Yesterday we met our son’s homeroom teacher for the upcoming year. He was extremely kind and obviously loves what he does. He used indelible in his mission statement which is posted right outside his door. I have high hopes for this year. The boy’s resource specialist is REALLY on the ball. She’s already spoken to all his teachers about his ‘accommodations’ as she puts it. I call it forewarned is forearmed.
Afterward we went to dinner at Ashton Avenue Family Restaurant. I’ve always referred to it as a diner but that’s semantics. In the 20+ years living in the area this is only the second time I have frequented the place and I can’t for the life of me figure out why?
I’ve been watching too much Food TV and so I had pored over the menu in search of some unique twist on a classic or some rare gastronomical delight and I must admit I was a little let down. The menu itself seems rather mundane in it’s offering of traditional fare. In this case you certainly can’t judge a book by it’s cover. Thursday is apparently a pasta bar. Think of an omelet bar with noodles instead of eggs. It was surprisingly very good. I mixed clams, shrimp, mozzarella, mushrooms, and garlic into their marinara sauce on top of spaghetti. The flavor was wonderful. None of the individual flavors was lost and the marinara married it all together. The boy started with something akin to a meat overload and went back for seconds. His second dish consisted of chicken and spinach in alfredo sauce on top of rigatoni. I had to sample and found the alfredo sauce to be creamy and rich without being heavy. Wifey had their gyro platter. I have never had the meat prepared so well. It was definitely lamb but didn’t taste gamy or over seasoned as seems to be so typical in preparation. It was good all by itself although the tzatziki sauce was very good too.
The real kicker was to find out that they routinely prepare dishes not on the menu. Another diner ordered a grilled tilapia with some steamed broccoli. I asked our server about it and she told us that they would cook whatever, and however we wanted it. I’m certainly looking forward to our next visit.
