Thanks, Awesome Grovewood Kitchen!

Friday night's dinner, at the cozy and consistently satisfying Grovewood Tavern, was an accidental mish-mosh. But oh, what a mish-mosh it was, and I will be using it as a point of inspiration for hundreds of meals to come. I owe their patient chefs a heartfelt thanks for letting me invent my own dinner.

In my mind, I had already selected an entree when the waitress came to give us the specials. The protein courses didn't really capture my imagination, but 2 of the sides, paired with 2 different entrees, did make my ears prick up a little (OK, a lot). My heart was still committed to the luscious portobello mushroom cap I had already been thinking about, but oh! Those 2 sides sounded like they were put on the menu just for me. (Incidentally, the 2 sides were butternut risotto and garlicky Swiss chard). So I asked them if they could just toss a grilled portobello on top of those 2 sides. The waitress, in fact, stopped a chef on his way back to the prep kitchen to restock a quarter-pan to ask if we could do this. I was all apologies, letting him know if it's a real pain to break their routine, he did NOT have to oblige me. I've worked in restaurants and I understand any resistance to indulge my selfish flavor-driven fantasy.

You see, contrary to what you read in diet books or the latest high-falutin' culinary rag you may subscribe to, most chefs are NOT happy to oblige you when you order off the menu. They say that they are happy to work with you just so they can maintain good PR, but the truth is, if you order off the menu, the line cooks hate your guts. You completely ruin their flow and routine. In a worst case scenario, a poor sport on the line could do something the health board would not approve of. In a best case scenario, your meal will not be made with any degree of focus or carefulness. Ultimately, you'll get what you ordered, but it just won't be that good.

You can argue that that worldview is wrongheaded, that you, the almighty patron, are essentially underwriting their wages and they should reach for the moon just for you, every single time, because they owe you that much. I will not say you are wrong, but I will advise you of a fact you already may be aware of: that reality does not always match the way it should be. Not even close.

But I approached that cook with an attitude of deference, and I could see that Friday's business might be a little sluggish (meaning the kitchen wasn't already swamped), so I figured I'd roll the dice.

Well, I won that toss of the dice. My goodness, that was the best dinner out I've had in a very long time. I will remember it for a long time. As I mentioned, I will duplicate it any chance I get (In fact, I'm doing a variation of it tonight, for mi esposo)

And I remain grateful to a really great establishment that didn't blow a gasket when I wanted to play with ideas and create my own self-indulgent creation. Four Stars! Bravo! Two thumbs up! Etc! Etc!