Rip Van Winkle Country Club #2 – June 2018
(dt)
6.36 – 7.5, 7, 6.9, 6.5, 6, 6, 5.75, 5.5
The last cool day before the forecast week of 90s found the
unpredictable Karneses repeating a past site: Rip Van Winkle
Country Club (2006).
Although an event/reception room was present, the main action was
in the clubhouse café where bar/tavern fare was also available.
We gleaned the regular dinner menu with its appropriate variety
as indicated by our choices:
The Pescatora-ists
graded high for their entrée while two of the three ribeyers
noted a gristle beyond average. The others were satisfied.
Three fingerling potatoes accompanied the
entrées while the vegetable of the day was a slew of pea pods
and slices of squash, pepper, and carrot.
Included in the meal was a choice of house garden salad or the
ham & bean soup. The three soup-ers thought considerably
higher than the saladistas.
A basket of thinly slice artisanal bread accompanied by a ramekin
of butter had come earlier and proved satisfying enough.
Two bottles of Robert Mondavi Woodbridge 2016 Malbec had a
confusing footnote about price (we knew $7.50 a bottle could not
be, we were right, $27); aside from that, we were not impressed
with even an inexpensive wine. A gin & tonic, a glass of
white, and water filled out the drink menu.
Three chocolate bombettes (vanilla and chocolate ice cream, with
a ganache shell) was served, without much enthusiastic response,
and a Sambuca or two filled out the dessert order.
Service by Maria (muh-Rye-uh) was generally well received –
prompt, attentive, good check-backs, while a couple thought her a
bit rushed with lists of specials and desserts. No comment about
Ken’s coffee could mean that all was satisfactory.
Ambiance was a clean, golf café air, open with views to several
holes, lit by recessed lighting and the glow of a late summer
day, bookended by a couple of tvs behind the bar, and interrupted
by a stream of golfers done for the day who wanted a drink or a
chat. A round table once again allowed us to see each other and
read lips more easily in a noisy and echo-y room. Watching the
fog roll over the lip of the Escarpment upon our arrival
contrasted with the clear mountaintop when we left.
Our bill came to $108 per couple, perhaps a little higher than
some of us first guessed.
And off we went to head home on one of the longest days of the
year, pleased with a repeat at a place close to home and pleasant
enough to do again despite a few blemishes.
We had met at the Notar driveway and immediately departed. Topics
in the car rides and at the restaurant: flipping houses, house
work in Bath, Nate’s truckload of garage material, grandkids,
Teator trip to England, trips westward to see Mom, Rita’s
service, retirement date getting closer, gullible Kriss, Ace of
Clubs and an unlikely visitor (good one, Chay), golfing, Labor
Day golfing, July DP8 at Notars, fawn sightings, bear sightings,
forecast heatwave, photos of the Otis Railway in the entryway,
divorce after 43 years, the Adams family and the memorial service
this weekend, bicycling, a 500 mile bike ride, and a raft of
other topics that did not surface on my brain waves.
Just for fun:
The following was the review from 2006 (written by dk)
It looked a little ‘iffy’ at first, but the
weather cleared and warmed sufficiently so that the precursor
(cocktail hour at the Karnes) this month could be held outside
sans Ken (working late and hoping to catch up with us at
dinner). A shrimp dip and homemade salsa (from Debbie’s
tomatoes) were washed down with the usual pinot grigio, merlot,
beer and T & T’s. Conversation was animated early in the
evening as we discussed possible choices for a DP8 vacation next
summer as we mulled over the possible house choices
available. Before you knew it, it was time to be off and we were
rushing off to Rip Van Winkle Country Club in
Palenville.
We arrived just in time to see the sunset, watch
some golfers finish off their rounds and just enjoy the
mountainous scenery outside the large windows. Not really
wanting to start the dinner ritual without Ken, we ordered drinks
(a carafe of the house merlot, pinot grigios and a diet coke) and
a couple appetizers to hold us over – bacon wrapped scallops
and a chicken quesadilla, which I can only assume were quite
palatable since they seemed to disappear before our eyes. The
conversation revolved around some school talk, since our teacher
members “enjoyed” their first week back, while Judy shared
what she did in her first real week of retirement. Looks the
whole house might get remodeled in the next year or so if Judy
keeps going… (go Judy go!!!)
When it appeared we really might not see Ken, we
ordered our dinner. If memory serves me correctly, we had 3
potato encrusted salmons, 2 bacon wrapped filet mignons, 1
shrimp/scallop concasse over linguine, and 1 special – rib eye
and lobster tail ‘surf & turf’. Salads were mixed greens
with our usual assorted favorite dressings served with warm
Portuguese type dinner rolls. The salmon dinner was declared
good, but perhaps not outstanding, Tim and Deb K enjoyed their
filets thoroughly (cooked just right for us, 1 med. rare, 1
med.) Chay declared his surf & turf very good. Dinners were
served with twice baked potatoes (yum, if you ask me) and a
sauté mixture of green and yellow squash. Our big loser of the
evening was poor Deb T who, in addition to not feeling well to
begin with, got a meal that was less than acceptable, claiming
that the shrimp and scallops were both overcooked and perhaps had
been sitting around in the kitchen for a while.
Desserts included a scrumptious chocolate caramel
pyramid (quite tasty, although the waitress couldn’t really
describe it and, after seeing and tasting it, I could understand
why), a lemon mousse declared outstanding by Tim, and chocolate
cherry cake.
The Down Side:
Poor Deb T – feeling bad and bad meal. While
we were enjoying a leisurely night out, as always, the service of
the salads was longer than we might have liked (did they forget
because we asked for bread first before the salads?).
The Up Side
Yeah!!! Ken finally showed up in time for dessert
– well, for him it was dinner (chicken wings, and yes, he said
they were quite good!) with wine and coffee simultaneously to
help make up for lost time, for the rest of us it was
dessert. Was it about then that the “spooning” started? I
don’t know when or how it started (blame my unreliable memory again)
but it had definitely had something to do with ‘you know what’
– why does it always go there???
The service was very friendly and efficient
(except for the salad thing) and Tom & Deb K will definitely
be back after a golf outing to enjoy the view and the food (which
is how they found out about this place to begin with).