I’m cooking in MY MOST BEAUTIFUL KITCHEN! It is so beautiful that it makes me cry. It really does. I just sit in our sunroom and look at it and I can’t believe I live in such a beautiful place. I promise to post pictures of the finished product – as soon as my daughters have seen it. They are coming at Christmas and I can’t wait to see them when they see it. I don’t want to spoil that moment (for me) by showing them a picture ahead of time. So, please have patience...
I haven’t taken time off to write to you all. The first day I cooked — Tada!--- fried eggs! Yowza! Then lamb chops, then homemade beef barley soup. I have running water – right in the kitchen! And a garbage disposal! And outlets that don’t trip breakers when you turn on the microwave at the same time that the refrigerator turns on. Wow. It’s amazing what we take for granted.
And to celebrate the new kitchen, we finally had dinner at Fleming's. It was the Wednesday evening before Thanksgiving. It was snowing romantically. A perfect night for a long, quiet dinner for two. Fleming’s fit the bill. It is a fabulous spot – if you can ignore the ridiculously expensive part. But never mind.
Fleming's is famous for its service, and this is well-deserved fame. You might want to stop there sometime just to experience how well you COULD be treated every time you go out. Our waiter knew every dish on the menu. He could describe how it was made, what wine it would compliment it. He was not averse to talking a bit about himself in a very amiable way. He made our evening very special.
Then there’s the food. I decided to split a bottle of wine with The Man Who Only Drinks White Wine. We ordered a bottle of Cuvaison Chardonny - Napa Carneros 2005 ($60), which was, of course, very nice. It’s a heavier Chardonnay than some, with some oak to chew on. So I ordered my dinner to go with this wine choice. The Red Meat Man has his own ideas of what goes with what, that is: red meat goes with anything and so does white wine. Okay, then.
Everything at Fleming’s is ala carte. I’d heard that the portion sizes of the side dishes were prodigious, so we decided to each order three items and share. I ordered an appetizer of crab cakes ($15.50), Fleming’s Salad ($7.95), and Seared Scallops ($28.95). The Man ordered a bowl of Vegetable Beef Soup ($9.95), a 12 oz Filet Mignon ($36.96), and Fleming’s Potatoes ($8.50). Can you imagine such prices? In Milwaukee? Whew! It’ll be snowin’ in Miami before I see the inside of this place again.
But let me describe the food, just so I can re-live the experience. My crab cakes were very crabby, almost all chunks of fresh crab and very little filler. They were small, but The Man tasted them agreed they were good. High praise from him – for something that swims. His Vegetable Beef Soup was delicious. Almost as good as mine, we decided, though we both like the addition of the barley that I put in mine. The salad was very good, but how can any salad – pretty basic with greens, glazed walnuts and dried cranberries with a very light vinaigrette – be worth $8? My scallops were served with a puff pastry filled with summer squash and a lobster sauce. Now that was tasty – and worth the price if anything was. As for the filet mignon, it was Big Beef, cooked very much the way The Man ordered it (red, with a hot center). Fleming’s Potatoes were a treat. This was a large portion of augratin potatoes, thinly sliced and oozing with cheese. Lip-licking good. We shared that and still brought half of it home.
With my scallops, I ordered a glass of red wine (whose name I forgot to write down, even after all these months of reviewing for you all. I know it was a yummy pinot noir for $13), bringing our grand total bill to $190. May I say, "YIKES!" That is before subtracting the $75 gift certificate I’d purchased earlier at the Waukesha Land Conservancy’s auction to reduce The Wallet’s pain ever so slightly.
Actually, I have to give The Man credit. He didn’t complain once about this bill and thoroughly enjoyed the evening – many thanks to our exceptional service.
By the way, I did check out the ladies' bathroom. I only wish mine were so attractive – and it was just as clean as yours at your house. And that’s saying something, for Bluemound Road.
No longer
Kitchenless in Brookfield
Saturday, November 24, 2007
Monday, November 19, 2007
Jake's -- off Bluemound
A restaurant that takes reservations on Friday nights is a FIND. Friday evening is Amateur Night, we’ve discovered. The amateurs – folks who don’t eat out every night of the week – are all out buzzing around from one restaurant to another, looking for a place to sit and eat – in that order. Even finding a place to sit while waiting to eat is a challenge. Jake’s takes reservations. They got our business on Friday night when we went out for a fish fry with my brother and his wife from Watertown.
