Events of September 10
We have a friend who lives in Santiago, Chile, whom we have visited. It turned out he had business in New York, so we Megabussed it to the city to visit with him and enjoy a couple of good meals and good conversation.
Megagus is cheap. You get what you pay for, and it isn't much. By buying the tickets in advance, even with reserved seats, we went for less than one person's dinner bill. However, Megabus leaves something to be desired. They lack proper management.
Our driver left Washington about twenty minutes late, easily made up, but about 90 minutes outside of New York he announced that he was going over his federal driving time limit and would have to pull into a rest stop to wait for another driver! While it only took 45 minutes for another driver to arrive, it certainly is not good for consumers of bus travel to be sided due to management's inability to ensure having drivers without restrictions.
That said, the return bus, leaving New York at 10 PM arrived in Washington on time at 2:30AM.
Our big events were three: a fine bento box land sushi unch at AAIchiban Sushi in midtown, a visit to the High Line Park--the old railroad line that has been turned into an elevated park on the west side of Manhattan, and dinner in the East Village at Rebelle. We also found good coffee at Grounded on Jane Street in the Village.
It was a full day but great fun in its own way.
Dinner at Rebelle was very good. We arrived early to find the restaurant empty--it doesn't fill until about 7:30. This left us time to talk before the clatter and the chatter began. The food is superb. We enjoyed a variety of dishes, with John enjoying sweetbreads...a small plate, but very tasty. We had a light red burgundy which we found disappointing only because we had expected something heavier. This wine was of a beaujolais style, not a classic pinot noir.
Tuesday, September 22, 2015
Good Food in Pittsburgh
Events of August 29-30. A quick trip to Pittsburgh
We hastened to Pittsburgh on Saturday, August 29 to celebrate birthdays and an anniversary. Ben's cousin was celebrating an 85th birthday and 60th wedding anniversary, while friend John and John the writer were celebrating their birthdays early.
We left Washington mid-morning and headed to Frederick, Maryland, where we found a new coffee shop for Ben to find his special XXX-tra dry skim cappuccino. The new place, in a bicycle shop, is Gravel and Grind It's in an antique section of the city, mostly old warehouses, and not quite downtown. It's also very convenient to interstate route 70 and staffed by bicycle repair folk who have branched into coffee. The coffees were very good and teaching the barrista was not difficult.
From there we headed to Cumberland, where we stopped for lunch. Cumberland is an old 19th century railroad hub, now rebuilding itself into a tourist destination. The center of town is an old main street now turned into a wide open mall for open air theater and music, rather pretty with the mountains rising in the background. We found a quaint restaurant flying a gay flag on a side street, Sammy's, run by a retired Scandinavian chef from a Washington embassy who moved to the hills. The food was excellent and it's worth seeking the place out on its side street. A stuffed dog welcomes you. John recommends the fried green tomato BLT as fine luncheon sandwich.
It was a gorgeous day as we drove through the Alleghenies, and the construction on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, to Pittsburgh. We spent much of the afternoon just sitting talking with our friends Tom and John, then headed out to dinner at a local restaurant in nearby Regent Square (a neighborhood partly in Pittsburgh, Swissvale and Edgewood).
We went to Root174 to celebrate two birthdays--without fanfare. Not wanting to sit inside on a lovely summer evening we took tables on Braddock Avenue at this restaurant in the Regent Square neighborhood. Outside you don't have the buzz of the restaurant and you get to enjoy the passing scenery. This includes an occasional bus, but also the locals enjoying the evening with some eye candy, and this evening a fireworks show reflected in the store windows across the street.
Dinner was well done. John enjoyed lamb neck, stewed so the marrow oozed out of the bones. It was done with fingerling potatoes. He started with a beet salad. The others began with sautéed brussels sprouts, excellent both without and with bacon. The meals moved on to fishes and a vegan dish of tofu balls--this was good but not a success. Everything else was five star.
The wine list is a collection of very unique wines, ordered into the state from wineries that don't generally show up on wine lists. We enjoyed a Gruner Vetliner and a Corsican pinot noir. We did not do birthday cake--it's not on the menu. The cocktail list is interesting, but we enjoyed our wines instead.
The following day, for our cousin's birthday and anniversary, we headed to Eleven on Smallman Street behind the Convention Center. This is a first-class well-known restaurant, owned by Ben's cousin and partners. The chef goes so far as to make his own lox.
