Cape Cod

Cape Cod in late September. And our first visit to the Cape. What a lovely time. We stayed at a sweet little cottage off of Main St. in Chatham for the week owned by a couple of artists. Perfect for two and within walking distance of Chatham Light and the quaint and upscale shops and restaurants in town. The weather maintained a breezy 65-70 degrees during the day, heaven. Of course, it had to pour one of those days, but we were able to get in our early morning beach stroll before the deluge.

We stuck to the exploration of the Lower and Outer Cape. While we ventured into Hyannis one day, we quickly retreated to the more natural landscape of the National Seashore. Highlights included visiting several light houses, experiencing the unique and festive Provincetown – right before the place closed up for the season, whale watching, climbing Pilgrim Monument, seal communing, wild turkey lurking, meandering rocky and eerie seascapes along the bay at Wellfleet, trekking tidal vistas that had previously captivated Edward Hopper, learning about natives and washashores, wine-tasting at Truro, and consuming a whole heap of incredibly delicious seafood!

Check out a few photos:

And now, on to the food. As stated earlier, we had seafood most lunches and dinners. A few so-so, most mouth-watering and delightful. I’ve listed all of them with a few comments about each. You’ll see where I waxed rhapsodic.

First up, the interesting food-related shops:

Chatham Cheese Company – good stuff, good variety

Gustare Oils and Vinegars – Probably some upscale chain, but all they feature are infused olive oils and balsamic vinegars. All can be tasted before purchasing. We bought lavender infused balsamic vinegar.

Chatham Jam and Jelly Shop – An expanded salt box house where the living room is the shop. Featured jellies include rose hip, cranberry, and wild beach plum (from locally harvested wild plums). Once again a taste before you buy establishment. We bought several.

Truro Vineyards of Cape Cod – the cab franc grapes looked fantastic in the vineyard, but the wines left a lot to be desired, lighthouse wine bottles keep sales brisk as well as the cranberry wine. Except for the cab franc, all other grape varieties are trucked in from other places

Now the restaurants:

Seamen’s Inne at Mystic Seaport – on the way, decent fried shrimp, abysmal service . Next time if the weather is nice we will check out the seafood shacks we saw before we arrived at the historic area and eat outside

Vinings Bistro – housed over top of the Dunkin’ Donuts and sharing space on the second floor with the Town Hall. Looks great, but a bit sketchy on the hostess service. The spitted and roasted chicken was delightful – a perfect mix of smoked, grilled, and roastedness. Decent lobster and spinach soft taco. The scallops competed with too many flavors and were not enjoyable. Crusher Petite Sirah from Clarksburg, CA took the edge off

Chatham Village Café – locally roasted coffee, very expensive sandwiches – but open every day starting at 6 AM (so one can enjoy coffee during an early morning beach stroll)

Chatham Squire – so good we ate there twice, a list of mouth-watering daily specials including seafood (all sorts), other meats, and a pate of the day. We had shrimp scampi over spinach and pasta one night, excellent and succulent shrimp, and the best snapper ever. Our 2nd night was another scampi dish with gulf shrimp (Maine gulf), scallops, and big lobster chunks over lobster-stuffed ravioli, and get this – a bottle of Perrier- Jouet was only $45!! This is a must-eat place if you are ever in the neighborhood – relaxed, casual, reasonable bar drinks and a ditzy, yet friendly and fun waitress. They also have a great bar for four-legged companions

Pepe’s Wharf (Provincetown) – excellent view of the bay while we ate on the sheltered lower deck, waiters definitely paid more attention to my hubby than me, good lobster roll with a lot of the succulent white meat, decent margaritas, too

Wild Goose Tavern – Chatham clams (or steamers) and shrimp Caesar salad. The clams were good, but very gritty, they were served with broth, but I was not able to figure out how to use the broth to get rid of the grit (yeah – I’m such a tourist), Hitching Post Pinot Noir – yum

The Original Gourmet Brunch (Hyannis) – 50 different variations of omelets from this mom and pop place



Marley’s – we were suckered in by the cat, but this locals place had great fried shrimp and a waitress that kept our wine glasses full of Wolf Blass Yellow Label the entire evening, best wait service

Moby Dick’s (Wellfleet) – fantastic lobster shack. I took great delight in tackling a steamed lobster, yummy, yummy. Hubby tried the Wellfleet oysters and while he liked them, he prefers the Virginia variety. For lobster, a must-eat place

Impudent Oyster – very busy, even mid-week, very good filet and grilled lobster tail, delicious Seafood Putanesca, tasty Cabernet Sauvignon from Moon Mountain Vineyard in Sonoma

