June
2006 -- Christman's Windham House
6.50 - 7.5, 7, 6.5, 6.5, 6.5,
6, 6, 6
It felt more like late October
or even early November as we headed out this month for our pre-dinner gathering
at the Adams' home. As always, Tim and Judy feed us like there will be no
dinner later in the evening (no complaints here). The evening got off to a
rousing start when Don shared one of his student’s writing projects. Let’s
just say we all got the idea very quickly about this creative writing attempt
and Don made it clear that high school was probably not the appropriate venue
for this genre of literature.
Then
off we went to who know where in three cars this evening, over Route 32, out and
about and around Round Top, up and down and around and… you get the idea, only
to end up on Route 23 heading west up the mountain to Christman’s in
Windham. ...
The
restaurant is part of Christman’s resort/golf course with beautiful mountain
views and large trees shading an old fashioned porch with comfy chairs. We were
seated in a comfortable side room off the main dining room which provided for a
great area for our conversation and a feeling of having our own little space.
The interior whiteness, and shades of whiteness, gave the feeling of
understated, old country inn elegance. Although appetizers were discussed and
looked quite yummy, we all opted to skip and save room for dinner and possibly
dessert.
Our
waitress (name?) was friendly and appeared ready for anything this group could
throw at her, starting with drinks – the usual pinot grigio for Judy, sodas
for 2 and red wine for the rest of us. Salads arrived, consisting of mixed
greens and some traditional salad veggies, served with the house dressing
(tarragon vinaigrette) or oil/vinegar. Very fresh, very attractive and tasty
enough, albeit nothing too much out of the ordinary.
Some
opted for dinner specials of a mixed grill (lamb, turkey and veal – help!)
while Don went for the Caribbean
style mahi-mahi. Others opted for the scallop dinner (Deb T), a seafood Creole
dish (Chay), a couple of steaks (Montes) and chicken thighs with gnocchi (Deb
K). ... The mixed grill was declared delicious, scallops were delicious and the
chicken was delicious. Don enjoyed the fish although he and I agreed that with a
tomato style sauce, we did not consider it very Caribbean-ish. Chay declared his
seafood fine, but nothing to write home about. And then we come to the steak
eaters.
Now, to be fair, readers should be aware
that this is a common and recurring problem for the Monteverds, who, against
common cooking theories, still enjoy their red meat on the well done side and,
in fact, find it quite inedible when there is too much red/pink coloring in
their steak, although neither rarely complain. Now, I get that chefs do not like
nor enjoy cooking steak well done and, indeed, would assert that it ruins the
meat, relieving it of most of its taste, blah, blah, blah. Personally, I, along
with at least one or two other diners in the group, wholeheartedly agree with
this theory. Nonetheless, if that’s how the diner wants it and that’s how he
orders it and that’s how he enjoys eating it, then for goodness, cook the darn
steak. Make your disclaimer about taste, toughness, etc., but give the customer
what he wants! O.k., got that off my chest – been wanting to do that for
months. That being said, Ken and Kriss enjoyed their steaks to the extent that
they could eat around the “uncooked” parts. The starch and accompanying
veggies were fresh and well prepared. Ken shared his sweet potato fries with
those of us in the group so inclined.
Dessert
was a chocolate, flourless torte for Don (very rich and dense), lemon tarts
(very lemony, very tart – not bad for a non-chocolate dessert!) for some of
the rest of us, the sorbet of the day for Judy, and then of course, the
Frangelica for Tim and Sambuca for Chay. As usual, we do enjoy our desserts
(including the individuals that drink theirs) and tonight was no exception.
Conversation was, as always lively,
everyone sharing Summer vacation plans and those teacher people gloating about
how work was almost over for them. That’s o.k., I think it’s time the
non-teachers start making longer honey do lists.
The
Up Side Service
was stellar – a friendly and helpful waitress with assistance from a bus boy
(or was it a bus girl – again, I need to write these things the next day, not
a week later) and an occasional inquiry from the owner as to how things were
going. Requests were granted expeditiously, water glasses filled regularly,
inquiries about salads, dinner, dessert, drinks, etc. The only complaint might
have been a slight disregard for Kenny’s appeal for coffee and lots of it when
requested. Overall, a really good dining experience and I think we all agreed it
could easily be a repeat for us, either together as a group or on our own.
The
Down Side
Really, the only thing I
can think of is the steak thing, which was, as always, downplayed by Kriss and
Ken. I think they just like hanging out with us… As I have said many times
before, it’s not really about the food (well, it is a little…).
...