Dr. Phil's Dreamwidth Journal

Ah, Summer Dining Out

As we move from Spring into June, it's a lot easier to get out and about. Once the Hope Summer Rep Theatre season begins, we'll pop out to eat before every show. Last Wednesday, with Mrs. Dr. Phil on sabbatical and me off for the day, we went to the Sam's Joint in Coopersville. It's a local chain of ribs places, but they're a lot of fun and often packed to the gills. This week we were going to have leftover turkey burgers, but around 5pm I got the latest e-mail from Butch's, one of our favorite restaurants in Holland.

First, Rewind To LAST Week:

Diner Food!
Wednesday, June 3, 5pm-900pm

We're coming clean, during Tulip Time we made about four runs out to the food stands every day. We know how that sounds, the headline kind of reads like this: "Haut Dining Restaurant Staffers Caught Consuming Dutch Fat Balls" in addition to the incredulous stares of our clients, we lost two servers and a host to heart disease, and blew our paychecks on cotton candy and corn dogs. Still, we've been dreaming about the carts returning, what can we say, we're suckers for delicious! Last week Chef Adam hatched a plan, why not just make diner foods here at Butch's? That way we can control the trans-fat and it won't look so bad to our clients if we're eating onion rings. So this week we're passing on the pasta and presenting our first Diner Night! The offerings this evening will be:

* Crabby Patties: Crab Cake Burger with a Red Pepper Dressing
* Lobster Lassies: Lobster Corndogs with Chili Lime Mustard

Each will be served with your choice of Beer Battered Onion Rings with Chipotle Ketchup or Portobello Mushroom Fries with Stone Ground Mustard Aioli and are 15 dollars.
Also for dessert we're offering:

* a Lemon Meringue Ice Cream Pie
* Strawberry, Vanilla and Chocolate Milkshakes.

So we're cooking corndogs at Butch's, bet you thought you'd seen it all. At least our corndogs are wearing bowties and cummerbunds. We look forward to seeing you tonight!

Amusing, but we had a "date" with Sam's Joint and Mrs. Dr. Phil had a taste for ribs.

And Now Today:

Diner Night
Wednesday, June 10, 5-9pm

Another dose of sublime-yet-artery-clogging, sweet-and-savory-at-the-same-time diner dinners! Tonight's midwestern haut comfort cuisine selections will be:

* Meatloaf Sandwich ---$12
Housemade Meatloaf served Open-Face on Country French, served with Garlic Mashed Potatoes and House Gravy

* Lobster Mac ---$12
Lobster Claw Meat in a Smoked Gouda and Cheddar Alfredo with Elbow Macaroni

* Patty Melt ---$9
Hamburger Grilled to Your Liking served on Grilled Pumpernickel and topped with Swiss Cheese and Caramelized Onions

* Fries ---$6
Spicy Sweet Potato Fries served with Caramel Sauce

* Milk Shakes ---$5
Strawberry, Vanilla or Chocolate

We have it on good authority that the fries are revelatory and the Meatloaf Sandwich is a safely guarded Chef Adam secret. Still, you may not be ready to commit to a food-coma this evening, in which case may we suggest the Oberon Salad! The vinaigrette is amazing and well complemented with orange slices! With the deck open and summer nearing full swing, Butch's is the right choice for sloughing off that mid-week slouch.

Cheers,
Butch's
44 East 8th Street | Holland | MI | 49423
www.butchs.net

They had me at lobster mac & cheese. I love macaroni and cheese -- all kinds. I've actually had a lobster mac & cheese, I believe it was at Shula's in the Troy Marriott at the 2007 ConFusion. But this is Butch's... So not to surprising, having forwarded this e-mail to Mrs. Dr. Phil, that when she came back upstairs from doing some sabbatical work, she was all for driving to Holland. Good choice!

After an asparagus and goat cheese salad, plus their Gorgonzola Caesar salad, Mrs. Dr. Phil ordered the mac, plus an order of the fries and I ordered the meatloaf. I think Mrs. Dr. Phil was looking forward to the patty melt, arguing that her meatloaf is superb (which it is), but there are already lots of places we go that I can order a great hamburger or patty melt. But how often do you get fine dining meatloaf?

One thing we both appreciated, was that having seen a lot of cooking and cooking competition shows, that the meatloaf and mashed potatoes looked like meatloaf and mashed potatoes, even if the ingredients and flavors weren't the same-old, same-old. And the lobster mac & cheese? Definitely looked like macaroni and cheese. It even, dare I say it, tasted great with ketchup. (grin) And a nice dry red wine. (double-grin)

OMG!

Currently watching the premiere of Top Chef Masters on Bravo. And they having four serious real chefs competing for one slot in the championship round -- and they're having to cook in real dorm rooms at Pomona College, with only a microwave, a toaster over and a hot plate. And Chef Hubert is making seafood macaroni and cheese.

This is excellent. Perfect end to a fine restaurant diner evening.

Dr. Phil