Saturday, October 20, 2012

Heading East

We have 5 Grandchildren working or attending school in the East. None are natives of that part of the country. We decided to drive to visit as well as enjoy the area in mid-October. The weather and tree color co-operated and we had a wonderful ten days.
Some of the Cincinnati readers say that I should stick with that area, in reporting, but since some travel and, believe it or not, others outside of our area read the Blog I report on where and when we "eat out".

Our first day, leaving late morning, after OLLI class, took us as far as Clarion PA. Clarion is a town about 65 miles north of Pittsburgh off I-80. On the road our usual lodging is a Hampton Inn and Clarion has a well run, new facility. Asking the usual questions of the desk personnel( where do you eat on your Anniversary or Birthday) found us headed to the "Wayside Inn" off of PA Rt. 66 in Lucinda, PA( goggle for more exact instructions). The Inn occupies an old building marked by a fading Coco-Cola sign and notable only by the gaggle of cars parked off of the country road( dinners).
It is currently owned by a couple and has been a stopping place since the 1870s. Food is cooked to order and served hospitably by several young women from the area. They did have Bombay($8) and for a main course I chose lump crab cakes, excellent. Dinner included a nice salad, starch and veggies($20). Marilyn had Veal Parmesan($18) which she enjoyed and could not finish the accompanying pasta. Undaunted we tried the warm home made double chocolate brownie with vanilla ice cream. We were lucky to make it back to Clarion and bed.

Next day, heading East to NYC, we stopped for lunch in Bloomsberg PA at the local "Cracker Barrel" Wednesday, at all "Cracker Barrels" the special is chicken pot pie($6) which Marilyn always orders and enjoys. I stuck with a fish sandwich.
Hit the George Washington bridge around 4 PM and our friends apt. about 20 minutes later. After unloading and taking the car to a neighborhood garage($50/24 hrs) we settled in for our 3 days in the city.
That evening the 5 of us , our host and cousins, went to L'Absinthe on East 67th( more on Goggle). This restaurant has been in the same location since opening 15 years ago and is designed to be a typical French Brasserie with looks, food and wine all following the theme. I had an interesting Johna Crab salad with the crab mounded on a log shaped mould of avocado and grapefruit, pureed. Tasty but might have been better served separately. I have nothing negative to say about my Steak Tartare, which followed, and was as good as any I can remember, spiced and blended perfectly. Marilyn had delicious Calf's Liver with a balsamic reduction. Others had beef, snails, pike Quenelles and a repeat of the liver.
We split a bottle of Goat-Roti a fairly heavy red which was a new item to me.
All in all a pleasant evening and a welcome to the "big apple"

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