The lunch included many fish dishes and no meat ito fulfill kashrut requirements. It was a classic brunch-time party we enjoyed immensely.
The drive home was easy, and we set a record of less than four hours door to door! It's about 250 miles (400 km). Fortunately there was minimal traffic and very good weather.
We hastened to Pittsburgh on Saturday, August 29 to celebrate birthdays and an anniversary. Ben's cousin was celebrating an 85th birthday and 60th wedding anniversary, while friend John and John the writer were celebrating their birthdays early.
We left Washington mid-morning and headed to Frederick, Maryland, where we found a new coffee shop for Ben to find his special XXX-tra dry skim cappuccino. The new place, in a bicycle shop, is Gravel and Grind It's in an antique section of the city, mostly old warehouses, and not quite downtown. It's also very convenient to interstate route 70 and staffed by bicycle repair folk who have branched into coffee. The coffees were very good and teaching the barrista was not difficult. 
It was a gorgeous day as we drove through the Alleghenies, and the construction on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, to Pittsburgh. We spent much of the afternoon just sitting talking with our friends Tom and John, then headed out to dinner at a local restaurant in nearby Regent Square (a neighborhood partly in Pittsburgh, Swissvale and Edgewood).
We went to Root174 to celebrate two birthdays--without fanfare. Not wanting to sit inside on a lovely summer evening we took tables on Braddock Avenue at this restaurant in the Regent Square neighborhood. Outside you don't have the buzz of the restaurant and you get to enjoy the passing scenery. This includes an occasional bus, but also the locals enjoying the evening with some eye candy, and this evening a fireworks show reflected in the store windows across the street.
Dinner was well done. John enjoyed lamb neck, stewed so the marrow oozed out of the bones. It was done with fingerling potatoes. He started with a beet salad. The others began with sautéed brussels sprouts, excellent both without and with bacon. The meals moved on to fishes and a vegan dish of tofu balls--this was good but not a success. Everything else was five star.
The wine list is a collection of very unique wines, ordered into the state from wineries that don't generally show up on wine lists. We enjoyed a Gruner Vetliner and a Corsican pinot noir. We did not do birthday cake--it's not on the menu. The cocktail list is interesting, but we enjoyed our wines instead.
The following day, for our cousin's birthday and anniversary, we headed to Eleven on Smallman Street behind the Convention Center. This is a first-class well-known restaurant, owned by Ben's cousin and partners. The chef goes so far as to make his own lox.
The lunch included many fish dishes and no meat ito fulfill kashrut requirements. It was a classic brunch-time party we enjoyed immensely.
The drive home was easy, and we set a record of less than four hours door to door! It's about 250 miles (400 km). Fortunately there was minimal traffic and very good weather.
\
A few days in Asbury Park, New Jersey
Events of August 20-24.
We took our annual few days at the beach at Asbury Park in late August. This is a time to spend with friends and enjoy the company. We walked the board walk, but avoided spending time on the sand this year. We are always fascinated by the beach scene. The kids about to be smothered in water from the big buckets, the honky-tonk of an amusement fair, and the ruins of the old casino make for interesting juxtapositions.
We took our annual few days at the beach at Asbury Park in late August. This is a time to spend with friends and enjoy the company. We walked the board walk, but avoided spending time on the sand this year. We are always fascinated by the beach scene. The kids about to be smothered in water from the big buckets, the honky-tonk of an amusement fair, and the ruins of the old casino make for interesting juxtapositions. 
A quick trip North
Events of July 26-29, Connecticut and Rhode Island
We had planned to make a trip of four or five days to Rhode Island, with a stopover in Fairfield, Connecticut to see our friends in Tiverton, Rhode Island at their newly-purchased cottage on the water and John's brother in Connecticut, but John was being sworn in on July 30 requiring us to be in Washington that day. He has taken a position on a commission that regulates post-secondary education institutions.
Instead of spending three or four days in Tiverton looking over Narragansett Bay and enjoying seafood and fresh farm-raised vegetables, we were limited to two with a Sunday stopover in Connecticut.
We had an enjoyable evening looking out of Samp Mortar Lake from brother Andrew's back porch, enjoying spare-ribs and salads.
