Happy Mouth Supper Club

At the end of October, it was my month again to pick for the monthly outing of the Happy Mouth Supper Club. I selected the Iron Horse Inn, which has newly reopened in Glendale after being closed for a while. Chef Stefan Marcus is at the stove, and does a very nice job!

Almost the entire Happy Mouth group was there (with a few guests: Beth, Julie, and Terry) and we were seated downstairs in the restaurant’s formal dining room. Our server took exceptional care of us all night.

We started with a mussels appetizer compliments of the Chef, then went into other appetizers — the excellent Red Pepper Bisque and the night’s special soup of Creamed Spinach and Cognac. Both were awesome, as were the Lobster Strudles we enjoyed. Afterward, Chef sent out a small green salad with duck confit. The salad was lightly dressed, and the duck confit was very tasty.

After that, it was into entrees. Everyone fell quiet, which is a sure sign that people are enjoying their meals quite a bit! Desserts were great, too!

This was Wendy’s month to pick, and she changed things up for us quite a bit… She told everyone to prepare for “potentially the most expensive Happy Mouth ever”, and that our evening would start at Paul Sturkey’s MESH Restaurant. We all met at the appointed hour for drinks, appetizers (I had their excellent foie gras appetizer), and socializing. After a while, Wendy escorted everyone outside and told them that we had reservations in the private room of the best Swedish restaurant in the area.

It took a moment for everyone to realize that Wendy meant the cafeteria at IKEA, which sits just a few moments away from MESH.

Far from being our most expensive Happy Mouth, Wendy’s outing was one of the least expensive (and most fun in recent memory!). Good choice, Wendy!

A few days ago, the members of Happy Mouth (and guests Julie & Terry) met to dine at Holly’s pick, Apsara, an Asian-fusion restaurant. We found that they had very nice sushi and a lobster soup that Wendy loved, and a nice curry. The rest of the food was very good as well (despite strong rumors to the contrary — inside joke).

There were a couple missteps, though. First, in a large (mostly-empty) restaurant, the management seated our large party (12-14) next to another large party in an otherwise-empty dining room. The noise was staggering, but even worse was that one lone server (with a lovely mullet) was serving both of our tables, which meant that service was slow and uneven.

But worst of all was when I noticed that my sushi order was a bit light — I hadn’t received everything I’d ordered. The server realized that he’d set my sushi plate down at the end of the table, and their sushi order was set before me. Both of us had started eating, but the server simply grabbed the plates and swapped them. Now, I’m no prude, and the folks that had their fingers in my food are friends, but that still counted as a giant mistake in my book. <sarcasm>Fortunately, the server went deaf just before I started complaining.</sarcasm> Otherwise, the food and experience was fun.

Another successful Happy Mouth!

This month’s selection, by Ted, of the outing for HAPPY MOUTH SUPPER CLUB came as an accidental surprise. Apparently, when Ted was seeking a place for us to go, someone mentioned Maribelle’s CAKERY, which Ted misunderstood as Maribelle’s TAVERN, which he picked as our destination.

A happy accident it was, too… Situated near the river on the east side of town, this small neighborhood place offered good upscale-bar-type food and beverages at reasonable prices. Everything was plenty tasty! A few mis-steps here and there (some of our party had overcooked food and heavy seasoning on a few items). Accidental or not, it was a good pick, Ted!

For this month’s outing, a bit of a change-up… The members of HAPPY MOUTH SUPPER CLUB met for brunch at Lavomatic, one of the Jean-Robert French Restaurant Group’s newest places. It’s a favorite of mine for their fresh, local, organic ingredients and whimsical preparations, plus the executive chef is a good friend of mine (hi Joanne!).

This month, because Kristi was busy with other things, we all decided to meet-and-eat anyway at Buca di Beppo for their “red-sauce Italian” fare. We noisily occupied a semi-private dining room and proceeded to eat and drink darned near everything on their menu while Angel drooled over a soccer team that was in the restaurant as well. While it didn’t pan out for Angel, the food, drink, and company was awesome.