The lost meals entries consist of meals that occurred at various times throughout 2012 which, for any number of reasons, escaped my documentation – some due to a cross country move and a new job, some due to the Los Angeles Kings run to the Stanley Cup, and some simply as a result of too much travel. Having enjoyed many of these meals with friends or family and with some of them amongst the year’s very best the reality is that with time my memory has deteriorated and as life moves forward I’ve realized there is little hope to ever “catch up” or document these experiences as well as I’d hope, yet in order to preserve them I present these pictures, notes, and thoughts on the experience.
a kitchen
Almond Croissant
Counter Culture Coffee
Gruyere Buns with Poached Eggs and Country Ham
This meal was better titled “a disaster,” from their somehow managing to fail to unlock the doors until 10 minutes after they were supposed to open to the fact that my ‘server,’ Adrienne managed to ignore me (and my coffee/water refills) until I actively called to her across the room – where only one other patron sat – to the bait and switch menu (no Bread Pudding French Toast despite the online menu) the only thing that could have saved AKA Rittenhouse’s restaurant was the food…
…and it didn’t. With an almond croissant I would swear was stale considering the way it flaked and cracked – not to mention the slathering of frangipane – to the fairly average Gruyere Buns which unfortunately lacked any flavor of the cheese but did support some nicely poached eggs and savory pork this was the sort of meal that could have been trumped with a Moons Over My-Hammy at Denny’s…except for the coffee, which was actually quite nice…but at least at Denny’s it would have been refilled by a person I felt deserved a tip; something I did not leave as Andrew Jackson’s face seemed more than adequate.