Then the following morning we took the three hour jaunt from there to Tiverton, a small town in Rhode Island, south of Fall River on the far side of the Sakonnet River--a tidal part of Narragansett Bay. Friends John (boy) and Jon (girl) have purchased a summer home there which has magnificent views of Tiverton's harbor, and storms as they move through.
John, (the writer--it's a trip having three joh(n)s in the house, spent part of the Tuesday morning heading into Fall River, the city just to the north of Tiverton, to visit Hartley's Pork Pies to purchase ethnically English food for lunch. John (boy) had not had them since leaving England many years ago and was a bit reticent, but a huge nine-inch pie (22 cm) along with fresh tomato salad filled us wonderfully as we watched the gulls and terns fly over the water from their deck. They will become an annual event.
That evening we dined at Red Dory on Tiverton's main road overlooking the water with lovely glasses of Portuguese white from Alentejo, and various shellfish, including local oysters, broiled Portuguese style sardines, lovely fresh salads, and the good company of friend Elaine. Red Dory has significant Portuguese influence from the large number of Portuguese immigrants into southeastern Rhode Island and southern Massachusetts just over 100 years ago. The meal was generally good. Most of us stayed with the small plates, grilled sardines, octopus, and oysters, battered with a very good spicy mayonnaise. One of us ventured into the large plates with an excellent clam and halibut meal. All in all a reasonably priced very good meal. In previous posts we have talked about restaurants in New Bedford. Red Dory was excellent, though the noise level is high inside.
John also went wine-tasting at Sakonnet Vineyards in the town of Little Compton. He enjoyed a vidal blanc hybrid, which is a somewhat sweeter version of a sauvignon blanc mixed with chardonnay. it survives northern winters and we have enjoyed it in Quebec as well. He also passed gorgeous hydrangeas at a nursery along the main road and compared them to the hortensias we have seen in Brittany.
Our trip back to Washington took all of Wednesday with a stop at our favorite Korean store and restaurant in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, and coffee in New Haven at Blue State. Ben also found excellent coffee in Tiverton at Coastal Roasters, and he has made friends with the barista at Peet's Coffee in the Chesapeake House on Route 95 in Maryland. They make his special coffee without a murmur now!
We had planned to make a trip of four or five days to Rhode Island, with a stopover in Fairfield, Connecticut to see our friends in Tiverton, Rhode Island at their newly-purchased cottage on the water and John's brother in Connecticut, but John was being sworn in on July 30 requiring us to be in Washington that day. He has taken a position on a commission that regulates post-secondary education institutions.
Instead of spending three or four days in Tiverton looking over Narragansett Bay and enjoying seafood and fresh farm-raised vegetables, we were limited to two with a Sunday stopover in Connecticut.
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| Tiverton Harbor |
Then the following morning we took the three hour jaunt from there to Tiverton, a small town in Rhode Island, south of Fall River on the far side of the Sakonnet River--a tidal part of Narragansett Bay. Friends John (boy) and Jon (girl) have purchased a summer home there which has magnificent views of Tiverton's harbor, and storms as they move through.
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| Storm front arrives |
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| Ten minutes later |
That evening we dined at Red Dory on Tiverton's main road overlooking the water with lovely glasses of Portuguese white from Alentejo, and various shellfish, including local oysters, broiled Portuguese style sardines, lovely fresh salads, and the good company of friend Elaine. Red Dory has significant Portuguese influence from the large number of Portuguese immigrants into southeastern Rhode Island and southern Massachusetts just over 100 years ago. The meal was generally good. Most of us stayed with the small plates, grilled sardines, octopus, and oysters, battered with a very good spicy mayonnaise. One of us ventured into the large plates with an excellent clam and halibut meal. All in all a reasonably priced very good meal. In previous posts we have talked about restaurants in New Bedford. Red Dory was excellent, though the noise level is high inside.
John also went wine-tasting at Sakonnet Vineyards in the town of Little Compton. He enjoyed a vidal blanc hybrid, which is a somewhat sweeter version of a sauvignon blanc mixed with chardonnay. it survives northern winters and we have enjoyed it in Quebec as well. He also passed gorgeous hydrangeas at a nursery along the main road and compared them to the hortensias we have seen in Brittany. Our trip back to Washington took all of Wednesday with a stop at our favorite Korean store and restaurant in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, and coffee in New Haven at Blue State. Ben also found excellent coffee in Tiverton at Coastal Roasters, and he has made friends with the barista at Peet's Coffee in the Chesapeake House on Route 95 in Maryland. They make his special coffee without a murmur now!
