Friday, June 1, 2012.
Welcome, June! Orlando's. No London For Me.
It wasn't enough that the weather was beautiful today. What made me remain at home instead of going into town for the radio show was having given myself too much work. But I did take advantage of the nice weather, too, walking around the field in the sunshine. The cat Twinnery came along. He was actually scampering. This is happiness.
Mary Ann heard me talking about Orlando's to a caller on the show, and wanted to try it. Orlando's is a newish seafood restaurant on LA 22 in Madisonville. A couple of weeks ago I loved the catfish, which was almost at the level of Middendorf's, Bozo's and the heros of the past. Most restaurants serve too-large catfish, resulting in greasiness and a murky flavor. Not here. You can almost eat it like popcorn.
We began with a half-dozen grilled oysters a la Drago. Nice and plump. Lots of garlic butter for Mary Leigh, who joined us. Then fried artichoke hearts, fried onion rings, and house salads. The latter included the usual uninteresting croutons and near-cheddar cheese grated so long ago that it was dry. Why do restaurants feel they have to add these sorry things? Here's why: many people believe the fallacy that adding cheese makes every dish better. If I ran a restaurant, I wouldn't pander to that taste (although I'd give it to customers if they asked). But this is a little family-run restaurant in a small town, so I can't get too upset.
MA and I split a seafood platter. It continued the good record of the catfish. Greaseless, hot, crisp, not overcooked, seafood of good quality. The soft-shell was especially well made. Meanwhile, ML dug through a salad topped with grilled chicken. (She has not entered the Wonderful World of Seafood yet.)
Orlando's had problems this night. The owner came out to introduce himself and say that two of his people were out and that the kitchen was running behind. It didn't seem so bad to me, but Mary Ann was not happy. She is affected more than I am by atmosphere, she doesn't give a pass just because a restaurant is in a rural area, and we were here too long. I don't understand this, but at least she's consistent about it. It's the same reason why we can't travel to small towns: none of the hotels meet her exacting standards.
While we were at Orlando's, a family controversy brewing for months was resolved. Months ago, Mary Ann bought buddy-pass airline tickets to Europe. The four of us were to visit Ireland this July. But the usual non-planning ensued. I need to know at least a few weeks in advance when we will be gone. MA has decided that instead of going to Ireland we will go to London for the Olympic games, and catch tickets on the fly.
So let's see. We have standby airline tickets to get us to and from Europe. (Jude, who uses these a lot, says "Allow four days on both ends." We have no hotel reservations, and no tickets to the main event. All this would be fine for twenty-somethings just out of college with no job or other commitments. Or for Mary Ann, who likes having all her options open.
To my surprise and pleasure, Mary Ann thought it was a good idea for me to bow out of this trip. "You'll hate it, and complain so much that we'll hate you," she said. Quite so.
This opens up a few more radio vacation days for me. So we can extend the New England-Canada cruise by a few days in New York. We have about thirty people coming with us so far. Looks like a great cruise. Mary Leigh is looking forward to that more than anyone. She says she's always wanted to go to New England, and she wasn't on either one of our two previous cruises in that direction.
Orlando's. Madisonville: 304 Highway 22 W. 985-845-4446.
It's over three years since a day was missed in the Dining Diary. To browse through all of the entries since 2008, go here.