The evening got off to a great start when the four of us arrived at Jakes at 6:30 on Friday and were seated immediately. We were in a small, back room with rough-sawn cedar walls decorated with signs from wine companies. We ordered old fashioneds to sip while we caught up on the family gossip and the trips we’ve taken and the ones we are about to take. My family is SO much fun. We love each other so much that about 50 of us actually own a big log cottage together in Central Wisconsin. We hang out there on summer weekends playing guitars, singing, sleeping some, eating lots, and even occasionally drinking together. I’ll bet you don’t even know the names of your third-cousins-twice-removed, let alone know which ones like Sprecher’s Black Bavarian and which ones prefer pinot noir.
Back at Jake’s, three of us ordered fish fries ($14.95), as we’d planned. But of course, you can guess who did not. Though The Man Who Is Picky About What Goes Into His Stomach will -- on occasion -- eat something that swims, if it is heavily battered and deep fried. But he isn’t about to eat anything as funky as walleye, which is the fish fry option at Jake’s. Cod, he said, is his fish of choice. "How about haddock, just for a change?" I asked. "No," he replied, "Just cod." Such a wild man I married.
I can tell you the walleye was delicious: lightly battered, deep fried and served with a very tasty tartar sauce (a little onion and maybe tarragon in it?). The fish came with our choice of two side dishes. I chose the vegetable of the day, brussel sprouts in a warm viniagrette, and a side salad with parmesan peppercorn dressing – one of my favorites. The Man decided not to have an entre and ordered a half Caesar salad, a bowl of French onion soup, and a twice-baked potato. The potato was delicious, as was the onion soup. The half Caesar salad was ridiculous – a small hunk (and I do mean "hunk") of romaine, some shaved parmesan and a chunk of crouton-like bread, with dressing. Not especially appetizing.
We skipped dessert at Jake’s, as I was serving dessert at our house. Not homemade of course. It was a styrofoam bowl (so elegant) of Gilles’ French Silk frozen custard served with a selection of chocolate bars from Lindt & Newman’s & Giardelli. My sister-in-law is known to be fond of chocolate. I thought ithis would be her kind of finish to an evening of good food.
I was also showing off my new kitchen, which is almost "the most beautiful kitchen in Brookfield." My major appliances were delivered on Friday. There are issues, however. The stove couldn’t be hooked up because the gas pipe was too high and in the way. The plumber has to fix that. The dishwasher is in its box, waiting for the plumber to unpack and install it. The refrigerator has a bigger problem. It doesn’t go back as far into the cabinets as it should. It looks like an afterthought; something that was replaced after the kitchen was built. Mike Wahlen from Cabinet Werks (bless his heart) said he wouldn’t put up with this, and we shouldn’t have to either. We also didn’t like the finish on the window and door frame moldings, so Cabinet Werks will also replace those. These ARE good folks to work with.
I’ll keep you up to date on the status of these final touches. And you will be the first to know if I indeed do have a sink by Monday evening! If so, what should I cook? Do you think The Man would consider fried eggs – dinner?
Now I’m Barely
Kitchenless in Brookfield
The evening got off to a great start when the four of us arrived at Jakes at 6:30 on Friday and were seated immediately. We were in a small, back room with rough-sawn cedar walls decorated with signs from wine companies. We ordered old fashioneds to sip while we caught up on the family gossip and the trips we’ve taken and the ones we are about to take. My family is SO much fun. We love each other so much that about 50 of us actually own a big log cottage together in Central Wisconsin. We hang out there on summer weekends playing guitars, singing, sleeping some, eating lots, and even occasionally drinking together. I’ll bet you don’t even know the names of your third-cousins-twice-removed, let alone know which ones like Sprecher’s Black Bavarian and which ones prefer pinot noir.
Back at Jake’s, three of us ordered fish fries ($14.95), as we’d planned. But of course, you can guess who did not. Though The Man Who Is Picky About What Goes Into His Stomach will -- on occasion -- eat something that swims, if it is heavily battered and deep fried. But he isn’t about to eat anything as funky as walleye, which is the fish fry option at Jake’s. Cod, he said, is his fish of choice. "How about haddock, just for a change?" I asked. "No," he replied, "Just cod." Such a wild man I married.