Chatham Pier Fish Market – take out only with a large variety of seafood choices, we were thrilled with the fried shrimp and onion rings

Woody’s Lobster Pool (Eastham) – probably a real rocking place during the summer, order at the counter and enjoy the huge bar, really good fried clam strips

Chatham Bars Inn – our big splurge night, fantastic clam chowder, 2005 Savigny-Les-Beaune 1er Cru Les Peuillets from Rodolphe Demougeot (HUGE splurge, but very yummy), exquisite duck breast and leg confit, enjoyable tuna, very dark dining room, service was unfortunately second rate

Bottom line – if you go, devour the local seafood and enjoy the nature of the Cape.

River City Supper Club #7 – A Night in Argentina

River City Supper Club #7 – A Night in Argentina

First of all, let’s talk about changes. One couple had to drop out due to unforeseen circumstances. They are still with us in spirit. And we welcomed a new couple to the fold. So, our food exploration continues…

Now, let’s talk about inspiration. My hubby and I hosted meeting #7 and we focused on Argentina. Why? Three reasons:

1 – Quite a few years ago we were fortunate enough to attend a real Argentinean grill fest in a lovely spot in the Virginia mountains. P is originally from Argentina and he and C had lived there for a while after they finished school. We had a fabulous time and wanted to evoke that feeling for the supper club.

2 – A blog entitled From Argentina with Love. A wonderful site written by a chef transplanted from Colorado to Argentina due to love. During our on-line search for recipes, we came up with the same old tired suggestions, until we ran across this site.

3 – Based on the blog, we discovered Seven Fires Grilling the Argentine Way by Francis Mallmann with Peter Kaminsky. A great recipe and photography book. All of the menu except for the dessert and aperitif came from this book.

So, we had our inspiration. We now needed a bit of practice. My hubby dug fire pits in the back yard.

We grilled tri-tips and bratwurst, parrilla-style. Most excellent.

And treated ourselves to a 2000 Chateauneuf-du-Pape.



For the big day, the weather gods favored us and we set up tables and chairs outside.

Take a look at the menu:

River City Supper Club - September 12, 2009

Fernet + Coke

Empanadas Mendocinas and Provoleta + Crusty Baguette

Salad: Grapefruit + Arugula + Toasted Hazelnuts

Parrilla: Strip Steak + Tri-Tip + Bratwurst + Chimichurri
Rescoldo: Potato + Onion + Bell Pepper + Sweet Dumpling Squash

Alfajores and Yerba Mate

Fernet is an Italian bitter liqueur that is apparently all the rage in Argentina according to From Argentina with Love. We began the evening with a toast to Argentina, the weather gods, and to intrepid food friends.



To follow the apperitif were empanadas filled with chopped tri-tip, seasoned with hot pepper flakes, smoked paprika, and cumin. To the beef I added chopped egg and green olives. I did cheat a bit and used wonton wrappers instead of making dough, but it was still a big hit. The tiny beef pockets were served with chimichurri sauce.



The Provoleta was basically an inch slice of provolone cheese, sprinkled with oregano and hot pepper flakes and placed in an extremely hot non-stick pan (Mallmann used a cast iron pan or a piece of metal over an open flame). The oil from the cheese leached out and served to brown it. After a couple of minutes I flipped it to brown the other side and then presented the melted gooeyness with crusty bread. Simple, yet yummy.

Next up was a grapefruit salad. The arugula came from Victory Farms. And I successfully roasted and peeled hazelnuts. The dressing consisted of lemon juice, grapefruit juice, and olive oil.



We finished the white wine while the men supervised the coals. For this night we had two fire pits. One for the parrilla or the open-flame grilling of the tri-tips, strip steaks, and bratwursts. The other pit was used for rescoldo: cooking/baking whole veggies in hot coals. All of the vegetables came from various vendors at the South of the James Market. The medium rare beef was divine and although the bratwursts were run-of-the-mill from The Fresh Market, the grilling turned these guys into something extraordinary. While Mallmann shoved veggies straight into the rescoldo, we wrapped them in foil and then shoved them into the coals. I really liked the onions and peppers; the squash was decent; the potatoes were too hard. More chimichurri sauce graced the table and was consumed with everything. Mallmann’s chimichurri sauce was interesting. He began with a salmuera which is salt dissolved into boiling water. This made the sauce a bit thinner than what I had been used to, but it was delicious. He also used equal parts of fresh oregano and parsley.

