Wednesday, January 05, 2005
Bly's ramblings for a new year
Larry Bly
Larry Bly runs an ad agency and does freelance writing in the Roanoke area.
Recent columns
First off, the best kept secret in Roanoke, food-wise? I've decided, it's Capt. Paul's pre-made crab cakes, a longtime favorite of mine. I recently stopped in to see the old Capt., but he's always out to sea. Maybe he's out to lunch, I don't know. But I dropped by specifically to buy some crab cakes. For a little less than $7 apiece you can take them home, put them in a pan with butter and brown them. Minutes later you'll impress your guests with truly delicious crab cakes. I think the Capt. has a great recipe. I make them from scratch sometimes, but his are more consistent than my own.
Have you tried the new Pillsbury microwave biscuits and dinner rolls? The dinner rolls are perfect ... nice and yeasty, just the right consistency, and you can do as many or as few as you need minutes before serving. They've gone over quite well at the old Bly table recently.
As for the biscuits ... they're not quite ready for prime-time, as they say. I'm sure Pillsbury has spent a fortune developing these duds -- and another small fortune running commercials with that cute little Doughboy watching the biscuits go 'round through the microwave door.
But we Southerners know our biscuits. Biscuits should be fluffy, slightly salty, a bit flaky (sort of like myself) and buttery. These biscuits are more like bread in texture. I think they taste like day-old biscuits that have been re-heated in the microwave. The convenience factor is appealing, no doubt, but having a mediocre biscuit in minutes isn't.
I've been impressed with what Pillsbury, Kroger and other brands have been able to do with frozen biscuits, however. Those little white hockey pucks make mighty fine biscuits in a regular oven, though they do take a lot longer. They result in respectable biscuits that even grandma could love.
We're spoiled in Southwest Virginia. We have restaurants like The Roanoker and Hardees that make better biscuits than most of us grew up with. My Aunt Tootsie could make the best yeasty hot light rolls in the world. But her biscuits were so hard that we used them for skeet shooting. At my home, biscuits were those things that came in a can. Sometimes I still crave one of those, though I don't know why. They hardly resemble anything else in the bread world.
A friend of mine used to have me over for Sunday dinner. Just before the meal was served, he'd pull out a pan of the most beautiful biscuits you've ever seen in your life. For years I'd go on at length about what a great biscuit-maker he was (he truly is a good cook) and he'd smile as we buttered those beauties up. It was not until years later that he admitted to running out to the nearby The Roanoker about a half hour before I arrived, buying a pan of biscuits already baked, and sneaking them into his oven for warming. I've never trusted him since.
The Rabbit Patch Cafe seems to be surviving at a location where others have recently failed, 1 W. Campbell Ave. in downtown Roanoke. They keep it simple, specializing in quick lunch fare: salads, wraps, sides, and fruit trays. The make box lunches and sandwiches to go, with everything including salads, bottled water -- even desserts.
There's limited seating -- they really are geared to take-out -- and you'll be in the window for all to see if you eat on premises.
Sandwiches include chicken, ham & Swiss, club, pepper chicken, BLT, Mediterranean, turkey and veggie sandwiches. Build your own salad or choose theirs pre-made. Enjoy quesadillas or "Patch stuffers" with dipping sauces.
For those on the go, you can get breakfast wraps and sandwiches, all reasonably priced in the $2.45-$3.45 range for various combinations of egg, cheese, bacon and sausage. There are muffins and Danish as well.
It's a no-nonsense kind of place, nothing flashy; and the guys do a pleasant-enough job of coaxing all of the choices, sides, condiments and other decisions out of you without wearing you out.
Rabbit Patch Cafe' also does catering, featuring their usual fare, plus "Buffets" that are entire meals with an assortment of wraps, meats, and cheeses, each priced on a "per person" basis, ranging from $6.95pp to $13.45pp. It's sort of "do it yourself" catering, I suppose.
RABBIT PATCH CAFE'
540-342-7107
1 West Campbell Ave.
Roanoke, Va.
