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Dec. 24th, 2004 04:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ellyssianFor her birthday supper, Rachel chose Marblehead Grille and Chowderhouse, which is too be expected. Like most other seven year old girls, she would rather enjoy an evening of fine dining and "New England coastal ambiance" than something far more childish, such as Chuck E. Cheese (which she turned down after some indecision the day before - although she almost did decide to go to the Outback Steakhouse before settling on Marblehead.)
Deb and I have been going to the Marblehead Grille for our birthdays and anniversaries ever since I was given a $50 gift certificate for setting up a computer for a friend's father's business about 8 years ago. For the record, we wound up spending another $50 for that particular meal, although that included a hefty tip. The kids, however, had never been there. Actually, the only gourmet restaurant Brandon's ever visited in his entire life (aside from breakfast once in a diner up the road) is Burger King.
The hostess wished Rachel a happy birthday, and they briefly discussed their nearly shared name: she was an -ael. The really nice touch, however, was that she handed off the birthday girl's name to our waitress, Sally, who opened up the meal with birthday wishes by name. We started off with a plate of fried calamari, and everyone except Brandon and me ordered seafood chowder. The calamari was done perfectly - and had the perfect texture, not too chewy. The three chowder-heads decided they had the best chowder ever made. The variety of rolls they brought out was excellent, as usual, and the one I grabbed tasted great with a little bit of the Italian dressing blotted off the salad plate.
Brandon downed six ounces of formula, while Deb picked away as best she could on an oyster basket and huge monstrous onion rings. At one point, Sally offered to cut Deb's food for her to make it easier. Rachel had fish and chips - two good sized pieces of delicious beer battered cod, with excellent chips! The fresh fish choices were catfish, mako, or salmon - Justin and I ordered the catfish, and asked for it fried. Catfish, despite it's untoward appearance, is one of the most elegant, light yet flavorful fish, and was prepared lightly breaded, and cooked to perfection. Justin, who had polished off a good amount of the calamari, a cup of chowder, a roll, and a salad, was not fully prepared for the amount of food - he left most of his mixed vegetables, and half of his baked potato, although he made sure to polish off the catfish.
Sally brought the desert menu - printed on the liner of a candy jar filled with salt water taffy and other goodies - but we were stuffed, and still had a tie-dye ice cream cake to look forward too when we got home. Rachel had an ice cream coming to her as part of her kid-sized meal, and Sally bargained with her until Rachel decided to bring it home with her. It arrived open, with a lit candle, accompanied by several singers - who sang not some canned birthday song like so many mid-scale chains offer, but a traditional round of 'Happy Birthday', including the 'dear Rachel' line. One of the singers stayed with us afterward - or stopped by beforehand, I misremember - to admire Brandon and share some pictures of her son.
During our visit there, we discussed, as seems to be our norm, Marblehead, MA, Deb's time working on a lobster boat, and other bits of New England nostalgia. Rachel also determined that the 1'-2' of rushing stream we had to ford to get there (complete with 'ah-oo-gah's and other submarinish sound effects) was done on purpose because it would remind her of the ocean, which she loves so much.
And now for something completely different...
We are about to sit down to our traditional Christmas Eve dinner... stuffed shells!
Justin assisted me with the preparation, so they came out much better than the batch I made last Sunday for consumption at my office holiday party. I tried out an additional sekrit ingredient, so we'll see how it goes! I just pulled the foil off, and this is looking like the Best Shells EverTM
Deb and I have been going to the Marblehead Grille for our birthdays and anniversaries ever since I was given a $50 gift certificate for setting up a computer for a friend's father's business about 8 years ago. For the record, we wound up spending another $50 for that particular meal, although that included a hefty tip. The kids, however, had never been there. Actually, the only gourmet restaurant Brandon's ever visited in his entire life (aside from breakfast once in a diner up the road) is Burger King.
The hostess wished Rachel a happy birthday, and they briefly discussed their nearly shared name: she was an -ael. The really nice touch, however, was that she handed off the birthday girl's name to our waitress, Sally, who opened up the meal with birthday wishes by name. We started off with a plate of fried calamari, and everyone except Brandon and me ordered seafood chowder. The calamari was done perfectly - and had the perfect texture, not too chewy. The three chowder-heads decided they had the best chowder ever made. The variety of rolls they brought out was excellent, as usual, and the one I grabbed tasted great with a little bit of the Italian dressing blotted off the salad plate.
Brandon downed six ounces of formula, while Deb picked away as best she could on an oyster basket and huge monstrous onion rings. At one point, Sally offered to cut Deb's food for her to make it easier. Rachel had fish and chips - two good sized pieces of delicious beer battered cod, with excellent chips! The fresh fish choices were catfish, mako, or salmon - Justin and I ordered the catfish, and asked for it fried. Catfish, despite it's untoward appearance, is one of the most elegant, light yet flavorful fish, and was prepared lightly breaded, and cooked to perfection. Justin, who had polished off a good amount of the calamari, a cup of chowder, a roll, and a salad, was not fully prepared for the amount of food - he left most of his mixed vegetables, and half of his baked potato, although he made sure to polish off the catfish.
Sally brought the desert menu - printed on the liner of a candy jar filled with salt water taffy and other goodies - but we were stuffed, and still had a tie-dye ice cream cake to look forward too when we got home. Rachel had an ice cream coming to her as part of her kid-sized meal, and Sally bargained with her until Rachel decided to bring it home with her. It arrived open, with a lit candle, accompanied by several singers - who sang not some canned birthday song like so many mid-scale chains offer, but a traditional round of 'Happy Birthday', including the 'dear Rachel' line. One of the singers stayed with us afterward - or stopped by beforehand, I misremember - to admire Brandon and share some pictures of her son.
During our visit there, we discussed, as seems to be our norm, Marblehead, MA, Deb's time working on a lobster boat, and other bits of New England nostalgia. Rachel also determined that the 1'-2' of rushing stream we had to ford to get there (complete with 'ah-oo-gah's and other submarinish sound effects) was done on purpose because it would remind her of the ocean, which she loves so much.
And now for something completely different...
We are about to sit down to our traditional Christmas Eve dinner... stuffed shells!
Justin assisted me with the preparation, so they came out much better than the batch I made last Sunday for consumption at my office holiday party. I tried out an additional sekrit ingredient, so we'll see how it goes! I just pulled the foil off, and this is looking like the Best Shells EverTM
