I’m sure no one’s counting but me – yesterday was my 300th day in a row of blogging on real food topics and recipes. Hurray! Tonight we went out to dinner to a place called Firestone’s Culinary Tavern in Frederick, MD. The food was good but actually it was so complicated that I don’t think it’s something anyone’s going to say, “Oh, I think I’ll try to make that tomorrow.” Basically I had monkfish on brussels sprouts but it wasn’t called that. Tony had gnocchi that was described as “Goat Cheese Gnocchi, wild mushrooms, red onions, roasted red pepper, tomato, baby zucchini, basil pesto, Pecorino Romano cheese.” He said it was OK. The gnocchi itself was very large and dense. After we ordered, the waiter asked if either of us had any food allergies and we both said no. It seemed kind of an odd question because we wouldn’t have ordered something we were allergic to, but it was because he was bringing out this petite appetizer on a spoon. He set it down and said it was a salmon lentil something-or-other. The guy was really soft-spoken and it was a loud restaurant. Well, I happen to be allergic to lentils so I couldn’t eat it – figures, eh?
The restaurant is not advertised as being local, sustainable, etc., but they have a market in the adjoining shop where they sell things like their own ketchup, season salt, pork rub, whiskey ice cream, and crab dip. The chef, Kimball Firestone, has a cookbook and his blog says he’s expanding the restaurant into the other adjoining shop.
We were planning to go to the 2015 Oscar Nominated Short Films at the Weinberg Center, but my daughter called that there was confusion back at the Inn where two couples were trying to check in to the same room, so we had to hightail it back to the ranch. It all worked out and it’s kind of a funny story: one of the husbands accidentally made their reservation at The Strawberry Inn in California. I’m just glad it wasn’t me having a senior moment. Back to the kitchen tomorrow!
