Text 31233, 86 rader
Skriven 2015-09-23 15:40:26 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
Ärende: AK 284
==============
I wanted to show Kava's to Lilli, as she is a breakfast person
and I'd been pleased by the other visit, especially by the
crisp outside of Bill's hash. So off we went.

We sat ourselves at the same table for good luck. The manager, 
a big Islander-looking guy, remembering us from last tume,
decided to wait on us. He's not that used to waiting, I think.

Lilli wanted hash browns, scrambled eggs, bacon, and a side
of pancakes. There's nothing quite matching that array on the
menu, and ordering these a la carte would cost tons of money,
so the big guy suggested she get a biscuits and gravy plate,
which would include all these things plus biscuits and gravy,
for a buck less than those side orders would cost. But Lilli
said, I don't want biscuits and gravy. Which our forgetful BF
interpreted as that she didn't want meat (forgetting about the
bacon), so he ended up putting in for a pancake plate minus 
the meat. Sort of a who's on first thing. She got her hash
browns and scrambled and a huge portion of pancakes; this not
only filled her up, but there were still a couple of full-size
pancakes left over to rescue me from my disappointment, see
below. The food met with her approval. When the bill came he'd 
put in for a pancake plate and deducted the a la carte price 
for the meat, which meant that we paid very little for a very 
large amount of food.

Swisher and I both got hash and eggs over easy; my side was
farmer pancakes (for which a $1 surcharge not on the menu was
assessed); I don't recall what starch Swisher got. Farmer pancakes
are undercooked crepes, and you get about 75% fewer calories
for your surcharge; plus they weren't as good as the regular
pancakes, which taste not-from-a-mix. Fake syrup. The hash
was good and plentiful (a whole Mary Kitchen or equivalent),
but the wonderful lacy surface that Bill had got last time
was absent. Ah. well.

It was a perfectly okay meal, but if my first encounter with
the place had been like this I'm not so sure there would have
been a second, at least not so promptly.
==
To reward Bill for lodging us (and encourage him to do so again
in the future) we took him to Club Paris, traditionally the nicest
steakhouse in town. I made us a reservation for a booth in front.
When we arrived five minutes early, there were no booths available,
but there was one occupied by a worker folding napkins and making
silverware packets. The hostess promptly evicted her in our favor.

We decided that each of us would get a different cut, and we'd do
the switchoff thing. Bill always gets the filet. Lilli asked if
she should have the ribeye or the sirloin strip, so I gave her
the usual spiel about tenderness and fat and use and disuse of
muscles, yada yada. I was hoping she'd go for the New York strip, 
so I could get the baseball sirloin, but she asked for the ribeye,
which kind of left me with the strip. As it turns out the special 
of the day was this same strip with smitane sauce for the same price,
coming with a salad or soup in addition to the regular stuff. So I
got that light on the sauce, rare. It came rare and light on the 
sauce. Before, I'd got a salad (ordinary, lots of mizuna) which I
split with Lilli, as neither of use would normally eat more than
half a salad. The main courses come with a choice of starch; I asked
For a baked potato to be put up to take out so Bill could use it for 
breakfast hash browns or something. Also on the plate is a lurid 
red slice of spiced apple - aside from it not having been peeled and
the skin having matured to a razor-sharp texture, it was fine.

The meats: well, you all know what a filet is; this one was a bit
beefier than usual but still fork tender, plus it was the 4" high
that legend has it. Medium-rare was okay for it, but I'd have
preferred it barely seared on the outside and room temperature
inside. My strip was the manly meaty thing it was expected to be,
rare as ordered, with just maybe 1/4" of the surface being set,
the inside still jiggly the way I like it. A significant line of
gristle, which I don't mind at all, but most of the fat, alas,
trimmed off, the tail of the steak truncated, a disappointment.
The peppercorn cream had a little too much salt and mustard, and
the green corns had not been sufficiently freed from the brine in
which they had spent their last days. Lilli's ribeye was substantial
and nicely rare; it was fatty enough so she gave me enough to cure
my meat of its adipose shortcomings.

The Rombauer Merlot 10 was lively with cherries and plums - went
nicely with steak; in deference to the cream sauce I had my usual
Courvoisier, which my waitress proudly said was only $10. it was
the VS but not bad for that and a fairly generous pour.
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