Saturday, September 1, 2012.
Battery Blow-Up. Guidebook Shopping. Dinner At Dakota.
Began the day with a fine breakfast of the usual thing (but too much of then, of course) at the Courtyard. Wish I'd brought my newspaper. We are a month away from the last time I will be able to read a Saturday newspaper. But this is nowhere near as big a deal as a lot of people (most inexplicably Errol Laborde) are making of it. I haven't gotten around to Friday's paper yet, either. I'm usually a day or two behind. I'll just read that one. News to me.
The main reason I was near the Courtyard was that I needed some things at a nearby mall. After some experimenting today, I discovered that the reason my computer has been shutting down for no apparent reason is that the battery backup unit has died. The new one cost less at Office Depot the price of a replacement battery for the old unit--something available no way other than mail order. I'll bet if I tried to get a battery for the new unit I would find the same thing. Sort of the same ruling principal that makes printer ink cartridges so expensive.
Then next door to Books-A-Million for guidebooks for our upcoming Canada and New England cruise. Sticker shock there, too: these things are up to $25 each. Why did I forget to buy a New York City book? Oh, well. It looks as if none of our fifty-six cruisers are taking me up on the after-cruise two days in the Apple. That may be a good thing. We will arrive just in time for high-season hotel rates. Even Mary Ann thought they were high. And that's saying something.
Dinner at Dakota. It was busier than it has been on our last few visits, enough to bring down the attentiveness of Dakota's usually sharp waitstaff. I began with Love Potion Number Nine--as if that would work in the manner indicated. It was a gin drink with a bit of bitter edge, which is my favorite flavor profile for a pre-dinner cocktail. For once, I was able to refrain from having the truffled parmesan fries that go so well with cocktails. We made do with the amuse of a seared half-scallop (MA doesn't like scallops, so I managed to get a whole one) and a soufflee dish of French onion soup. The former was perfect; the latter much less so.
What I saw on the appetizer menu either didn't move me or was something I've had many time before here. But I saw they had a vegetarian entree. I have had good luck ordering such things in half-portions for a starter, and it continued tonight. It was a thick slice of semi-panneed tomato on top of arugula and a buttery sauce. Delicious, and it had enough substance to pass for a full-fledged course.
Fish for both of us. Mine was a skin-on red snapper served in two demi-fillets atop a chunky hash of scallops, shrimp, brabant potatoes, jalapeno, and the same corn and sauce I found with my vegetarian tomato appetizer. My bad for not noticing that (who would order both in a single meal?).
Mary Ann allowed her salmon hunger to rule, and got a nice slab of that fish with a fresh arugula snap in the background and a tomato sauce that neither of us thought was right with the fish. But she's happy with the unadorned salmon anyway.
For dessert, a slice of the house coconut cake, baked by co-owner Ken Lacour's mother. Who was having dinner with friends in the corner of the room. First time I've met her.
Speaking of Ken, he made up for my forgetting to buy a New York guidebook earlier today by giving me a thick folder of restaurants in Gotham that he likes. Ken travels more for restaurant research than any other restaurateur I know, and his lists have in the past served me well. Amazing that he has all the information, with mini-reviews, yet--all finished and waiting for someone to ask for them. I'll bet a lot of his customers take advantage of that.
Dakota. Covington: 629 N US 190 . 985-892-3712.
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.