I can tell you the walleye was delicious: lightly battered, deep fried and served with a very tasty tartar sauce (a little onion and maybe tarragon in it?). The fish came with our choice of two side dishes. I chose the vegetable of the day, brussel sprouts in a warm viniagrette, and a side salad with parmesan peppercorn dressing – one of my favorites. The Man decided not to have an entre and ordered a half Caesar salad, a bowl of French onion soup, and a twice-baked potato. The potato was delicious, as was the onion soup. The half Caesar salad was ridiculous – a small hunk (and I do mean "hunk") of romaine, some shaved parmesan and a chunk of crouton-like bread, with dressing. Not especially appetizing.
We skipped dessert at Jake’s, as I was serving dessert at our house. Not homemade of course. It was a styrofoam bowl (so elegant) of Gilles’ French Silk frozen custard served with a selection of chocolate bars from Lindt & Newman’s & Giardelli. My sister-in-law is known to be fond of chocolate. I thought ithis would be her kind of finish to an evening of good food.
I was also showing off my new kitchen, which is almost "the most beautiful kitchen in Brookfield." My major appliances were delivered on Friday. There are issues, however. The stove couldn’t be hooked up because the gas pipe was too high and in the way. The plumber has to fix that. The dishwasher is in its box, waiting for the plumber to unpack and install it. The refrigerator has a bigger problem. It doesn’t go back as far into the cabinets as it should. It looks like an afterthought; something that was replaced after the kitchen was built. Mike Wahlen from Cabinet Werks (bless his heart) said he wouldn’t put up with this, and we shouldn’t have to either. We also didn’t like the finish on the window and door frame moldings, so Cabinet Werks will also replace those. These ARE good folks to work with.
I’ll keep you up to date on the status of these final touches. And you will be the first to know if I indeed do have a sink by Monday evening! If so, what should I cook? Do you think The Man would consider fried eggs – dinner?
Now I’m Barely
Kitchenless in Brookfield
Saturday, November 17, 2007
Perk & Pub
This eating out is not working for us anymore. Do you know how far east we were on Wednesday? The Perk & Pub, a bare bones, boring restaurant (if you can call it that) on about 130th and Bluemound Road in Elm Grove. It just isn’t worth driving even 10 minutes to eat uninteresting food at yet another uninteresting restaurant. I’ve counted. IF we get into our kitchen next Monday, as is the plan, that would be four more meals out. IF we continued on Bluemound Road until then, we would hit The Garden Something Restaurant at that motel that used to be the 40 Winks Motel, then Rocky Roccoco’s pizza, then yet another Mexican place across the road, and finally back to Flemings.
If we were going to get as far as Mo’s Irish Pub, I’d surely put up with these repetitive, mediocre meals until then. But we won’t – assuming Cabinetwerks’ schedule works out, and the plumber who is supposed to hook up the sink, dishwasher, and gas for the stove on Monday is not a hunter and won’t call in at the last minute when he realizes what week it is. I’ve noticed that the common subject of conversation of all craftsmen who have worked in my kitchen centers on the shooting of deer.
So... I think we will eat our few remaining restaurant meals at places we know we like, probably closer to home, and then maybe have one last fling at Flemings. I am debating saving that spot until we have grown somewhat tired of home cooking again and can appreciate such a fine restaurant. I’ve become such a witch about this eating out. Nothing pleases me, and The Man and I are getting testy with each other about our disagreements over food.
For instance, Monday night at The Perk and Pub. It’s in a nice looking shopping center, just down the road from all those annoying office buildings in Bishop’s Woods. (Only annoying to me I suppose, because I was one of the folks who fought against desecrating that lovely woods with those commercial buildings.) Anyway, you’d think this restaurant location might attract a pleasant place to eat. But no. The Perk & Pub sports a brown, painted, bare concrete floor, brown formica tables, a high acoustic tiled ceiling, and a bar in the room with the tables. It seems like one of those bars that also happens to serve some food. The menu is bar food – pizzas, a few sandwiches. But unlike most bars, you don’t place your order at the bar. Here a waitress serves you at your table. And yet, oddly, in one corner is a child’s play area, with games and toys for kiddies. Hmmm...
