Jay About the end of an era

So we went to Bistro Sauce the other night and it was a little sad. Sauce has been a pretty pleasant, comfortable, generally tasty place since we moved to the Charlotte/Shelburne area 5+ years ago. Well, Sauce has been sold and officially closes tomorrow. Sure it will re-open in some other form possibly in December but it won't be the same. What I can definitively say about Sauce is that the people were always friendly, and I never had a bad meal. The food was inconsistent towards the end ranging from good to ok. At then end of the day though you could roll in there pretty much anytime, have a beer, and just relax. This differed from the stuffy atmosphere that pervades the Bearded Frog's dining room. One thing I'd like to see in a new joint is possibly a bigger bar area where you could sit solo and eat. It was a little jammed as Sauce had it set up. For my last meal I had a very pleasant parsnip soup, some caesar salad (only ok), and we shared an order of the short ribs which were slightly overcooked but still pretty good. I give it a long term 1.5 thumb rating and will miss it.

Few other things... It is IMPOSSIBLE for Lebron James to be assessed an offensive foul. Funny since he runs over 3-5 guys a game. BTW, suck it Miami!

First B-ball game last night and my nickname for the season is going to be "StormCloud"... cause I MAKE IT RAIN!!!! Bricks that is.

Hey how about that Charlie Sheen? Think Emilio Estevez may be able to seamlessly slip into that stupid show 2 and a half men? Hahaha, coke and hookers Charlie, come on!

I may have better material later this week but after 3 days I feel like the Yankees, old and tired. HAHAHAHAHAHA

Jay About Church and Main

Yeah, this is a bit of a delayed post but Friday I was hungover and we were away for the weekend at the in-laws so I was a bit out of pocket. I did have a great round of gold Saturday in arctic conditions... anywho...

Thursday night we had some "big hitters" up from New York and decided to take them to the just opened Church and Main restaurant which is surprisingly enough, located on the corner of Church Street and Main Street in Burlington (the old Smokejack's). Now, it is never a good idea to go to new joints up here. The service is generally confused and slow, the food is sloppy, and the whole thing is generally found somewhere between work in progress and disaster. So why would I take NYC banker guys there knowing this? Because those punks took me to PJ Clarkes for a "fancy" dinner the last time I was in the city. Payback motherf****s!!!

Well, first off the new space is actually pretty well put together. The decor is like most mid-scale in the area but they did move the bar out of the odd nook it used to fill and into a more open space along the wall in the front of the room. We had a decent size party of 7 and were seated in the VIP booth. Apparently VIP stands for Very Impish People as we were jammed into a pretty small table. There was barely any room for the food and the wine was place on another table we had to reach over to. The waitress came over and through slightly broken English took our drink order. This is where we pitched her a slider for strike two... the first bottle we ordered was apparently no longer available. This was supposed to be their first night open to the public... probably should not be running out of wine? Anyway, we ordered a few others and they were all not bad, ranging from nothing special but nothing terrible to pretty good.

For chow we ordered a bunch of apps. The calamari was rubbery. The fried pickles were spears which is odd but they were ok. The lobster risotto was ok, the olives ok. The cheese plate was ok... needed a menu so we could tell what we were eating. The fried rice and cheese balls were pretty good. I liked the tuna tartar tacos. Some folks thought there was too much shell but I found it to not be a problem and it tasted good as did the fish.

The menu is still a little raw. There was not one main course I was particularly interested in. For medium plates they had fried chicken and waffles. I should have ordered that, people really liked it and it looked solid. They also have lots of burgers... thank goodness, there are not enough places locally that specialize in burgers!!! Well, I am the sucker and ordered one. It was a little rare but the bun was good, the meat was ok, and the blue cheese and fried onions were good. I liked it fine. For desert I had grapefruit sorbet, it was nothing special.

Overall the choices are unspectacular but the space is ok, the food is ok, the service was fine, and the prices are like old Smokejacks. Like the previous incarnation it will most likely be put begrudgingly into the rotation. I am hoping brunch will be a hit, 1 thumb sideways... pending!

How about a weiner post?!

Works for Brett Favre! Pretty big story brewing about how old Brett the then QB of the J-E-T-S was sending provocative voicemails and even a text of his rod and tackle to a former model then employed by the J-E-T-S. Did he do it? Do I care? I understand the implications of a man putting unwanted sexual pressure on a female co-worker and that is NO GOOD... but if that was the case wouldn't said employee go to the employer, or the police, or at least a reputable media outlet. Nope, some blog or TMZ or some shit. It is kind of funny but when you walk around w/ a GPS/camera/telephone/computer/tractor beam beam in your pocket, you sort of lose the whole privacy thing. I for one say kudos to Brett, I love taking a picture of my junk then texting it to people. I am sending one to my folks right now! Don't worry, they don't know how to open text messages!! just kidding. They can open them.

