Carolina House – April 2019 (dt)
7.38 – 8, 7.6, 7.5, 7.5, 7.4, 7, 7, 7
A 6:05 departure from the Notars had car #2 guessing Rhinebeck,
then Chatham, and finally guessing it might be Kinderhook area
and hoping it was the Carolina House. Sure enough.
The menu leaned a little Southern but had a wide enough spread
for anyone to enjoy. Adding to the range this evening was the
Especiales de Jueves (Thursday Specials – Mexican) with “Mexican-inspired
entrees below served with rice and beans, salsa, guacamole, and
sour cream.”
About fifteen minutes after seating and drink order taken, a
loose-weave basket of soft rolls and corn bread arrived with two
aluminum ramekins of softened butter. We moaned it was some of
the best corn bread we have eaten – moist and just enough corn
kernels.
Food orders were taken, with two appetizers shared for the table:
Both were worthy starts.
The drink order of the night was hijacked by the Especiales
de Jueves drink special: Margaritas for $5 (on the rocks or
straight up, with salt or sugar), with six of us going to the
dark side while two desired beers. And a round of water
accompanied.
Later, a bottle of Domaine Montvac Cotes
du Rhone serviced three and a half wine drinkers.
Entrées from the main menu (borrowing wording from website)
snared two of us:
Mixed Shrimp, Steak, and Chicken Fajitas served with rice,
beans, salsa, sour cream, and guacamole (Deb K)
Grilled Ahi Tuna with Pico de Gallo and guacamole served with
Rice & beans (Ross)
And the enticing Especiales de Jueves lured six of us:
All entrées was judged very good to
excellent. A strong Margarita did not hurt.
Sides consisted of a choice of dirty rice or potato (garlic
smashed, French fries, or sweet potato fries), joined by chef’s
choice of vegetable – string beans, this evening. For the
Jueves menu, two sides could also include coleslaw or corn
fritters. Although salads were available, none were included and
none ordered, a rare instance for DP8.
As for dessert, Elise recited the short list of four items, none
of them seemed urgent enough, and we had consumed our share
already. As it was, six of us left with doggie bags.
Service by Elise was excellent. She was informative, personable,
efficient, and patient. A light-hearted touch was common,
starting with the restaurant running out of Margarita glasses.
Water glasses arrived full, two in each hand, two trips, with a
carafe of water appearing at the right time. Entrées came in
three arm-filled trips.
Ambiance at Carolina House was a mix of flavors. One cannot help
but be struck that we thought we had found ourselves forty years
in the past. Lots of rustic wood, faux log cabin slabbing or four
inch pine, comprised the booths, the seating, the walls, the
ceiling, even the back of our banquette in a different room.
At the same time, it is kind of, well, …comforting.
Upon entry, the bar area to the right
first caught the eye, attractive and dimly wooden. The dining
rooms went straight and then left, with the first room arrayed in
four aisles of booths—two aisles of four seaters, and the
middle two of two seaters with a divider between. We continued
and turned to one of the back rooms—the cashier’s spot with
coffee cups stacked on a side table, with a pair eating at one
table and the other table our oval table of eight. We did not
venture into the room further back.
A white linened table lay waiting for us,
with a 2’x2’ unfolded napkin placed diamond-wise, acting like
a centerpiece, with salt and pepper shakers and a couple other
holders. A five inch bread plate, accompanied by the silverware
set of spoon, knife, and two forks. (OK, timeout: Mark’s peeve
that any three pronged fork is not a fork but a trident.)
Noise level was remarkably low, allowing
conversations to be heard across the table although one time I
looked there were four conversations going on. The table next to
us probably wished they could not hear us. More later.
Time to pay the bill came. $87 per couple seemed a fair price,
considering the range of orders. Most of the entrées were about
$20 with a handful of exceptions (steak, mostly). And so off into
the Kinderhook darkness we left for the 45 minute ride home.
We had convened at the Notar house only to figure car seating
before departing. ‘Tis fun to guess where we might be going but
we were flummoxed until we realized, making the turn to the
Hudson School, and driving out of Hudson, that the
Kinderhook-Valatie area was likely.
Conversations in my car and at the table led to one of our wilder
nights. Kriss, you would have given up after four minutes. The
presence of Lynda and Ross was entirely coincidental. We wondered
what if… Ken had been present!
Topic one, recycling all dinner long was
Ross’ injury. Too much detail for this account but the short
version: a tumble in a parking lot, trip to hospital, a bruised
arm, a cut lip, and Lynda figuring out what happened. Ross’
band-aid on the upper lip led to suggestions how to paint it,
Ross’ impersonations, irreverent connections, etc. All said, we
were sympathetic for Ross’s incident and recovery. You, too,
Lynda. And I cannot even do justice to how much we fed off this
topic.
Other topics of the evening: Lynda’s
treatment, Chay’s recovery, Deb K’s cold-flu, Deb T’s back
pain, (sounding like the sick ward, heh?), Sunday departure to
Italy for the Teators, comments from Ross that chased the
occupants of the other table away with comments about Henry
(hoping they were done anyway), someone drinking the unfinished
martini from that other table, ways of getting through Hudson,
salvaging Chay’s golf balls from the woods, the enjoyment of
spring, flowers, greening of lawn, the roundabout at the Rip Van
Winkle Bridge, Ross’s dental treatment, and gobs more that we
laughed until our faces hurt.
The Monteverds return next month for a full contingent, and May
30 is the date.