Big Fish Grille: C'mon Now

Disappointing, disappointing, disappointing, is all I have to say. My husband and I went for my birthday. I figured that it was a safe bet since I had been there two times before and enjoyed it both times. We went on a Thursday night, and the restaurant was relatively empty. Nonetheless, we had to wait about 20 minutes for a table even though there was only a party of two ahead of us. Now I remind all of you who think that I am one of those unreasonable "now now now" types of people (I seem to be thinking in 3s today) who don't understand how restaurants work, that I used to wait tables. I know that just because there are tables open doesn't mean that the restaurant is fully staffed to seat those tables. My gripe was because we went during peak dinner hours and several people left while we were waiting, waiting, and waiting. I was really hungry too, which did a number on my patience. We finally got seated, and I was going to order the prime rib/crab cake combo (a birthday splurge). I was told that prime rib was available only on the weekends, which annoyed me because the menu only said "limited availability." I feel like they should tell you if it's not available ahead of time. It's even more annoying to me because once I think that I'm going to get something, I become set on it. My second choice was the ahi tuna, which is usually good. My husband ordered the garlic parmesan tilapia. We started out with the warm brie appetizer. it was pretty good and came out drenched in honey and sprinkled with almonds with a generous portion of grapes and oranges and a few strawerries. It was good, but then again, it's hard to mess up brie. I was so sad about the tuna. I became suspicious about it when I was ordering. Mind you, the Big Fish Grille holds itself out at a seafood restaurant and is pretty pricey for the Crofton area. So I was shocked when the server did not ask me how I wanhted my tuna cooked. I asked him after he failed to ask me, first inquiring whether the kitchen normally cooks tuna a certain way (some places cook it medium rare as a matter of course). He responded that "it's probably sauteed or something." I thought "Geez. What kind of answer is that at a seafood restaurant? Are my expectations too high? No! It's not like I'm at Applebees or something." I then explained that I meant temperature, and asked that the tuna be blackened and cooked medium rare. I should have realized that no good could come from that exchange, but I plunged ahead with it anyways. The tuna came out way overcooked. It was nicely blackened, but dreadully overcooked -- mildly pink (like traces of pink) in the center (think steak cooked medium well). As one of my good friends has said, overcooked tuna is worthlessl; it's almost the equivalent of eating it from the can. To be fair, my husband's garlic paremsan tilapia was pretty good, but the fresh garlic in the coating had an odd texture. The fish was nice and flaky and perfectly cooked over linguine. Because it was my birthday, he insisted on trading with me and ate the bad tuna. Way to take one for the team :) I decided to go to Friendly's for dessert (yay peanut butter sundae) because I felt betrayed by the Big Fish. Definitely not going back. To encapsulate this overly verbose post, C'mon now. What kinds of seafood restaurant doesn't train its servers to ask how tuna should be cooked?

Cafe Pronto: The Molestation of the American Palate (A Delayed Reaction)

So, the title. First, is it even right to use the word "molest" in conjunction with the palate of all things? People are molested, not palates (even if it is a gramatically correct usage of the word). Second, is the American palate monolithic? Finally, it's a delayed reaction because the incident occurred back in May. I had written a post about this before but never finished it. However, the incident has become so seared into my brain, that I don't have much trouble recalling it. So, here's what happened. Back in May, my sister-in-law and I decided to stop at Cafe Pronto at Riva Festival for some coffee after making a run to Michael's for cake decorating supplies. I ordered the French roast (as is my custom) at Cafe Pronto, because I really like it there. I was warned that the French roast had been sitting around awhile, but the warning was followed by an offhanded "It is French roast. It's not like it matters if it's been sitting awhile." All of a sudden, I was embroiled in a discussion of the horribles of French roast. Both baristas were very anti-French roast. And yes, one of them said that Starbucks, by burning its coffee has contributed to the "molestation of the American palate," making people think that burnt coffee is good coffee. One of them told me that it smells horrible at the roasting plant when French roast is being roasted, and the other barista showed me French roast beans, which looked oily on the outside. Apparently, the oil on the outside should be on the inside of the bean, but somehow transfers to the outside after extreme roasting. So I asked why the store even sells French roast if it's awful. The answer? French roast "pays the bills" because millions of Americans support bad coffee. If so many people like it, is it really bad? Or just different? Who knows? At any rate, this is exactly the type of food snobbery that I despise. The type of food snobbery that stops people from asking questions at restaurants. I don't understand why people can't be a bit more openminded. It just so happens that I have an appreciation for all types of coffee, burnt or lightly roasted. The reason why I never select the light or mild roast is that I am usually disappointed, yes, even at Starbucks. However, when I visited Hawaii last summer, I never had a bad cup of coffee. The mild roasts were as excellent (perhaps even better) than the bold roasts. So, I know that good mild blends are out there, I just don't trust a lot of coffee shops to get it right or not make it too weak. In spite of this, I still go back to Cafe Pronto. I like that they're passionate about their coffee there (even if a bit too extreme). They have a killer carrot muffin, and this special machine that custom brews coffee. The custom brews are pretty good, but nothing to jump up and down about, in my opinion.