This Week at the Herdic House
Fitting somehow that the moment summer has actually arrived (per Sunday’s lovely, long evening fit for the celebration of fathers everywhere…and for the summer solstice), we decide to serve up a Blue Plate named for spring…but what can we do? Our walk-in is stuffed with delicious veggies, and we want to make the most of the best ingredients available to us—not mention veggies are great for you.
So the Blue Plate tonight will be a pasta primavera, with organic fettuccine, broccoli, mushrooms, carrots, roasted tomatoes, garlic and scallions, tossed in a basil-Parmesan cream and finished with brown butter-seared radishes. The Blue Plate, as always, is $18 at our House and $20 to go, and you can reach us at 570-322-0165 to book a table! We’ll also have fried green tomatoes with chipotle aioli as an appetizer and a sorbet duo for dessert: strawberry Grand Marnier and cucumber-lime-mint, paired together for a beautiful and refreshing sweet finish…
PS Liz has been working on our wine list, as we’ve sold through a few of our favorite bottles recently, and Daisy has consequently discovered what a refuge the wine room can be, if you’re looking for. a cool and quiet space to read in peace, without some lousy adult asking you to do something. Who knew it was such a multipurpose space?
Come join us for our Thursday happy hours at the bar, from 5-7 pm, with $1 off all beers and $2 off wines by the glass. Plus we’ll be serving grilled tenderloin tip sandwiches with melted gruyere, caramelized onions and horseradish dill mayonnaise, with housemade potato chips on the side…
We were hoping to be bringing you a sweet cherry menu this Friday, but it’s become crystal clear over the past several weeks that our local orchards did NOT fare well with the wild weather we had this spring. Every orchard we’ve talked to has had a complete crop loss for sweet cherries this season, and deep damage to almost all other tree fruit. We’ve heard people (many of them restaurant folk) opine that the restaurant business is hard…but it’s got nothing on farming, folks.
Please be kind if you pay sky-high prices for tree fruit this year, and understand that our farmers still need to make a living, even when the weather doesn’t cooperate. The good news is, we’ve heard good things about the blueberry crop coming on, and peaches didn’t take a total hit. So we will have more fruit for our diners later this season! But for this Friday, we’ve crafted a menu of sweet and savory vegetables instead of fruits to tempt your tastebuds.
- Creamy tomato bisque finished with a lump crabmeat, brown butter, dill and sweet corn sauté
- Local arugula, radishes and baby snow peas, drizzled with a lemon mint vinaigrette and finished with slivers of Goot Essa ashed brie
- Pan-seared halibut, served over crispy potatoes Anna (made with local potatoes, finally!), and shell peas, in a classic tarragon béarnaise sauce
- Rhubarb custard tartlets served with fresh strawberry coulis
As a side note: when Liz made her exhaustive search for juneberries a few weeks ago and discovered the birds had eaten them all, she also checked to see how the sour cherries on her tree were faring and, lo and behold, the cherries were gone! As she approached, a dozen birds took wing from the tree’s branches, and, when she peered inside to check on the fruit, the only cherries she saw were in the paws of a few squirrels, who were eating them with gusto. Sounds like it might be slim pickings for animals this year too, ladies and gents…
And don’t forget, next Friday we’ll be hosting our annual reading of the Declaration of Independence, eloquently performed by our skilled friend Fred Holland—as well as a beautiful exhibition of small quilts sewn by area quilters and curated by our friend Margie Shaw. And, of course, we’ll feature a delicious menu of all-American favorites, from New England clam chowder to blueberry pie, and everything in between. Join us to start your Fourth of July weekend off right…and celebrate America’s 250th birthday by remembering how we got started on this crazy democratic experiment oh so long ago…