The Happy Man (red meat, cheap food, nothing "funky", like cilantro or Asiago cheese) had a Reuben sandwich with cole slaw. I couldn’t muster up enough appetite to even have a sandwich. I just had a Caesar salad – romaine lettuce (a good thing), bottled dressing (okay), many dry croutons (yuk), and no Parmesan to be seen (boring). I checked out the plumbing, betting it would be clean. Not. Actually, the turn-off is walking back to the bathroom where the mop and pail and boxes of stuff are stacked and stuffed in the hall. No broom closet, apparently. How charming.
As we drove home, I complained (a polite word for it) about the Perk & Pub, while The Man With Impecible Taste insisted it was just fine -- even called it "very nice.".
As I said, it is time to quit this nonsense. We will have some of my homemade pea soup from the freezer for dinner tonight, and will probably eat at our favorite Venice Club before the kitchen returns. I’m sure I’ll find something to blather to you about anyway, even if it isn’t on Bluemound Rd.
Grumpy, as well as
Kitchenless in Brookfield
If we were going to get as far as Mo’s Irish Pub, I’d surely put up with these repetitive, mediocre meals until then. But we won’t – assuming Cabinetwerks’ schedule works out, and the plumber who is supposed to hook up the sink, dishwasher, and gas for the stove on Monday is not a hunter and won’t call in at the last minute when he realizes what week it is. I’ve noticed that the common subject of conversation of all craftsmen who have worked in my kitchen centers on the shooting of deer.
So... I think we will eat our few remaining restaurant meals at places we know we like, probably closer to home, and then maybe have one last fling at Flemings. I am debating saving that spot until we have grown somewhat tired of home cooking again and can appreciate such a fine restaurant. I’ve become such a witch about this eating out. Nothing pleases me, and The Man and I are getting testy with each other about our disagreements over food.
For instance, Monday night at The Perk and Pub. It’s in a nice looking shopping center, just down the road from all those annoying office buildings in Bishop’s Woods. (Only annoying to me I suppose, because I was one of the folks who fought against desecrating that lovely woods with those commercial buildings.) Anyway, you’d think this restaurant location might attract a pleasant place to eat. But no. The Perk & Pub sports a brown, painted, bare concrete floor, brown formica tables, a high acoustic tiled ceiling, and a bar in the room with the tables. It seems like one of those bars that also happens to serve some food. The menu is bar food – pizzas, a few sandwiches. But unlike most bars, you don’t place your order at the bar. Here a waitress serves you at your table. And yet, oddly, in one corner is a child’s play area, with games and toys for kiddies. Hmmm...
The Happy Man (red meat, cheap food, nothing "funky", like cilantro or Asiago cheese) had a Reuben sandwich with cole slaw. I couldn’t muster up enough appetite to even have a sandwich. I just had a Caesar salad – romaine lettuce (a good thing), bottled dressing (okay), many dry croutons (yuk), and no Parmesan to be seen (boring). I checked out the plumbing, betting it would be clean. Not. Actually, the turn-off is walking back to the bathroom where the mop and pail and boxes of stuff are stacked and stuffed in the hall. No broom closet, apparently. How charming.
As we drove home, I complained (a polite word for it) about the Perk & Pub, while The Man With Impecible Taste insisted it was just fine -- even called it "very nice.".
As I said, it is time to quit this nonsense. We will have some of my homemade pea soup from the freezer for dinner tonight, and will probably eat at our favorite Venice Club before the kitchen returns. I’m sure I’ll find something to blather to you about anyway, even if it isn’t on Bluemound Rd.
Grumpy, as well as
Kitchenless in Brookfield
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Chipotle
Isn’t it amazing the number of chain restaurants there are? And how many of them are on Bluemound Road? Mr Picky Eater was not thrilled about eating at Chipotle, as he said he’d been to one of these joints before and didn’t like it. But then his daughter who eats out often, said it was one of her favorite places. So The Man agreed to give it another try.
At least we figured out what it is about Chipotle that The Man doesn’t like. It’s the tortillas. He doesn’t care for those rigid, pre-cooked corn tortillas, but he also doesn’t like flour tortillas that are not fried to a slightly crisp texture. That’s how I cook them at home (when I have a kitchen, a stove, a frying pan, olive oil and a dishwasher at my disposal). At Chipotle, they put the flour tortillas in a sort of steam heater, so they are warm, but floppy. The Man thinks his wife-of-German-descent knows better how to cook tortillas than the people-of-Mexican-descent who prepared his meal at Chipotle.
