dreaming@echonyc.com

the other night paul and i went to the main street grill. it's one of the restaurants run by neci, the local cooking school. because the menu mirrors the coursework, you can usually count on a fairly diverse array of choices — but because the table-waiting is performed by students, you can usually count on spotty service, too.

i had the meat loaf with mushroom sauce, mashed potatoes, and fried onions. alas, when it came out of the kitchen the food was merely tepid, and once i'd had a couple of bites i discovered that the center of the meat loaf was cold. not lukewarm, but cold. i sent it back.

of course our waiter was apologetic — so apologetic that he brought me a cup of soup to eat while we waited for my dinner to be returned to me. right answer. (the soup was delicious, and lava-hot: cheddar/potato/bacon.)

when my plate was returned, it was not only sizzling hot, but it was an entire new serving; they didn't just throw my old plate into the microwave. this meant i had the pleasure of even more crispy fried onions, and this time they were hot.

paul had the cider-marinated pork chops with red cabbage and mashed potatoes — i think it had some sort of wine sauce, maybe port. his food was entirely too sweet for me, but he liked it quite a lot.

but the whole point of my writing about this is to tell you about the appetizer we split: vermont cheddar in phyllo served on a tomato/bacon/onion coulis. it was basically a fancy grilled cheese sandwich. delectable. i'm going to try to make it here. here's my plan:

1. cook some canned tomatoes, onions, and bacon together.
   
2. puree.
   
3. cut cheese into small triangular slices.
   
4. wrap it in phyllo dough triangles, liberally buttered.
   
5. bake until cheese is oozy.
   
6. scarf.