Komé at The Promenade

I wanted to squeeze a quick post in about The Promenade’s Asian fusion restaurant, Komé, before we head out to Bolete’s New England lobster bake. We grabbed dinner at Komé the other weekend just before seeing Inception at the Rave theater. This was our first visit – it was either too crowded or I wasn’t in a sushi mood the other times we considered it. We chose the dining room rather than hibachi since the sushi mood had struck us this night. The first thing I was excited to see was Hitachino Nest Ginger Brew on the drink menu. I first tried it on a recent business trip to Seattle and fell in love. It’s not too gingery and has a fair amount of citrus flavor. It’s also much lighter in body and flavor than the deep amber color and opacity might indicate.

My wife started with an assorted mushroom dish – served in a bubbling hot sour glaze. Really nice but a touch too salty.

I’d been talking about fried chicken earlier that day and coincidentally discovered “Fried Chicken” on the appetizer menu so I had to go for it. It was a sizable portion of cubed white meat served with flavored salt and curry powder. The flavors were all great but some of the chicken was pretty dry. Dark meat would work much better in this dish.

We moved on to a couple rolls – salmon and avocado for my wife and crispy salmon skin for me. Both very good and simply presented – nothing elaborate like Sogo. We considered trying the house-smoked salmon per the waiter’s recommendation but decided we were in salmon overload and would try it next time maybe.

Then mochi ice cream for dessert. We chose chocolate with strawberry mochi and coconut with dark chocolate mochi. If you’re unfamiliar with mochi, it’s a rice flour dough that’s wrapped around ice cream and then re-frozen together. Soft and chewy. I’m thinking of trying to make these at home some time soon.

Overall, we enjoyed the food, service and ambiance regardless of the few quibbles we had with the appetizers. Definitely try Komé. And see Inception!

melting on Third Street

We just paid our first visit of this hott summer to the Easton Farmers’ Market and stopped at the Third Street Café for brunch. We were initially looking for breakfast and almost chose The Quadrant due to Third Street’s switching to the lunch menu around 11. Turns out they’ve switched things around and now offer brunch till noon, overlapping that menu with lunch. That meant lots of tasty options. I almost went for the country breakfast sampler of eggs, sausage and buttermilk pancakes but switched to the gooey awesome melt below – ham, apples and brie on French toast. So good but tough to eat – it was hard to keep the big pieces of apple from sliding out. My wife had the spinach and artichoke omelet. Everything is always fresh, simple and full of flavor. You gotta try this place for lunch.

We wish they offered dinner on Friday/Saturday evenings – not just the café menu – to sample the full breadth of the chef’s repertoire. My impression is that the kitchen might not be equipped to handle a serious dinner, but a limited menu might be doable, no? Maybe prix fixe? I’d be the first to sign up.

It’s Heritage Day?

I packed a lot into my weekend (as usual), so come Sunday evening I was ready to just relax and have someone fetch me large quantities of food and alcohol. Thanks to the slight break in the heat wave, I blissfully anticipated sitting at one of Sette Luna’s sidewalk tables and sipping Nero d’Avola until closing time. Then we drove down to 3rd Street…

People everywhere! No place to park! Roads blocked! And cafés packed!

This was not good for my state of mind. I have a bad habit of setting up expectations and wigging out when things don’t go according to plan. Especially when it comes to food. I get grumpy when I’m hungry – most people do it seems. My wife worked as a hostess at a diner when she was in her teens and vividly recalls the contrasting moods between arriving and departing customers.

We swung around Ferry Street to see the crowd at Sette Luna and ended up parking in the circle near Valenca. We headed over to Ferry, past Pearly Bakers and saw signs for Heritage Day – that explained it! Then I felt bad about living in such a bubble. We get our info on Easton current events from the newsletter that accompanies the monthly utility bill. Not exactly “current.”

As expected, there was a long wait for a patio table but there was an indoor table for 2 ready immediately so we snagged it. Some Belgian beer, a little Italian wine and awesome food as usual. My wife had the pasta special – fettucini with their fantastic shrimp and fresh cherry tomatoes. And I had the pizza special – bianca with figs, goat cheese and shaved prosciutto. (I highly recommend you try sweet fruits/veggies on pizza – figs, squash, grapes. Caramelized apples and onions with gorgonzola is one of my faves.)

We heard some murmurings about fireworks and looked around to find that most of the packed dining room was suddenly empty. We quickly paid as we heard the first few explosions. To our good fortune, the corner of Ferry St. by the Post Office a few feet away was a perfect spot to watch the show. I’m guessing they launched from a barge in the river or along its banks. You can see how close we were from the huge wall of smoke.

We hadn’t gotten dessert at Sette Luna, but this ice cream truck looked a little (or a lot) too sketchy to risk the botulism. And I’m sure Marvel wouldn’t be thrilled with Spidey’s implied endorsement…as tastefully executed as it was.

It turned out to be a pretty good night. Maybe I don’t have to have everything go according to plan.