November 15, 2019 Lunch – Lancaster Central Market. Dinner – Koda.

November 15, 2019  Lunch – Lancaster Central Market. Dinner – Koda.

I ate yogurt and tropical fruit salad for breakfast.  Then we drove to Masonic Village and picked up Sara and drove to the center of Lancaster where the large Central Market is located, with six or seven aisles with every food item you can imagine.

                                 Jeff with the fishmonger who is making our sandwiches

The menu

The fish monger’s cases

We bought celery, parsley, garlic, green sweet peppers filled with prosciutto, fresh asparagus and snow peas, Fresh pasta, sweet bologna, Swiss cheese, French whole wheat bread.  Jeff then bought lunch for us.  Jeff bought crab cake sandwiches and lobster bisque.  Suzette bought us glasses of fresh apple cider.  It was a lovely  lunch.  Sara bought sandy cookies for dessert.  We sat at a table at the end of the market.  After lunch we drove Sara back to Masonic Village and drove home.  I was tired and napped from 2:30 to 4:00.  Then suzette and 8 walked up Ridge to the Llindemuths’ old house and back.

We arrived at the market close and were pleasantly surprised that the market rose with the Dow closing above 28,000 again.

At 5:00 Don, Jeff, Suzette and I drove to Harrisburg to the Susquehanna Art Museum, located in the center of Harrisburg in an old bank building.

There were four nice exhibits, a contemporary surrealism show, war related photos, and two women painters, one using fantastic images and the other a super-realist.  Suzette and I liked both painter’s work.

 

Essenhigh

Don then drove us to Koda restaurant on the edge of Harrisburg.  It was a fine dining restaurant located on one end of a large building that included a brewery and tap room on the other end.  Here are several pictures.

 

The food service in the brewery

The entrance to the Koda restaurant from the brewery

 

                                                         The entree section of the menu

                                                           The open kitchen

                              The dinner roll and amaretto flavored butter garnished with cherry butter

                                                            Suzette’s lamb meatloaf

                                                           Don’s huge beef  short rib

                                   My Duck-legs with apple cider glaze and  mashed turnips

                                                  Jeff’s gnocchi with lobster and scallops

Koda reminded of Audrey’s at the Hammer.  A  super high end restaurant in an open pedestrian environment.  The building was huge and open.  There were approximately 100 seats in the restaurant and an acre of space in the tap room.  Although the atmosphere was decidedly casual, the menu and food was top notch fine dining.  We each ordered something different.  Don ordered beef short ribs, Jeff ordered gnocchi with lobster and scallops in a Romesco sauce, Suzette ordered lamb meatloaf with rice and green beans, and I ordered two duck legs with chopped apples, creamed turnips, and chestnuts with an apple cider glaze.  All entrée were $25.00 to $29.00.  We ordered a bottle of Waltz Red blend that was 87% Merlot and 13% cabernet Sauvignon.  Waltz is a local Lancaster producer.  The wine was spot on, very St. Emillon French.

We each loved dinner.  We took a bit of dinner home for Bev, who was under the weather from some bad food. This was the best food I have eaten in Pennsylvania, ever.  My dish was a classical French presentation of Duck with an apple cider glaze, chopped apples, creamed turnips, and chestnuts. Totally French and I have never had it before.  Amazing.  I am hooked.

Every other dish was equally impressive, such as Don’ hunk of beef that was braised to melt in your mouth tenderness.

We returned home at 9:30 and watched Rachel Maddow, and other news until 11:00.  Suzette and I shared chocolate chip cookies and hot buttered rum teas for a pleasant finish to a pleasant day of food and art.

Bon Appetit