Track 32 Italian Pub – Feura Bush (dt)
6.36 – 7.5, 6.9, 6.5, 6.5, 6.5, 6, 5.75, 5.5

A half-hour drive north on Rt 32 led us into the former Pixie’s site, now Track 32, a new venture of the owners of Pomodoro (Catskill) and Paul’s (West Coxsackie).
            T-32 seems like a good fit for its community: a wide range of good pub food, a selection of beers on tap, cleanliness and airiness, a reasonable but not inexpensive price list.
            The menu, of course, features Italian in its list of ten appetizers, wings, half-dozen salads, parm subs, half-dozen parmesan entrées, fifteen more entrees with lots of pasta, ten sandwiches, burgers, wraps, and panini. Throw in pizza for good measure. One can grab a draft and a sandwich on the way home, or come out with family and friends for a comfortable sit-down. Not fine dining but good for many souls.
            Our selections this evening included: shrimp parm, eggplant parm, the sausage riggie, Buffalo garlic chicken sandwich, chicken salad parm, penne Italiano, penne with meatballs, and baked ziti. All were deemed average to good, with one excellent and one poor thrown in the mix, reflected in our scores.
            A basket of bread preceded, followed by ten inch by ten inch square white plates with an included salad of some greens, a good dose of chopped salad, with a hint of onion and pepper for most of us, or by a Caesar salad for the usual couple. It was an acceptably good salad, and we tend to judge included salads for what they are, not the ten dollar bowls we could have had.
            A piece of garlic bread accompanied the entrées, and a couple of us replaced pasta with vegetables.
            Drinks included a range: a couple ordered wine, a few draft beers, a couple more soda or other fluids good for a diet.
            Service by Nicole was deemed very good – attentive, eager to please, checked us at the appropriate times, delivered water by the glass and then settled for a pitcher. The clearing of plates was timely. The placement of our table in a corner made waiting on individual seats almost impossible, if not orderly. However, we tend to not mind helping the waitstaff pass glasses and plates in a casual place. Reservations are not taken so I am glad we caught a semi-slow Thursday night, a schedule that we have adopted this past year.
            Ambiance is probably enhanced by Track 32’s newness but it felt reassuringly calm, with the dark brown wainscoting, pastel yellow upper walls, hardwood rough floors, sturdy wood tables, solid chairs, surrounded by a ton of windows, at least in our room. This room held about twenty tables.
            The entry room, the pizza order/pickup space, is half the size, arranged to be a quick stop in and go. Beyond that was our room, and beyond that was bar area with a long bar, tvs, and seating, most of it at high tables for another 25 customers. As suggested before, this is an eatery meant to please many palates and many styles.
            All in all, we were pleased to make Track 32’s acquaintance, with a comparison that could not be avoided with next month’s destination, Bear Steakhouse.
            And a bill of $63 per couple was easy to take also.

Did I mention dessert? ha
            Instead of leaving Feura Bush without dessert, we reconvened fifty yards across the side road, crossed both parking lots, and sauntered into Stewart’s, something we had not done in a long time. We eight country folk enjoyed licking ice cream and loitering at the few booths, enough so the average score for those who contributed a score totaled 7.85! Happy as pigs in…

Following our relatively new option, we skipped a pre-session, and met in Freehold, and headed northward. Conversations at Track 32 and in the cars in which I was a passenger allowed us to catch up on our goings-on since last DP8: September weather – both hot and dry lately, fat grandchildren, skimpy golf outings, lots of details of the Teator cruise to the Baltic area, lots of day trips for the rest, the Notar monthly schedule of vacations, picking up golf balls in the woods, the anticipation of Bear’s next month, Tractor Supply in Greenville and its effect on other businesses, the re-opening of the corner restaurant in Greenville, effects of the hurricane on Florida property and friends, keeping track where the Adamses are and are going to be, Quinn stories, unemployment, reminders of what it is like to still be working for a living, jet lag, tales of our children and their doings, and a gob more that has already escaped me.