Hungry Ladies Who Lunch

I had the great pleasure recently to meet up with my food-lovin' blogger friend Laura, -aka- The Hungry Lady. Laura is significantly younger than me, but she tolerated a lunch date with me nonetheless!  It was great to spend some face-to-face time talking about restaurants, her New Year's resolution to start cooking, and other food/wine stuff.  But, more importantly, I got to know more about her besides her love of food.  If you haven't read her blog, do yourself a favor and check it out. 

So, on to the food.


We met at MoMo's Bistro on Devine Street.  I had not been to MoMo's in years and never for lunch.  This was Laura's first time there ever.  The lunch menu was impressive.  Upscale sandwiches, deliciously described salads, a lobster quesadilla.  Laura chose the fish tacos and I opted for the French dip.  I'll start with Laura's...

Let me start with a familial aside.  My father hates tilapia.  I mean, HATES it.  He's sick of hearing the name, sick of seeing it on every flippin' menu, sick.of.it.  So, I couldn't wait to report back to my dad that MoMo's fish tacos are made with a real fish...Grouper.  When the plate arrived, all that I could utter was "wow, how pretty." 

The Hungry Lady sez "Yum Yum"

 It was a fantastic presentation.  Bright purple cabbage, beautifully grilled fish, bright green lime.  While I didn't taste, Laura said these were some of her favorite fish tacos and that the fish was cooking to perfection.  Thumbs up.

My choice sounds as boring as they come.  But, this sandwich will change your mind. What really caught my eye and convinced me that a French dip was in order was that it's made not with sliced roast beef, but with POT ROAST.  Hello?  Is this mike on?  Can you hear me in the back?  POT ROAST.  I have never seen this nor has it ever occurred to me to use this type of roast beef on a sandwich such as a F.D.  Sheer brilliance!  The meat was tender, juicy, flavorful...in a word, perfect.  But that's not all.  It was topped not with a food service-grade bland provolone or swiss. No, no.  MoMo's tops this baby with gruyere.  As it arrived at the table, it just looked dreamy with this soft, fresh hoagie roll with gooey, melty cheese cascading over that awesome meat.  And wait, there's more.  The French dip always comes "au jus."  For those of you who didn't major in French, this means "with juice."  (Ha Ha...I bet you figured that out when you were about 6, right?).  Well, it's been my experience that usually the jus is a sidecar filled with some run-of-the-mill beef broth.  This jus blew the doors off any French dip I've ever had.  Seriously.  Rich, deep flavor that just added that ideal finishing touch to this beautiful sandwich.  

I forgot to mention the fries..homemade and awesome!

So, folks, the bottom line is this.  I really like MoMo's for lunch!  I had a great meal, I got to learn more about a bloggie-friend who I really admire and I got to spread the word to you fine people.  Make a lunch date and enjoy!

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**Restaurant Review** Cafe Strudel, West Columbia

Today I had just enough time to meet my parents for a quick lunch, as we were on our way to the funeral of an old and good friend. :-(

Her church is in West Columbia, so we decided to pop in at Cafe Strudel.  I haven't been to Strudel in quite awhile, so I had no "top of mind" favorites.  I have friends who are long-time, hard-core Strudel fans who could've recited the menu to me, I bet.  Once I arrived, I had to make a very quick choice, since on the way I got stuck by a train and then got behind every person in Greater Columbia who was unaware that their cars come equipped with accelerators.  Anyway, here's how it all went down:

Dad ordered today's special: smoked salmon quesadilla.  Mom opted for the soup du jour (ham & bean) with 1/2 sandwich and I chose the "Lowcountry BLT wrap."  From all accounts, it seems I made the tastiest choice.

Per Jim (Dad) the quesadilla wasn't "what I expected."  It wasn't slices of smoked salmon with cream cheese and dill, but rather a spread of those ingredients, or as Dad referred to it, a "mush."  Decent flavor, but the consistency wasn't on the mark.  Per Dottie (Mom) the soup was lots of ham, very little bean and lots of broth.  Her sandwich is called the "Martino."  According to the description, it's a favorite for over 10 years.  I'm sure that's what prompted Mom to order it. The description, however, would have been exactly why I WOULD NOT have ordered it. Turkey, cheddar, olives...what?  Sounds like a gustatory assault to me. Graciously, Mom called her lunch "mediocre, at best."

Mine, was actually pretty good, but definitely something you can't eat everyday.  It was very rich and honestly, if I were teetering on the edge of hypercholesterolemia and a cardiac stent, it could have killed me.  Seriously though folks, the "Lowcountry BLT wrap" was a good choice. Spinach tortilla stuffed with pimento cheese (not too much..you know, there can be way too much!), bacon and fried green tomatoes.  I'm a sucker for fried greens which is funny because I can't deal with red tomatoes unless they are cooked.  No good ol' Southern tomato sandwiches for this girl.  And, who doesn't love bacon? I bet you even vegetarians would woop up on some bacon in a moment of weakness and when they thought no one was looking.  And, unlike most restaurants, this place does not skimp on the bacon.  A definite plus.  The FGT's were great...not greasy, good thickness so they were "al dente".  Ha!  Al dente fried green tomatoes...I slay me!

In the big picture, I think Strudel's allure is the fact that the people who run it are cool, they are inventive with their menu, even though it's not always "knock it out of the park" and the character of the place and location is appealing.  Is it the caliber of food that I seek out again and again?  No.  But, will I meet you there for lunch or brunch from time to time? Sure.

Good Church-goin' Food

Next Sunday, our church has a covered dish luncheon planned.  I have had my mind going all day trying to decide on my contribution.  It's difficult.  My Deep-South raised mind immediately goes to the "classics" like green bean casserole, macaroni and cheese, or broccoli casserole.  Even though I know there will several of these from various people of the congregation, it's hard not to want to dive into a big ol' creamy casserole.  If anyone out there is trying to pretend that they don't agree, well, all I can say is "shame on you!"

The classics are classics because everyone loves them.  Some will proclaim it from the mountain-tops, others will covertly admit their casserole love to a trusted friend, some will flat out lie and rebuke the casserole, knowing in their heart that they'd scarf one down in a heartbeat if they could do so undetected, and some (sadly) really don't actually like them.  Those poor souls with the mixed up taste buds!  My late mother-in-law Mimi once told me, "Every good Southern dish begins with a can of Cream of Mushroom."  I told her then and I'll say it now, "Rock on Mimi!"

Ok, having said all that, there's the other side of my brain that starts imagining all the different, creative, maybe even off the wall dishes that I could present to my fellow church-goers and see how adventurous they are (but not too off the wall-it's church with room temperature fried chicken you know) .  After all, we are all good Southern, enlightened and progressive people.  So, I wonder, what would they think of my tarragon/pecan/grape chicken salad in phyllo cups as a little appetizer?  Or that old crazy casserole that my Aunt Dianne used to make every now and then that had carrots and asparagus in it?  Or, what about that sour cream/bacon/green onion potato salad that my father-in-law loves?  Or, what about the brussels sprouts/candied pecan and blue cheese salad? I took that to Orangeburg for Thanksgiving one year and my Uncle John said to his wife, "Look honey, brussels sprouts!  Around here, that's like a foreign food!"

So, I'm looking for opinions and suggestions.  If you were on Death Row and you had a covered dish luncheon to go to for your last meal, what would you want to see on the table?  Ok, maybe that's a bit macabre, but you get my drift.  Speak up!