Since almost all restaurants in Maine have stopped offering dine-in options with table service, a great many of us are supporting local restaurant by ordering out to take in. From Eventide, Chaval, Central Provisions to even Applebee’s that now has, like all the rest, curbside pickup.
Take out has its usefulness, just think pickup from an Asian restaurant. But whatever it is you’re having from a restaurant by the time you get it home it’s lost some of its luster. A friend of mine admitted that the dinner prepared for pick up at one of the city’s finest restaurants was merely OK.
To the extreme I read an article in the New York Post the other day describing a New York socialite who’s moved her family to the Hamptons where she spends thousands a day at specialty stores to feed her family. In fact, the food stores in the Hamptons are doing booming business as many New Yorkers have retreated to their zillion dollar vacation mansions on Eastern Long Island to flee from NYC’s dire coronavirus outbreak. They don’t buy one or two of food items but rather a whole meat tray worth of $29.99 per pound steaks.
For most of us cooking and eating in and shopping accordingly is more the norm. I had about 7 days of meals at home and now I must go out to replenish. My stash for the week included a whole chicken made into chicken and dumplings; pork chops (stuffed and baked), chicken breast, pan seared, chopped meat for meat sauce over pasta, all of which presented leftovers for lunch the next day. I still have a chuck roast in the freezer for pot roast, some more pork chops (see recipe here) and a lone bag of PF Chang’s orange chicken for potluck.
REMEMBER WHEN: SHOULDER TO SHOULDER? WE’LL BE BACK
Clockwise from top: Eventide, North 43 Bistro, Isa and 555
