We’d circled the area twice and were considering just going somewhere else for dinner when I spotted to the VALET sign. Granted, it was for the neighboring restaurant but maybe the guy manning the booth wouldn’t be too picky about where his $6 was coming from. Well, it was either give it a shot, use the public lot and make the trek back to thre restaurant umbrella-less in the pouring rain, or hit our favorite noodle shop in Broadway. Fortunately, our valet didn’t discriminate and we happily shelled out the six bucks before making a mad dash for the restaurant.
Ocean 6 Seventeen can be found, appropriately enough, at 617 Stamps Landing, a remote location that has proven the burial ground for many an upstart eatery. The interior is intimate. Very relaxed, very loungey, it is the type of place my Aunt Grace would run if she ever decided to transform her living room into a restaurant. As we settled into our comfy chairs and perused the menus, I eavesdropped on the two women at the neighboring who were bitterly complaining about the overtoasted bread one had received. Eventually, the victim waved down her waitress and requested a replacement – and the waitress was more than happy to oblige. As she moved off, the women resumed their conversation. “I had to do it,”the complainant reasoned. “If you don’t, these people get away with murder.” Murder? Really? I wondered what kind of restaurants these ladies frequented.
Both Fondy and I ordered from the three course menus. She started with the squash soup, a sweet, meaty, caramelized version garnished with spruce tip syrup, a grilled scallop ensconced in its center. I had a delectable foie gras parfait, served with honeyed endives and the added bonus of a little something the kitchen was experimenting with: a spectacular pork and wild mushroom pate. For her main course, she went with the pan-seared trout filet on crab risotto with lemon brown butter. The fish was tender and crispy-skinned; the risotto a hearty accompaniment that she liked but didn‘t love. I enjoyed a nicely grilled ling cod topped with thyme butter, served on a bed of diced potatoes, carrots, onions, and what I believe was crumbled bacon. To end the meal, Fondy had the espresso pot de crème with filbert biscotti, a dessert she enjoyed so thoroughly that I was only able to steal a lone spoonful. I had the molten chocolate cake with home made vanilla ice cream – also very good.
Well, we survived to enjoy a terrific meal. Granted, the place is a little out of the way but, in my humble opinion, worth the trip.
On the book front, I finished Vernor Vinge’s A Fire Upon the Deep the other day and am now a third of the way through The Eyre Affair. What’s up next? Choices include P.D. James’s Children of Men, Charles Stross’s Accelerando, Heinlein’s The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, and Gene Wolfe’s The Fifth Head of Cerberus. Any opinions?
Try Bleak House, it’s better than any of those other books by miles.
What is the hardest part about writing a script for Stargate?
I’m not sure if this will work on a blog, but I thought I would share something that I have created. I was having fun with Stargate Images, and this just seemed to call my name. Maybe it’s a warning to me.
Have a great day.
Patricia
http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p133/Arctic-Goddess/posterCoombsFelger.jpg
Spruce tip syrup? Now that definately sound interesting. And so does foie gras parfait.
Ah more things to add to the list to try when I visit Vancouver.
If you like good stories that are based around diasters with undertones of political intrigue and have great character development in them, I recomend anything by John J. Nance, except maybe Orbit which was a bit too slick.
I’ve just finished Kay Hooper’s series of ‘Shadows’ books and her series of ‘Fear’ books. It’s really strange but I can’t get interested in her romance novels but her ‘psychic FBI agents hunting seriel killers’ novels are riveting (well to me they are).
Michael Prescott writes some really taunt crime dramas.
Torsten Dewi’s Rings of Nibelungen are pretty awesome, but I’m not sure if it’s have been translated into an english versions yet.
Marla
I just heard a rumor that Scifi is planning on moving Atlantis to Tuesday nights when it comes back. They’re running SG-1 repeats there now to build an audience. Is this true, or will it still be on Fridays? I think Scifi is trying to kill the show by switching the timeslots to give themselves an excuse to cancel Atlantis.
What makes the chocolate cake “molten”? Is it smothered in hot fudge or something?
It looks scrumptious btw.
Mary Beth
Oh…with all that molten chocolatey goodness, I almost forgot the Atlantis question I wanted to ask you.
Obviously there’s a lot of hubbub about the major character additions/changes and such…and I know you can’t go into any of that too much.
My question is about some of the secondary/guest characters that I really enjoy.
Will we get to see much or any of Jeannie Miller, Colonel Caldwell and Radek Zelenka?
I really enjoy these characters…especially Radek and Jeannie…and would like to know if they’ll be guesting (as I assume would be the case for Jeannie) or recurring (as I assume would be the case for Radek and Caldwell).
Are you able to share with us whether we’ll see much or any of these guys?
Thank you,
Mary Beth
Joe, on the subject of books, who is your favorite writer, and what is your all-time favorite novel?
On a side note, it looks like you’ve got some competition in the blog department. Rob Cooper is starting one on the MGM Stargate site.
Gene Wolfe’s The Fifth Head of Cerberus : one of my favorite books!