Well, Jack’s Bistro takes that inventiveness up another step. (NO I am NOT saying “kick it up a notch” I will do anything within my power to avoid that phrase).  From thier menu, two notable standouts, neither of which I am brave enough to try:

Logom – The Swedish Snack Food
A grilled all beef hotdog wrapped up in flatbread with shrimp salad, mashed potatoes, fried onions, lettuce, and spices.

and

Jell-O Ahi Tuna Salad
Spicy Ahi tuna salad resting atop a bed of delicate lambs lettuce. Garnished with a raspberry-pomegranate and lemon confir Jell-O vinaigrette.

Like I said, I’m not quite daring enough to try them, but I give points for mucho creativity.  (I might actually try their Chocolate Macaroni and Cheese though) So we added it up: Friend of Jack’s + highly skilled and creative chef = Must Eat.  It took us some time to get our rears (and our budget) in gear, but we finally made it out last night.

(Sidebar:  I was a pissy little bitch last night too.  See, MY plan was that I would get off work, meet Jack at home, change OUT of work clothes (and shoes) and then drive to Canton.  But NOOOOOOO.  Jack called at 7pm, asked me to meet him at the bar where I work.  When we left, I asked whether we were driving or walking and he said “It’s not far, let’s walk.”  Now guys, here’s the thing: when someone says something is “not far” CONSIDER THE SOURCE!!!  Jack is a frequent walker.  He has been known to walk from his parents house into the city (a good 20 minute HIGHWAY drive).  I do believe that his definition of a short walk differs from MY definition, especially when I am wearing heels.  So I was not a happy person and grumbled quite a bit once we’d been walking for about ten minutes.  But I digress)

So yeah, we finally get there, my mood improves because I’m going to SIT!  And eat!  Hooray!!  Of course, as soon as we walk in, Jack knows EVERYONE.  Or so it seems.  He greets the greeter with a hug and then one of the waitresses appears and she SQUEE!!!!s and he’s all “LEATHER HEATHER!!!” and hug hug hug and here I am with my tired huddled masses of feet yearning to be free and our hostess is lingering with the menus and she finally sets them down at our table and I try to give Jack the meaningful look of DOOOM and finally I give up and sit down without him.

This happens to me a lot.  He knows EVERYONE….at least, in the restaurant industry.

 Anyway, he finally sits and we peruse the menu but it’s really mostly him perusing because I had done that already online because that’s what I do, yo, I scour menus, I LOVE menus and should just start collecting them.  And it’s funny because I knew exactly what Jack was going to order before he even did so and I actually selected MY menu item in part based on what HE was going to order.

Because, see, I often choose my entree based on the side dishes.  And I REALLY wanted to try those grits I mentioned in my last entry.  But I also wanted to try the caramelized onion, peppercorn, truffled mashed potatoes.  And even Vicki the Carb Lover knows you can’t have grits and potatoes on one plate.  Oy.

So, as expected, he ordered the Guinness tenderloin (which came with the aforementioned potatoes as well as grilled asparagus) and I had a short rib which came with the grits as well as what they called French Cole Slaw (OOH! I just had a flash revelation about why they called them French.  I’ll get to that)

We started off  by splitting the Brie appetizer because oh how I love me some cheese.  Mm-hm.  The Brie itself was quite yummy (crusted with almonds, with berries on top) but the bread they served it with wasn’t really bread like, more like…..bread biscotti?  But thin?  Anyway, way to crusty for my liking.  And Jack?  Oh Jack Jack Jack.  Sometimes he can be a bit….talkative and I just want to say “Shut up and eat before I finish it all!” 

When our server brought out our entrees we still had almost half of the cheese left so I rescued it from kitchen oblivion (I let her take the bread “crisps” though) and set it on the side of my plate.

And OH! what a plate.  It was just beautiful.  That’s the biggest thing I’ve gotten from this relationship (well, culinarily speaking at least) – an appreciation for the presentation and plating of them thurr really fine meals.  The plate itself was stark white but but geometric (not circular) with little itty bitty purple flower things and also green things (that might have been bits of chive) sprinked around the dish and it was just too pretty.

As for the food?  The short rib was delicious, awesomely tender, well flavored….maybe a little fatty but I think that’s in the nature of short ribs.  The Smoked Gouda, Bacon and Jalepeno grits disappointed me however as I didn’t get a sense of gouda, bacon OR jalepeno coming from them.  The cole slaw was good and I think they might’ve called it French because the cabbage was….well, Frenched.  Like fries.  Really thick cut, you know?

Or maybe not.

And Jack was very contented with his steak.  I snuck a bite of his potatoes and they were divine.  I’ll have to get those next time.

The service was very efficient and attentive – possibly too attentive but again, that could be because of who Jack is.

We had a good time, Chef Ted came out to talk to us a couple times (the first time when he found out Jack was there – we had sent a shot back to him (apparently this is a common practice in the industry or something?  If you’re happy with your meal, send back a glass of red wine – it must be red wine he says, nothing else….unless you know the chef and knows what he drinks.  Apparently red wine is a chef to chef code or something?) – and the second time just to have a more extensive chat.

We’ll definitely be back.  I need to try their roasted beets and their cheeseburger soup and thier grilled corn cobs and their…..(wanders off, drooling)

Oh wait, it’s not as simple as that, eh?  Ookay, anyway, a mission statement as it were.  See, Jack and I were having dinner last night and—

 Wait.  Holdup.  I don’t think mission statements are supposed to start with “See”.  Let me start over.

This blog is intended to capture my (well, OUR) dining experiences at the layperson’s level.  Meaning I am not a food critic nor will I pretend to be.  Yes, Jack is a real live honest to goodness chef and thanks to him I have a lot more appreciation for the VISUAL aspects of good food.  But as to the tasting?  Well, I don’t have the most refined palate, but I know what I like.  And I like neat stuff.  Interesting combinations.  Like the smoked gouda, bacon and jalepeno grits we had last night (but I’m getting ahead of myself)

 Anyway (wait….I don’t think mission statements are supposed to start with “anyway” either.  But I don’t care).  Anyway, Jack and I were having dinner last night and whenever we have a really fine meal I start mentally comparing it to OTHER really fine meals we’ve had and trying to rank it somehow.  But I realized we’ve been dining out so much that the details of all these really fine meals are starting to elude me (HEY! I just came up with the tagline for this here bloggy things)

So….a new blog concept is born. (To me, folks, to ME.  I know the food blog is not a unique idea, GOSH!)  Anyway, next up, a recap of Jack’s Bistro