Inside his raw, floppy tortilla, The Man had a pork and bean burrito and I ordered the tacos (both $5.75). My taco order included three small tacos in which I tried three different meats. The pork was best. The beef was way too hot (spicy) for my whimpy taste buds, and the chicken was dry and boring. I also had them slather on some fresh tomato salsa, some of that tasteless, white Mexican cheese (queso), sour cream and lettuce. In his burrito, The Picky Man ordered pork, beans, cheese, and the hot salsa (after the server assured him that, heaven forbid, the hot salsa didn’t have any funky cilantro in it). He had a large Diet Pepsi for $1.50; I had a Spotted Cow beer for $3.50 – because, of course, they had no caffeine-free diet soda. If it weren’t for the raw tortilla, The Man said he’d have enjoyed his meal.
I want to send you a picture of my stunning kitchen, but I’m waiting for the painter to finish his magic and for the appliances to fill in some rather obvious holes in the cabinetry. Tune in next week for views of the finished product!
Kitchenless in Brookfield
At least we figured out what it is about Chipotle that The Man doesn’t like. It’s the tortillas. He doesn’t care for those rigid, pre-cooked corn tortillas, but he also doesn’t like flour tortillas that are not fried to a slightly crisp texture. That’s how I cook them at home (when I have a kitchen, a stove, a frying pan, olive oil and a dishwasher at my disposal). At Chipotle, they put the flour tortillas in a sort of steam heater, so they are warm, but floppy. The Man thinks his wife-of-German-descent knows better how to cook tortillas than the people-of-Mexican-descent who prepared his meal at Chipotle.
Inside his raw, floppy tortilla, The Man had a pork and bean burrito and I ordered the tacos (both $5.75). My taco order included three small tacos in which I tried three different meats. The pork was best. The beef was way too hot (spicy) for my whimpy taste buds, and the chicken was dry and boring. I also had them slather on some fresh tomato salsa, some of that tasteless, white Mexican cheese (queso), sour cream and lettuce. In his burrito, The Picky Man ordered pork, beans, cheese, and the hot salsa (after the server assured him that, heaven forbid, the hot salsa didn’t have any funky cilantro in it). He had a large Diet Pepsi for $1.50; I had a Spotted Cow beer for $3.50 – because, of course, they had no caffeine-free diet soda. If it weren’t for the raw tortilla, The Man said he’d have enjoyed his meal.
I want to send you a picture of my stunning kitchen, but I’m waiting for the painter to finish his magic and for the appliances to fill in some rather obvious holes in the cabinetry. Tune in next week for views of the finished product!
Kitchenless in Brookfield
Sunday, November 11, 2007
Uno's and Switchplates
Uno’s is east of Moreland Road. We’ve eaten our way over 3 miles of Bluemound Road restaurants since September 7th, when we became kitchenless. I’m not going to make it to the Stadium before my kitchen is done, as someone thought would be likely, but I will make it into the next suburb of Elm Grove. We should have the Most Beautiful Kitchen in Brookfield in about a week.
Actually, it already IS the Most Beautiful Kitchen in Brookfield, though not yet functional. The hardware is installed on the cabinets. The slate and botanical tile back-splash is done and is breathtaking. Some of the moldings are installed and the carpenter guys get to wake me up tomorrow morning when they come back to finish their work. The Man Who Does Electical Stuff Without Frying Himself Or Burning The House Down spent last week on his computer trying to find switchplates in an oiled bronze finish to match the cabinet hardware. I was agonizing over the choice I had made of stainless steel plates. They looked awful. No-- they just -- Looked. Like switchplates were what you noticed when you walked into the kitchen. Who (besides The Man Who Does Electicity For Fun) would want their kitchen to be all about the switchplates? Realizing that he might have to put up with me moaning at him for the rest of his life, The Man got serious and found really cool bronze ones at Restoration Hardware. And then he was witless enough to mention that they were much more expensive than the stainless ones, to which I replied, "Like we'd even notice in the cost of this kitchen?" Good grief!
