Sunday, June 15, 2014

Restaurant Reflections

I'm back in San Diego after a visit to New York.  While there, I enjoyed lunching at a few restaurants, notably, Cafe Maya in Fishkill and BabyCakes Cafe on College Avenue, Poughkeepsie.

As on every visit to Cafe Maya on Route 9 in Fishkill NY, I choose the same appetizer, Quesadillia with skirt steak.  I always enjoy it.  My friend, Katie, enjoyed a chicken breast.  I don't remember the name of her dish, but she told me she really enjoyed the cream sauce served with the vegetable serving. I especially enjoy visiting Cafe Maya and recommend it highly.

This past rainy Friday, my LaGrange daughter and I had lunch at BabyCakes Cafe, located across the street from Vassar College.  Since we weren't that hungry, we decided to split a BLT sandwich.  The menu stated that it came on a Cibiatta Roll,  I don't eat a cibiatta roll so my daughter asked if we could get the sandwich on brioche bread.  The waiter replied that we could not because the chef would not like it.  From the expression on his face, I got the impression that the chef was touchy.  That's too bad.  My daughter always liked this restaurant, but was a little dismayed that no variation in your order was allowed.  I ordered wheat pancakes with bananas and my daughter chose the BLT as offered on the menu.  As we waited, we spoke about how unfortunate that there was no variation allowed considering how many eateries there are in this neighborhood.  My pancakes were OK, but I would not order them again.  I had expected more rustic pancakes like the wheat bread I bake at home.  I've gone into detail about the BLT because the owner might want to reconsider honoring a request to minimally vary something on the menu when a customer requests it.  Since neither of us could finish our meal, a waitress provided us with cute little flat cardboard boxes, made in the US.  As we were leaving, my daughter decided to purchase a red velvet cupcake for her daughter, who loved it.  I'm sure my daughter will go there again. 

After I arrived in San Diego last evening, my daughter, her children and I went to the Studio Dinner in Kearny Mesa.  After a day of travel, I was hungry.  We were greeted by very friendly hostesses.  Even though this is is a very popular restaurant, it didn't take long to be seated.  On the menu I saw an open-faced turkey sandwich with mashed potatoes, stuffing, covered with gravy.  Green beans and cranberry sauce were served on the side.  It was absolutely delicious.  Also, I believe it would feed three people.  My daughter ordered a grilled cheese sandwich with sweet potato fries.  My granddaughter enjoyed a BLT on white toast and sweet potato fries on the side.  She has a healthy appetite, but she could only eat part of the first half.  Another very large serving.  She did enjoy the part she ate.  My grandson ordered mac and cheese and was very disappointed.  The dish was just pasta with cheese barely melted.  I think he expected a 'creamy' mac and cheese.  The servings were so large that no one in our party could eat even half of our meals.

The Studio Diner advertises as a "comfort food restaurant." We left with the food we were not able to eat in boxes.  In the box with my left-over turkey sandwich, the waitress added another container of cranberry sauce.  Today a portion of it was my main meal.  We all agreed that the Studio Diner served very ample servings of delicious food.  I recommend a visit there.

Please feel free to share a comment
Check out my photos

The Book of Micah (on Kindle and on the Nook) 
Perhaps  (on Kindle and on the Nook)

No comments:

Post a Comment