We ate, we talked, we drank, we conversed some more. Nothing was rushed and there were no lulls. As usual, wine accompanied the courses. Some we provided; others, our guests brought. All were good. The ones that stood out for me included the Trappiche Torrentes – a native white grape and most excellent with the grapefruit salad; Norton Malbec Reserva and Cruz Alta President’s Reserve – both hearty reds that paired well with the beef.

To end the evening we had Alfajores which were cornstarch-based cookies which could be used to make sandwich cookies filled with dulche de leche (thick caramel spread). We brewed Yerba Mate to drink instead of coffee.

A delicious late summer evening.

Rosemont of Virginia and Brian's Steak House

A couple of weekends ago my husband and I trekked South to Mecklenburg County, Virginia to see family and visit Rosemont of Virginia Winery. The place is nestled among very gently rolling hills along a winding country road just beyond LaCrosse. A few miles further and you have crossed over into North Carolina. This area used to be solid tobacco growing country. It’s nice that this farm branched out into an alternative that turned out to be oh-so-delicious.

The tasting room was large and we were heartily greeted. A few local crafts were featured as well as artwork and wine paraphernalia.

The upstairs boasted a large open area – perfect for a wedding rehearsal dinner or reception. A few small rooms branched off of the open area which could serve as a great private party/sit-down dinner affair.

The winery also offered a downstairs dining room for lunchtime sandwiches/salads

and a patio overlooking the vines.

Two different tasting schemes were offered: 6 wines for $4 or 11 wines for $6. Guess which one we went for? (And I want to thank my aunt for taking us all in her van and for being the designated driver). Here was the line-up:

2007 Traminette – Dry with good floral tones. The best white we tasted

2008 Pinot Grigio – Refreshing, but a bit thin.

2007 Vidal Blanc – Off-dry with a hint of vanilla.

2007 Chambourcin – More like a very dark rose with bits of strawberry.

2006 Merlot – Not a typical Virginia style Merlot. Very quaffable.

2007 Syrah Vintner’s Reserve – Wow! A great tasting wine. We were surprised to find Syrah. These vines were planted in 2004.

2006 Cabernet Franc – Just a hint of green pepper. An excellent example of how good a Virgina Cab Franc can be.

2006 Cabernet Sauvignon – Once again a solid red wine winner from Virginia. Both this and the Syrah were our favorites.

Lake Country Sunset – Sweet, white, popular for sipping on the nearby lake in your boat. While not a favorite, it was still drinkable.

2007 LaCrosse – A dessert wine made from LaCrosse grapes. This should be paired with strawberry shortcake.

2007 Blackridge Red – Sweet cherry-ness from Catawba grapes. Once again, not my preference, but drinkable. Probably a good wine for sangria.

I have to say that if I were served any of these wines, I would drink them. I was impressed with the consistent overall quality of the offerings. If you are heading in that direction, I recommend a little detour for a taste.

Upon leaving Rosemont of Virginia, we drove to Brodnax and stopped at Whitby’s Country Store, very quintessential, so my aunt could pick up some peaches.

And then we headed to South Hill and stopped at Brian’s Steak House for dinner.

Let’s see. I had not had a steak at Brian’s in about 25 years and then I could order a sirloin with house salad, baked potato, and Texas toast for $3.95. $3.95! The only real change to the place was the addition of a few more wood-paneled rooms to accommodate this still-popular local eating establishment. The place was packed and was hosting a 50th wedding anniversary dinner in one of the back rooms.

And, now they have at least decent red wine at $26.99 a bottle. We ordered the Kendall Jackson Merlot.

Steaks still featured prominently on the menu along with a host of seafood specials and prime rib. The fried shrimp looked very scrumptious. I stuck with my regular sirloin steak order, now $13.99. A typical pre-made house salad with a plastic cup of ranch dressing to start and then the real goods arrived - steak -

Still good. Cooked medium rare as ordered with an appropriate sized baked potato with both butter and chive-studded sour cream and don’t forget the irresistible Texas toast.

If you are on Interstate 85 and need to eat in South Hill, stop at the locally owned Brian’s. You’ll get a decent meal.

A good trip. Visited family. Tasted good Virginia wine. Experienced a bit of down home. Supported local establishments. Enjoyed good solid food at decent prices. And received a welcome taste of Southern hospitality.

Weekly Farmers Market Photos

Butternut and Sweet Dumpling Squashes are making an appearance as well as some beautiful green and yellow broad beans. Red bell peppers looked gorgeous and irresistible. Corn was hard to come by and there were no black-eye peas to be had.