Well as you might have noticed, we started out the season sending the “This week at Good Eats” on Tuesdays instead of Thursdays as always before. But in keeping with our common-sensible and healthy policy of seasonal soups and specials, looking ahead at the weather had us puzzled; mid to high 80’s have a tough time jibing with the cool spring crops that are actually available to us at present. The specials’ no problem, love the

Salmon Oscar

&

Flounder topped with Buttered Backfin Crabmeat

&

Soft shell Crabs with Lime Butter Sauce.

But what soup? Too hot for the cool spring soups. Not hot enough for a chilled soup. Did curried asparagus.

Hmmm, hmmm, and Monday turned into Tuesday, and then Tuesday was running out, and still hmmm, a portrait of chef angst. And then late last night, paging through this beautiful English book of soups (put together by Debra Mayhew for you souper cookers) looking for inspiration, a page that had been tucked into the book was in the way, and in glancing to see why it was there, discovered a forwarded email recipe from friends to friends to me. So this week, we can thank Julie and Tom and Patricia for bringing us

Callaloo

a Caribbean soup featuring greens and asparagus, herbs, coconut milk and crabmeat, methinks perfect for this week.

Thursday is Prime Rib Night (want you ribbers to know we’re doing our part, 9 spots this week on the local radio announcing Prime Rib Night during the month of May), and Friday features half-price bottles of wine off our very good list.

Thank you always for your support and

We hope to see you.

Hi,

I’ll start with our very good news. The publisher of House and Home magazine called last week and said that the magazine had been soliciting its’ readers for the past several months for the “Best Restaurant Dish” on the Northern Neck and Middle Peninsula. He went on to say that not only had our Shrimp & Grits won in a landslide, but that Good Eats Cafe had four other dishes in the top ten. Yahoo. They’re coming to take pictures tomorrow with the article to appear in the Sept/Oct issue. Our thanks to all who took the time to vote for us.

Tonight is Date Night. On the menu will  be a grilled peach salad, as well as grilled chicken with portabella sauce, “minute” steaks and the soft shell crab risotto.

Starting tomorrow we will be serving a

Fresh Tomato Soup with Lemon

Soft Shell Crabs with Lime Butter Sauce

and a dish we haven’t done for a few years,

Turbans of Salmon stuffed with Crab Imperial.

Rather than cut the salmon fillets in portions width-wise, we cut them the length of the side. These long ribbons are  marinated, then upon receiving an order, we twist them into a coil. The center of the coil is filled with crab imperial and then the whole thing is broiled. One of the most impressive looking dishes and delish. I have been fielding opinions about crab imperial this summer; we haven’t featured it since CrabPot Stickers went on the menu, so here is your chance to compare imperials to imperials.

Friday night features half-price bottles of wine. We have swapped out our less expensive Pinot Noir for one we consider better and it is available for half on Fridays. Saturday remains a delightful night to dine, Sunday brings a brunch at 10am, if you’re looking more for lunch we do have sandwiches and Shrimp & Grits on this menu and then for Sunday dinner we will continue our month-long birthday celebration by offering a 20% discount on your entire check.

Thanks again for your support (and votes) and

We hope to see you.

Hi,

Well the big news this week is that Good Eats is celebrating it’s birthday, on Sunday we start our 15th year as the little restaurant on the corner of Rts 202 and 203 in Kinsale. Such a contrast between then and now, from cultural literacy outpost to “Dining Central”  for a few thousand fans. And what a relationship; we work hard at creativity, consistency and excellence; you reply with appreciation, dedication and generosity. As a small thank you for that appreciation, during our birthday month of August, we are going to take 20% off every guest check every Sunday night.

Just in time for our birthday celebration comes the matinee performances of The Westmoreland Players new production, The Sunshine Boys, which starts Saturday and will run for the next three weeks. For tickets or other info about “Virginia’s Best Community Theater” go to www.westmorelandplayers.org.

Tonight is Date Night and yes you will find the Risotto with Soft Shell Crab, as well as a new dish we’re working on, roast chicken with a medley of grilled tomatoes, grilled corn, and smoky spice, all mellowed with Laura Chenel goat cheese. Grab your partner.

Starting Friday we will have

Corn and Crab Chowder

&

Flounder topped with Buttered Backfin Crabmeat

&

Soft Shell Crabs with Lime Butter Sauce.

Thank you again for these many years of support and

We hope to see you.

Well we just get through one spell of beastly hot and here comes another. Please review the lessons from last week, then join me as we sing, “Summertime, when the livin’ is easy.”  On a much more serious note, Good Eats is now cool no matter the outside temp. It took a couple 100 degree days to get it all together, but we’re there. And in the meantime, while it’s up in the 90’s we’ll continue running the two cold soups, Cucumber with Dill and Watermelon Gazpacho (which now has a following, ha).

Good menu for Date Night tonight, Risotto with Soft Shell Crab, Grilled Minute Steaks, Pork with Cuban BBQ Sauce and just-caught Spanish Mackerel done like in Hawaii, a style called Poke (po-kay), which is a cross between a fruit salsa and a teriyaki sauce.

Specials starting tomorrow will be

Flounder topped with Buttered Backfin Crabmeat

&

Soft Shell Crabs with Lime Butter Sauce

Friday features half-price bottles of wine, Saturday is a grand night to dine, and Sunday we do brunch from 10am – 2pm, then back open for dinner from 5 – 7:30.
We thank you and thank you for your patronage last week when it was so hot and

We hope to see you.

This week we will instruct in how to beat the heat, … ,  just a few simple rules.

1. Don’t cook at home. This is just plain good common sense; our kitchen is already hot, why heat up yours?

2. Look ahead to the end of the journey, blueberry pie with vanilla ice cream. It’s cooler already.

3. Start your meal with a cold soup. We’ll have 2 of them all week, tonight Chilled Tomato with Basil Vinaigrette and Chilled Cucumber with Dill, starting Friday we will again have Cucumber with Dill as well as Watermelon Gazpacho, which you have never had before in your whole life.

4. The salads at Good Eats are always crisp and refreshing.

5. Our Soft-shell Crabs with Lime Butter Sauce will take your mind off anything. Ditto the Flounder topped with Buttered Backfin Crabmeat. As will the Summer Fruit Salsa that will be served with the Grilled Pork Loin.

6. Our white wines are always chilled and delicious. On Fridays they are especially appealing as bottles of wine are half-price. Have you tried the La Cana Albarino from Spain yet. Raves with our Chesapeake seafood.

7. Nothing like real strawberry and blueberry preserves with toast during brunch. (10am – 2pm)

8. Foods from hot climates are naturals in the summer. Check out the Soft Shell Crab Tacos we are featuring tonight for Date Night.

That ends this post. Should you need assistance with any other of life’s little bumps, feel free to inquire; we have thousands upon thousands of recipes.

Yours truly with tongue-in-cheek, and

We hope to see you.