Meanwhile, we arrived at Uno’s at 6:30 PM on Saturday evening and were told our wait would be 25 minutes. So we settled in at a table in the bar and studied the appetizer and beverage menu, and yippee! I discovered another place that serves a caffeine-free diet cola! I felt I should support this menu item, so I ordered that beverage and The Man Whose Tastes Are None Too Adventuresome ordered nachos ($7.99) for us to share. But within 15 minutes we were seated in the dining room, nibbling nachos while waiting for our dinner order. The order of nachos was enormous, with lots of tomatoes and beans and sour cream, but the cheese was tasteless - in the opinion of your master Bluemound Road restaurant critic.
I noticed several fish dishes on their dinner menu. After all the fast food and ethic restaurants and chains, I’d become a bit desperate for seafood. I ordered the Lemon Basil Salmon ($13.49) with a side of mashed potatoes with cheese and bacon and a side of steamed broccoli (oh, yum!). The Man ordered one of the pizzas for which Uno’s is famous, the Chicago Classic Deep Dish Pizza ($8.89) which has tomatoes, cheese and Italian sausage in a deep pie crust. My salmon was excellent! It was a good-sized portion, with a spicy crust on top and perfectly done and served HOT. Though my memory is untrustworthy, this was the best piece of fish I could recall eating while on this Bluemound Road adventure. The potatoes were not from a box and were also yummy and the broccoli was crunchy and hot. Altogether a great meal. The Man said his pizza met his specifications for good food. Service was great – our waitress brought us new glasses of colas before ours were even empty.
When we left at 7:30, no one was waiting. If you come to Uno’s on a Saturday evening, don't be early.
For another week, I'll be
Kitchenless in Brookfield
Actually, it already IS the Most Beautiful Kitchen in Brookfield, though not yet functional. The hardware is installed on the cabinets. The slate and botanical tile back-splash is done and is breathtaking. Some of the moldings are installed and the carpenter guys get to wake me up tomorrow morning when they come back to finish their work. The Man Who Does Electical Stuff Without Frying Himself Or Burning The House Down spent last week on his computer trying to find switchplates in an oiled bronze finish to match the cabinet hardware. I was agonizing over the choice I had made of stainless steel plates. They looked awful. No-- they just -- Looked. Like switchplates were what you noticed when you walked into the kitchen. Who (besides The Man Who Does Electicity For Fun) would want their kitchen to be all about the switchplates? Realizing that he might have to put up with me moaning at him for the rest of his life, The Man got serious and found really cool bronze ones at Restoration Hardware. And then he was witless enough to mention that they were much more expensive than the stainless ones, to which I replied, "Like we'd even notice in the cost of this kitchen?" Good grief!
Meanwhile, we arrived at Uno’s at 6:30 PM on Saturday evening and were told our wait would be 25 minutes. So we settled in at a table in the bar and studied the appetizer and beverage menu, and yippee! I discovered another place that serves a caffeine-free diet cola! I felt I should support this menu item, so I ordered that beverage and The Man Whose Tastes Are None Too Adventuresome ordered nachos ($7.99) for us to share. But within 15 minutes we were seated in the dining room, nibbling nachos while waiting for our dinner order. The order of nachos was enormous, with lots of tomatoes and beans and sour cream, but the cheese was tasteless - in the opinion of your master Bluemound Road restaurant critic.
I noticed several fish dishes on their dinner menu. After all the fast food and ethic restaurants and chains, I’d become a bit desperate for seafood. I ordered the Lemon Basil Salmon ($13.49) with a side of mashed potatoes with cheese and bacon and a side of steamed broccoli (oh, yum!). The Man ordered one of the pizzas for which Uno’s is famous, the Chicago Classic Deep Dish Pizza ($8.89) which has tomatoes, cheese and Italian sausage in a deep pie crust. My salmon was excellent! It was a good-sized portion, with a spicy crust on top and perfectly done and served HOT. Though my memory is untrustworthy, this was the best piece of fish I could recall eating while on this Bluemound Road adventure. The potatoes were not from a box and were also yummy and the broccoli was crunchy and hot. Altogether a great meal. The Man said his pizza met his specifications for good food. Service was great – our waitress brought us new glasses of colas before ours were even empty.
When we left at 7:30, no one was waiting. If you come to Uno’s on a Saturday evening, don't be early.
