Great Eats at Great Sage

by Erin

Since drinking the Kool-Aid of "The Omnivore's Dilemma," I have not been eating that much meat, and when I do, I prefer it to be local and/or organic. (Don't get me wrong, I break my rules all the time, such as when I indulge my growing addiction to the Hilltop Carry-Out gyros.) Several of my friends (and Xani) are of the same mind and some have even gone vegetarian or mostly vegetarian. I met up with several of these girls (including Lauren, NYC friend extraordinaire) last weekend to celebrate our friend Lydia's birthday, and the birthday girl chose to have lunch at Great Sage in Clarksville, MD.

Great Sage is a vegetarian restaurant that uses organic produce and happily accommodates vegans as well. The space is open and sunny, and the staff was extremely friendly and accommodating. At the bar in the front of the restaurant, patrons on their laptops sipped coffee or munched on sandwiches.

We sat down and amongst our chit-chatting and catching up, we ordered the mango iced tea, a refreshing tea with a mild mango flavor. The menu had soups, salads, a few entrees, and a nice selection of appetizers. Many of the dishes had what I'll call "veg-meat," meaning usually soy-based products used to emulate meat in flavor and/or texture. I tried these fake meats in college when I would dine out with vegetarian friends (I'm talking about you, Jeff Fields!), and to be honest, that was enough for me. I prefer to eat either real meat, or no meat. Substitutions be gone!

Mango iced tea

For our appetizers, we ordered the Hummus Plate, served with carrots, celery, olives, and toasted naan bread, and Artichoke Spinach Crostini, an artichoke and spinach dip with parmesan and toasted crostini. Both appetizers were delicious and heavy enough to satisfy our hunger immediately, but not too heavy that we couldn't enjoy the rest of the meal. I especially liked the artichoke dip - it had lots of tartness in it and for a moment I wasn't sure what it was from, and then I took the cue from the garnish: a lemon slice! The lemon juice added brightness and cut right through the creamy cheesiness of the dish. Delish!

Spinach-Artichoke Dip with Crostini

Hummus with veggies and naan

For our mains, I ordered the Black Bean and Roasted Corn Quesadilla, with white cheddar and sour cream on the side. They gave me hot sauce on request (Rick Bayless's Frontera Grill brand - nice and spicy). It was a good quesadilla, a large portion, but not as great as the appetizers. The other girls got the Italian Pesto Panini, the Portabella Caesar Salad Wrap, and the Southwest Burger, and all got great reviews. Lauren's wrap came with amazingly tart and spicy pickles, and we were obnoxious and ordered a whole plate for the table!

Black bean and corn quesadilla

Southwest "Burger"

Italian Pesto Panino

Portobello Caesar Wrap with awesome pickle

The last course was dessert, and this was the biggest surprise of the meal because these desserts were KICK-ASS! First our waitress surprised the birthday girl with four very mini birthday cupcakes! It was a sweet surprise, and the cupcakes were excellent. The chocolate cake was moist and had a nice hint of salt, and the icing was not too sweet (it was a merigue buttercream so it was more butter than sugar) and there was a good proportion of icing to cake.

Surprise!

Next we got MORE dessert. As I've gotten older, I've noticed that I've been shying away from chocolate desserts and more often order fruit-based desserts, so my vote was for the fruit tart or fruit crisp, but I got outvoted. After heated debate, we ordered a molton chocolate cake dessert with vanilla ice cream on top (not on the menu, we got it special because the b-day girl knows a guy who knows a guy), and Sage's Famous Carrot Cake. I was hesitant about both. I never order carrot cake; I don't even think I had ever had it before since why would I want silly vegetables in my dessert??

The verdict? I was blown away by both desserts! The molton chocolate cake was rich and chocolatey, and the ice cream was a great accompaniment. (The waitress asked if we wanted dairy, soy, or rice-based ice cream - we went with dairy.)

The carrot cake, however, was RIDICULOUS. First, it was a gigantic portion. It was served ice cold, which normally I wouldn't like, but it totally worked. The cream cheese frosting was vegan so it did not have the same tanginess as traditional CC frosting, but it was still sweet and smooth. The cake was VERY dense (is that normal?) and there was a great cake-to-frosting ratio. Who knew vegan carrot cake would be so amazing??

What a meal! I was glad I was able to celebrate with Lydia and see Lauren and Sarah who were in town from NYC. Happy birthday, Lyd!

BFFs!

Happy organic/vegetarian/vegan eating,
EP

King's Contrivance, We Hardly Knew Ye

by Xani

As our regular readers know, EP and I grew up in Columbia, MD, and our folks just recently moved out to the Eastern shore. For all those many years that the BCD family lived in Columbia, the King's Contrivance Restaurant, which has been around since the 70's, sat quietly in the neighborhood of Macgill's Common (oh, Columbia with your CRAZY planned community neighborhoods), minding it's own business, never crossing our minds. Sure, BCD Mom and Dad used to spend New Year's Eve there back when EP and I were babies, and I went to a couple of bat mitzvahs there in the early 90s, and EP sang there once with her high school Madrigals troupe. But, for the past ten years or so, KC has been like that one dress in the back of your closet-- sure, it still fits, but last time you put it on it seemed kind of outdated, or maybe you needed to get it hemmed or whatever, so you just shoved it back in there and forgot about it. For 10 years.

