Loading ...It’s a special Wednesday today, and we are OPEN for dinner tonite! From 5pm to 11pm. (We will be closed Thanksgiving, though). We know a lot of folks have out-of-town guests or are planning to get together with friends tonite, and we thought some of you might like to have dinner with us. And we figure no one wants to cook, ’cause that’s for tomorrow.
We are 100% turkeyless at the Linkery this week, you’ll be tired of that soon anyway. Here’s what we do have:
* We made our own bacon from pasture-raised Ossabaw-breed pork from Cane Creek Farms in Mebane, NC. The Ossabaw breed is a very rare breed which is a direct, purebred descendant of the Iberico pigs brought from Spain in the 1500s. It’s a way to taste what pork tasted like 500 years ago, before our culture bred pigs into “the other white meat.” We only have a little bit of it (both the pigs and our smoker are small), so we’re serving it as a taster with organic Bosc pears, Point Reyes blue cheese and local avocado honey.
* Pastrami on Rye. While Michael was makin’ bacon, he was also making pastrami. (He wants everyone to know that it was really time-consuming, but the taste difference worth it). The pastrami is made from Brandt Beef, a farmer of all-natural beef in Brawley, CA. We’re serving our handcrafted Pastrami on Rye — the rye bread is from the folks downtown at Bread on Market — with thin-sliced artisan cheese, local Roma tomatoes, and a pepper aioli.
* We also made corned beef, and when the pastrami is gone we’ll switch over to a corned beef Rueben with house-made Russian dressing.
* A few of you have asked about the Crosnes we’ve been serving with the pork tenderloin the last few days. They do look like grubs, but actually they’re tasty vegetables also known as Chinese Artichokes. They’re grown in Southern California by Weiser Family Farms and they are very precious. Enjoy!
* Along the same lines, we no longer have Oregon baby kiwis with the ‘roo steak — we have organic California Kiwis from Chiechi Farms in Gridley, CA. They’re the best kiwis I’ve had. I know it’s not strictly geographically correct to lump New Zealand-style produce with Aussie meat, but the dish really works well…maybe it’s the curry tying everything together.
* “Proper” Guadalupe Valley wines are back in the house, as we have L.A. Cetto’s Petit Sirah and Nebbiolo Reserve available again. They complement our San Pasqual wines made in San Diego from Guadalupe Valley grapes. We’re working on getting some additional Guadalupe Valley wines in, it takes a fair amount of effort to get what we want but I think we’ll have some very unique wines available in a few months.
* A couple new Aussies on board: Blackwing Shiraz and Cooper’s Best Extra Stout. Both are very good and really modestly priced.
* It’s strong ale season and right now we have Avery Jubilation Ale, AleSmith Yulesmith and Deschutes’ Jubelale. We’re tapping a cask of Stone IPA on Friday.
* To call attention to a nonalcoholic drink for a change, Marcus (a new chef for us) has become a strong proponent of Barritt’s Pineapple Ginger Beer from Bermuda. I have to admit it’s really delicious. If you’re looking for an interesting soda to drink, check it out.
* Friday was our probably our busiest day ever, we were sad we couldn’t accommodate everyone who wanted to join us that night, and we thank those who waited patiently for tables to become available. (For what it’s worth, Saturday was mellow and we were able to seat people quickly all night.) We’re working on moving to a bigger location (still in the same neighborhood) next year, where we’ll have a kitchen big enough to serve more people. In the short term, we’re looking into what small changes we can make to accommodate more people, and hope to put some things in place soon. It’s flattering and a good sign that so many of you want to eat with us — we’ll figure out how to serve everybody!
* Our new “no-tipping” policy got a very good response, at least from the folks who talked to us about it when they were in. We’re appreciative to have such a great community of guests that come along with us when we try new and different ways to make the restaurant better. Thank you to all of you.
Have a great Thanksgiving everybody, be safe and savor the weekend!
Best,
Jay