So, the grand opening of the Nosh experiment at Willow continued Thursday evening- Day Deux of the grand experiment.
We were there in force, again. Mary and Old Jim; John with an H, and his bride; Jake and the lovely Celia; Melissa, Big Chris-with-a-C, the Good Doctor, and a burgeoining cast of characters eager to sample the new menu.
Tracy O’Grady had us signed up for a table, and we got the featured one, the eight-person nook o’ the Nosh right in front.
Elisabeth-with-an-S was the The Man behind the bar, and Tink was hustling to keep up with the demands of an energized crowd.
We were seated with an air of ordered chaos by Deborah, the Ops Boss, and Rene the waiter took orders for more drinks as we discussed what to order. I made a short PowerPoint presentation on my iPad on the dishes we had devoured the night before, emphasizing the finer points of each.
I wished I have brought my laser pointer, and there was animated discussion about whether to do appetizers or select from the menu, carefully divided into “Bites,” “Earth,” “Sea,” and “Land.”
“How is this,” I said. “Why don’t we get everything on the left page? Sort of a Tapas thing, like in Spain?”
Here is what that meant, as the parade of food began to come out of the kitchen:
Cheese on granite:
Pollyface Farms Deviled eggs, of course-
And then the battalions of legumes:
Creamy lentils with pearl onions, all local….
Kate’s breadbasket with Amish butter:
And of course, Tomato-Potato gratin with Arugula:
My God, that is a pleasant way to spend an evening. The grand opening is going on tonight, too I wonder if I could get hungry enough to try the whole right side of the page.
Did I mention the wine was pretty good, too?
Copyright 2011 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotra.com