So how WEIRD is it that, just this week, the whole BCD family ended up there for a random Wednesday night dinner? None of us even live in Columbia anymore! But it happened, and you know what? It was a really good dinner-- apparently that old dress is back in style again.

First, many drinks at the bar (makes any outfit look better!). They have an extensive selection of liquor, including BCD Dad's favorite gin (Hendrick's) and my new favorite bourbon (Woodford Reserve). Then, for dinner, we decided to share an array of appetizers, to taste as many of their delicious-sounding offerings as possible. They also offer a pre fixe menu, including appetizer, entree and dessert for a very reasonable $29! Next time....

We ordered SEVEN appetizers, which might sound excessive, but ended up being just right (and left a little room for dessert). They were: Shellfish bisque (lobster, shrimp, and crab meat in a creamy bisque with sherry), House made fresh mozzarella with tomatoes and basil, eggplant and pine nut fritters (with pomodoro sauce and olive butter), deep-fried softshell crab, seared sashimi-grade tuna with lump crab and avocado salad, duck pate with toast points, and fried oysters. I'm looking at this now and realizing we had an entirely vegetable and fish-based dinner! No meat! Has that ever happened before, ever? Oh wait, is duck a meat?

Anyway, onto the details. All the dishes were tasty, very fresh, and quick out of the kitchen. The soup was many, many steps above the crab bisque I attempted a few weeks ago (it was so thick it was more like crab dip! I was too ashamed to blog about it). This was super-rich, and bursting with seafood and sherry flavor. Lots of big chunks of lobster and crab, and some shrimps too. Does anyone know why the bisque has this dark color?

The pate was very good, more of a rustic style than completely smooth. EP felt it was a little too game-y but I enjoyed it. I wished there had been more cornichon alongside, so cute!

The oysters-- now these were a major hit. Perfectly fried and crunchy, not too wet in the middle, just lots of concentrated oyster taste. We think they were panko-breaded. We'll be trying that technique next time we make our own. Serious oyster season is right around the corner!!

House-made mozzarella: this was one of the best caprese-style salads I've had all summer! Tomatoes are at their peak and the cheese was tender, a little salty, and just damn good. Made me want to make my OWN house-made mozzarella, because that's a normal impulse, right??

Tuna: ok, so this one wasn't a grand slam. The tuna was just ok. Also, I am a big snob and think the seared tuna appetizer is played out. I will say that the lump crab and avocado salad was to die for. BIG lumps of crab, soft, ripe avocado-- what more could you want?

Softshell crab: another little seasonal delight. This was actually one of the best softshell crabs in recent memory. I cut it into quarters for easy sharing, then ate my quarter, then immediately wanted to eat the three other pieces. You know how usually a softshell crab is just like a lot of fried batter (not that this is a bad thing) and shell and not much else? Not this one-- even my meager quarter was bursting with crab meat and the flavor of the crab "mustard." The texture of the shell and batter was highly enjoyable as well. Maybe I haven't had that many softshells this season, but this one was particularly tasty.

Finally, the pine nut and eggplant "fritters." So first of all, it should be called "fritter" because there was only one. And secondly, I think "fritter" is pushing it because this was more like a large, round, fried cake, with eggplant stuffing. But, semantics aside, this was a great dish. The cake was light and crisp, like a beignet-type texture, and the eggplant was intense and almost meaty-tasting. A very substantial vegetarian dish, and again, something I did not want to share!

fritteR, singular

Then we moved onto dessert and coffee, and I just want to say here that I loved our waitress-- she was sweet and friendly and when we said we wanted to share a bunch of appetizers she didn't even blink, and I don't think KC gets a request like that too often (let's just say that 90% of the other patrons were... older. Many requiring walkers. This is not exactly the kind of place that is doing the "small plates" trend-- although they have given in to the elaborate fruit-based martini craze, blech).

Anyway, dessert: I had the strawberry shortcake with a pecan biscuit, EP had the key lime pie with coconut ice cream, and Mom had the Hazelnut Obsession (milk chocolate mousse with a crunchy hazelnut center covered in milk chocolate ganache with an orange grand marnier sauce-- that's a mouthful!)

Shortcake

Key Lime Pie

Hazelnut Obsession

Nothing like a little something sweet and a cup of good coffee to end the evening. All the desserts were good, with EPs taking the cake. Mom's was just waaay too rich for me, and I enjoyed my shortcake until the biscuit got all mushy from sitting in the strawberry sauce. The key lime pie was just tart enough, just sweet enough, and plenty light. And I love coconut anything, so that dessert was the big winner for me.

So just like that, an old place has new life! I hope it's not another 10 years before I return-- I'll kick myself if the next time I'm there it's for one of my friend's kid's bar mitzvahs!

X