{"id":10245,"date":"2015-04-16T15:57:34","date_gmt":"2015-04-16T15:57:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/?p=10245"},"modified":"2015-04-16T16:03:10","modified_gmt":"2015-04-16T16:03:10","slug":"just-desserts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/just-desserts\/","title":{"rendered":"Just Desserts"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Screen-Shot-2015-04-16-at-7.52\"<\/p>\n

I was reading after a brisk walk with the heavy-hands around the long block. The temperatures have dipped a bit, and I could have worn a sweatshirt but didn\u2019t. The brown chair was comfortable and the iPad rested on my lap as the clock counted down to a quarter to five, and time to go over to the Amen Corner to meet the regulars.<\/p>\n

It was a good turn-out: JPeter, Old Jim, Jake, Jon-without, TLB and Mr. and Mrs. Missileer rounded out the corner. There was plenty to talk about- the Missileers are headed for Paris and Barcelona for a couple weeks, and we yacked about our favorite places in both cities. Jon and Bea only had a couple, since they were headed to SER, the new Spanish-themed tapas and comfort food restaurant located in the high rise across the block from where I used to work on Glebe Road.<\/p>\n

Tracy O\u2019Grady came out from the kitchen to press the flesh with us all, and talk got onto the restaurant gossip. She had a copy of Arlington Magazine with her, and showed us that her co-owner Kate Jansen had her famous gluten-free Warm Bourbon Chocolate Cake with Moorenko\u2019s Vanilla Ice Cream and whipped cream on the cover.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt looks fabulous, Tracy\u201d said Mr. Missileer. \u201cI might have one tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI will try to spoil your appetite,\u201d she said. \u201cI have something I want to try out on you.\u201d
\n\u201cWhat is it?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cBuffalo-style chicken nuggets with hot sauce and blue cheese on a bed of shredded vegetables. I might introduce it on Buffalo Night this month.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brett the bartender came up with a fresh drink and some little tapas plates and forks. I love it when Tracy uses us to test drive her new creations. It also means I don\u2019t have to cook dinner.<\/p>\n

\"Screen-Shot-2015-04-16-at-9.34\"<\/p>\n

Kate stopped by after finishing the baking for the day to say hello. I reminded her of my request for a couple dozen slider-size Kemmelwick Rolls with fennel and sea salt for the pot luck slow-cooked top sirloin roast I was going to take to the party on Saturday, and she smiled and said she had not forgotten.<\/p>\n

We got lost in restaurant gossip and the favorable mentions of Willow in the magazine, and the general trials and tribulations of the food and beverage game. Margins are thin, and successful launches and staff stability are the keys to making a living at it.
\n\u201cThat and hard work,\u201d said Heather, who had Sabrina\u2019s father cut her bangs, tint her hair, offer legal advice, and relationship counseling in one all-service hair appointment.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the only adult place I can hear myself think,\u201d said Rosslyn, who was taking off her bike helmet as Sammy appeared, as if by magic, with a glass of her favorite happy hour red.
\n\u201cDid you hear the big news?\u201d she asked.<\/p>\n

I screwed up my brows. There is so much going on about so many things, that I shrugged. Jim growled that he didn\u2019t know, as Chanteuse Mary walked in to stand next to him.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are going to open another Italian Store. It is going to be where the 7-11 was in the Westover Strip Mall on Washington Boulevard.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is great news. I have been craving one of their sub sandwiches for weeks but I never seem to get over to that side of town,\u201d said JPeter.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love going to Westover. I researched it when I first moved to Arlington. It was created in the 1930s housing boom along with Buckingham where Big Pink is planted. It was one of the first mixed-use neighborhoods when this was still a rural county. It was garden apartments and single-family homes built to house the earnest New Dealers who flooded into Arlington to serve in the FDR Administration,\u201d I said, taking a deep gulf of the vodka and diet tonic.
\n\u201cIt was when I wanted to learn why it was the way it was, why the dramatic population shift out to Fairfax started after the Civil Rights Act was passed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tracy had gone back to the kitchen and emerged behind the bar with a long narrow plate with the chicken nuggets neatly aligned under a vegetable garnish. They almost instantly disappeared. The meat was firm but moist, the breadcrumbs and batter crisp, the hot sauce a delightful contrast to the rich blue cheese morsels scattered between them.
\n\u201cDelicious!\u201d went the Amen chorus.<\/p>\n

The Missileer wasn\u2019t done, though. \u201cI\u2019m going to be needing something sweet. If it is good enough for a magazine cover, I\u2019m getting Kate\u2019s chocolate cake!\u201d<\/p>\n

And he did.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_20150415_183038894\"<\/p>\n

One thing about Arlington I am going to miss, besides the people, is Willow. But there are a couple other places that are pretty good. I am interested in Jon-without and TLB\u2019s review of SER, and whether their tapas are Willow-esque good.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2015 Vic Socotra
\nwww.vicsocotra.com
\nTwitter: @jayare303<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I was reading after a brisk walk with the heavy-hands around the long block. The temperatures have dipped a bit, and I could have worn a sweatshirt but didn\u2019t. The brown chair was comfortable and the iPad rested on my lap as the clock counted down to a quarter to five, and time to go […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10245","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily-socotra"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10245","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10245"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10245\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10252,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10245\/revisions\/10252"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10245"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10245"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10245"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}