Runs with knives!
 On Saturday, December 10, 2005, I worked at Jean-Robert at Pigall’s for my ninth night. I took some delicious chocolate bark that Wendy & I made for the gang in the kitchen, and judging from how quickly it disappeared, they enjoyed it.Â
For our last HAPPY MOUTH of 2005, we met for dinner at Ed’s pick, QUARTER BISTRO in Mariemont. Dave, Robin, guest Jeffrey, Tracy, Ted, Ed, John, guest Paul, Wendy, and Drew met in the cozy restaurant to sample their offerings.
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I washed up and jumped in, hearing Dan say that I’d arrived on a good night. First thing I did was work with Dan to prepare some standard mirpoix with the addition of halved lemons. Once done with that quick job, we dumped the lemony mirepoix into two kettles of boiling water. I was then sent down to fetch 60 or so live lobsters from downstairs where they were waiting. I pushed a ‘booty stick‘ (someone had scrawled that on the box of sticks) into the lobster’s tail before dropping it head-first into the boiling water where it stayed for about 6 minutes, then the bright red lobsters went into an ice bath that Dan had set up. Because Chef hadn’t arrived yet and we didn’t know exactly how he wanted them prepared past that point, we stored them in the cooler for a bit while I worked on a few other tasks.
Tonight was a busy night and a lot of fun. After a full work day, I headed to a local tavern called Holy Grail where I was meeting my old boss (he just retired), two colleagues, and their spouses for drinks. Because I got there…
 On Saturday, January 7, 2006, I worked at Pigall’s for my eleventh night. I arrived around 1:00pm, washed up, and quickly got to work. Robbie had me cutting up wild boar and duck meat on the slicer (which I first had to clean and…
Tonight, a group of us (Holly, Ed, Colin, Wendy, Jay, and myself) met at ONE DINING, a new restaurant situated in a converted city building in Mason Ohio, for a surprise birthday dinner for Angel (who turns the big 3-0 on January 8th).
Ed, Holly, Colin, Wendy, and Drew arrived early to be in place for the surprise. A nice red wine started flowing, followed shortly by a bottle of white (one of Wendy’s favorite whites, a Chenin Blanc/Viognier — our personal favorite is the Pine Ridge Clarksburg — while tonight’s wine wasn’t Pine Ridge, it was still very nice). Sean Kagy, the executive chef, came out to greet our table and offered us a tour after the meal. Our mutual friend, MichaelB, had alerted them that we were visiting the restaurant. After a bit, Jay & Angel walked in, and Angel was suitably surprised.
We started the meal with a sampling of appetizers — butternut squash ravioli (excellent); beef carpaccio; Maryland crab cakes (excellent); salad of maine lobster, crab & rock shrimp (lovely); and shrimp & crab chowder (very nice).
The main courses were osso bucco; ahi tuna with foie gras; rock shrimp, scallops and lemon linguine; duo of salmon and sole; and the seared duck breast. All the entrees were very tasty and nicely plated. The corn and mushroom crepe served with my generous ahi tuna was delicious. The tuna was well-prepared, too; seared on the outside and cool in the middle, topped with a nice piece of foie gras.
Desserts came out and were very nice — chocolate mousse crunch; lemon crush; pecan pie and others.
After the meal, Sean gave Wendy & I a tour of their new kitchen (which used to be the jail when it was a city building — fitting for a bunch of cooks, don’t you think?!), the prep area, and the rest. Not an inch of wasted space.
We thought it was a very nice touch that the restaurant laid a birthday card on the table for Angel, signed by the chef and staff.
The meal was very good and the service was about where you’d expect it to be for a new restaurant (10 weeks open at the time of this writing). No major mistakes in service, but not yet perfectly smooth. Two annoyances were that Wendy was looking forward to ordering a monkfish dish which was advertised on their website, only to find that it was not on the menu. For patrons attempting to become familiar with a new place, not having something that is advertised is a mistake. We were pleased by the wine list, but ordering a bottle of wine for dessert, we were told that it wasn’t yet in stock.
These small errors should not turn anyone away from trying ONE. It’s a fine meal and these service issues will be resolved in time.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANGEL!
On Friday, January 13 (Friday the 13th!), the HAPPY MOUTH SUPPER CLUB met at Biagio’s Bistro in Clifton for our monthly outing, which was Kristy’s selection. Robin, Dave, Chuck, Kristy, Holly, Ron, John, Paul (John’s guest), Angel, Ted, Tracy, Wendy, and Drew crowded into a…