Dinner at Maverick's
Last night Dennis and I went to Maverick's for dinner. The place is tiny--seats maybe 30. The food is very 'american' (vegetarian unfriendly), but the service is excellent. Dennis is very fond of this place for that reason. (It is also within the allowed 4 block radius of our home).
I started with an apple and celery soup, which, in the classic french style, was pureed and had cream. Taking a slow, long, sniff I was reminded of Thanksgiving. The flavors were very subtle, with only a hint of apple, but well balanced. Dennis had clams with bacon and shallots sans bell pepper butter. He seemed to really enjoy it, but I found the bacon-clam combination a little odd. It probably has a lot to do with the fact that I have only lately begun to consume bivalves. When I was young, I absolutely hated them.
My second plate featured halibut with some sauteed greens. I found the greens to be a bit too tart and salty, which would have been a nice balance to the halibut, except that the greens had too much cream in them. The fish was not overcooked, though, and had a very nice texture. It was accompanied with sliced fingerling potatoes (the trendy new thing in cuisine it seems. Really, I don't understand why anyone would pay $2+/lb for potatoes) and fresh peas. The peas were sooooo good. They were barely cooked, and so retained their natural sweetness and crunch. Dennis had lamb which he didn't comment on. I can only assume he enjoyed his rare chunk of meat.
We didn't have dessert this time, but I remember the last time we went together I enjoyed the apple crisp much more than either the strawberry-rhubarb cake or the chocolate bread pudding.
I started with an apple and celery soup, which, in the classic french style, was pureed and had cream. Taking a slow, long, sniff I was reminded of Thanksgiving. The flavors were very subtle, with only a hint of apple, but well balanced. Dennis had clams with bacon and shallots sans bell pepper butter. He seemed to really enjoy it, but I found the bacon-clam combination a little odd. It probably has a lot to do with the fact that I have only lately begun to consume bivalves. When I was young, I absolutely hated them.
My second plate featured halibut with some sauteed greens. I found the greens to be a bit too tart and salty, which would have been a nice balance to the halibut, except that the greens had too much cream in them. The fish was not overcooked, though, and had a very nice texture. It was accompanied with sliced fingerling potatoes (the trendy new thing in cuisine it seems. Really, I don't understand why anyone would pay $2+/lb for potatoes) and fresh peas. The peas were sooooo good. They were barely cooked, and so retained their natural sweetness and crunch. Dennis had lamb which he didn't comment on. I can only assume he enjoyed his rare chunk of meat.
We didn't have dessert this time, but I remember the last time we went together I enjoyed the apple crisp much more than either the strawberry-rhubarb cake or the chocolate bread pudding.