We left Albuq. at 6:35
in the morning and arrived at Baltimore’s BWI Airport at around 11:30 a.m.
Suzette and I had eaten a salami and cheese sandwich on the airplane, so we
were not so hungry.
I had read the New Yorker article that professed the
benefits of waling, so I suggested that we walk for a few minutes. While we
were walking two fire marshalls came out of a restricted area and I asked them
what restaurant served the best crab cakes in the Airport and one of them
immediately said OBryski’s.
We walked to Obrycki’s and we ordered crab cakes. Sue ordered a salad with hers and Willy and I
ordered French fries and Onion rings and cole slaw with ours. The crab cakes were good, they included all
parts of the crab, back fin lump, regular lump and claw meat without filler and
dusted with flour. Suzette requested
that they be broiled rather than fried and they accommodated us.
We were delayed in our flight so I went to Silver Platter
and got us some ice cream. I asked the
young man who waited on me at the take out count for mint chocolate chip and he
made me one for Suzette with Morin mint concentrate and vanilla ice cream and
chocolate chips mixed in a milk shake machine.
Due to an hour delay we did not arrive in Portland until
7:00 p.m. Willy got in contact with Drew
and we picked him up and went to a small French restaurant we had seen on our
way into town on Longfellow Square named Le Petit Jacqueline. We took a table on a patio outside facing
the statute of Longfellow.
The menu was not extensive, but more than adequate for our
needs. Suzette ordered an escargot
appetizer and we each ordered an entrée.
Willy ordered the Plate of the Day, Skirt Steak with a Black Pepper
sauce. Drew ordered mussels in a white
wine cream sauce and Suzette and I ordered the Daily Fish Special; Flounder
Meuniere, two lightly floured flounder filets sautéed in butter and laid on a
bed of beautifully crisp haricots verte on a very interesting thickened
béchamel sauce flavored with flash fried capers. The service was not great but the street
scene was great. The picnic tables in
front of the Japanese restaurant next door were packed with what looked like
lots of locals. I loved the cool evening
outside and the elegantly simple French food.
For example the snails had no garlic and the mussels had no Pernod,
those ubiquitous additions that you find at chains like Carrabas or low end
bistros and were garnished with a lovely wedge of puff pastry.
Wine was a difficult issue.
The waitresses did not know their wines and were of no help and since
Drew is in rehab, we did not want to order a bottle of wine. So we were left with the difficult
alternative of ordering glasses of wine from the wine menu, which did not have
a large selection. I finally asked them
to bring us tastes of several different wines.
Suzette and I split a glass of dry rosé with the snails and a glass of dry Loire Sauvignon Blanc with the flounder. We enjoyed a well prepared light meal that
satisfied and did not over-stuff for our first meal of our trip.
Bon Appétit
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