiches and not filet mignon. I have to say that my veggie wrap (the Glenside Drive) was very good and I will forgive them this one time. Although that waiter may not forgive his tip. Hubs is passive aggressive that way.

A stop by J. Emerson, Inc. resulted in a nice chat with Jim, two unoaked chards (maybe I mentioned it's my new fav?) and a Gruner Veltliner. I so heart this place and wish I had more time to talk and browse, but it was a quick drop-in to restock the adult beverage supplies.

I know remiss in  not going to Gearhart's Chocolate but I will correct that soon...

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