First, the data. Café Germaine, the (Germaine herself just said she doesn’t remember how many iterations of Café Germaine there have been) how-many-ever it has been iteration took place tonight and g., as she signs her e-mails announcing things to the world, took us back to the world of the Chesapeake Bay watermen with her oyster, or as they call it on the Bay, “erster” stew. In its core configuration, it is simply oysters, butter and high-octane milk or low-octane cream.
g. put some voltage into it with sautéed shallots. She served stout but there were guests who drank a Californian shiraz/syrah, it being the same grape. Or a sauvignon blanc, both of which we finished pretty much with the cheese in the living room. There was a great fire crackling in the fireplace (oh, thank God for really lovely dry oak.) As background to the snapping of the burning oak, we had the Dvorak Piano Trios on the CD.
But we changed venues, indeed universes, when we went to the dining room for the erster stew. We uncorked (that being a 20th-century term because almost every wine has a plastic cork nowadays) a bottle of “Conundrum,” a 2006 California table wine, a blend in short. The makers prefer keep the blend a mystery.
I dwell on the erster stew but there was more: a turkey vegetable soup with kale among the other usual suspects, i.e. nice big country chunks of turkey (natch), carrots, potatoes and onions. Rounds of sliced, spicy andouille sausage delivered little cannon shots to the taste buds.. I liked the erster stew so much that I didn’t have a bowl of the turkey soup until much later. After the dessert.
Bananas Foster was made by neighbor Vince Fiore with Myers Dark Rum and served with the real stuff, Breyer’s real vanilla ice cream. It’s a shame that we didn’t all rush into the kitchen as all that precious alcohol went up in flames. But there was enough left for zinging the tongue.
The food, the food, I’m so focused on the food because, though we heard some hair-raising stories about cars running into houses, it was the food that reigned.
It was a great gathering of Dickeyville neighbors with the interlopers from Franklintowne and, the “oh my word, you came all the way from Winchester, Virginia” guy. That’s me, Juergen Haber, and – yes -- I’ve been hooked by Café Germaine.
