October 17, 2016 Lunch - Quentin Tavern, Dinner – Wrightsville Tavern
In Pennsylvania taverns serve both food and beverages. In the morning Suzette’s mom, Suzette, and I drove the twenty miles through heavy woods to Lebanon where the Quentin Tavern was located. We arrived around 11:15 and found that the tavern did not open until 11:30, so we walked across the street to an antique shop. Suzette immediately found five vintage Thanksgiving cards. I found a number of lovely fabrics and we were torn between an Irish linen tablecloth and a Sumatran sarang of woven cotton in a colorful batik pattern We chose the batik..
We then walked back across the street to the tavern and were seated in one of the three dining rooms. We immediately were impressed with the extensive menu, but then saw that the 17th was the first day of a three day Lobsterfest.
A 1 ¼ lb. lobster with two sides was offered for $24.95 and Suzette immediately agreed to order that. We also ordered lobster chowders and Suzette’s mom ordered a lobster salad.
Soon bowls of lobster chowder arrived. There was corn kernels, small chunks of potato, large chunks of imitation crab, small dumpling like chunks of undissolved flour and very little if any lobster meat. The milk based chowder had a good flavor, which partially redeemed it. After our unexciting chowder experience platters arrived with crackers and then the waitress served us a nice sized lobster that looked every bit of 1 ½ lb.
It was a soft shell lobster, like the cold one we ate at the winery yesterday, served with a baked potato and Cole slaw.
We liked this lobster much better. It was cooked to just beyond gelatinous, so that the meat was firm but it contained a goodly quantity of salt water.
We loved the lobster. Suzette drank a beer with the lobster and I ordered a glass of Sauvignon Blanc, which turned out to be vey light and perfectly complemented the mild delicate steamed lobster meat.
We started with the claws and worked our way through the entire lobster.
After lunch we drove back to the Lindemuth’s house in E town and took naps.
We awoke around 4:30 and dressed and drove south to Marietta, where we crossed the Susquehanna River to Wrightsville and soon found the Wrightsville Tavern. Soon Don and Bev and Bev’s two nieces from North Carolina and Lamar and Sally, who are friends of Don and Bev arrived, so we put together a table for ten in a side dining room.
The reason Don recommended the Wrightsville Tavern for dinner was because Monday night it serves a Broasted chicken special. You can either order five pieces with Cole slaw for $6.99 or all you can eat for $9.99 with unlimited French fries. The waitress was very friendly and soon offered us free samples of the Oktoberfest ale and the pretzel wheat beer with a glass ringed with Hershey’s chocolate syrup.
Suzette ordered an Oktoberfest beer and I ordered the wheat beer in the ringed chocolate syrup glass.
Soon our orders of chicken arrived Andy they were so hot I could not bite into the pieces. I ordered a five piece dinner and when the waitress asked me whether I wanted dark or light meat, I told her my preference was to have five thighs. We decided to try the fried haddock, so Suzette ordered it and I traded her a thigh for some haddock, which was not as good as the fried haddock in Maine, but still quite good.
I could not believe I ate four thighs and a good quantity of fried haddock, but I did.
Here are some pictures.
The Carolina nieces and Suzette's Mom and Dad eating chicken and Suzette's arm
Bev told me that broasting is cooking chicken in hot grease under pressure, which cooks it more quickly. Apparently that was the reason it was so hot when served.
I loved dinner. The chicken’s crispy skin was wonderful.
After dinner we went to Don and Bev’s for dessert. We shared a bit of Lemon meringue pie, chocolate cake and a slice of carrot cake.
Finally we went home and watched the Antiques Roadshow and some MSNBC including the first pictures I have seen of the siege of Mosul and the burning oil fields left in the retreat by ISIS.
Bon Appetit
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