Old Favorite

Holy crap, its been a freaking month! Anyway, on to food.

Ironically, one of our consistently excellent eats is also the one place I have The Most trouble getting Drew to visit. Every time I suggest Cafe Alsace, I hear "I'm not in the mood" or some other whiny variant. Mood??? Mood is for cattle and loveplay!

Then when I do manage to get him there and satiated with Alsatian cuisine I hear, "Why don't we come here more often?" And then I smack him and he whines again. So emo.

We can start with the pate. Mmmm....homemade pate. Being the hippie I am, this is one of those times where I don't give a crap how many cute little animals were ground up into this block of goodness, the green police can kick me out of Sierra club. It is worth it. During the summer, I tremble with anticipation for the canteloupe/mint chilled soup. Unable to truly duplicate it myself, it has a simple and fresh flavor that is perfect for a hot day.

Since Alsace is damn near Germany not surprisingly, the spaetzle is very tasty. I tend to enjoy the sweeter flavors of the seafood selection and it's warm comfort gives me a fuzzy feeling. The dishes you would think are heavy, an onion creme tart with anise-flavored crust for instance, are reasonably sized and are balanced in their rich flavors. The various crepes and quiche du jour also straddle that fine line between voluptuous evil and antacid time.

Miscellany includes a small but select wine list. Most of the wines actually make sense for the cuisine, there are no out of place trendy wines with trendy names or bottle images designed to rope in Gen Xers like...errr...yeah.

Maybe since we go in the middle of the week, but our lovely place is usually pretty quiet and we are served by the very nice co-owner. If we are lucky and it is very slow we get to see the surly head chef/owner wander out and snarl, or we get to hear yelling or French hip-hop from the kitchen.

Overall, this a place where the flavors are subdued and relaxed, you do not get smacked in the head with a heavy hand as with some French dishes. The ambiance is also very mellow, you will get your food...sometime. We actually prefer restaurant service this way; not kissing our ass, not hovering, not trying to be our friend, and not trying to turn the table. We'd go to Chili's or some other crappy chain if we wanted that. Just be calm. Eat, relax, eat some more. You can pretend you are in Europe. Except there is alot more ice in the water.