Yeah, this was a dumb post. I have been busy at work and didn't really do much this weekend. We went to a fundraiser, it was fine but nothing really to report. I brewed some beer... that was pretty cool, should be ready in a few weeks. Felt alot easier the second time. Like sexting.

We did watch the Blind Side this weekend and I'll tell you what... it was not too bad. My special lady got pretty choked up. She loves sports movies w/ a warm heart and ranked it ahead of Remember the Titans and not far behind Hoosiers. Pretty lofty praise! I would tend to agree but there is a pretty big jump to get into Hoosiers territory. I'd give it 1 thumb up, wished I had seen it on an airplane. While taking a picture of my 2 iron for a text on the jet way.

OK, pretty sure I beat that horse to death... see you next time!!!

Jay About TOSCA'S

Sorry it took so long to get to this. This week has been a giant kick in the nuts for me. Anyway, my special lady and I followed up our lovely dinner at Tourterelle's w/ a driving adventure up to the north country this past weekend. It was wet, soggy, and cold so most outdoor activities were a little distasteful but we did want to get out of the house. We took a drive up to St. Albans and then headed east to Montgomery Center. It was a pretty nice drive and we got some serious leaf peepin' in. In Montgomery we were shit out of luck w/ our initial lunch choice (because they were only open for dinner), so we settles for TOSCA'S at the Trout River Traders. Now, there were people in there but it was far from packed. We were a little nervous when the waitress came to our table and was incredibly flustered (and had a little trouble w/ English). No problem, we ordered a couple beers. We ordered Spaten... but it was not the German pilsner we expected. It was more like a brown ale, still tasted pretty good. As for lunch... our waitress forgot my soup but the other waitress hooked us up. It was a delicious leek soup. Really very good. We also each had a grilled cheese and ham sandwich. They were pretty good but they were huge. A little heavy handed on the ham. I thought the sandwich was pretty good though and was really nice dipped in the soup. The bill was pretty reasonable. I wish the cook had not come out of the kitchen... that was not super awesome. Overall I'd give it 1 thumb up. I would not head there as a destination again, but if you are in the area it is a good spot to stop. We have been in for coffee and snacks before. Good for that as well. On that note I need to sign off... I need to go punch someone in the head.

Jay About Tourterelle

Big weekend for the Birds, a couple nights out and some new fodder for the blog. Our culinary journey began Friday night w/ a trip to Tourterelle on Rt. 7 in Fair Haven. I have probably driven by this place 1000 times and never given it a second thought. My wife said she had eaten there in its previous iteration and it was ok. So here we were meeting friends at the not so little "French country restaurant". It is actually a pretty big space inside w/ several dining rooms laid out like a large house. They were all clean and nicely set up. The bar in the entry hall is fair size and comfortable with great overstuffed leather bar stools. We arrived first and ordered a drink. My special lady had a girly pomegranate something or other that was pretty good and I had a Hendrick's martini which was solid. The rest of our party showed up and it was on to the dining room. Our server was friendly, knowledgeable, and polite. We started with a bottle of red (ok), and a bottle of white (also ok), and a few starters. The bread was warm and the herbed butter was great. As for entrees... charcuterie was good but not exceptional. I did think the pate was pretty good. The calamari was a big hit. They were not rubbery and the cornmeal crust was light and delicious... not overpowering the squid w/ too much grease as is ofter the case. For my money, the belle of the ball was the escargot. They came served in a popover filled w/ garlic butter and butter nut squash. F-ing A they were good!!!

The entrees also did not disappoint. I sampled the steak frites, the steak was well cooked and had a nice soy glaze. The frites were also crispy and delicious. My special lady had the turkey that was pounded flat and breaded. It was very good and the accompanying hen of the wood mushrooms were also very good. I had the coq au vin and it was also solid. The chicken was well cooked and succulent. It also came with a fantastic sausage, and off the hook spaetzle. It was all great. Dessert was also good but had a hard time keeping up. The pumpkin cheesecake was very good, the beignets were decadent, and I don't even remember what was in the crepe but it was good!

It was a really fun evening w/ a great group of people and a great meal. The space was nice and the prices reasonable. 1 3/4 thumbs enthusiastically up.

Tomorrow... We journey to the north lands... Montgomery Center VT!!!!