Boston
Events of September 16-19. John visits Boston
John spent most of four days in Boston, Massachusetts on business September 16 through 19. This was not all work, and provided opportunities to visit with friends, eat in some good restaurants, spend some time at the Museum of Fine Arts and enjoy family.
He had a fine time with grandsons in the suburbs, who are growing well. His visit with friends he had not seen since their wedding was lovely. Michael and Patricia have had an interesting 23 years of marriage, living now in Back Bay.
The restaurants were interesting and belie Boston's old reputation of dreary food. It's not been like that since John's college days, but the reputation still exists.
His first good meal was at Wink and Nod, a dark basement restaurant, beautifully decorated and lighted by old-style Edison lights. On Appleton Street, south of I-90, it has the air of an old English club. The food, however, is Filipino with other Asian influences. John and friend Angela enjoyed dinner of rice with beef, huge shrimp in hot sauce, and cubed crisped pork with strong spices. Wink and Nod is a lot of fun, but if you go, sit under one of the lights. Otherwise, reading the menu is a bit difficult to say the least.
The second good time was at Grill 23, a steakhouse near Copley Square. It was a chance to enjoy a good steak and frites, though the amount of frites was overwhelming and got shared among the three of us. A huge salad with excellent light cheese was a good starter. John's old friends had selections of salads, and scallops. A good Gruner Vetleiner assuaged Patricia's tastes while John enjoyed a pinot grigio from Veneto. He moved on to a syrah that was outstanding. We split an order of profiteroles for dessert. An evening of good food with good conversation.
The visit to the MFA was superb. John had seen a Wall Street Journal review of "Made in the Americas, The New World Discovers Asia,"
He was fascinated by the Asian influence on colonial American art and design and went to see it. It's worth every moment of the visit to see pieces from Asia from the 1520s that showed traders and then showed how their arts, brought to the Americas, influenced art, furniture and design from colonial New England to viceregal Peru. http://www.mfa.org/exhibitions/made-in-the-americas
Lunch--a very fine Cuban style panino sandwich with good coffee while he listened to Greek music and dancing to celebrate Greek culture day. He finished up his visit with time in the John Singleton Copley and the colonial art galleries.
John spent most of four days in Boston, Massachusetts on business September 16 through 19. This was not all work, and provided opportunities to visit with friends, eat in some good restaurants, spend some time at the Museum of Fine Arts and enjoy family.
He had a fine time with grandsons in the suburbs, who are growing well. His visit with friends he had not seen since their wedding was lovely. Michael and Patricia have had an interesting 23 years of marriage, living now in Back Bay.
The restaurants were interesting and belie Boston's old reputation of dreary food. It's not been like that since John's college days, but the reputation still exists.
His first good meal was at Wink and Nod, a dark basement restaurant, beautifully decorated and lighted by old-style Edison lights. On Appleton Street, south of I-90, it has the air of an old English club. The food, however, is Filipino with other Asian influences. John and friend Angela enjoyed dinner of rice with beef, huge shrimp in hot sauce, and cubed crisped pork with strong spices. Wink and Nod is a lot of fun, but if you go, sit under one of the lights. Otherwise, reading the menu is a bit difficult to say the least.
The second good time was at Grill 23, a steakhouse near Copley Square. It was a chance to enjoy a good steak and frites, though the amount of frites was overwhelming and got shared among the three of us. A huge salad with excellent light cheese was a good starter. John's old friends had selections of salads, and scallops. A good Gruner Vetleiner assuaged Patricia's tastes while John enjoyed a pinot grigio from Veneto. He moved on to a syrah that was outstanding. We split an order of profiteroles for dessert. An evening of good food with good conversation.
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| Japanese screen from the 1520s |
He was fascinated by the Asian influence on colonial American art and design and went to see it. It's worth every moment of the visit to see pieces from Asia from the 1520s that showed traders and then showed how their arts, brought to the Americas, influenced art, furniture and design from colonial New England to viceregal Peru. http://www.mfa.org/exhibitions/made-in-the-americas
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| Copley's Art |
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