For another week, I'll be
Kitchenless in Brookfield
Friday, November 9, 2007
Old Country Buffet
YIKES! We’ve hit the bottom of the barrel - in my opinion. How can a buffet have so many yucky choices? The carrot and raisin salad was runny with too much mayo. Yuck! The baked potato was dry and then ruined further by a very strong horseradish sauce. Yuck! The overdone, dry barbequed chicken breast had bacon wrapped around it, which formed an odd combination with barbeque sauce. Yuck! The salmon filet was fishy tasting and smelling. Yuck! The orange chicken was very heavily battered and then deep fried with the orange sauce added. I can’t say "yuck", because it was pretty tasty, but it surely wasn’t good for you. And it was lukewarm. Yuck! The boiled cabbage was floating in its serving dish, ready to drown your plateful of other foods. Yuck! The macaroni and cheese was soggy pasta in white sauce, sans cheese. Yuck! Even the desserts – the lemon bars were dry and lacked lemon flavor. Yuck! The soft serve ice milk was soft serve ice milk. Yuck!
There were, in my opinion, two edible items I encountered. The baked beans were very good. They were not a soggy mass of unidentifiable goop. They were still firm and had a nice flavor. The warm chocolate pudding cake was also okay. At least it did taste of chocolate.
I didn’t bother to check the ladies bathroom. If the food is disgusting, you aren’t going to come here whether the bathrooms are clean or not.
This nasty restaurant was full of people at 6 PM on Wednesday evening, with more coming in all the time. Most of the customers were families with very small children who, poor things, have no taste and no choice of where to learn to have taste. And seniors. Many seniors. The Old Country Buffet is not cheap enough to warrant coming here. Dinner during the week is $10.49 each. Sure, it’s all you can eat. But who would eat such garbage at any price?
Well... I can answer that. The Man Whose Mother Was A Lousy Cook And Therefore Has No Memories That Include GOOD Home Cooking (except mine, which tends toward what The Man considers "funky", that is, it might include a mushroom or two) said he’d be back.
He’ll have to do it alone.
Only ten more days to be...
Kitchenless in Brookfield
There were, in my opinion, two edible items I encountered. The baked beans were very good. They were not a soggy mass of unidentifiable goop. They were still firm and had a nice flavor. The warm chocolate pudding cake was also okay. At least it did taste of chocolate.
I didn’t bother to check the ladies bathroom. If the food is disgusting, you aren’t going to come here whether the bathrooms are clean or not.
This nasty restaurant was full of people at 6 PM on Wednesday evening, with more coming in all the time. Most of the customers were families with very small children who, poor things, have no taste and no choice of where to learn to have taste. And seniors. Many seniors. The Old Country Buffet is not cheap enough to warrant coming here. Dinner during the week is $10.49 each. Sure, it’s all you can eat. But who would eat such garbage at any price?
Well... I can answer that. The Man Whose Mother Was A Lousy Cook And Therefore Has No Memories That Include GOOD Home Cooking (except mine, which tends toward what The Man considers "funky", that is, it might include a mushroom or two) said he’d be back.
He’ll have to do it alone.
Only ten more days to be...
Kitchenless in Brookfield
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
The Original Pancake House
What a charming spot this is on busy Bluemound Road. This nifty old farmhouse that has housed all sorts of businesses (furniture store, bagel shop, even the chamber of commerce office, I think) has found its true calling. Open only from 7 AM until 2 PM on weekdays and until 3 PM on Saturdays and Sundays, it has become THE place to go for breakfast or brunch in Brookfield.
We arrived at about 9 AM on Sunday and put our names on the list. There were kids playing ball outside, there were grandparents on benches outside and people standing in the small area inside the door. The customers were in jeans and sweatshirts, as well as some in their Sunday-go-to-meetings clothes. The parking lot was full all the way past the furniture store to the north. We were told our wait would be 25 minutes. Sometimes The Man has more patience than I do. Often, actually. I’d have gone home right then and eaten Raisin Bran out of a styrofoam bowl. The Man said he was okay with waiting. So we did.
At exactly 9:25 our name was called. And even I think it was worth it. The inside is as charming as the outside, the wait staff is charming, and the food was super. Let’s start with the ambiance: The Original Pancake House is decorated in old-farmhouse light green walls, with big pastel artworks on the walls, an exposed old plank ceiling, green checked lampshades and window shades. Even the artificial daisies and paper-white narcissus in ceramic pots add to the charm. On this busy morning, it hummed with activity, but was not really noisy.
