I’m still waiting to get my stove hooked back up, but the floor is in and the grout is dry. I put lamb chops in the frig to thaw from the freezer two or three days ago, and I’m going to marinate them tonight so they don’t give up on me.
We stumbled across this place called Mt. Airy Tavern because we were trying to get dinner in between dropping one kid off in one place and getting the other one to swimming lessons. The restaurant is in the corner of a strip mall on I27, between TJ Maxx and Weis Market, so I didn’t have high expectations. Man, was I ever glad to walk in and see three chalkboards listing the local farms that supply their ingredients! It’s so comforting to me to know that enough people care about their food that a restaurant in a strip mall in a fairly small town is successful focusing on local and sustainable ingredients. And they are very successful judging by the number of customers that were there on a weeknight.
Sometimes I get discouraged about the level of disinterest people have in their food and it seems it may take a couple of generations to really turn around the post-depression era desire for cheap eats. I was sitting next to two woman at the airport last weekend and I heard them talking about the cost of food. One said to the other, “Why are butter and milk prices going up; is it because of Ebola?” Why anyone would make that kind of connection is beyond me. Anyway, she continued, “I can’t believe how high the price of butter is and I paid almost $5 for a pound of ground beef.” Instead she could have paid $1 more and bought meat from a grass-fed animal that wasn’t stressed, force-fed, and sick, all of which is reflected in the quality of the beef. Even at $6 a pound (which is high) and used as a main dish where each person gets 1/4-pound hamburger, that comes to only $1.50 per burger. Her burgers cost $1.25 apiece, which maybe some people cannot afford, but this is a woman who told me she flies to Tampa for the winters. Some people’s perspective on fair prices for real food became skewed, and I doubt most of them will change their minds anytime soon.
Back at the Tavern, where I started, we ordered an open-face turkey platter and mango salad. They do not use processed, pre-packed, or frozen ingredients. They slow roast whole turkeys, corned beef, ribs, and top round sirloin in-house. The steaks and fish are cut and prepared in-house. They make their own salad dressings, croutons, fresh-cut French fries, sauces, and gravies daily. Someday we’ll be back.
If you find an organic and/or local and sustainable restaurant near you and want to submit a review and photos, contact me.
