We’ve broken out of our dining rut in the last couple of days by trying two new places – last evening Tammy and Steve along with Len, Stacey, Alex and Tarah joined us at Pizza Stop to help spend the gift certificate I won on the radio a couple of weeks ago. The decor is utilitarian but on Thursday nights they not only feature $1.50 Coors Light (Burl’s favorite beer – definitely NOT mine!) and if you buy a large specialty pizza, you get another large one-topping for $1 - such a deal. Tammy zoomed in on my favorite which was BBQ chicken and we paired that with a supreme (not Diana Ross!) for the specialty. The other was half sausage and half tomato – I tried both the BBQ and the sausage and thought they were quite tasty – especially since we also got thin crust. According to the menu they feature a thin wheat crust but our server said it’s not available in the large size.
We’re not sure if we got charged correctly – 2 large pizzas, 5-6 beers, a few sodas, and one salad plus tax for $30 seemed pretty darned reasonable – especially when you feed 8 people. I’d say we’ll go back but with a location that’s not real convenient I don’t know that we’ll have a lot of motivation unless we’re already in that part of town.
Today I actually left work by 5:30 and felt like I was getting a mini-vacation! I suggested trying a new place downtown so off we headed – to the Blue Plate which features “down home comfort food”. Now that description of a meal makes me think big servings of fattening food since I grew up in an era where no one thought about nutrition labels, trans fats or counting points. But we had seen the menu and heard from friends that it was good so we gave it a try.
The Blue Plate is owned by Eric Zackrison who until recently had another restaurant called Agrario in the same location – simple economics dictated an establishment with simpler fare at lower prices and according to Eric, it’s working – and we’re glad. Since I had a big meal today at noon, I opted for the Blue Plate Salad – it featured chopped lettuce, green apples, craisins and celery in the house dressing – on a scale of 1 to 10 I’ll give it an 8 but had I been really hungry I might not have left feeling satisfied. Burl chose the pot roast and paired it with sweet potato hash and broccoli and declared it a winner. We know we’ll return since we both like the atmosphere and the owner and I already know I’ll get the meat loaf next.
When we left the restaurant about 8:00 we decided to walk around the downtown area which was an interesting journey – the evening was still in its infancy with few people on the sidewalks or lounging around the square but by time we got back to the car 45 minutes later the pace was clearly picking up with the younger set heading to the many bars and lounges for a summer evening. Us old farts headed home to do boring stuff like blog and watch the PGA on Tivo – exciting, huh?
My thanks to pal Anne who prepared a fabulous 4-course meal today at noon for friends and staff at the local Girl Scout service center. I was pleased to be included and happy to make a contribution to the United Way for her culinary efforts. I’ve let her know that anytime she wants to cook for others she’s welcome to come try my kitchen since I don’t seem to use it that much.
