Sunday, June 23, 2013.
Burning Between Thunderstorms. Zea Burnout.
Since I couldn't talk Mary Leigh and The Boy to tend a bonfire on the meadow at the Cool Water Ranch, I had to do it myself. The perfect opportunity presented itself today, after a real leaf-washer fell from the skies and wet everything down. But not enough to prevent the pile of scrap lumber and tree branches from igniting. It only needed a week's worth of Times-Picayunes. Which isn't all that much paper, anymore.
But it was a ninety-five-degree day. I was so overheated that it took hours to cool off, even after a cold shower. And speaking of showers, a few hours later, another convincing thunder-wetter passed through, removing any concern I had about setting the woods on fire.
The Marys wanted whatever you call a meal taken at four or five in the afternoon. Dunch? Linner? Mary Leigh called for Zea. We have not been there in a long time, relative to our usual overexposure to the Taste Buds' places.
Her restaurant choice interested me, because after much unasked-for advice from customers, the Buds have installed their tuna stack on the permanent menu. It has run in past years only for a few months in springtime on the special seafood menu. Now it's there all the time.
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The tuna stack is a great dish, made by chopping fresh raw tuna, avocados, cucumbers, tomatoes, and a a few other things into morsels, they layering them in a low, broad cylinder. The whole thing is drizzled with a runny wasabi aioli and served at cool room temperature. It's a little too big for the appetizer it is put forth as--which has never stopped me from eating a whole one. It also works either as a salad or an entree, especially if you have something before it.
Which I did. Guacamole, which the Marys love. The avocados were ripe and left chunky, and the tortilla chips are better than average. (Research on the salsa recipe, however, should begin again.) Then I had the soup of the day, an oddball version of tomato basil that I like, even though they put too much parmesan cheese on it. (That goes for everything with parmesan cheese here.)
For some reason, the restaurant was darker than usual, and felt gloomy. Or maybe it was the mood of the Marys. "I think I might be burned out on Zea," one of them said. (I forget which, but the Marys are in lockstep on culinary matters.)
That figures. I have come to like the place. For the chicken, the duck, and the salads. But not enough to go there without the Marys' urging. But we'll see how long that burnout lasts. It happens to me all the time--or used to, when I was dining out twice a day, seven days a week. But that was a long time ago.