The menu looks like one of those from which you’d like to order one of each thing -- it all sounds so good. Following the recommendation of a friend who had eaten here, I ordered the blueberry pancakes ($6.45). This was six nice-sized pancakes served with whipped butter and a deliciously sweet blueberry syrup. The Man Who Was Starving By Now ordered a Western Omelet with bacon ($9.45), which comes with a side of Buttermilk Pancakes. He also had a large orange juice ($3.25) and we both had coffee ($2.00 each). The coffee is very good too, by the way. And I'm a bit picky about coffee. But the omelet... Wow! It was amazing. Really light, with lots and lots of cheese and bacon and sweet peppers. I asked our waitress how many eggs it was made with. Would you believe 5 eggs! The Man With The Appetite ate about 1/3 of it. We will split the remainder for two very adequate portions for dinner tomorrow night.
Though our total bill was $24.22 plus tip, and it blew an hour of our Sunday morning newspaper reading time, it was a great meal. We’ll be back. The waitress told us that if you get there before 8:30 AM or after 2 PM there usually is no waiting. Or anytime on a weekday.
I’d like to bring our kids here when they come at Christmas. Our son-in-law would love it. I just found out that his mother has accepted our invitation to spend Christmas in Brookfield, to share the 5-year-old grandson we both adore. She lives north of Boston, runs an art gallery, and is a lovely lady. My kitchen will, thank goodness, be glorious, even if the rest of our house is still "a dinky little ranch house" in the ‘burbs. That is a quote from one of our daughters when she was a teenager going to high school with the rich kids from neighboring Elm Grove. That dinky little ranch house is sure suckin' the bucks these days!
Kitchenless in Brookfield
We arrived at about 9 AM on Sunday and put our names on the list. There were kids playing ball outside, there were grandparents on benches outside and people standing in the small area inside the door. The customers were in jeans and sweatshirts, as well as some in their Sunday-go-to-meetings clothes. The parking lot was full all the way past the furniture store to the north. We were told our wait would be 25 minutes. Sometimes The Man has more patience than I do. Often, actually. I’d have gone home right then and eaten Raisin Bran out of a styrofoam bowl. The Man said he was okay with waiting. So we did.
At exactly 9:25 our name was called. And even I think it was worth it. The inside is as charming as the outside, the wait staff is charming, and the food was super. Let’s start with the ambiance: The Original Pancake House is decorated in old-farmhouse light green walls, with big pastel artworks on the walls, an exposed old plank ceiling, green checked lampshades and window shades. Even the artificial daisies and paper-white narcissus in ceramic pots add to the charm. On this busy morning, it hummed with activity, but was not really noisy.
The menu looks like one of those from which you’d like to order one of each thing -- it all sounds so good. Following the recommendation of a friend who had eaten here, I ordered the blueberry pancakes ($6.45). This was six nice-sized pancakes served with whipped butter and a deliciously sweet blueberry syrup. The Man Who Was Starving By Now ordered a Western Omelet with bacon ($9.45), which comes with a side of Buttermilk Pancakes. He also had a large orange juice ($3.25) and we both had coffee ($2.00 each). The coffee is very good too, by the way. And I'm a bit picky about coffee. But the omelet... Wow! It was amazing. Really light, with lots and lots of cheese and bacon and sweet peppers. I asked our waitress how many eggs it was made with. Would you believe 5 eggs! The Man With The Appetite ate about 1/3 of it. We will split the remainder for two very adequate portions for dinner tomorrow night.
Though our total bill was $24.22 plus tip, and it blew an hour of our Sunday morning newspaper reading time, it was a great meal. We’ll be back. The waitress told us that if you get there before 8:30 AM or after 2 PM there usually is no waiting. Or anytime on a weekday.
I’d like to bring our kids here when they come at Christmas. Our son-in-law would love it. I just found out that his mother has accepted our invitation to spend Christmas in Brookfield, to share the 5-year-old grandson we both adore. She lives north of Boston, runs an art gallery, and is a lovely lady. My kitchen will, thank goodness, be glorious, even if the rest of our house is still "a dinky little ranch house" in the ‘burbs. That is a quote from one of our daughters when she was a teenager going to high school with the rich kids from neighboring Elm Grove. That dinky little ranch house is sure suckin' the bucks these days!
Kitchenless in Brookfield
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)