Birthday Shenanigans
I had a couple birthday shens over the past 2 weekends. Last weekend (9/30), there was much hemming and hawing over a venue. I used to always drag the kinfolk to Red Hot and Blue for what still are my pick for best ribs, but with our current state of geographic dispersal, its really not close for anyone, and I didn’t want to have everyone drive an hour or more just to grab dinner and run home. I’d rather pick something close to someone’s house so we could hang out there some. I kicked around a few ideas like Nectar and Melting Pot, but I dropped them as being way too expensive. I don’t mind so much myself, but I hate dragging others along more or less against their will. So I settled on Eulogy, a Belgian joint in Olde City. X and I immensely enjoyed Belgo Centraal in London and were looking for a repeat. However, my dad despises driving in the city (I don’t much like it myself) and asked if I had a second choice in the suburbs. Say no more - this seemed like a good time to go to the fairly new Caribbean restaurant in W. Norriton, Blue Sky Café. Thus it was settled.
Everyone came over to Chez Fisher where we had snacks and hung out talking for a few hours. Around 5:00 we headed out to the Blue Sky.
First off, my misgivings about dragging people to an expensive restaurant against their wills was utterly wasted. The review I read said entrees were under $20. To me this means most entrees cost less than $20, although its acceptable if there are a few over $20. Either the price went up after that review, or this reviewer feels that under $20 can mean “one or two entrees under $20.” In any case, most of the entrees are under $30, so I felt bad about dragging everyone to an expensive restaurant despite choosing Blue Sky as a cheaper choice.
The Blue Sky features a fun and breezy Caribbean décor that definitely evokes the memories of actually being in the islands. We sat in a central room with a fireplace that looked like a Colonial dining room…with a sky ceiling? Strange but cool. The waiter was, to be honest, a bit off, especially considering the prices. He was friendly, but somewhat inattentive. He may have been new and tried to conceal his lack of knowledge of the menu by citing “Chef’s secrets” but he deflected a lot of seemingly reasonable questions on these grounds.
To start, I had the watermelon gazpacho soup which was tasty. I’m not sure what was “gazpacho” about it other than being served chilled…which fruit soups are usually are anyway. Nonetheless, I love chilled fruit soups, often an option at Pacific Grille, and I loved this one. Riz got the standard gazpacho which tasted good, although it could have been a bit chunkier.
For entrees, I’ll try and go around the table. Dad had the babyback ribs. He said they were not the best ever (no surprise there…he’s on the Red Hot and Blue bandwagon with me) but he definitely liked them. Mom had a crab cake which she reviewed favorably.
Riz had the jerk chicken which Lee said was not as good as Jerk Hut’s, but still good. It came with an astoundingly spicy dipping sauce. This sauce is what tripped up the waiter - he claimed the ingredients were the chef’s secret (absurd - what if you had an allergy? You’re not asking for a recipe, just the makeup). But later a chef came out to greet some friends and Riz flagged him down. He rattled off a list of ingredients without even batting an eye.
Lee had some catfish, I believe, which he said was good. He was suffering from a cold so I did not get a taste for fear of getting sick myself. Christa had a hanger steak in some sort of citrusy marinade. It was really tasty. The birthday boy picked up a crab pot pie, which is precisely what you think it is - everything you’d find in a chicken pot pie, but crab instead of chicken. I could alternately describe it as crab bisque with added veggies and a puff pastry crust. Either way…awesome. Riz picked up some sweet potato pie for dessert, also favorably reviewed.
I was a bit disappointed by the drink list. The beers were standard, nothing out of the ordinary, and there didn’t even appear to be ginger beer anywhere on tbe menu. Also, no plantains in any of the dishes we got. Christa got a tasty ratatouille, but I am also a big fan of those plantains!
I didn’t take pics of the food, but I did get some other pics:
After dinner we headed back to my house for cake and presents. My parents got me a Workmate which is a folding workbench/vise thing. It seems like it will be a good substitute for a workbench in my limited space.
The following weekend, X and I actually did go to Nectar. No pics there…I wanted to, but it just doesn’t seem like the kind of place where you whip out a phone and take snapshots of the food!
The décor is really neat. Very open with a huge Buddha tapestry dominating the main dining room. There is also a sushi bar and several small dining rooms that look as though they can be isolated by drawn curtains. The layout may be a bit TOO open. We were sitting at a small booth and there is no tall divider between it and the adjacent booth. At some point our neighbor mentioned getting a vasectomy and X overheard and inadvertently made eye contact with our neighbor. He took it right in stride joking that when you get to be that age you talk freely about these things. A less outgoing person might have been embarrassed or offended.
We got a Bento Box appetizer that contained pork dumplings, chicken dumplings, mushroom dumplings and lobster spring roll. All very good…I think the pork was my favorite. While the box is a good sampler, it only had 2 of each item, so it might not be great for a large group.
For the entrees I could not resist the idea of anything smoked with tea leaves, so after trying to decide between jasmine tea smoked duck and tea smoked venison, I settled on the duck, mainly because I was intrigued by the jasmine tea. It came in a bowl with tasty vegetables…chinese eggplant and other things. The duck had a definite smokey taste, but I wasn’t picking up the jasmine. It was either overpowered by the sauce or is just too subtle to pick up.
While I was there, I figured I would taste a little sake. I had some previously but it mainly consisted of a particularly lively late-night session at the Banzai Restaurant that saw my then-girlfriend and I dining with some other raucous people who were going through the stuff like water. Chef Lee was going wild…wilder than usual…setting things on fire and feeding us squirts of the sake he uses to fuel the fires. The guy across the table gave me a glass of it, and I thought it was pretty good. Anyway, I asked the waitress if she could recommend a noob sake served up cold and she pointed one out that seems to be very popular. It was also one of the cheaper offerings at $12. It had a very nice flavor…almost a grape overtone.
X chose a steak duo that included a filet mignon and a short rib that came with french fries. You can justify french fries in a classy restaurant by calling them something like pommes frites and presenting them neatly stacked like Lincoln Logs. X will not complain about french fries no matter what you call them. A rose by any other name…
For dessert we chose the aptly-named Birthday Cake which is a cake shell filled with ice cream and topped with meringue. It even comes with a candle and a chocolate wafer that says “Happy Birthday.” It’s definitely a good choice for any occaision, and Nectar is a great restaurant. Its a great way to experience upscale non-chain food at a reasonable price and without the hassle of going into the city.
After dinner, we sent the valet into the sea of BMWs and Lexuses to fetch my Civic. I sincerely apologize to the valet, but not knowing there was valet parking (the place has its own lot right there, for Pete’s sake) and knowing that the price was going to be enough that I was going to charge it, I did not bother to bring any cash, so I couldn’t tip the guy. I promise to bring a little cash next time.
We capped the night off by seeing Little Miss Sunshine, remarkably still in the theater after so long, and perhaps even more remarkably drawing a crowd of 20+ people even to a 10PM screening!
Thus caps off 26 years of…Me.